Solidifying Rumours - 2013 GW Releases

There seems to be solidifying rumours around GW's release schedule for 2013.

In 40k it seems we'll see new Tau Empire in the next two months followed mid-year by rebooted Apocalypse and Eldar. I am surprised that we are not seeing Codex:Space Marines given we are now 9 months into 6th Edition. Perhaps GW will surprise the hoi polloi.

For Fantasy we have two further releases this year. First up will be High Elves (around June/July) with Lizardmen later in the year. Talk of the other two Elves and Dwarfs (hope not) in 2014.

Unfortunately this means no new book for Skaven in 8th Edition. We'll just have to reconcile ourselves to the fact that we will not have access to all the toys that those armies that get new books enjoy. Still at least it will keep those truly devoted to the Horned Rat away while true acolytes soldier on with an outdated book.

Well Matched Armies

Over the past few weeks Mike King and I have had a series of battles with pretty much the same two armies. I've been using Vampire Counts and Mike has had Lizardmen. This has led to a series of close battles where the outcome is generally down to one of us making a mistake.

Mike's army is as follows:

Ethereal Slaan BSB with Lore of Light & tricks
3x Scar Vets (one on Cold One)
Skink Priest with Heavens

2x 30 Saurus
2x Skink Cohorts
2x Skink Skirmishers

2x Camo Skinks
Terradons

2 Salamanders
1 Salamander

while mine is:

Level 3 Vamp
Level 1 Vamp
Wight King BSB
Level 1 Necromancer

35 Ghouls
40 Zombies
3x 5 Wolves

10 Black Knights
2x 3 Vargheists
2 Fell Bats

Terrorgheist

The games tend to centre on a fight between my bus and one of Mike's Saurus blocks - boosted by oodles of Light spells. At one stage yesterday his block was ASF + 1A, WS10 Init 10 while my bus was -2 to hit (Iceshard and Pha's). Generally I need to hold my scroll for this important battle which means that my fragile units - Vargheists and Terrorgheists  are very vulnerable in the early game from Banishment and Shem's.

We've now fought this battle about five times and I'd say Mike is 3-1 up with one game being a draw - however the games are always tight.

Yesterday's game saw me with 800 points of characters left and Mike with 1300 points left, giving him a minor win. However this would have been less than 100 points had his Saurus block rolled 10 to escape the remnants of my bus (the two Vamps) on Turn 6. The loss was my own fault as I made a silly charge with my Terrorgheist knowing he would flee and then hoping to re-direct (Ld 5 ??!!??!!) instead of the charge I should have made.

And that's what's been good about these games. They have come down to player choices and skill.

Mike, I keen to get my revenge!

Rankings - Update on Progress

Jack has been working diligently to create the engine for the rankings and as of today I got a look at it. The data I supplied took out all events up to 2012 NatCon (April 8). This removes last year's Equinox as well.

Here are the Top 25 players in the rankings given that database:

Edit: Updated with Best Army Icon holders and events played. Dwarfs is held by Simon Switzer, Beastmen by Stuart Robinson, Dark Elves by Brian Smith.

1.   Tim Joss	252.00	5	['Tomb Kings']
2.   Tom Dunn	244.94	4	['Daemons of Chaos']
3.   Daniel Butler	232.49	3	['Skaven']
4.   Mike King	228.45	5
5.   Mal Patel	225.51	4	['Lizardmen']
6.   Sam Whitt	223.82	6	['Chaos Dwarfs', 'Orcs & Goblins']
7.   Paul Dalton	217.80	5	['Ogre Kingdoms']
8.   Joel van de Ven-Long	213.14	4
9.   Peter Williamson	211.18	3
10. John Willenbruch	209.71	4	['Bretonnians']
11. James Brown	201.29	5
12. Rory Finnemore	199.25	5	['Empire']
13. Ross Hillier-Jones	194.84	4	['Warriors of Chaos']
14. Hamish Forbes	188.64	4
15. Basil Moskovis	184.50	4	['Vampire Counts']
16. Pete Dunn	184.00	2
17. Nick Irvine	164.18	5	['Wood Elves']
18. Rhys Hodgson	159.92	3
19. Darren Urquhart	157.38	3
20. Hamish Gordon	153.91	3
21. Andy Hudson	148.65	3
22. James Millington	141.45	3
23. Wil Hoverd	139.55	2
24. James Milner	138.00	4	['High Elves']
25. Antony Kitson	132.08	2

So we have a working model and now it is just putting together the website design. Thankfully Nat Bacchus has offered to help us with this as he has expertise in this area.

