Blood for the Resin Gods!!! (My First Forge World Day)

Yesterday I receive the most wonderful present to myself. Fifteen marines in Mk VI power armor and one sweet Raven Guard dreadnought. After washing, trimming, and making myself bleed (for the thousandth time) my guys are ready to assemble. I decided to go with the 32mm bases for this project, so I am just waiting on them before I put my bird gang together.

Endgame is going to be starting a 30k campaign the last week of February, so that seems like a good deadline to work towards. And, with the added dreadnought and a repurposed drop pod, I am already up to 750. I am excited to see how successful this list is, and what tweaks I'll need to make. Here's the list:

Raven Guard 750 pts

Praetor

Pair of Lightning Claws (Ravens Talons), Cameoline

Rites of War: Pride of the Legion

Veteran Tactical Squad x7

Sergeant (combi-weapon), melta gun

Veteran Tactical Squad x7

Sergeant (combi-weapon), melta gun

Dreadnought Talon x1

TL Lascannon, Extra Armor

Deathstorm Drop Pod x1

I'd love to hear what people think about this list. Also, don't miss out on the free ebook Dark Hunters: The Last Detail on the Warhammer app. According to the wiki, the Dark Hunters fight in complete silence. Not sure how that will pan out, but getting free books is always good. 

Until next time!

There Can Be Only One, And It Wasn't Me (Endgame Highlander Tournament)

Last Saturday I played in my first highlander event at Endgame in Oakland. I love this format. It still allows for competitive gameplay, but really tones down the spam and meta gamer lists you'd normally find at a tournament these day. But, that doesn't mean there isn't a challenge in creating a fluffy list when you can't repeat units. Point value based games inherently make list building hard, so any additional restrictions do add to the challenge. That said, any good game should be a challenge. Lucky for me, I had two strong opponents and two challenging games.

I brought the Yell Hounds (my Blood Angels custom chapter). It looked something like this:

HQ

Astorath (Warlord), Librarian, Captain

Troops

Tactical Squad in a Razorback, Scouts with shotguns

Elites

Death Company (jump packs), DC Dread, Terminators (w/ heavy flamer)

FA

Deathwind Drop Pod

HS

Stormraven

The first was against Eran and his tricky, quick Eldar. Holy shit, Eldar are good! Eran played them really well in an awful, terrible 2-23 beatdown (jetbikes, man, jetbikes). My second game was against Stephen and Typhus. The Traveller is tough. He ended up killing Astorath and my Librarian in two consecutive turns of close combat. This one was a bit closer (4-9) but Papa Nurgle won the day.

My biggest disadvantage was a lack of speed and manueverability. Objectives in the maelstrom missions are the way to win, and static forces will always lose out to more mobile forces. Hey look, I learned something! Better luck, and some land speeders, next time I guess.

Big thanks to Mike and Adan for running the show, and to Endgame for being Endgame. Until next time!

Game One

Game Two

The Toss of a Coin Apart (Corax and Curze)

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Konrad Curze and Corvus Corax by haimeART

The primarchs are such interesting characters. Scattered across the stars, they are lost then reunited brothers.  Each with their own background that has driven and shaped the 40k universe. One of my favorite parts about Warhammer is how people become the army they play. They find a story that represents who they are, or who they wish they could be, and allow those models to represent them on the table. With eighteen legions, it is easy to find yourself in these characters. Tacticians see themselves as Guilliman. Vikings at heart see Russ. The "Heel" becomes Horus and the "Face" loves Sanguinius. For me, I see myself as Corvus Corax. The do-good ranger, the Raven Lord. Using brains and stealth to overcome his enemies. So, you could imagine how this passage would provoke some deep thoughts on my ride home yesterday.

In that moment, subject to the full brunt of the Night Haunter's scorn, Corax had realized how close he might have been to becoming the creature that was trying to kill him. Their lives were the toss of a coin apart. Corax had been taken in by men learned in politics and the human heart, and they had shown him compassion and support; Curze had received no such upbringing and had become a figure of vengeance and terror. 

- From Deliverance Lost by Gav Thorpe

The noble hero is distraught in his moment of defeat, reflecting on his connection to his enemy. How close had he been to becoming Konrad Curze, primarch of the terrifying Night Lords? How different would their lives have been if Corax had been the one who landed on Nostromo? With his super human strength and ability, how quickly could he have become so evil? For me, this is the stuff that I love about the 40k universe. 

