CrimsonWraith's

For the greater good, my will be done!

6/4/09

Strike first? So what!

Heres a win! Shocking I know.
Played against the High Elf player from my campaign, used the campaign rules, but not actually for the campaign.
Kept the Heiro, since decided to drop him. Played the little war special mission, I rolled assassination(actually pick, but you get the idea)
Went with a bone giant list. First time with out chariots, also dropped carrion. Got first turn, charged ahead, mostly down the right side. His force was spread with a good amount of range, including the bolt thrower. Got the charge with my giant on turn 2, over ran into his mage. Killed her. The rest was just clean up. Kinda turned out the opposite of my last game, with me doing the damage. In the end it was a chase for his only remaining unit, a group of calvary. Never caught, they made it to my deployment(his objective), but didn't have the unit strength to qualify as 1/3 his army.
Very fun game, though I feel bad for the trouncing. His was a heavy core army, not sure that these will hold in the campaign, have to watch and see. His bolt thrower did take my heiro, crumbling my lt horse, and bits of the rest, but not enough.

6/2/09

Gyrocopter for the win!

So I started up my campaign. All in all pretty good. But I was attacked first round by the dwarves. Of course I fell in to my same old problem.
You may know that when I face Space Wolves I tend to hang on the dreadnaught, well I made the same mistake against the dwarves.
No, not their dread, the copter. My opponent has a tendency to chase my heiro around with his gyro's steam cannon, until he gets him and I crumble. The campaign is 850pt war band campaign, but he squeezed it in. I spent the first half spinning my ushabti trying to get in line with the copter. Of course it never happened. in the end he got my heiro, my army crumbled, with the exception of my Ushabti.
In the end the Ushabti actually made a fair showing, bringing the hurt and being the only unit not to crumble. To little to late.
By the time I realised what I was doing, it was to late.
Future battles will see me bring a prince instead, then at least the crumble will have an armor save.
Actually thinking back, I'm going to have to say my big honest mouth lost this one. Even barring my ushabti never making combat, I could have won this one on turn 2. My chariots charged, won, out numbered, broke the unit behind, caused utter devastation, then I said "You can hold on fear on double 1s." Rolled double 1s. My chariots got bogged down, then destroyed, as usual. They just can't catch a break. They have been removed from my warband list *shrug*

3/13/09

TAU TAKE DOWN SPACEWOLVES(almost)

Sunday I was able to get a game of 40k in against my friend who plays Space Wolves.
List:
HQ
Commander Vigilant: Cyclic, TL Missile Pods, HW MT
Shas'el: 2 Shas'vre, Plasma, Fusion, MT
Elite
3 Crisis: Missile Pod, Plasma Rifle, MT
3 Stealth Suits: Targeting Arrays
3 Stealth Suits: Targeting Arrays
Troops
8 Firewarriors: Rifles, Shas'ui, Markerlight
8 Firewarriors: Rifles, Shas'ui, Markerlight
13 Kroot including Shaper: Save
13 Kroot including Shaper: Save
Fast
4 Pathfinders
Devilfish: Smart Missiles, 2 Seekers, Disruption Pod
4 Pathfinders
Devilfish: Smart Missiles, 2 Seekers, Disruption Pod
Heavy
Hammerhead: Smart Missile, 2 Seekers, Target Lock, Disruption Pod
Hammerhead: Smart Missile, 2 Seekers, Target Lock, Disruption Pod
Broadside: Targeting Array