One icon I am looking to include this year is the "Marco Colombo" for the person who attends the most events over the course of the year. Edit: At moment that would be held by Sam Whitt

Looking for a March 31 reveal

Runefang VI - Reminder Regarding Early Bird Registration

Just a heads up that early bird registration for Runefang VI closes next Saturday (16th March). Up until then it is $35, it then increases to $45. Runefang is on April 27/28.

Imperial Griffon Inflicts Its Own Killing Blow On Tomb Kings' Necropolis Knight

Early registration is great for TOs as it helps enormously with planning - particularly as the field increases. Terrain, tables, cloths need to be secured and an assistant to help out the Umpire may be needed (e.g. NZTC).

It also helps the players, especially out of towners. Cheaper flights can be booked and accommodation jacked up. Remember there are a lot of gamers in Welly that might be amenable to putting you up. However you need to give them notice as it normally includes negotiations with their better half.

If you would like a Players Pack (and the search function "Upcoming Tournaments" is beyond you) then drop me an email at pete@thefieldsofblood.com

Currently 22 people have signed up and it looks like a field of 35-40 is not beyond the event. There will be a limit of 40 places however, dictated by the venue

Hobby Thursday

Thursday is this week's hobby day for me.

First up, priming the Plaguebearers I recently bought and stripped. These are the last edition metals. I think they are soooo much better than the new "goofy" plastics. I'm trying something different here. Normally I will prime with a black or, in rare occasions, white. Here I've decided to try the Flames of War "War Paint" sprays. I picked up two cans - one green, one earth - at Wargames Supply's closing down sale.

Nice tight nozzle with good spray. The can gave good coverage of the metal figures and I am now leaving them in the sun to dry.

I have primed to new units of 28 Plaguebearers suspecting that 4 ranks of 7 may be the way to go.

Another day in paradise. The view from the deck at Chez Dunn. Currently sitting in sun drinking a very nice Flat White and watching the cricket on the big screen. Life is good.

Fields of Blood NZ Rankings Website

Just spent the morning uploading all 2012 tournament info to a template that will be used for the Fields of Blood NZ Rankings.

The aim is to have the site live at the end of March thereby replacing the RHQ locally. After 31 March RHQ will no longer maintain rankings for NZ players as they move to a paid content model.

The FOB site will use a rankings model that takes your best three results over the previous 12 months. Events require a minimum of 12 players to be ranked. Ranking points are determined by placing, number of participants and number of rounds. To get full weighting events must have five rounds.

The intention is to also continue with Best Race Icons.

The website URL will be disclosed once the site is up and running.

Vargheists Are Okay

Before I pulled out my Vampire army from the crypt it had been occupying since 2009, I had heard a lot of internet wisdom (as well as live gamer talk) that Vargheists were crap. The general theory was that they had nothing on their box-mates the Crypt Horrors and that I would be foolish to use them.

I've now played about ten games with the new book and my personal experience is that this view couldn't be further from the truth. Yes, they are fragile - T4, no save - and they are Frenzied but they are also Vampiric, Flyers and have four Str 5 attacks. Certainly they are situational but if you are sensible with them (and present multiple threats), I find them reasonably survivable.

I do however think they are list dependant. I use them in a "fast" list where there are eight units that can move 14+ inches a turn.In a footslogging list I think that they would be a clear target. Where they really excel is in their cost. I field two units of three, each costing 138 points. They are therefore largely expendable in the scheme of things.

For me it's been a case of trying things out for myself and see if I can get some utility where others have dismissed them. It's a salient lesson in always question the conventional wisdom.

And they are a far nicer build than the Crypt Horror too!

Campaign Weekend Coming Up.

Since I'm not going to Equinox and the wife is away for the weekend leaving me to feed the cats, I've organised a campaign weekend at Chez Dunn. I've invited 8-9 locals around to fight over the Great Dark Vale

In 2011 I ran two Mighty Empires campaign weekends at CAS Hall and they were well received. Well this is going to be a mini version of that. Six games over the two days.

