Tournament Play? You Don't Say!

Well, there's a 1,000 point Warhammer Fantasy tournament this Friday, and I want to bring the nastiest army I can. This means cheesy list, and so I ventured onto the interwebz to get some help analyzing my possibilities. Having gotten only two responses to my poll, I am still torn between two armies. Either my Ogre Kingdoms army will make the cut, or my Chaos Daemons. Still being torn, I decided to put together. First I put together my Ogre Kingdoms. My optimized Ogre Kingdoms army needed a Sabertusk, but I had no mini. Off to my box of random minis! After rooting around for a while, I came upon a Kroothound and a cavalry base. I slapped the two together and painted it up.

After that I pulled out my Ogres. The reasoning behind this army is simple. At small point values armies have a very hard time dealing with the hitting power Ogres can bring to the table. With this in mind I decided to put together the nastiest army I could. Ironguts, Mournfang Cavalry, and a lone Sabertusk. Why just one? Simple- this fills up one of the three compulsory units required to make a legal army, and he's very good at killing off warmachines.

My army consists only of units armed with great weapons. This is because of an Ogre's dismal Initiative score. As low as it is, the Always Strike Last rule really won't be a hindrance. The massive Strength 6 will annihilate enemy armor, and having the lowest movement in my army being a 7 (thanks Banner of Swiftness), I should make it across the table very rapidly.

Unfortunately, this army has one glaring weakness. It has abysmal Leadership. This leads to concerns about Panic, and forces me to spread out my units so that they're more than 6" away from each other. Especially that Sabertusk, as he's very easy to slay, and Ogres apparently freak out at the sight of a lone kitty cat getting offed. This also leads to concerns about gunlines. With a good volley it's quite possible to get 25% of a unit to die, and that would lead to a Panic test as well. That could very well lead to disaster.

That leads me to my other choice, Daemons of Chaos. They're a very solid army, and are much better painted than the Ogres. I called up the event venue (my friendly not-so-local Games Workshop) and asked if Special Characters were allowed. Met with a "yes", I began playing with Army Builder. I managed to fit in Skulltaker, The Masque of Slaanesh, a good number of Bloodletters, Flesh Hounds, and Flamers. Oh, also a few Furies. Except for the Furies, all of these choices are very solid. Why furies then? Points. I had them left over and had run out of Bloodletters. Five more of them and I'd be much happier with my army, but alas.

In theory this army is stronger in many areas, but it lacks one fairly major thing; magical defense. Having no Wizard means I have to rely on my Magic Resistance to carry me through the game, and against spells that don't deal wounds (Pit of Shades, Dwellers Below, Mindrazor) I have some thinking to do. Which spells do I let through, and which spells to I stop? I'll have to chuck more dice at spells to stop them, and this will lead to my opponent getting more spells through. Very, very ponderous.

But then, the Daemons are much better looking...
I wonder if there's a painting score?

Much more thinking is required. I may just end up rolling a die to determine which army to take.

Exploring Dungeons Is Super!

Yep, as you were warned several months back, not all of my miniatures are strictly wargaming related. These lil' fellas are examples. That's right, I've finally gotten around to painting my Super Dungeon Explore minis. This game pretty much demands painting, as leaving these gems of miniatures unpainted is a crime against humanity. I started with the Royal Paladin and the Claw Tribe Barbarian up front, and once I was comfortable with the painting techniques I'll be using to get these guys finished, I moved on to the Deeproot Druid, Hearthsworn Fighter, and Hexcast Sorceress along the back.

Next up are all of my various little dragons. From left to right are my Wyrmlings, Whelps, and Hatchling pairs. I'm really quite happy with how the reds turned out. Now to hope I don't run out of Baal Red wash before I finish with my Kobolds.

...And last but certainly not least are mu Kobold Warrens. Despite their rather simple appearance, these are the focal points of the game, so I can't let them languish in unpaintedness.

