[40K] A Bad Game and a Good Friend

Last week was the start of league and pretty much everyone got a chance to play-except my buddy FunDave, who volunteered to play one of our regulars who generally arrives late. It turned out that guy didn't show, so I offered to show up at the store early to help him get a make up game.

I was really excited to play this game- I've seen him play, and he is a riot. His ONLY goal is to laugh, and to blow stuff up. I love his attitude and I couldn't wait to face him. We got all set up and got to business. We played our KillTeam game, and despite making a ton of mistakes, I won. Even if I hadn't, I would have had a blast. It was a casual game with a lot of laughing.

Our regular game got underway and we rolled for deployment. It wound up as Dawn Of War- which I've never played and don't really understand. I don't mind too much, as I want to learn as much as possible and get to be a better player. We begin play and I got pretty smoked up right away- FunDave blew up one of my vehicles right away.

I've mentioned it before, but it's still true- I don't understand the rules for damaging vehicles. I didn't DOUBT FunDave in any way whatsoever- I just didn't grasp what he was doing very well. It was ok, though- I was hanging out with my buddy and doing the best I could.

I got to a point where I was trying to blow up his vehicle, and I got confused.

FunDave got me through the tough part, and we kept playing. Other guys started coming into the store, and a large number of them sat down at the table opposite us, and the volume got very loud. A couple guys asked how things were going, but stayed out of it. However, one guy just would not leave us be and was offering commentary very frequently.

We got to another vehicle damage situation,and I was pretty lost. The AP business confuses the crap out of me- it seems counter-intuitive to me and that sort of thing just makes me mental.

The guy tried to butt in, and FunDave shut him down. I appreciated it more than I could possibly express... it meant a lot.

We then got into a very complex and confusing wound wrapping situation. I will not lie- I completely misunderstood the explanation given and got myself absolutely lost. There were more than a couple guys trying to help, and one of them was the fellow from before- and he was very vocal. No matter how many times I asked FunDave to re-explain it, the OTHER guy kept trying to "help".

Honestly, what he did was make me mad.

Unfortunately for FunDave, I became so confused and angry that I shut down. I didn't want to deal with it anymore and forfeited, rather than try to contend with intrusive people and rules I don't understand. I know that's pretty crummy, but it seemed a lot better than losing my temper or throttling a customer.

In a show of compassion and friendship, I received the following email after our game:

Ok. Here ya go. This is the tale of Billy Bob and his magical layz cannon vs. his cousin Jimbo and his Land Raider

1. Declare Fire
    Jimbo, I'm a fixin to shoot you with this here layzer cannon
2. Roll to hit. Same as for firing with a unit. BS + D6 has to equal or be greater than 7.
    Billy Bob is pretty good with his layzer cannon he's BS 4. He rolls and gets a 4 BS+D6 = 8 He hits
3. Determine what you did.
    There are 3 possible options here. Take the weapon strength+D6 compare to the armor value (AV) of the vehicle
    It must equal or be greater than the AV
    1. Weapon strength 9+ 1,2,3,4 = (10, 11, 12, 13) All less than the AV 14 Land Raider (this is why land raiders suck
        Daymeet cousin that thar armured thingy beat my layzer cannon

    2. Weapon strength 9+ 5 = 14 Glancing hit Roll D6-2 (then add anything special like tank hunters or AP 1) and consult the chart.

        Dad gum. I scratched the paint on that sucker!

    3. Weapon strength 9+ 6 = 15 Penatrating (hehehe penatrating) hit. Roll D6 (add in special stuff like tank hunters or AP 1) and consult the chart.

        Yeee Haaw! My layzer cannon put a hole right through that sumabitch watch 'er burn!

Melta has a distinct difference in all of this. At step 3 above for melta you add: 3a. If you are within half the range of the weapon roll weapon strength + the sum of 2D6.

Hey Jimbo eyes gots me a microwavin' gun now. Let's see how ya like this one.

Weapon strength 8 + 2D6 ( let's say a 5 and a 3) = Wpn Str 8 + 8 = 16 penetrating hit. Roll D6 then add one for the shot being AP1 and consult the chart.

Ding! Ha! cusin. Youse a burrita now.

To summarize

1. Pick your target

2. Pick your weapon

3. Roll to hit (BS+D6) must equal 7 or more

4. Figure out what you did (Wpn Str+D6) or for Melta in half range (Wpn Str+2D6) subtract the AV of the vehicle. If you end up with a zero you glance. Roll a D6-2 and add anything special you have. If you end up with a positve number you Pen. Roll a D6 and add anything special you have.