The primarchs touch on some very real aspects of humanity and duality. The ying and the yang. Brother against brother. The Night Haunter and the Raven Lord are eternal enemies, living in a rich and developed universe. I think it is fascinating that we get to play out these scenarios on the table. We get to relive or rewrite the history of the galaxy. Exacting our revenge, or falling prey to our enemies on the battlefield. Sometimes, playing any game can get tedious. Broken lists, bad dice rolls, and frustrating opponents can all take their toll. When it does, remember the story. Remember what drew you to your army. Relive the glories of your favorite character.

One day I'd like to get a game in against the Night Lords and have Corax exact vengeance on Curze. I'm sure the Raven Lord would approve.

Until next time!

30k... It's Haappennnniiinngg!!!

There is no going back now. The siren's song has grabbed hold of me. I've made my resin bed, and now I need to buy a sand warmer. After some serious deliberation, I have made my first big (probably half a Carl) Forge World order. I have fifteen suits of MK VI "Corvus" power armor headed across the pond to start my Raven Guard army!

Corvus by Nicholas R. Giacondino

A couple things sold me on the Raven Guard. They have a great background story, a cool primarch, and the flexibility to transitions pretty smoothly about 10,000 years between both systems. But, the biggest selling point was their play style. I've always enjoyed running stealthy, low model count forces. With the Raven Guard Legion rules and the Rites of War: Pride of the Legion rites I can have the infiltrating veteran space marine army I've always wanted. I'm starting out small (500 pts), with a pretty solid core. From here, I can add pretty much anything. Here's my starting list:

Raven Guard 500 pts

Praetor

Pair of Lightning Claws (Ravens Talons), Cameoline

Rites of War: Pride of the Legion

Veteran Tactical Squad x7

Sergeant (combi-weapon), melta gun

Veteran Tactical Squad x7

Sergeant (combi-weapon), melta gun

I'm very new to 30k, so let me know what you think of this list. In the meantime, I'll be hiding in the bushes outside my house waiting for UPS and reading Deliverance Lost. 

Until next time!

Nurgle's Rot and my new Yell Hounds Librarian

Well, that sucked. I came down with some stupid cold, and ended up having to cancel the Steiermark game last weekend. That, coupled with being busy at work meant I didn't get my normal hobby time this week. But, do not fret Corsairians! Check out Brother Amergin, Yell Hounds Librarian.

This was a really fun project. I basically rummaged through my bits bag and ended up finding all the makings for this guy. I was debating going for the standard blue, but since the Yell Hounds aren't necessarily codex compliant I felt like a non-standard color would look nice. Since the majority of the  army is grey, red really makes him stand out. And, it was a great opportunity to play around with a color I haven't used that often. Overall, I am really happy with the results.

Next weekend, Endgame is hosting a Highlander event. I've never played in one of these before, and I am really looking forward to seeing the types of list people bring. I have some painting to do before (five assault terminators, a razorback, a drop pod, and my custom Captain Tycho), but I feel like I always work best on a deadline. I am really excited about Tycho (he's in the picture below). Tycho is a really awesome character, and I am looking forward to putting him on the table.

Until next time!

Yell Hounds March to War!!!

So twenty Ork Boys and Chaplain walk into a bar...

Happy New Year! I really want to focus the earlier part of this year on the Yell Hounds, my custom Blood Angels chapter. After reading through the Shield of Baal: Exterminatus DLC (kidding, kidding) I have decided to use the Flesh Tearers Strike Force formation for them. I feel like it suits their background, and the warlord traits look like fun. For those that haven't seen them yet, here they are.

Flesh Tearers Warlord Traits

• Incandescent Fury Angry Marines. Warlord and unit have Hatred
• Savage Rage Warlord has Rampage
• Avalanche of Destruction Great name for a metal band. Warlord and unit have Hammer of Wrath (also a great name for a metal band).
• Unstoppable Momentum Warlord and all friendly units in 12" have Crusader
• Berserk Fury Warlord and unit have Rage. Not so good with DC, but great with everything else.
• Blood Mad Also Angry Marines. Warlord has Feel No Pain. 

Warlord traits are one of my favorite parts of 7th, and these all look very savage and bloody. I'll be playing the final game of the mini Steiermark Campaign with Ian and Jon this weekend, so expect a battle report early next week. Will Chaplain Morrigan get revenge on the swine horde? Will Inquisitor Arador's information prove useful? Will X-04 (my Vindicare Assassin) kill something for once, god damn it? Tune in next week to find out!