Post Team Game Chaos Marine Thoughts

Tonight I will be getting in my first two league games with the new Chaos Space Marine codex. The league is an 1850 point adventure to get ready for Adepticon and the Dark Star GT. Each month players play three games against an assigned opponent. You are required to use the same list in each game. This format is great to meet a few new people in the club as well as face some armies you might not normally face. I talked the guy running it into doing Bay Area Open missions (Thanks Reece for coming up with such a great system!). Not only are the rulebook missions more accessible to people, but the way they are structured in this format is really balanced and leads to fun games. The max 10 points per game is great for keeping score as well.

Tuesday my Adepticon team met up and played a team game together. The results of that game is neither here nor there since one guy’s 1K list only had 500 points of models in it (and my two Heldrakes paired with a Necron airforce was extremely brutal); after that game though we played 2 vs. 1 in a 2K game. It was my Chaos against a mixed CSM/Sister of Battle force. Here is what I learned.

Adepticon Registration Complete

 

This year I will be making my first pilgrimage to Adepticon, the Mecca of American wargaming. Despite the fact that I was live on the radio for my weekly talk show when the webcart opened at seven, I was able to purchase my tickets. I am glad I didn't wait until after the show, because the team tournament sold out in less than an hour and the 40K championships sold out within two and a half hours.

I registered for the 40K championships, the gladiator, and the 40K team tournament. I hope I will have my CSM army ready to go by Adepticon for the championships. The team tournament will see the debut of "Minnesota Dice" (Get it? It is a play on 'Minnesota Nice'). The only event that I was hesitant about was the Gladiator. I don't have any forgeworld and have never played in an event like this. I had a friend though who offered to let me borrow their Warhound and I love a good challenge, so no reason not to try out playing with the big boys.

Fantasy GT coverage will come later this week, I have a draft of my senior thesis due Thursday that I need to tackle first!

Blood Angels List - Assault Is Not Dead

Last Spring I took a short break from Tyranids and picked up Blood Angels for a change of pace. I typically had two Land Raider Redeemers and on Land Raider Godhammer in each list. The army was my first foray into power armor and was a refreshing change. They even appeared at two tournaments, finishing 2-1 at both. Blood Angels have not gotten much talk though since sixth came out. I have been playing around with this list since this summer, but with last week’s 11^th Company discussion of the army and Hulksmash’s similar yet independently developed list I think it is time for me to post my version of the BA Air Assault.

Librarian (Epistolary)

Chaplain

Sanguinary Priest

5 Terminators (5 TH/SS)

11 Death Company

Death Company Dreadnought (Blood Talons)

Death Company Dreadnought (Blood Talons)

10 Tactical Marines (Lascannon)

10 Tactical Marines (Lascannon)

Stormraven (TL Lascannon/TL Multi-Melta)

Stormraven (TL Lascannon/TL Multi-Melta)

Bastion (Comms Relay)

1850 Points

Dark Elves GT List: A Halloween Monster Mash

Nothing says scary like square base talk on a predominantly 40K-centric blog! Boo!

I am getting really excited about the fantasy GT I am playing in next weekend. I have been putting off and dreading painting my elves, and now today, after reviewing my list and looking at the scenarios I am in a fever pitch of being pumped! That is impressive considering I have not played fantasy since July, and I have only played four games of it in the last year (the other three were in a tournament where I got 4^th out in Cali). I am hoping to get a game in next week, but even that is no guarantee. The night before the event is a Malifaux tournament/Arena of Death fantasy event as well, both of which look great and I am hoping there is a way I can do both. It is really refreshing going to an event where “I don’t care how I do.” I have to put that in quotes because I still want to win games, but with only 45% of the total score coming from battle points I don’t think I would have a shot at winning anything, even if I was good at fantasy. With that reasoning in my mind I built a list out of what looked fun to play rather than what is apparently good;

Check it out after the jump!

Chaos Space Marine Analysis and List Building: Part Four

This series of posts has been composed a few paragraphs at a time over the last week as I have begun the journey of learning a new book, and play style, as I move away from tyranids this next tournament season. Rather than changing previous ideas or reworking this post I have left it as is. I feel that is shows the process I use while creating and testing lists as well as providing insight behind why I am and will continue to make the list building choices I have been. This is part four of four interconnected posts.

This next week a prep league for a GT in my area (and adepticon too) will start up, and after not being able to answer Grey Knights and select Imperial Guard build with my Tyranids I have spent the last few weeks seeing if building up (and converting) a Chaos Space Marine army would be a viable choice for Adepticon. This decision was not fully about simply being competitive and winning, as there are a lot of things that this book gives me to try and convert on top of allowing me to paint in a grimy gory style I have wanted to try, but being at least as good with Nidzilla seems a reasonable standard. I now believe I have found a list that meets both of these requirements.

  

The List

Typhus

33 Cultists

10 Cultists

10 Cultists

10 Cultists

Heldrake (Baleflamer)

Heldrake (Baleflamer)

6 Havocs (4 Lascannon)

6 Havocs (4 Lascannon)

6 Havocs (4 Lascannon)

Masque

9 Flamers of Tzeentch

5 Plaguebearers of Nurgle

Aegis Defense Line (Quad Gun)

The only small change after two games was dropping three cultists for an extra guy in the last havoc squad. It is a pretty simple list. Mass lascannons give me a big presence in terms of ranged firepower and by turn two most games I have three units with flame templates that ignore the armor of most everything, plus a Herald that allows me to move my opponents units into the right position to be hit by said templates. It also has five scoring units that all have FNP and are fearless.

More after the jump...