Sunday, October 11, 2009

#031 - shadow of the horned rat


my first warhammer fantasy army, the skaven, have finally received a new armybook after being outstripped several times by other armies... and what an army book it is!!

first off, the costs of clanrats, stormvermin, rat swarms, and night runners have all decreased drastically, which benefits me greatly:

1. clanrats - 2 bricks of 30 went for 390, now only costing 324 for a difference of 66 points...

2. stormvermin - 23 with shields and full command used to cost me 232, now dropping to 209... hey, 23 points is 23 points...

3. rat swarms - dropped from 45 to 25 points per base, which makes a 100 point drop this time around...

4. night runners - 2 units of 10 cost me 200 points in the last book, but now a single group of 20 only costs me 148, a drop of 52 points right there...

5. slaves - 2 units of 20 was 40 points, and has not changed... so 0 mark there...

6. weapon teams - while not exactly core, i do take 3 attached teams, and each one went down by 5 points, for extra savings of 15...

my core choices, keeping them exactly as they are, are already saving me 256 points, which is HUGE in an army like this... now as far as specials and rares go:

1. warplock jezzails - because of the surplus in points i have to work with, we add a second jezzail group... 2 squads of 5 rifles each, brings 100 points per slot... i like rifles, so this is good...

2. poisoned wind globadiers - gone from core to special, but no change in points costs... instead of two skirmish teams, i am consolidating into a single 10-rat group for concentrated globing... 10 globadiers cost me 100 points for this slot choice... i have to bunch these together because i only get 4 special slots at this level - in larger games, they will split back into 5 and 5...

3. plague monks - 20 monks with full command and paired weapons used to be 185, and the banner of burning hatred i always gave them brought it up to 210... the same unit with shroud of dripping death is only 195 points, throwing 15 points back at me...

4. warp lightning cannon - my only rare slot went down 5 points, but ill take what i can get... not sure how i feel about the new rules for it though...

now with the entire army built up, same as it always was, i have a whopping 579 points to spend on my army's leaders...

1. mister squeakers (warlord) - 150 points for warpstone armour, weeping blade, and default hand weapon

2. fluffkin (warlock engineer) - 118 points for a level 1 caster, with pistol, death globe, and warlock optics

3. nibbles (warlock engineer) - 160 points for a level 2 caster, warp condenser, and warlock augmented weapon

4. poxy (plague priest) - 151 points for a level 2 caster with plague censer

and so the epic destiny of mister squeakers begins... /post

Saturday, October 3, 2009

#030 - da furst viktory!!



so how did i spend my day? well i received a call from kevin at the store that a small space wolves force was trying to move in on my turf, and that just couldnt be allowed... so gobsmasha and da krew went in to see what was gonna get done about these wolf boyz...

wolf turn one - i did not setup first, nor did i steal the initiative... the space wolves moved forward in a normal spread... a blood claw pack under the watchful eye of a wolf lord... four long fangs in the back... a blood claw and dreadnought up the other flank... a wolf priest up the center with a lone wolf...

ork turn one - gobsmasha had a plan going into this... he knew these wolf boyz liked a good scrap just as much as an ork does, so he set out the bait in good view - a mob of 25 stood in the back to present a very nice target... while they were getting into position, trakka and shadez made their way up and around outside the field to launch sneak attacks later on... gobsmasha and wogrot marched through the ruins of a building past the boomwagon, which fired at a pack of blood claws killing one, and the skorcha wagon advanced while slinging big shoota rounds at the wolf lord, though only his wolves took any damage...

wolf turn two - with still nothing in range, the space wolves had no choice but to keep advancing... unless they acted soon, it was going to be a range war they had no hope of winning...

ork turn two - shadez and his boys ran in from the wolves' right flank right on time, dishing out a hail of slugga rounds and rokkits, killing two of the wolves from behind before they could react... meanwhile a boomgun round sailed true to its mark and greased three more blood claws from the same unit, as well as another pesky wolf from the lord's group... gobsmasha and wogrot's wreckaz added more fire into the fray taking out a fifth blood claw, and the skorcha wagon fired both it big shoota to eliminate a sixth while irongob's 'ard boyz piled out and lent their shootas into the mess... then shadez and his krew decided it was time to teach these oversized 'umiez what a proper scrap is all about - charging in with his big choppa, two blood claws from the second squad were torn apart, but before they fell they injured shadez and one of his boyz...

