Christmas is coming...

... and some hobby time beckons. On top of quality family time of course!

Someone has too much money

Terrain-wise I have a Sector Imperialis board that needs painting... although I watched the 20 minute GW YouTube tutorial on painting it and thought 'OMG WTF LOL OMG SRSLY?...'... Inspiring and terrifying all at once. 

I also have two extra Realm of Battle boards that need to be painted up to match my others. I have visions of setting up a huge 14'x4' (or some combination of 8x RoB and 6x 40k boards) for a large game... can't wait.

I have some leftover Imperial Sector ruins to build (I'm a bit light on taller than one story at the moment...) plus wreckage etc. I definitely need to get some more terrain. No excuses (apart from financial ones)

I need to buy some mdf to chop up for building bases as well.

Model-wise I have a couple of metal Grey Knight Terminators that need bringing up to speed with some replacement arms (now that Justicars can't have psycannons, boo).

I have a small pile of Inquisition warband models sitting in Simple Green ready for the ultrasonic cleaner to do its thing. I did manage also to pick up some Last Chancers and other older metals (thanks Carson!) so I'm looking to get a few painted if not at least prepped and undercoated. Here's hoping that an update to the Inquisition Codex will allow henchmen to be armed with normal lasguns... rather than just hotshot ones. I mean, who would ever buy them?

I need to think about my NZTC list - specifically whether I take a magic or cavalry lizard list. Last year I took cavalry, but had Tetto'eko to comet people to bits. This year there's no special characters so maybe I'll have to default back to a Slann in order to get some serious magic. Or just toughen up... Time to find out what everyone else in the team is taking!

I'm going away for a couple of weeks to Christchurch visiting family (and house swapping) so am hoping to catch up with some olde wargaming comrades and fit in a visit to Comics Compulsion. Assuming we have room I'm hoping to also take my Lizardmen Temple Guard with me. They haven't seen any paint since last time I ... took them to Chch.

All in all I am looking forward to the break.

The SFL vs the World

Righto, here’s my report on my 5 games against very nice people.

Game 1 – vs Ryan Stuart (Daemons)
Ryan had (1000pts as per scenario):
Herald of Tzeentch, L2
25 Daemonettes of Slannesh
10 Pink Horrors
4 Beasts of Nurgle
Skullcannon

Ryan has played 40k and is making his way into the twisting turning alleys of the Olde World.

As per the scenario rules he asked me to deploy my entire army first (which would also give me first turn).

As you can see Ryan set up on quite a refused flank. Turn 1 I moved the Carnosaur and CoC forward to tempt the Beasts into a charge. It didn’t work, and in his turn the dreaded Skullcannon fired...

Turn 2 for me the Carnosaur and CoC combi-charged the Beasts, wiping them out and overrunning. The Carnosaur made it to the Skullcannon, while the CoC got forward enough to charge the Pink Horrors.

The other thing that was happening was the Skink Skirmish unit march blocking and ultimately drawing the Daemonette unit into the marsh where they suffered Dangerous Terrain tests. And then I spent the rest of the game whittling them down through weight of javelin and Beam of Chotec shots until they were all gone.

Thoughts: 
In this game everything the Bastiladon did went right. I should have taken this as an omen as the rest of the tournament because he did pretty much nothing else really in comparison! It’s reasonably good for 150pts...although it really needs Impact Hits GW! Pleeeeeease. I’ll buy a second one if you do!

20-0 to me

Game 2 vs Ben Crum (Vampire Counts)
Ben had:
L4 Necromancer, 4++
L2 Necromancer, Book of Arkhan
L1 Blender Vampire (Death), Sword of Might
20 Crypt Ghouls
5 Dire Wolves
5 Dire Wolves
20 Zombies
Spirit Host
Spirit Host
Terrorgheist

We deployed alternatively which allowed me as the attacker to go first. I deployed a two pronged advance with the intention that something would make its way off.

This game started well (or so I thought). Ben vanguarded his Dire Wolves out, so in my Turn 1 the Carnosaur charged, connected, wiped them out, and overran into the Terrorgheist.

Ben’s Turn 1 – Terrorgheist screams in combat, Scar Vet is dead, Carnosaur has 2 wounds left (and is now Stupid), can’t do anything back, my Turn 2 he does nothing (again) and then Ben’s Turn 2 is mercifully put out of his misery.