Next up, maybe more heroes? Grey Hunters? Who knows? What is for certain is that the painting bug has bitten, and hopefully won't let up any time soon (seeing as I'm pretty much done with classes).

We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Gaming...

...for a really, really quick post. I've been posting this all over the place, and screaming it from the highest mountain so I figured why not here? Last Friday I got engaged. Just thought I would throw that up here.

Also, I've been painting some non-wargaming miniatures that Demitra accidentally reminded me of. I'll try to have some pictures up tomorrow, but until then you'll just have to be content with my obnoxious glee over my happy new life status.

Seeya soonish with a relevant post.

Long Fangs Are Long

Well, I have ten Long Fangs with Missile Launchers. A special thanks goes out to my buddy A. K. as he provided me with four of the sorely needed weapons. You may notice that three of the Missile Launchers aren't the stock standard weapons. This is because they were converted out of left over Hunter-Killer Missiles from the Razorback kits I had laying around. You may also notice that the minis are a touch shiny. This is because I have temporally run out of Dullcote. I'll get some more soon, and that will take off the shine imparted by the Krylon "Matte Varnish" I use as a primary protectant for my minis. Having finished these two squads, my attention now turns to the final ten Grey Hunters I need. I'll be picking up ten of the old minis on Friday, along with their Rhino (again, thanks A. K.). Pictures of those minis should be up soon, and after that a picture or two of the whole army in action. It will be a rematch of the last game I played at G. W., so wish me luck (that I will not make the stupid moves I made last time).

That's all from the ol' E. V. front for now. I'll have those Grey Hunters up ASAP.

Space Puppies Deep Thoughts

Well, the Dreadnoughts' performance in my last game was, shall we say, less than stellar. I was impressed with the volume and accuracy of their Autocannon fire, and wounding on twos was great fun, but they're AP 4. This is a big problem against Marine Equivalent (MEQ) armies. Their 3+ armor save just shrugs off these otherwise impressive hits.

Now, I know that these Dreadnoughts are for light tank hunting, not anti-infantry duty, but when faced with a wall of infantry they just don't cut the proverbial mustard. Get them tied up in close combat and they're done for the game. When I look at the 250 points the two of them combined suck out of my force I just can't rationalize leaving them in the army. The only possible reason to keep them is to add two more armored targets to my army, and I find that to be a somewhat questionable argument. I can add other armored threats to the army for an equal or lesser amount.

As for hunting enemy armor, I have plenty of Lascannons, Missile Launchers, and Meltaguns to take up the slack.

I also learned a bit about Thunderwolf Cavalry in my last two games. They're very good at being funneled into very narrow lanes and being tied up in close combat, if not being beaten outright. They are very good at what they do (butchering light to medium infantry) but when faced with any substantial threat (Plague Marines or Terminators) it's best to leave the heavy lifting to the Wolf Lord. He's still a pimp, even if he does have to steer clear of Librarians and their ilk.

My Rune Priest does not disappoint. Having toned him down from Njal Stormcaller to Bob the generic Rune Priest has saved me a ton of points, which can be more usefully invested elsewhere. I've decided that Murderous Hurricane and Living Lightning are the way to go, given that their range is good and they have utilitarian uses. Living Lightning is the ultimate "reach out and touch someone" ability as it's Assault D6 and has an unlimited range. It's Strength of 7 allows it to crack open tanks as well as insta-gib Toughness 3 characters. Then there's Murderous Hurricane. The attack power may not be impressive against anything tougher than Imperial Guard, but the fact that it hits 3d6 times helps make up for its mediocre strength. The main purpose behind this power though is its after-effect. The unit struck by the power treats all terrain, even open ground, as both difficult and dangerous. That's sure to cramp the style of anything trying to close on me, especially big swarms of troops.

Mobility, or lack thereof has been an issue for me. I've been too afraid to move forward and attack my foe. Not only does this go against the whole "Space Wolves feel", it's counter productive in objective based games. Sitting there blasting away is fine in the early game, but in later turns it just means you're not securing the key points on the battlefield.