That is a true friend, guys-- and I am glad to have him. He took the time to write up a summary in silly but "plain" language so that maybe I would have a better understanding of something that's been bothering me for a long time. Getting that email was a pretty good start to my day-- and of course I had to let FunDave know I was using it on my blog right away. He didn't seem to mind.

Maybe I can try again later, now that I know how to use a layzergun =)

[40K] Eldar/IG vs BT/GK

This was the last week of league, with my partner and I scheduled to face the Eldar/Star Wars IG army.

My good friend Tom came with his Eldar, but his partner of the "Ballerina Darth Vader" had to work. Tom got partnered with a different IG player, who brought TONS of mech. My partner brought Justicar Tharn, some Terminators to back him up, a Dreadnaught, a Rhino with some guys in it, and a small squad of elite guys.  I went with a "silly" list suggested by a friend, full of nothing but Terminators and a small CCW Squad of Initiates.

I got stuck at the counter for a bit with customers, so deciding first turn (them), deployment (standard), mission (seize ground)  and even setup was pretty much all done when I finally arrived. I got my doodz out of the bag and promptly rolled to seize. It worked!

On our first turn, we blow up a Vendetta and an artillery piece, which was pretty important to prevent template death. (That was pretty fun!)  Our opponents shot at us with a metric crapton of guns. That was pretty fun, too. Watching all those dice hit the table is always a good time. It does stink when your guys get blown up, though.

Turn two, I moved my Initiates across the board from cover towards another area of cover and shot some more. I refused some shooting by those Xenos and Heretical scum with my CMLS (yay), and got blown up by template weapons (boo).

Turn three was the GK show, with all kinds of shooting and IG death-dealing going on over the opponent's corner. A Demo squad got eaten up some, and then they shot at us.My contribution was support, along with deep striking the ThunderHammer/Storm Shield/Lightning Claws Terminators in close to their objective.

Turn four, my little CCW squad was headed towards the objective (a two-pronged assault on the area, wow!) when they got SHOT UP. Of course, this made my guys run the other way (towards the enemy), and put them pretty close to hand-to-hand range. They wound up taking on WarWalkers and having a little snack, but the big news was that my squad of Terminators at the back of the board (sporting CMLs) was shot up and they FAILED THEIR LEADERSHIP CHECK. (They have a 10! It's pretty hard to do on 2D6!) Then, I rolled 11" for fall back, and they ran right off the board. UGH. This was of course, good news for the other guys.

Turn five was pretty grim looking over all: We were down to the GK Terminators holding our objective and a few of my Assault Termies.Tom had a ton of Eldar troop doodz and was shooting the ever-loving bejezzus outta me with them. He shot them off the objective, which made me kinda sad, but my partner saved the day by staying put with his guys on ours, and when Tom rolled to end the game, we were up by 1 objective.

What I learned: Maybe I should be playing GK. Those guys kick serious butt. I pretty laughingly said that my job all league was to die so my partner didn't. But it was true. His guys were there to kick rear, take names and chew some bubble gum- and they were all outta bubble gum.

What I can improve on: I can really work on being a better distraction (heh). Maybe paint my guys pink or something (serious joke.)


About my opponents: Tom is a class act, a ton of fun, and has the loveliest models I have ever laid eyes on in person. His partner was very effective with his army but not so much fun.

I was all set to show you Tom's magnificently pretty Eldar, but my camera is acting up and I can't upload pictures. BUMMER.

The game moved very quickly, which was pretty interesting to me. I've been really catching on the rules and doing better, but I caught a couple mistakes and a few moments where I didn't know what was going on.

[40K] SW/SW vs BT/GK

We're almost done with our team league, and this game we played the Space Wolves +Chaos (counts as) Space Wolf guys (but he didn't use his pretty Chaos guys this time)

This team had been playing Terminators and Thunderwolves, but they made a change to their list, anticipating that they would play a different team. We also made a change- my partner didn't bring Terminators for the first time in 2 leagues!

We brought a TINY list as far as bodies go. Something like:

Brotherhood Champion
Xenos Inquisitor
Purifier Squad (2 Psycannon, 3 Halb)
Vindicaire Assassin
Rhino
Strike Squad (Psycannon)
Razorback (TLLC)
Dreadknight (Teleporter, H Incinirator)
Dreadnaught (Ass Cannon, TLAC, Psy)

and my list was even smaller. Really. Here's what I brought:

And 2 Land Raiders.  That's it.