Where for art thou, carnosaur?

The Terrorgheist then flapped off and killed (over several turns):
BSB
Saurus Cav
1x Skrox unit (the remains of)

Vampire and Ghouls never even needed to get into combat.

Yikes.

At the end of the game I had some of a Skrox unit left (the ones that finally beat the Spirit Host with CR).

... After this photo was taken, obviously.

Thoughts:
With the benefit of hindsight I should have just smashed up one flank with everything, I wanted to force Ben to choose where the Terrorgheist went which I still think was a good idea (maybe it wasn’t) but it certainly didn’t quite execute.

2-18 to Ben

Game 3 – vs Robert Higgins (Warriors of Chaos)
Robert had:
Chaos Lord, MoN, Flail, Scaled Skin, Flaming Breath, Ironcurse Icon, Daemonic Mount
Chaos Sorceror, MoN, DS, Luckstone, Warrior Bane, Enchanted Shield, Potion of Foolhardiness, Daemonic Mount
14 Marauder Horse, MoN, Flails, LA, Shield
5 Chaos Warhounds
6 Chaos Knights, MoN, Wailing Banner

I was reasonably confident that I could deal with this army, as long as I charged... So I did against the Nurgle Knights with the Carnosaur and the CoR and just bounced. Damn -1 to hit! Luckily the Scar-Vet on the Carnosaur held but he couldn’t do anything. At all.

When the Carnosaur did eventually hit and wound the Nurgle Lord (just the once) it only did 1 wound. Eventually the Scar-Vet and the Carnosaur both died a death. And surely deserved to.

Funniest moment of the game:
The Marauder Cav bus charged a Skrox unit in Dangerous Terrain, won the combat, failed to run the Skrox down, lost a crapload of models to the terrain, failed their subsequent Ld test, and then ran off the board in the next turn. LOLs all round.

At the end of the game I controlled the two objectives that allowed me bonuses for future games. Robert controlled the Cursed Watchtower (which had penalties for the next game) and 300VP.

1-19 to Robert

Thoughts:
Stupid carnosaur

Game 4 – Peter Williamson (Tomb Kings)
Peter had:
Liche High Priest, Ruby Ring
3 Chariots
3 Chariots
17 Skellie Bows
10 Skellie Bows
Tomb Scorpion
Tomb Scorpion
3 Carrion
Necrosphinx

I had forgotten that Necrosphinxes fly. So I was initially cautious with my movement as I was petrified of that damn Necrosphinx flying in and Heroic KB’ing my Carnosaur or BSB. As it turns out he did that to the BSB

... but that allowed my Carnosaur to pull off an audacious long charge into the unit of 17 Skellie Bows, wiping them out in one glorious charge, which led to...

Funniest moment of the game:
Liche Priest IF’s Usekhp’s Incantation of Desiccation which reduced the Scar-Vet and Carnosaur’s toughness by 3pts to T2... just as they had received a charge from three chariots. This had a predictable result in the ensuing combat. The resulting Miscast though sent the Priest down a hole and allowed me to salvage a draw (at the end of the game I had the Bastiladon and the Skrox unit showing, he had a Tomb Scorpion...) from all the subsequent crumbling.

10-10 draw (I was 35VP ahead so I take it as a win! <cough>)

Thoughts:
I should have been braver and risked the T1 charge with the Carnosaur into a unit of Chariots, it was only 18”... yeah right!

Game 5 – vs Ian Dixon (Bretonnians)
I’d like to start with an apology to Ian as, with my fuddled mind after 4 games in a row, I completely forgot to take any photos of our game...

It was also just wrong that the two good guy armies were facing off against each other too.

Ian had:
Paladin, Virtue of Confidence, Lance of Artois
Paladin, BSB, Armour of Agilulf, Shrieking Blade, Potion of Foolhardiness
6 Knights Errant, Errantry Banner
5 KotR, Banner of Chalons
5 KotR, Banner of Swiftness
15 Peasant Bowmen, Braziers
15 Peasant Bowmen, Braziers
6 Mounted Yeomen, Shields
3 Pegasus Knights

In this game I used my bonus 100pt unit picked up in an earlier game, so got 7 Chameleon Skinks.

Ian’s army prayed, so I went first and forced the Yeomen to flee with the Chameleon shooting, and also sent forward the CoC and the Carnosaur to encourage the Knights Errant to charge.

