X-wing: League End and My Love of Roark Garnet

Thursday marked the end of the previous league and the start of a new one. I finished 2nd place and was very pleased with my performance overall. I went 6/8 only loosing to the person who got 1st. I played the same list 2 weeks in a row, and I think I've found my new go to build, or at least part of it.

(HWK-290) Roark Garnet, Ion Cannon, Chewy
(E-wing) Knave Squadron Pilot
(B-wing) Blue Squadron Pilot
(B-wing) Blue Squadron Pilot

I'm not sold on the Knave yet. He's great but I'm thinking a named X-wing like Garven or another B-wing may be the way to go.

One thing's for sure. I'm loving Roark Garnet. His ability is huge for taking out de-cloaked Tie Phantoms. At this point I'm going to be building most of my lists around him. The only downside is that he has no koiogran turn so he can't turn around. While that is a bummer, the turret weapon usually makes up for it.

This Wednesday there's a Tournament at Heroic Adventures I'll be attending instead of league. Hopefully all my practice and my new list will pay off. I'd love to come home with some new Z-95's or the Rebel Transport.

X-wing: League Play

Hooray!!! Fantasy Books and Games is finally running an organized X-wing league on Wednesdays. It started two weeks ago and I've been having a blast. I really needed a break from 40k too. After all my prep for DieCon, I was getting burned out. I hadn't had a chance to play X-wing since shortly after last years regional. So, I added a few new ships to my collection (2x B-wings, HWK-290, and an E-wing) and dove in full force. I had forgotten how much I love this game. We play two games per night at either 75 or 90 minutes each. The league uses the official X-wing dogfight tournament rules for game scoring and at some point plans to do some Epic play. You can bring a new list every night but you have to use the same list for both of your games. Here's a recap of the first 2 weeks.

Week 1
My List:
(Y-wing) Dutch Vander, Ion Cannon, R2
(X-wing) Garven Dreis
(B-wing) Dagger Squadron Pilot
(X-wing) Rookie Pilot

This week I was focused on relearning the game. I took Dutch and Garven which were staples of a lot of my old lists, simply because I was used to running them and they have good synergy. I went 1-1 this week. The win was against a Firespray, Lambda Shuttle, and Tie Fighter/Interceptor combo. The loss was to a Tie swarm with Howlrunner, 4x Academy Pilots, and Sontir Fel with Push the Limit. Tie swarms are ridiculously strong.

Week 2
My List
(YT-1300) Chewy, Marksmanship, Gunner

(B-wing) Dagger Squadron Pilot, Fire-Control System

(B-wing) Dagger Squadron Pilot

I love me some Chewy. I had brought the same YT-1300 build to regionals last year and knew just how powerful it could be. The B-wing had performed the best out of all of my ships the week before So I wanted get both of them on the table. I went 2-0 this week. I played against a Tie Defender/Phantom/Interceptor combo and an Elite Tie/Interceptor Swarm.

Each week the league organizer passes out items from the Fantasy Flight Game Night Kit which is nice. So far I've acquired 5 acrylic stress tokens and an alternate Gold Squadron Pilot card. I'm really hoping this league stays a regular thing at the store. I could totally see myself alternating between the 40k league and this.

Going into week 3 I feel like I've got a good handle on the game again. I'm going to try and get all of my newer ships on the board. I've heard rumbles on the inter-webs that the HWK-290 just doesn't cut it. I guess I'll find out tomorrow. Here's the list:

(HWK-290) Roark Garnet, Ion Cannon, Chewy
(E-wing) Knave Squadron Pilot
(B-wing) Blue Squadron Pilot
(B-wing) Blue Squadron Pilot

Warhammer 40k: DieCon Gateway Grand Tournament Results

Eric Darrais vs Avery Windau at one of the two top tables.

The final standings were as follows:

Overall Winner: Avery Windau (Space Marines/Tau)

1st and Best General: Adam Warnecke/Capnmoe (Tau/Eldar)

2nd: Brent Naumann (Necrons)

3rd: Eric Darrais (Tau/Necrons)

4th & Best Painting: Brent Gates/Makers (Chaos Daemons)

Sportsmanship: Dave Naumann (Orks)

3 of the top 5 armies had Tau and 2 of them had Necrons. We definitely weren't expecting Space Marine's to be in any, especially since it was 6th Edition rules. But there they were, in the top spot... thanks to the Centurion-Star. My god it's amazing.