The other guys had 6 drop pods full of Long Fangs- some with melta and some with las. 4 Land Speeders, Missile launchers, all kinds of long range firepower. They had bodies all over the place, probably outnumbering us 2-1 if not more.

We got pitched battle, sieze ground- but if we had gotten Annihilation I probably would have asked for the one allowable re-roll. They just had that many bodies. My partner did not seem worried at all- but I didn't see a way to get through all their guys. [He showed me.]

We deployed in cover, with the Land Raiders lining up along side the objective, and my Terminators elevated in a ruin on the far left corner. The Dreadnaught and DreadKnight escorted our rides on the field. We shot at the Land Speeders and a small fire support squad, destroying 3 Speeders and killing a couple missile launcher guys.

Their turn 2 brought on 4 of the pods. The special psychic ability provided by the DN that kept them 12" away from our forces REALLY helped- but they still came in to assault us. One squad landed right behind my Terminators, and the other just outside our 12" bubble. Another came in more towards the middle of the field, trying to block us a lane to their objective and wanting to kill our Land Raiders. The last came in kind of on the side of our column of mech, hoping to dump fire along the side arcs.

Purifiers on the objective, DreadKnight killing guys in front and on the side. Land Raiders distracting.

Turn 3 my Terminators assaulted the Long Fangs that popped out of the pod and sent them running. The rest of the turn was spent shooting at any melta or las on the board and taking out heavy hitting targets.

Their pod full of melta failed to arrive, and the other scattered to the board edge, which resulted in us being able to place it. We put it so that the guys inside had at least 3 feet to move before they could get to any action, and the DreadKnight continued to destroy the troops set against him.

Turn 4 was a lot of harassing fire on both sides.if I remember right. I know their Melta drop pod failed to arrive. We sent a Rhino to the other side to get rid of the last of the melta.

Turn 5, The Rhino we sent over towards their side of the board got busted open and the guys inside came out to do some damage to the troops hidden in cover at the manufactoium type thing. They break the Wolf Squad right up and begin the slow escort off the board. I continued to provide fire support with my CML Termies and the Land Raiders.  Their last drop pod fails to come on AGAIN. At this point, the other guys decide to concede, as they don't see any way to even get a draw.

What I learned: My guys make really good body guards, and maybe a mech heavy list isn't so bad, if it is done right.  Cover matters and using my mech to defend something big and important CAN work if there's either enough of it or enough support.

What I need to work on: Thinking long term. My partner knew just by LOOKING at the board that the worst we could do was a draw. I had no concept of how he came to that conclusion.

About my opponents: Man, they were fun! One player is new to SpaceWolves, and the other was trying a non-Terminator list for the first time in a while. They tried something new, which was a challenge- and they were super good sports. They teased me a lot about being the best bodyguard in the league, which is honestly kind of true. I provide distraction so my partner can get things done.

It was a fun game and I am really looking forward to next week when I get to play my buddy who is also just getting back in after many years of being on the sidelines.

[40k] Battle Report (BT vs SW)

So it was 2nd week of Escalation League at the store. We were still on 750 points, and after my massive FAQ'd out army changes, I decided to run a list with some missile launchers in it. (I mean, I have them, why not use them?)

My list was roughly:

EC, AAC

Chaplain MOS (Tankhunter)
Att'd Termie Command Squad - all w/Tank Hunter
-Sergeant Powerfist, Power weapon
-Missile Launcher
-Assault cannon
-Power fist, storm bolter

Troop #1
5 Initiates (1 flamer), 2 Neophytes (1 plasma)
Rhino, Pintle storm bolter

Troop #2
5 Initiates (1 Lascannon), 1 Neophyte (plasma)

My opponent had the most beautiful, tricked out, completely converted and gorgeously individualized models of Logan and 10 Wolf Guard Terminators I have ever seen. He used Chaos figures, but they were breathtaking.



Spiky Logan & Crew


We used the same rules for deployment and objectives as last game, and we got "long board edges" - which NEITHER of us could fully figure out how to implement. We called another player over to get it set up, but it was seriously confusing.

His win conditions - primary: control both his objectives and secondary: have more friendly models in his deployment zone than enemy. My win conditions were primary: control ANY 2 objectives, and secondary: most expensive unit kill equal or greater points value of opponent's models.

