Intense Concentrations

Yes I am aware that terribly vague titles are indeed, well, terrible, and are something that I used to do back in the early days. But never-the-less, I can't think of a better name for this post.

Today has been really productive. I went and did some group work for University, then came back, played some Minecraft with my mates including standard Tom Leighton level dumbassery (letting the farm animals out, then egging the house for my mate being annoyed, allowing hordes of monsters to spawn on my island and solving the problem of Skeletons by diving into the deepest ocean I could find with all my stuff). Then I played a couple of games of 40k. To give some perspective here, these started in the middle of the afternoon and finished at 1:00am, and one isn't even finished.

200th Post - New Project

I am a horrendous hobby butterfly. Unless I am working on a project I'm not happy, and so the cycle repeats itself, but with a little bit of a twist this time. I had originally hoped that this post would be about my first tournament win, but despite winning all 3 games in a one day event, including a horrific match up on an open board against Dark Eldar, I came 2nd to the TO. But never mind, it's only toy soldiers.

I already have 2 competitive armies. My Space Wolves could do with some updating with Drop Pods and such but I have my Chaos Marines ready to rock simultaneously. The plan here is to do a themed army.

UK 40k GT Heat 2 - Report: Game 3

So, going into the final game of day 1, and I'm on the top tables, kicking it with 40k powerhouses such as Courtney Rhodes, James French and Rob Waller. Rob beat my friend (who's a much better player than me) that I came down with in the first round, and now I was in his crosshairs.

Throne of Skulls the Third - September '13 40k

So, I've just got back from a tiring weekend at Throne of Skulls, this one has really taken it out of me and I have no idea why. So, instead of going through each game individually, I'm going to blast through them one at a time in this post. Still in depth to a degree, but not individual post worthy. Pictures will be coming the moment I have enough internet usage left on my phone, I don't have very much left.

My list was a variation on my GT List. 2 Rune Priests, naked, pretty much, 2 Lone Wolves, 3 packs of Grey Hunters, 1 Drop Pod, 2 smaller packs of Long Fangs, Primaris Psyker, Guard Blob, Manticore.

Invasion II Game 3 - Tournament Report

Going into the final game we are now on the top table, and our severe lack anti vehicular weaponry has come to sting us in the table once again, this time in the form of a dual Eldar list. It was a strong list, but not broken. The had a Spiritseer in a squad of 5 Wraithguard with D-Scythes in a Wave Serpent. They had 2 squads of Bikes, Baharroth, 10 Howling Banshees which he tanked for, a Night Spinner, Fire Prism, and that was about it.

Eldar Analysis - Farseer

Well that was unexpected. I played my first game with the new Eldar codex today, and used it as a prime opportunity to test a couple of units out. Baharroth, some Swooping Hawks, Dire Avengers, Guardians, Striking Scorpions, War Walkers, Rangers, Eldrad and Shining Spears. Surprisingly, the star of the show was the last unit. I'm not sure how much of a fluke this was but they were absolutely fantastic. The Exarch himself killed a Venerable Dreadnought before finishing off a squad of marines and killing the enemy Warlord in a challenge. But more on that later, today, Farseers.

Eldar Analysis - Autarch

Wow I'm getting behind on this. This could possibly be due to my recent exploits. On Friday I went down to Warhammer World, and filled in as a mercenary for the Freebootas as they took on the Overlords. Since, I have decided that I really need to kick my play up another gear. The last few 2 day tournaments that I've been to I've been pushing on just above mid table, which I've been content with really, but I've been attending bigger independent tournaments for 6 months now and really feel that I should be at a level where I'm hitting the top 50% most of the time.

Eldar Analysis - Maugan Ra

HQs can generally be split up into 2 categories; those that support, and those that are supported. The latter is made up of your beatstick characters that go out and do some damage for you, whereas the former enables other units to do the damage. Of course there is some crossover between the 2 but if a HQ choice is not particularly efficient in a support role then it is generally shoehorned into a beatstick one. Maugan Ra has a similar problem.