All in all, it turned out to be a very good list. Everything has a job, and almost everything did its job. My opponent had 2 squads of terms, each lead by an HQ, 1 being a psycher loaded in a land raider, 1 dreadnaught, 1 assault squad, and 2 tactical squads. I knew I would be facing the land raider, so there was no surprise there. I got first turn, so I of course unloaded on the land raider. And destroyed it. Pry the highlight of the game.
This one move pretty much set me up for a win. He had placed pretty much everything behind it, planning to use it for cover as he moved forward. The destroyed(not exploded) land raider made an impassable blockade on his force. He also failed to place enough troops near his objective to be able to hold it, planning on taking mine and worrying about his later.
His first turn saw some movement, and not much shooting.
The rest of the game would be his terms trudging across the field into my line, ignoring everything I threw at them. The unit with the psycher finished with the Psyker left, but the other unit still had his commander with a FULL body guard. Space Wolves have the option of for 10 pts making each term able to reroll 1 failed armor save per game. That 100 points pry saved him around 400+ points(~50 pts each). He had never used it before, and I doubt I will ever see him NOT use it again.
My kroot out flanked, coming in on his objectives side, and had I not forgot to move them, they could have claimed that objective. But between my stealth suits, kroot, 1 HH, and a Devilfish, he couldn't claim the objective either. His other tactical squad just never got close.
My major mistake of the game was figuring I had it in the bag and deep striking my Shas'el's squad to take out his no threat dread, instead of using them on his terms. I had planned these guys to be my armor getters, able to strike anywhere. But by the time they appeared the only armor left was the dread. I wanted to show what they could do! They could die. My rolls were absolutely terrible, not a scratch. Of course he turned around, charged with the dread and a tactical squad, and wipeout! I should have ignored the dread, stuck behind terrain and the land raider wreckage, and took out the terms. Lesson learned(hopefully).
In the end, my objective was contested by his terms, and his objective didn't have any troops with in 12", let alone 3".
Draw!
Ah well, the game was very enjoyable, and I learned a lot. Before this, I always fielded max troops. This was my test run of a less troop heavy force. I have to say, I know why I kept losing. The higher amount of elite forces allowed me to really bring it to the enemy. Also, having everything have a job keeps me from sending the wrong stuff the wrong way. I also am better able to make sure I cover my opponents options. Just have to keep my eye on the prize, instead of looking for that bragging point.

2/5/09

Khalida! Finally!

So, I finally got to play my Khalida, after only having her for over a year. I like her. She isn't quite as awesome as I thought she would be, but she is a sound choice.
My list:
Khalida
Heirophant(Liche Priest), Cloak of Dunes, Hieratic Jar
Liche Priest, mounted, Staff of Ravening
Liche Priest, Casket of Souls
10 Skellies, Bows, Poison Arrows
5 Lt Horse, Poison Arrows, Std Bearer
3 Chariots, Poison Arrows, Banner of Undying Legion, musician
2 Tomb Swarms
Scorpion
3 Ushabti
3 Carrion
Screaming Skull Catapult, Skulls of the Foe
Being as I hadn't played in a year, I forgot some things, but it went well. My deployment was sound. Being a 3 way I faced dwarves on the right, and ogres on the left. I centered the casket and the catapult, which gave me LOS on both armies. On the left I set up the archers on the left with Khalida next to the casket. Behind them I placed my Ushabti. On the right I place my chariots by the catapult, and the horse behind facing the table edge. I got first turn, which saw my horse move out around the chariots so they could see the dwarves advance. My carrion moved out in to a hole in charge arcs toward the Ogres, hoping to block march later on. My archers attacked the giant, my carrion blocked the far end of the ogres(curses!), but they were headed for the dwarves anyway. My carrion did thier job, but got shot by a bunch of gnoblars, but holding on till they were done. The giant fell before he reach my lines, thanks to the carrion. When the large ogre unit with him gets close, I cut my frontage on the skeletons to 4, clearing room for the Ushabti to charge. They would eventually fall to a man, but would see the unit off. On the opposite side my firing is less effective, but it was when the dwarven gyrocopter kills my heirophant that things turned south(his "ability" to target multiple units with the cannon is uncanny[always check if aiming toward center]). My ENTIRE lt horse unit falls to initial ld test. Most of the rest of the army goes unscathed. My chariots bring the fight, do pretty good damage, but without the horse support, they only manage to hold up the dwarves, before falling. The Ushabti falls to ld while heading accross field for heal, cutting him out of attack. With the ogres heading my way gone(gnoblars ran when ogres broke) I didn't really get much of a fight towards the end of the game. Some miners popped behind me, got peppered, failed to charge(sissies). The remaining dwarves heading towards me never made it.
Game ended with me winning, up 100pts over dwarves.(scored by what everyone had left)
I don't think Khalida brought a ton to the game, poison didn't come up that much, and didn't get her staff off once. Kings extra spell might have helped, but it could have been canceled, so... She never saw combat. I need to get at least one more unit of archers(working on it). These will pry be similar on other side, but with the chariots adding fire power, before charging.
Second game was trying a giant. Um... Forgot the construct losing combat -1 wound rule, so he went down WAY to fast, but I still need to get more fast units to give him support. Didn't have enough to make points, had a unit of warriors and archers, just to slow. Pillar of rock in center didn't help. Was a one on one versus dwarves. I got rocked, but managed to hold out for the entire game, not a massacre. Guess thats something.
Well, until next time...

12/9/08

Couple Models

Its been a while, so I thought I would throw up some pictures of some of the models I have done.
First is pry my best paint job to date, my Khalida for my Tomb King army.


The second is my Tau commander, Commader Vigilant.