It consisted of a Tau Commander with Command and Control Node & Mutlispectrum Sensor Suite which twin linked the units shots and allowed them to ignore cover. Tigurius and a Chapter Master with the Shield Eternal, Artificer armor, and a Power Sword. Finally, it had 4 Centurions with 4 Grav Cannons/Grav Amps and the Sergeant also had Missile Launcher/Omniscope.

He would use Tigurius to get Gate of Infinity and jump around the board destroying anything and everything he needed too.

Capmoe was running his Tau/Eldar Combo.

And Makers was running Daemons

Full lists and game summaries after the jump.

DieCon and the Gateway Grand Tournament

It's that time of year again. This weekend is DieCon!!! A list of events and tickets can found and purchased here http://diecon.com/D14/. Last year I took part in the Gateway Grand Tournament and managed to win the title of "Best General" with my Necron/Grey Knights combo. Hopefully this year I can do even better. If you love gaming, this is the place to be this weekend. I know they are also hosting 40k skirmish games, an Apocalypse game, and a 30k event. They also run a huge amount of Warmachine/Hordes events and more. This year I'm bringing out my Tau/Eldar combo. I have one Riptide left to finish painting before Saturday which shouldn't be a problem. Makers will also be playing in the tournament with his Chaos Daemons. Can the Lonely Havocs bring the noise? Stay tuned for updates.

Picture of this years army photographed with a potato. Better photos to come.

X-Wing: Wave 5 Preview!!!

Hell ya! The Outrider is finally coming. I'll be picking this one up for sure. The new crew cards and options look amazing.

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=4869

Warhammer 40K 7th Edition Battle Report: Chaos Space Marines/Daemons vs Iron Hands/Ultramarines

7th edition bitches! Makers and I tackled our first game together. After hearing about some of the crazy new shenanigans happening in the psychic phase with Daemons and summoning we decided to limit our fast game to a single level 3 psyker each. Being competitive players, we also decided to pass on doing the new tactical mission cards, as we can't imagine they will every be used in tournaments due to their unbalanced nature.

Points: 1750
Deployment: Hammer and Anvil
Mission: Crusade with 4 objectives in the center of each table quarter.

My List (Chaos Space Marines/Daemons):

HQ
Daemon Prince (Tzeentch's Firestorm, Boon of Mutation, Cursed Earth, Summoning)
Daemon of Tzeentch, Daemonic Flight, Armour, Psyker Level 3, Spell Familiar
Herald of Khorne - Juggernaut of Khorne, Exalted Reward (Grimoire of True Names), Greater Locus of Fury

Troops
10x Plaguebearers of Nurgle
5x Chaos Space Marines - Rhino
5x Chaos Space Marines - Rhino

Fast Attack
Heldrake - Baleflamer
Heldrake - Baleflamer

15x Flesh Hounds of Khorne

Heavy Support
Soul Grinder - Daemon of Slaanesh, Baleful Torrent
3x Obliterator - Mark of Nurgle

Makers List (Iron Hands/Ultramarines):

HQ
Master of the Forge (Warlord)
Tigurius (Psychic Shriek, Dominate, Invisibility, Hallucinate)

Elites

5x Terminator Assault Squad - 4 TH/SS, 1 Dual Lightning Claws
Land Raider Crusader - Multimelta

Troops

5x Man Tactical Squad - Rhino

5x Man Tactical Squad - Rhino

5x Man Tactical Squad - Gravgun, Razerback - Twin Linked Lascannon

5x Man Tactical Squad - Gravgun, Razerback - Twin Linked Lascannon

Heavy Support

Vindicator

Predator - Lacannon Sponsons

Predator - Lacannon Sponsons

Fortification

Aegis Defense Line - Quad Cannon

Prepare your prayers...

MARINES!! FORM RANKS!! The Reclusiam has made it planetside and are are here for inspection with their Sternguard Veteran entourage for rapid insertion.

The prefer the rapid deployment of Drop Pods and Stormravens to inspect the forces and get into the fight.

Warhammer 40K: Orks - Death of Looted Vehicles?

Rumors today are coming out that in the new Ork Codex, they will no longer have access to Looted Vehicles.

As a former Ork player, this would make me very upset.

While I do enjoy the game itself, a lot of people enjoy the modeling and painting aspect of the game more.

Some of the greatest things I have seen in the game were looted vehicles.

A few years ago I stumbled across this example of awesomeness. Be hold the Tater Mek Titan.

This piece of heaven was created by the artist over at Irondog Studios. 

Built from scratch, for the love of the game.

It saddens me to think that things like this will essentially be removed from the game.

I mean, it really cant be anymore broken than Invisibility right?