He chose to let me deploy and go first (he's not dumb) and I stuck my Rhino squad on top of an objective. The EC was SUPPOSED to go there too but I got mixed up and he wound up with the little Cru squad.

The little Cru squad came in pretty close to another objective and scooted over there to babysit.

Correct me if I'm wrong on this next one, please. Because Termies were attached to Chappy, they did not deep strike and came in on a board edge at the top right and walked (ish) towards one of his objectives, using buildings for cover as they went.

By the way, in the massive pile of not appealing to my sensibilities stuff, there were a couple true treasures. Check THIS guy out:

He needs a bigger base, but wow, he's gorgeous.

My oppoenent bunkers Logan and his 5 Wolf Guard in a ruin, directly behind an objective, but not visible to my guys at all.

He uses a brilliant strategy of picking me off from a distance and we spend a couple turns with him shooting at me, trying to move my little Cru squad off the objective. It's a pretty darn good plan! I wish I'd thought of it and planned against it.

He does knock my guys off their objective and they move across the board. I took some friendly advice and moved back some, trying to protect the objective, and got blown up (except EC, who yet again refuses to die. He's all alone at the objective- but as an IC, he's not a scoring unit and can't help me win).

At this point, his second Wolf Guard squad is doing some sneaking of its own, using a building to keep out of sight.

(They eventually move through the building and come out at the "bottom", which is closer to my side of the board..)

My Termies and the Chappy start moving closer to his objective marker. They come out into the open and tada, my opponent has this fun surprise for them:

That's a BFG, folks!

I get shot at, and of course, I move towards that furry fellow to bash him up. I mean, who wouldn't, right? I shoot some more (he saves!).  But wait, there's more:





His friends!

 The rest of the Wolf Guard come out to play and there's a very, VERY, VERY embarrassing moment where I realize I forgot to buy wargear for the Chappy and he does not have a frickin' gun. My opponent was more than friendly about it and spotted me a point so I could shoot away.


The game ends at the end of turn five- my Termie squad isn't close enough to his objective marker to contest it, and EC can't hold mine, so victory is snatched away at the last moment.


Overall, this was a FUN! game. It may sound slow here, but I really had a good time. I learned a lot- especially when Righteous Zeal does and does not come into effect, and enjoyed a really nice time with a great opponent.

What I learned - this week, it was all "What I can improve on" lessons:

PAY ATTENTION TO DETAILS- Not having even a bolt pistol was hilarious, but truly not anything I care to repeat. I also had a turn where I forgot to move. Plus, EC in the "wrong" squad wasn't smart, either. Ugh.

YOUR OPPONENT WILL KNOW YOUR WEAKNESSES.  Prepare for them, at least a little.

BT IS A ---MUCH!-- SHOOTIER ARMY THAN I THOUGHT.  I need to learn how to use that to my advantage instead of being surprised by it.

About my opponent:
I could not have asked for a more fun guy to play against. He was truly a great opponent. He was very forgiving of me looking up the rules a lot, and offered me grace when I needed it- but he didn't do any "gimmes" or give me any kind of 'preferential' treatment.

I do want to win, but fairly.

Next week is 1000 points, and I am considering bikes, because MAN BT is SLLLLLLLLLLLLLOW.

be Well,

Lo

[40K] First Battle Report (with pictures)

So I finally played my first game in literally over a decade.

Our league is doing escalation play starting at 750 and I got my first game in. Our TO was relentless in making sure I had an opponent as I arrived later than most of the usual crowd (but not too late for league start).

I lost, but I had a blast.

I faced a "Zoom-Dar" player with a list roughly like so:

FarSeer
Seer Council x4

2 x Guardian Jetbikes (6)
Warlock w/Embolden
He had a couple psychic powers- Fortune among them. That became important later. 

My list was roughly like so:

Emperor's Champion, AAC (finally found something to proxy)

3 Terminators Storm Bolters, Power Fist
2 Terminators Assault Cannon, Power Fist (all with Tank Hunter)

1 Initiate Plasmacannon, I Initiate Flamer, 5 Initiates Bolt Pistol, CCW, 2 Neophytes Bolt Pistol, CCW
Dedicated Rhino w/smoke

4 Initiates Bolter, 1 Flamer

LandSpeeder, Heavy Bolter

We used funky rules (Rules of Engagement) I've never seen before for deployment, with equally weird objective determination rules. We wound up with table quarters as deployment  and my objective was to reduce his army to below 25%. His was to control 2 objectives.