Eldar Analysis - Baharroth

Sorry this post has come so late, this has been for a couple of reasons. Firstly, due to the British 'heatwave' the inn that I work at has been absolutely crammed the last week or so, so I've been doing a lot of work. Secondly, with my Space Wolves my regular tournament army and my Chaos complete, I have been experimenting in an attempt to '6th ed up' my third army. This will be my Eldar, they were my first and the new Codex allows me the perfect opportunity to re-explore them, but if you want any 'hints' as to what I'm planning check the Fuegan post from last month. Finally, I've been watching a crap load of Heroes. Almost finished season 1, about to start the penultimate episode of it, but moving on. 

I love Phoenix Lords, and I love Swooping Hawks, and so at the intersection of this you would expect to find Baharroth. For some reason however he's never seemed to click for me. This could be because he is attached to his base via his toes and so transporting him anywhere without him breaking is an unachievable feat, and with him being metal this pisses me off. But delving in deeper...

Eldar Analysis - Fuegan

Yes, this post has taken a little while, however, since I opened the book to Fuegan's page to get some really deep impressions down, I have really been getting excited. I have always had a soft spot for one thing in particular in 40k. Hammer Units. With my Orks I ran 2 10 man squads of Nobz with Ghaz in one and a big ass Warboss in the other. With my Necrons I wanted to try a wave of Metal made up of enormous Warrior squads (that idea sucked). Even now with my Chaos Marines, I am running 2 squads with 35 attacks on the charge plus Daemon Weapons.

Fuegan awakened an avalanche of hammer possibilities, but more on that later. What does he actually do?

Eldar Analysis - Avatar of Khaine

The Avatar of Khaine was the first unit that I really ever loved for its awesomeness. The last Eldar Codex was the first one that I actually properly started getting into and after getting some Guardians and the Battleforce the Avatar was next, and whilst everything around him died he was a bedrock on which I could rely to kick the crap out of stuff.

Eldar Analysis - Karandras

After taking a quick break to work at a Pub/Bar/Restaurant on Father's day and to attend a tournament, it's time to get back to regular scheduling. The layout for posts over the next few days will be the Avatar tomorrow, followed by the 3 remaining Pheonix Lords, before delving into the Independant Characters and the epicly long posts that they entail. Today though, we move on to probably the most talked about of the Pheonix Lords at the minute. Karandras.

Eldar Analysis - Jain Zar

Special character number 5 please. A quick point before getting started though. After the 3rd Pheonix Lord I'm going to shuffle things up a bit and do the Avatar. This is because I realise that the Pheonix Lords aren't exactly the most interesting Special Characters in the game. I like them because I really like their back story (especially Maugan Ra, that guy is a boss), but they're not seen too often on the tabletop and so I'll sneak the Avatar in mid-way through. But on to Jain Zar.

In the last edition Jain Zar was the Pheonix Lord that I ran the most. Often I would struggle for HQ slots because I liked the Eldrad/Avatar combo but she was cheap and boy did she pack a punch. (Picture incoming).

In the new edition, she's gone up in points a little to make a nice round 200. She keeps the Pheonix Lord statline, identical to the one that Asurmen has, and so all that there really is to seperate her is Wargear and Special Rules. Oh is that all.

Special Rules first, as that really is where the least action is happening. As with Asurmen, she gets the Eldar special rules of Battle Focus and Ancient Doom, and the Pheonix Lord rules of Eternal Warrior, Fleet and Fearless. Of course she's also an Independent Character.

So what makes Jain Zar special. Well, first off she has an addition special rule entitled Acrobatic. It only works when she's by herself or in a unit of Banshees, however what it does is increase her and her unit's run move by 3", not bad. This can then be tied in with her Warlord Trait. It's not the best Warlord Trait in the book, however on Jain Zar it's not bad, as it increases her and her unit's (non exclusive) run move by a further inch. This means that in a unit consisting solely of Banshees she can run between 5 and 10", pretty quick, making for an 11"-16" movement per turn, add in their fleet and you're looking more to the 16" end.

Finally, she has her wargear. All of it is geared towards making her a close combat beast. First off you have her, 'Silent Death', which is both a Ranged Weapon and a close combat weapon. At range it's a S-user (4) AP2 Assault 4 Weapon fired at the BS of a Pheonix Lord. It's only 12" but it's still pretty deadly. In melee, you're probably never going to be using it as it's just a normal Strength AP2 close combat weapon (just!). This is because there's a better weapon on the table.