wolf turn three - with the long fangs now in position, their targets eluded them as both wagons were on the opposite side of the adjacent ruins, so they opened fire at the bait mob but failed to wound anything... the lone wolf and wolf lord moved up but managed to still be out of reach - gobsmasha's plan was working well so far, keeping the wolves on the move while the boyz shot at their leisure... the dreadnought marched forward still in search of a target, finding none... meanwhile, the brawl between the kommandos and blood claws was failing to do the wolf boyz any good - the blood claws failed to injure anyone, while shadez cleaved through another two marines like paper... although marines know no fear, they know when a fight is lost and the remaining two "tactically withdrew" with their tails between their legs...

ork turn three - not looking to be outdone by shadez, trakka and his krew joined the fight from the opposite flank, a hail of bullets killing another three blood claws... the boomwagon took this opportunity to level its big gun at the wolf lord who, at the moment, was quite unprotected - the result was devastating as both he and his remaining puppy were torn apart in the blast, which did nothing to help the marines' cause... gobsmasha and wogrot moved in to being the pain to the wolf priest in the middle of the field, though neither skorcha blast fired did anything against the priest's armour... shadez and his krew advanced toward the long fangs who were dangerously exposed, killing one in a hail of gunfire... then the order came over the radio for the boyz to get stuck in - gobsmasha and wogrot charged the wolf priest, trakka charged the blood claws, and shadez charged the long fangs... shadez and his krew lost another boy, but killed a fang in the process, while trakka and his boyz lost two and killed two blood claws... things didn't go so well for gobsmasha though - while an astounding twelve blows found their mark on the wolf priest, his armour still held out, and his return swings managed to kill one of the wreckaz... the rage of the priest at losing his lord took its toll on high command, causing them to back off and be clubbed into unconsciousness as they withdrew...

wolf turn four - enraged by the loss of his lord as well, the lone wolf attempted to come to grips with the greenskins but still couldn't close the distance... the dreadnought kept marching forward, as did the two blood claws that survived from shadez's first push... the wolf priest then opened fire at the mob of boyz while they got ready to scrap it out with him, though he only killed one - hardly enough for anyone to notice... the blood claws missed all their attacks against trakka's krew, who proceeded to slay them to a man... the long fangs, however, managed to kill two orks while only losing one, sending shadez rushing into the night to "regroup" later - he did his job anyway, taking two squads of marines down to a combined total of three... the wolves still needed a big comeback in order to survive this battle...

ork turn four - the boomwagon's overpowered engine got the better of itself and proceeded to gun it towards the lone wolf and his dual puppy bodyguard, who attempted to make a heroic stand against it with a powerfist - unfortunately all he did was dent the fender with his face as the looted tank's treads ground his head into pulp, leaving the dogs whimpering next to his body... meanwhile, the mob of boyz rushed up and all 24 fired at the wolf priest - terminator armour or not no one can withstand that kind of punishment, and suffered two fatal wounds from the barrage... irongob and his boyz, in a fit of spite, gunned down the two wolves as they pined over their master, leaving a solitary long fang, a dreadnought, and two blood claws remaining on the field...

wolf turn five - it was too much for the wolves... they could not go back in shame, having lost both their lord and priest - it was all or nothing now... the dread, finally making it in range of the mob of boyz, killed one with his multi-melta, but was still too far away to make a charge... the blood claws followed behind it, ready to support a final push... the long fang fired at the mob as well, reducing another boy to melted slag, but it just wasn't enough...

ork turn five - the boomwagon scooted over and fired a shell at the last long fang, though it overshot its mark by quite a bit... the nob from the boyz mob, however, managed a brutal charge against the dreadnought, using three of his team as shields while he rushed in for the kill - a single blow from the power klaw shattered the engine housing, causing a massive explosion that killed six more boyz and one of the remaining blood claws...

wolf turn six - a final plasma cannon blast failed to do any damage to the boyz again, and the remaining blood claw made his desperate suicide charge into the mob, only to kill a single ork while the nob impaled him with a power klaw from behind... there was nothing left for the last long fang to do except become the next lone wolf unless he was killed next...

ork turn six - the boomgun hit its mark this time, but the shell was a dud, merely knocking the long fang back a few steps... gobsmasha and wogrot's krew were picked up and brought back to kamp, still alive and still ready to have a go, though no one was left to tear apart... first battle, first victory... it tastes good...