This worked, and resultant carnage ensued where eventually the CoC got flank charged by the KotR with the General in it - they survived and reformed, blocking the Carnosaur from getting in amongst it (there was no other way...). The Peg Knights charged and eventually made a unit of Skrox flee after a couple of turns but wore the Carnosaur the turn after that.

2x Kroxigor made short work (eventually) of the BSB in about Turn 5.

20-0 to me

Overall results can be found here http://www.thefieldsofblood.com/2014/11/vermintide-results_17.html

I was pretty stoked to come away with Best Presented, that centrepiece model with the added distraction of the Bastiladon really paid off I think. Thanks everyone for your votes!

A big thank you to Neil for running it and the Wellington Warlords for hosting. Love these one day events!

And I am also happy my only failed prediction was 1st place. How could you do this to me Peter?? At least 2nd and 3rd were 1st and 2nd. And well done to Hugh for getting those 14 Bloodletters near a podium. That won’t happen again any time soon!

Next time? Less Carnosaur. And more Saurus Cav. And more Terradons. And play better.

Raaargheady to go

Army book and stuff? Check.
Soft list with insufficient models? Check.

Finished carnosaur? Check! Another thing down, woo hoo!

Vermintide this weekend!!

The reason I have been a bit quiet is that (apart from family 'stuff') the one-day WHFB tournament Vermintide is on this coming weekend. It's 1200pts, and 5 games on 5' x 4' tables with some unique and different scenarios. And I have been feverishly painting my Carnosaur. Normally I would have taken more of everything else, but I thought that it would be a good idea to use the tournament as a deadline to get this rather large model painted.

 

This is the soft and fluffy list I am taking:

 

Scar-Vet (General) – Light Armour, Charmed Shield, Tormentor Sword, Talisman of Protection, Carnosaur w/Loping Stride

Scar-Vet (BSB) – Light Armour, Shield, GW, Standard of Discipline, Cold One

Skink Cohort – 11 Skinks, 1 Kroxigor, Standard, Muso

Skink Cohort – 10 Skinks, 1 Kroxigor, Standard, Muso

Skink Skirmishers – Javelin& Shield

Cold One Riders – 6 COR, Spears, FC

Bastiladon – Solar Engine

 

A pretty mobile list apart from the Bastiladon, which I thought would be good to take for some* magical offence - some Terradons would have been nice but you can't have everything**

 

*Pretty much nothing

**... if you take a Carnosaur

Here are some WIPs - should be done no problems finishing for Saturday. Carnosaur just needs static grass, magnetic sheet, and a varnish. Scar Vet might get finished tonight!

RAAAAAAARRRRGGH!! <Boom> Ouch a cannonball!

My wife preferred the Old Blood while I preferred Kroq-Gar... so I mixed it up. Call me crazy!

Now onto the tournament - Games 1 and 2 are one of these unique scenarios - it pits the Defender with 1200pts against the Attacker with 1000pts. You play each role over the two games (against different opponents).

 

Deployment is per Battleline, with the defender choosing table sides. The attacker can then choose for the defender to deploy their forces first and give up first turn, or deploy alternatively and go first.

 

The attacker gets victory points for exiting units from the far table edge in the enemy’s deployment zone. The attacker receives double the original cost of the unit in victory points providing that it is still over half-strength, and the original unit cost if it is half-strength or below. Victory points are not awarded for any units using the special deployment rules (i.e. Vanguard, Ambush, Scout), or who have the Fly special rule.

 

To exit, the unit must make a normal move (not a march move – except relentless dwarfs) off the table. Alternatively it may pursue an enemy unit or overrun off the table. Once a unit has exited by way of a normal move it may not return. For a unit that exits by way of pursuit or overrun the player must declare their intent to return or not as it exits. A unit that returns does not count for bonus victory points unless it exits again.|

 

The first round draw has been completed. I am up against 1000pts of Daemons wielded by Ryan Stuart. His list is:

 

Herald of Tzeentch (General) – L2 Wizard

Daemonettes of Slaanesh – 25 Daemonettes, Musician, Standard, Standard of Swiftness

Pink Horrors of Tzeentch – 10 Horrors

Beasts of Nurgle – 4 Beasts

Skullcannon of Khorne (whatever happened to BLOODLETTERS OF KHORNE???? Oh that's right... Hugh Dixon is taking what seems to be the local supply...all 14 of them)

 

So it’s going to be a challenge – Ryan also has a lot of mobility with those Daemonettes and the Beasts and the everpresent threat of that ‘orrible Skillcannon.

