Inepticon Kings of War Tournament

My local Wargames club (The Kapiti Wargames Club) is hosting a Kings of War Tournament on November 28 and 29. Mantic is providing prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. If there are any WHFB players in NZ who want to try out Kings of War this is a good chance to see if its a good replacement for WHFB, provided you either live in NZ or don't mind traveling a fair way.
 
KINGS OF WAR
2 day tournament
All Square bases welcome
Great prizes DIRECT from Mantic games
LIMITED PLACES - REGISTER NOW $35.00 PP
($40 for late registration)
Kings of war 2nd edition RULE SET
2 days 6 games
2000 POINTS
Get the player pack and INFO email
KOW@Kapitiwargamesclub.nz
NOVEMBER 28 & 29 2015 9.30am - 4.30pm
at the Kapiti community center Ngahina Street, Paraparaumu

More details as well as a email sign up for the player pack here

Call to Arms Part 1: Cowardly Elves

Welcome to what may be my last 8th edition WHFB tournament report. This time round i decided to do things differently and split the report into 5 parts, this is mainly because each battle report is a narrative report and as such takes more time and space than a cut down tournament battle report normally would, also these 5 posts will be linked meaning that the battles themselves will link providing a more (i hope) coherent narrative.

Game 1: Undead Legions (10/10 Draw)

Elidyr's forces moved in on the small hamlet and the Spellweaver brought his own unit of Glade Guard to a halt inside the  wood that was the exit from the Worldroots that had brought them all here. He had been dispatched from Athel Loren to a remote southern section of the human Empire to hunt down a Necrach Vampire who had taken several Forest Spirits hostage during an earlier battle, Elidyr's was instructed to kill the vampire, locate his lair and free the spirits. He nodded to Almer, the captain of his Glade Guard, to give the signal for his forces to make ready. As the horn blew the Asrai  took to their positions. The majority of his forces centered around the Worldroots but the Waywatchers too the far left flank along with the Waystalker.

Tournaments For All

There is a stereotype that exists in the wargaming community that annoys me. It paints people who like going to tournaments as people who will always bring the cheesiest lists and will always go for "The Win at all Costs" strategies regardless of how fun the game is for their opponent. Ever since i started back in this hobby in June of 2013 i have been going to tournaments and my experience so far has been the complete opposite. In all the tournament games i have played my opponents have always been friendly and considerate regardless of how well they wanted to place at the end of the event.

One of the best games of WHFB i have ever played was a game of Watchtower at a Tournament

The Ironhorn Tribe: The Herd Gathers

As Call to Arms 2015 nears i am preparing my Legions of Chaos Tzeentch Army for the event. While it does use the Legions of Chaos list its mainly a Beastmen army with 2 non Beastmen units. Below are some of the models for the completed army.

My Flying Doombull complete with 3+ ward save

Slow Progress: Skitterleap Day 2

Its now been a whole week since day 2 of Skitterleap so i felt that it was about time i did the day two tournament report, so here it is.

Game 4: Battle for the Pass

Game 4 was against Robert Higgins and his pirate themed Ogres. His list had some issues for me, mainly the two Ironblasters but also the fact that the majority of his troops were toughness 4 multi wounds killing machines. Thankfully said killing machines had little to no armour so that was something to go on.

He got the first turn and began by trying to kill the Glade Lord and his Eagle with the Ironblasters, thankfully they only did a total of one wound to the Glade Lord throughout the entire game. Otherwise he generally advanced towards my own lines with a few bouts of combat between Dryads and ogres. Those combats were all my doing as i tried to halt the ogre advance for as long as i could to get as much ranged damage as i could in,  Pit of Shades came in handy here as it one shot quite a few ogres from the Leadbelcher and Bull units. Finally i cleaned up the Gnoblars in Roberts Deployment zone with a unit of Scouts and Waywatchers.

A Shakey Start: Skitterleap Day 1

Day 1 of Skitterleap 2014 has come and gone and while it wasn't the best start i could have had it wasn't the worst start i have ever had, after the cryptic start lets get on with the report.

Game 1: Dawn Attack

Game one was against Neil Wiliamson and his Warriors of Chaos. Dawn Attack didnt do much damage with its random deployment ways and i took first turn. I opened with an attempt to claim the right flank of the table and began this endeavor by shooting away Neil's warhounds and moving my scouts into Neils right flank. My center remained steady and on the left flank i withered the Skullcrushers and shot some wounds off them. Neil began by genelly advancing on the left flank and center while on the right flank he turned his last unit on the right to face the oncoming tide of Elves.

The Bloody Road to Skitterleap

Skitterleap this year provides me with a chance to try out a new army. As frequent readers will know i am working on a Mono Khorne Chaos Demon army and have decided to enter it into Skitterleap. As this is a completely different army to the Wood Elves it requires me to practice like i never have practiced before, and practice i did last Thursday during my weekly games night. It just so happened that my regular oppoent Nicholas Jebson (of HMS Distraction fame) also had a new army that he wished to try out, and that army happened to be Dwarves (or Dwarfs if you are GW).