MVP awards - the boyz mob for killing a wolf priest, dreadnought, and finishing a blood claws pack in 3 consecutive turns, with runner up of shadez's krew for tearing apart two separate squads with only 6 models...

tactical critique - knowing full well that space wolves excel in close combat, my whole plan was to keep them split apart and constantly having to move at me... by hugging the back and right flank, i ensured that everything wouldn't have the range to do any damage to my boyz... the outflank gamble works just fine, as i figured it would... an all-assault weapon volley, followed by a 24-attack charge removes enough of the resistance to be successful, and at just around 100 pt each, they're not major losses if they get creamed... the only thing i would do differently is not charge terminator armoured characters without a backup weapon - the warboss and nobz should only attack things with normal armour...

/post

Friday, October 2, 2009

#029 - da mob so far...

now that i have enough models in the army, i can finally piece together how it will look on paper... so here goes:

gutstab gobsmasha - 90 pt
kombi-skorcha, big choppa, 'eavy armour, cybork body, bosspole

'toolz' murfy - 100 pt
choppa, mek's toolz, kustom force field, cybork body, 'eavy armour

wogrot's wreckaz (5 nobz) - 155 pt
3x kombi-skorcha, 2x big choppa, 'eavy armour, stikkbomms

chainz' burnas (5 burnas) - 75 pt
mek w/ big shoota, 4x burnas

trakka's mob (6 kommandos) - 115 pt
nob w/ power klaw & 'eavy armour, burna, 4x slugga/choppa, stikkbomms

shadez's mob (6 kommandos) - 90 pt
nob w/ big choppa & 'eavy armour, 2x rokkit launcha, 3x slugga/choppa, stikkbomms

boyz mob (27 boyz) - 197 pt
nob w/ big choppa & bosspole, 26x slugga/choppa

irongob's krew (10 'ard boyz) - 130 pt
nob w/ big choppa, big shoota, 8x shoota/choppa, 'eavy armour, stikkbomms

big gunz - 123 pt
3x zzap gunz, 12x krew, runtherd w/ prod

looted wagon - 125 pt
boomgun, big shoota, 'ard case, grot riggers

looted wagon - 100 pt
skorcha, 2x big shoota, 'ard case, red paint job, armour plates, grot riggers, stikkbomm chukkas, reinforced ram

which gives me exactly 1300 pt assembled, and in need of another 200 to make a round numbered army... so here's what im thinking with that - another 4 burnas and 1 mek with kustom mega blasta (spanna) as well as 2 ammo grotz (85 pt), then a deff dred with 3 dread CC and a skorcha, grot riggers and armour plates (110 pt, counts as troops from big mek)... which means the burnas go inside the skorcha wagon to benefit from power weapons, though only at initiative 3 on the charge (still beats fists)... however, since theyre all template weapons, they ignore cover saves and auto hit, so whatever is left when the assault comes is pretty much toasted... the dred works as a can opener in this list, 'plan a' as it were, doing 4 attacks at strength 10, ignoring armour, and striking before carnifex and fists again...

'plan b' comes next on the table, once more using the burnas and grotz at 85 pt, but this time including multiple trukks, with red paint jobs, stikkbomm chukkas, armour plates and a reinforced ram (so 65 pt each)... this leaves me with an overage of 15 pt, which is easily solved by taking the stikkbomms off of the 'ard boyz and the nobz - now it's back to being 1500 even... throw the boss and nobz in the skorcha wagon, 'ard boyz with big mek in one trukk, and the burnas in the other trukk... right now plan b is more appealing to the style of the warband - two kommando teams outflank, 3 transports push up the middle, and the boyz hold the backfield with the zzap gunz and looted 'doosa'... a totally different view than i started with (was hoping for deff koptas and kommandos for an all outflank battle), but one that is shaping up nicely all the same...

/post