I threw out my Landspeeder as a distraction, held the Termies in reserve to Deep Strike, and moved both Cru Squads (one to protect my objective -dime-, and one bunkered up in the Rhino).  -- I forgot that the Landspeeder can deepstrike, or I probably should have done that.

(Pardon my ugly army. I am slowly removing the hideous paint from it.)

Before the carnage really gets started...

I left a Cru squad to guard one objective, and sent Termies over to block the other. It didn't hurt that there were Guardians to shoot at that way, either.

You can see the top of my Terminator at the very bottom of the picture. His Guardians are in range. 

After the shooting phase was over. Oh yeah, Assault Cannons all the way! 

Here's where something I planned to do (and did) worked: I made him come to me in assault. 

I used the Rhino and the guys in it to bottle up the pass between the two terrain pieces, and my opponent sent 10 or so jetbikes into that area for close combat. After three full rounds of assaulting, only his Farseer and my EC were left. 

I must say, the EC is a frickin BEAST in CC. He simply WOULD NOT DIE and kept dealing damage like no tomorrow. EC took several jetbikes by himself. I had the Farseer dead to rights 4 or 5 times over, but his ability to infinitely reroll failed saves kept him alive. This squad eventually died of attrition to the dang near invulnerable Farseer.  I could (and probably should) have moved this squad further onto the field and into his deployment zone to attain my objective. However, having done what I did, I kept his very mobile force bogged down for 3 turns. Not bad overall.

Over on the other side of the board, the Termies were doing their job- scaring the crap out of my opponent. He eventually moved jetbikes towards my objective, which was under the overhang of the building seen in picture 2. Rather than stay put like I planned, I moved forward towards his squad. This is probably where I lost the game. By moving, I opened an avenue for a separate group of jetbikes to zip in and sit on the objective. He used the "bait squad" to keep the Termies busy and hoped simply to survive long enough for the game to end. 

The game ended with his Guardian squad blowed up real good, but my Termies more too far away to be contesting the objective marker, so he got a win.

What I learned:

1- Stick with your plans. I originally planned to have Termies baby sit the objective marker, and moved them for some dumb reason I don't even remember.

2- Remember your options.  I forgot my Landspeeder could deepstrike. I forgot my Rhino had smoke. I forgot how lascannons work. All of these could have made a big impact on the game if I had used my available options more wisely. 

3-Ask questions if you don't know. Between his armaments and his abilities, there was a ton about his Eldar that was more than a little confusing. I asked him to explain it several times for reasons I'll go into below. 

What I need to work on: 

1- Assault. Despite doing a LOT of it, I am still confused about a couple aspects. I am sure some of it will come with time, but reading the rules again (and maybe again after that) will help as well. 

2-Wound Wrapping- I don't understand it, and my opponent did NOT help at all. I'll discuss that later, too. 

3-Understanding Deployment - because we are using an alternate rulesset, this will be even HARDER for me. However, if I had understood the PREMISE more clearly, I might have had a much different approach. 

On my opponent:  He's a very friendly, fun guy. He's easy to talk to and was exceptionally patient as I looked up practically every single rule throughout the game. [I told him it was not because I didn't believe him, it was because I was trying to learn the rules- seeing the rules in connection to what was happening made a HUGE impact and I "get it" a lot better now.] However, there were a couple things that were tough for me to deal with. 

He was seriously disorganized. He didn't have any idea that it was League, or that we were using Escalation, and didn't have a list. He started putting models on the table before having anything remotely like a final FOC'd list. He forgot to put 2 models on the board and then "remembered them" on turn 3. (No I didn't let him put them on.)  He couldn't explain his model's abilities well. If he had his Codex or rules, I never saw them. He explained wound wrapping in different ways in several instances that lead me to think he either didn't understand it or there was something funny going on.

I'm sure I had things that were tough to deal with, too. I honestly looked up EVERYTHING because I simply didn't know even the base stat lines on my stuff. (I do now!) I asked the same question about 20 times (probably because his answer stunk, but I know it must have been annoying). I rolled like crazy- I think I failed 1 save outright all night.

No matter what, I had a blast. I really enjoyed getting from theory to action. It felt good to DO it, rather than talk about it. 

Next week is 750 again, and I'm going to have to work on the list. That Landspeeder either has to go or be rethought...