This is not okay.

To that end I have enlisted the help of one of my friends. I'm raiding his bits box to obtain random parts in order to turn the stuff I have into another Grey Hunter squad. This one will be ten strong, have two Meltaguns, and will be trucking around in a Rhino. This will give me a large, aggressive squad to go for the throat assisted by my fire support, Thunderwolves (for breaking up assaults), and the short range firepower of my other Grey Hunter packs and their Las-Plas Razorbacks. Unfortunately, while the ten man size of the Grey Hunter squad does give it access to a second (free) Meltagun, it prevents the squad from having a Wolf Guard model attached to it. Those Power Fist attacks will be sorely missed. To that end, this squad will be getting a Wolf Standard. Re-rolling every 1 in a single close combat phase (that's to hit, to wound, and armor saves!) once per game is pretty sweet.

Then there are the Long Fangs. I'm adding two squads of five, each with four missile launchers. These suckers are great for cracking light to medium armor, and they kill Space Marines (especially those with multiple wounds and / or Feel no Pain) dead. They're a real bargain at 10 points each, making for a paltry 115 point squad. It's unfortunate that they're only AP 3, as they're just not intimidating to Terminators. I guess I'll have to rely on volume of fire to down them. You can only pass those 2+ armor saves for so long...

In the end my army list is undergoing a change, and hopefully for the better. Having only four small scoring units out there was just a touch too nerve wracking. Here's the result:

HQ

Rune Priest w/ Runic Armor, Chooser of the Slain, Wolftooth Necklace, Living Lightning, Murderous Hurricane- 140 points

Wolf Lord w/ Belt of Russ, Runic Armor, Wolftooth Necklace, Thunderwolf Mount, Frost Weapon, Saga of the Warrior Born- 260 points

ELITES

Wolf Guard Pack
4 Wolf Guard in Power Armor with Power Fists- 152 points

5 Wolf Scouts w/ Mark of the Wulfen, Melta Bombs, Meltagun- 125 points

TROOPS

5 Grey Hunters w/ Meltagun; Razorback w/ Lascannon and Twin-Linked Plasma Gun- 155 points

5 Grey Hunters w/ Meltagun; Razorback w/ Lascannon and Twin-Linked Plasma Gun- 155 points

5 Grey Hunters w/ Meltagun; Razorback w/ Twin-Linked Lascannon- 155 points

5 Grey Hunters w/ Meltagun; Razorback w/ Twin-Linked Lascannon- 155 points

10 Grey Hunters w/ 2x Meltagun, Wolf Standard; Rhino- 200 points

FAST ATTACK

Thunderwolf Cavalry
1 w/ Storm Shield, Power Fist
1 w/ Storm Shield, Meltabombs
1 w/ Storm Shield- 270 points

HEAVY SUPPORT


Pack Leader
4 Long Fangs w/ Missile Launchers- 115 points

Long Fangs
Pack Leader
4 Long Fangs w/ Missile Launchers- 115 points

TOTAL- 1,997 points.

Yeah, it's a 2,000 point army when I usually write up 1,850 point armies, but it's what all the cool kids (read: gamers at my local GW) are doing.

The Wolf Guard would of course be split up to accompany squads- one with the Wolf Scouts, and one with each of three Grey Hunter packs (leaving one pack for the Rune Priest to join).

I'm looking at this army and wondering if the Rune Priest really needs Runic Armor (most stuff that swings at him will ignore his armor save any way) and do the Wolf Scouts really need Meltabombs? That's 45 more points I'd have laying around, but where to put it? A Lone Wolf? In order to be effective he needs to have quite a bit of gear, so he'd be too expensive. Fenrisian Wolves for my Wolf Lord? They'd be pretty good for absorbing dangerous wounds when he gets shot at. More Long Fangs? I'm short two Missile Launcher Marines. This will require some playtesting and tweaking for sure.

Pondering abounds for sure.