Players are bringing a 2400 point army and 2 sideboards of 200 points each. The sideboards must be units and must not violate the normal 0-3 Special or 0-2 Rare restrictions. We'll also be using the Runefang VI comp as a filter.

For me, Seerlord Morskitta will be seeking to expand his realm and I'm going to look to paint up a new unit to use as one of my sideboards.

Pete: Skaven
Joel: Wood Elves
James: Skaven
Glen: Vampires
Ryan:Vampires
Wil: Ogres
Mike: Beastmen
Cody: Warriors of Chaos

The Main Reason Why I Think Mono-Daemons Is the Way Forward

I've been digesting the DoC book over the past 24 hours and I am really convinced that mon-God lists will be the way forward.

And a key reason for this is something that a lot of people in their considerations of the new book haven't highlighted.

Swift Reform.

Now to use a General's Inspiring Presence or the BSB's re-roll, you have to be aligned to the same god. This is a major departure to the previous book. Yes, it manifests itself in Frenzy checks and Instability Tests but it also impacts the Swift Reform.

The ability to reform and move in Warhammer is critical and requires two things - a muso and the passing of a Leadership test.

With most Daemon units having a Leadership of 7, that only gives them a 58% chance of being able to complete the manoeuvre. Access to a higher Leadership and a re-roll is going to be critical in providing Daemon players (especially in tournaments) the certainty they require to move their army around.

I know I certainly wouldn't want my battleplan to be reliant on a single Ld 7 roll.

NZ Team Championships - A TO's Roundup

The NZ Teams Championships were a fortnight ago and over the time since the event I have been able to reflect on how the tournament went.

So What Worked

• Teams of Four - it allowed a spread of armies so the matchup process was important and teams had to think about how they would approach different situations
• Matchup Process - stolen shamelessly from overseas, it allowed teams to try and engineer beneficial matchups
• The Players - all the players embraced the concept. Teams signed up early giving the event financial viability and all turned up to celebrate Warhammer
• Painted Armies - requiring painted armies was important. It meant that there had to be some investment in the process of list creation
• The Venue - was exactly the right size for the number of players, close to food outlets and with offstreet parking. It got very hot on Saturday though.
•  Scoresheets/Software - worked perfectly. The Swiss Draw was only compromised once which required a bottom up build but my visions of nightmares constructing the draw (I've done 10 player 6 round draws before) didn't eventuate
• Twitter Buzz/Blog Smashtalk - this created a real buzz before the event and this carried through to the two days. The banter was great.
• Two Officials - I thought Locky and Ryan did a great job marshalling the event. Locky was a great umpire taking no nonsense. Two people meant there was always coverage
• Trophies - I was happy with the reaction to the trophies. I wanted podium teams to have a decent keepsake and I also wanted to fund a permanent trophy (as I've done via the Warlords for the Masters). I've been asked why there weren't prices for Best Sport and Best Painted and the reason is I think they are more suited for individual events. 
• No Formal Beauty Parade - driven by the timetable. It was very hard to fit everything in allotted time and felt that the 30 minutes required for a beauty pageant was best spent elsewhere.

What Didn't Work

• Four Games On Saturday - the biggest complaint I had was that four games on the Saturday was one game too much. For some it was too tiring and for others it impinged on the social side of the event. I agree with both criticisms and will definitely go 3/3 next year. It will obviously mean later finish which will impact more on out of towners
• Scoring - there needs to be a whiteboard/datashow reporting the round by round scores. This keeps teams informed and also ensures everyone is on a level playing field. This will occur for next year.
• Eventual 1st and 2nd Didn't Play - this is a rarity but also an outcome of six rounds, ten teams and Swiss Chess. There was only one round where Top Down Swiss Chess didn't work and that was Round 5. Here modified Swiss Chess was used to ensure teams didn't have to replay previous opponent while ensuring top teams played highest scoring opponent available. Solution is more teams or less rounds. Will say First Place went 5-1, 2nd, 3rd and 4th  Places were all 4-2. Generally I suppose you expect top team to go unbeaten - demonstrates how hard fought it was.
• Friday Opening - having the hall open on Friday evening was a bit of a damp squib. One game was played, I thought there might be more. I guess travel precludes it.

Overall I was very happy with the outcome for the inaugural event. I am currently talking to venues now for 2014 but they are unable to confirm until September.