 

Trust me to get one of the three lists with cannons first up... but I am sure it will be a fun game! 

Overall across the lists there are 2x Skullcannons (over two lists), 2x Warp Lightning cannons (in the same list!), 4x Reaper Bolt throwers (over two lists).

There's also 1 Terrorgheist, 1 Necrosphinx, 1 teeny weeny harmless Carnosaur (mine), a veritable redirect*** of eagles (in one list), some Mournfang, some Skullcrushers, an excessive**** of Wild Riders (in one list), a couple of L4's....and lots of this and that. They all look a lot scarier than my list.

*** That's what they are called in the Helf army...

**** That's what they are called in the Welf army...

Armies break down to:

37% forces of Chaos (WoC or DoC)

14% forces of the Undead (von Carstein and Tomb Kings)

21% PEG (one of each flavour)

7% Mercenaries (OK)

7% Humans (Bretonnians)

7% nasty nasty Ratties with their broken army book

7% Order of Light, fluff, and fairness (Lizards) 

So not a lot of good guys. The Bretonnians and I will fight the good fight though!

I am picking Peter Williamson to win, not because he's the TO's son (although... nah. Surely not) but because he a very good player and there's enough annoying stuff in his list like the veritable rain of arrows  :). Then it's a fight for second between Ryan Lister and his list of arrowed doom (oh and the Wild Riders) and Alan Hughes' rat swarm (and two WLC's...).

Right, I'm off to finish my Scar Vet!

Where can I fit a carnosaur in a Lizardmen list?

Sorry about the lack of activity over the last two weeks - real life intruded with a family member passing away.

So, obviously, there has been a lack of painting. So this post will be (hopefully) a discussion point where my spawn-kin, lizard buddies, or just generally those with more experience than me at The Warhammers of Fantasy can provide some insight.

Rather than take the potentially humourous and slightly painful path that the title of this post might imply or suggest, I am asking this question because I have, in the list schedule thing of stuff to paint, one of the new Carnosaur models. It's a nice model, and I would like to use it. And not just at the next 4000pt tournament.

My problem is that at what points value is it a good choice. Maybe not even a good choice, but a viable option?

The best list I can come up with (caveat: quickly and without much thought or analysis) at 2000pts is:

Lords

Old Blood on Carnosaur (why an Old Blood? Well, the extra wound, better magic allowance, WS, and AS is tempting at first pass...)

- Halberd, Light armour, Charmed Shield, Talisman of Protection, Other Trickster's Shard

- Loping Stride (carnosaur)

So I could save 60pts if I dropped to a Scar Vet, but I'd need to drop the Other Trickster's Shard too.

Heroes

Tetto'eko (I don't like using special characters as a general rule, but...  but... there goes my argument)

Skink Priest - Dispel Scroll, Heavens

Scar Vet - BSB, Cold One, GW, Armour of Destiny (really wanted the Standard of Discipline here, but with no other Scar Vet heroes to take a challenge in the face once the champion has gone...)

Core

12 Skink Cohort, 1 Krox, Standard, Muso

12 Skink Cohort, 1 Krox, Standard, Muso

12 Skink Cohort, Muso

10 Skirmishers, Javelin and Shield

10 Skirmishers, Javelin and Shield

10 Skirmishers, Javelin and Shield

Special

3 Terradons, Fireleech Bolas

5 Chameleon Skinks

5 Chameleon Skinks

6 Cold One Riders, Full Command, Spears

Rare

1 Salamander

1998pts

My thoughts, such as they may be, are:

Tetto, from experience, provides some mean magic offence. 

The scroll caddy... err.. second Priest provides another round of Iceshard Blizzard. This is important since my combat offence is woefully below average.

I really enjoyed using the Cold One cav at the NZTC earlier this year, I'd like to keep using them as an alternative to having to paint my Temple Guard sooner rather than later. I think also they are a bit more flexible (movement etc.)

I miss the second unit of Terradons

How would you feel about facing this list? Terrified? Amused? Suggest that I stop this nonsense and go back to fitting a Slann in?