This is her Blade of Destruction, unfortunately it's no longer S7 (aw), and it follows the exact same profile as the Silent Death in close combat, however, it comes with the Shred special rule, somewhat negating that S4 a little bit more. Plus, because you have 2 close combat weapons you're basically getting 5 attacks base.

In addition, Jain Zar comes with a Mask. What this does is effectively what Fiends do in the Daemons Codex. On the turn that she charges all enemy models in the combat have their WS and I reduced by 5. Ouch. Again, this couples nicely with one of her Exarch powers, Disarming strike.

Disarming Strike somewhat negates her lack of an Invulnerable save. Power Fist? No problem. What it essentially is is a roll off, and if you draw that roll off or better you turn an opposing weapon into a regular close combat weapon for the phase. There is also a modifier for having higher weapon skill. Now as if Jain Zar wasn't going to be getting that modifier anyway with her enormous WS, she definitely is now if she charged.

We aren't quite at the bottom of the bag of tricks just yet however, as she also causes Fear.

So, is Jain Zar worth it? Again I think she's pointed pretty well. She definitely fulfills the role of close combat character better than Asurmen and for less points, although Asurmen may be better for monstrous creatures and multi wound models. Overall however I think she's going to struggle. Banshees still suffer from the lack of an assault vehicle, as they still have no real way to get into close combat.

They are much quicker, but still a little susceptible to being shot down. With Jain Zar in the squad, maybe you can change that by taking some of the wounds on her 2+ save. I think that if you're desperate to take Banshees then she's really worth a look, as she also provides some much needed AP2 power to the squad. However, it's still not, 'competitive' and unfortunately I'm not sure she'll be seen too often I'm afraid. 

On a quick note to finish, it doesn't look like I'm going to be able to make a post for tomorrow, however there may be one up in the evening so be sure to check out for that. This is because I'm attending the Cry of the Wind tournament at the Sheffield Outpost.

Eldar Analysis - Asurmen

In between the painting of the Bloodletters, the converting of the Spawn, the 40k Global blogging and tournament organising/preperation (2 seperate events), I have managed to find the time (at midnight) to write another blog post. Today starting to delve into the Eldar Pheonix Lords. These were one of my babies from the previous Codex. As my first army I enjoyed using units that stunk like crap, so much so that I invested £80 into the entire Pheonix Court of Khaine from Apocalypse Reload. Special Character number 4 please!

Eldar Analysis - Illic Nightspear

Eldar are the 5th Codex to be released in 6th edition, and unless there's some new Tau guy that I'm forgetting, they are also the first (apparently Tau got a couple, but close enough) to get a brand new special character. Sure, Karanak and the Changeling are technically new for Daemons but they used to be Sergeant upgrades so were also around previously. Illic however is completely new, and also comes with a unique opportunity to make various inuendos regarding night-spears. However, as this is a family friendly blog, I'm going to skip over that, and leave my local gaming group to the mercy of my overuse of them. Therefore, straight into the analysis.

Eldar Analysis - Prince Yriel

I still can't find my old Eldar Codex, so again I'm going to have to be relying on the power of my memory to discern whether today's choice is better or worse than how they used to be. Unfortunately, today's subject is Prince Yriel, one of the very few units from the old Codex that I never used. So instead, forget old Yriel, how good/bad is new Yriel?

Eldar Analysis - Eldrad

Yes! The analysis segment returns! The Eldar are upon us and I'm like a 14 year old boy who has just seen boobs - excitable. And where better to begin the return of the Codex Analysis than with the Grand-Daddy of Special Characters. Not just because he's the biggest, badest mo-fo to ever single handidly grace a Codex, holding it up in the competitive world of 40k single handedly, but also because he's 10,000 years old and a Blackstone Fortress. It's Eldrad.

4th Edition Eldar Swooping Hawks

First of all I feel that I should apologise for the lack of progress this month, and this has cost the blog a bit of growth. This has been down to a number of reasons. Firstly my exams at the start of the month, finishing off my first year at University. Secondly an increased workload. I have a lot of Chaos Marines to paint, and am falling behind on that, but I'm also writing for 2 entities other than this blog, 40kGlobal.com and the Steel City Wargaming Newsletter, for the latter I had to attempt to squeeze the entire Daemons Codex into 4 pages including pictures. In addition, in the next 24 hours I have 2 seperate recordings for 2 seperate podcasts. I'm being worked hard.