This game would be a big change for both of us as we both lacked a magic phase, which usually plays a big part in our games, Nick did still have some shooting power in his list but it wasn't nearly as maneuverable as he was use to. I had a Skullcannon, which is kinda similar to Trueflight Glade Guards/Scouts/Waywatchers. The game was 1000 points, Nick's List was made of:

Dragon slayer

grudge rune

thane

great weapon, gromril armour with the rune of stone and fortitude and the rune of spite

10 thunderers

handguns, heavy armour, shields

10 thunderers

handguns, heavy armour, shields

21 troll slayers

slayer axes

gyrocopter

gyrocopter

5 Rangers

Champion

My list was made of:

Hearld of Khorne

Lesser Gift

Healrd of Khorne

BSB

2x10 Bloodletters

Full Command

3 Bloodcrushers

Full Command and Banner of Swiftness

Skullcannon

We set up the table and the began rolling dice. Nick rolled a 5 on his Dwarfy Grudge thing and his army hated mine. I rolled a 6 on the lesser gift tabel giving my general Always Strikes First, yaaay.

The Dice Decide: CTA 2014 Day 2

Day 2 of CTA was a day applying learnt lessons and the Dice deciding against me. As will become clear by the end of this post the dice were against me for the final two games, which was a shame because I needed 29 points to get 50 across all 5 games, achieving my goal of coming middle of the pack.

Game 4: Blood and Glory 

Game 4 was against Thomas Lissington and his undead Hordes. The game started well with casualties being dished out to the undead in huge numbers. My archers took a toll on his Dire Wold units and by turn 2 they were all gone with the big unit of 20 being squished by the Treekin. The Blood Knights suffered badly at the hands of the Waywatchers and would have died if not for the Banner of the Blood Keep’s 4+ ward save. By end of Turn 2 things were going well, all the Dire Wolves were gone, the Terrorgheist was tied up chasing some scouts who danced around pulling faces at it, his Blood Knights were down to 2 knights plus the BSB and his Ghoul unit as stuck in the dangerous terrain in the centre of the board. On top of that my units had begun to pull around the sides of his remain units in order to deny charges whilst stilling shooting said units.

The Wood Elves Return! CTA 2014 Day 1

CTA 2014 has come and gone and it was a bitter sweet event for me. On one hand I didn't achieve my goal of getting mid of the group in overall placing but on the positive side I learnt a lot about my army, how to play it and the direction I want to take the Wood Elves in future games. Before I begin I want to say that across all 5 games my opponents were excellent sports and opponents, they all were provided genuinely enjoyable games and were joys to play against.

Game 1: Dawn Attack

Game one was against the one and only Nicholas Jebson and his Dark Elf hordes and the scenario was dawn attack. Deployment wise neither of us were badly affected by random deployment with most of our troops landing in the centre, that and both of our forces were mobile enough to reposition themselves if the need arose. I got first turn and began the shooting bombardment, killing a few Dark Elves here and there; the most notable was killing the Chariot that Nick general was riding in (said general succeed into the nearby corsairs). Nick’s opening turns saw him gun his forces towards my lines and generally weathering the Wood Elf firepower, he did charge a reduced shade unit into the some scouts with little effect on either side. The most important event in the early turns was my general killing himself by miscasting, rolling Dimensional cascade and failing the 4+ to not die roll (as it turns out he was foreshadowing events to come), I can’t even remember the spell he cast but I do recall making some vague statement along the lines of “Surly he can’t die now” or some equally dice tempting phase. 

Images from the early game (Turns 1 and 2)

Call to Arms 2014

I have been slow on the post output of late and this is mainly due to the fact that i have caught "That Bug" that has been doing the rounds this winter.  But this hasn't stopped me from entering this years Call to Arms for WHFB. For those who have followed this blog for some time you will re-call that CTA 2013 was the first tournament i reported on this blog, as for how well i went.........

You know how they say "There is always next time"......

Dwarves, Dwarves, Dwarves: Runefang Day 2

Day 2 of Runefang is over, and so i present to you my wrap up of day 2 of Runefang Day 2.

Game 4: John Murrie

Dwarves from Stumpy Heaven (John's Blog) complete with flaming cannon fun! The scenario was Battle for the Pass, the long table edge deployment scenario. I put both units of Dryads at the front of my deployment zone with both Treeman/Kin/Highborn units behind the Dryads for missile protection, and placed the Glade Guard with BSB and Lifeweaver on my far right flank facing down John's Crossbow Dwarves.  He placed both his Organ Gun and Flaming Magic Death Cannon on a hill close to the edge of his deployment zone, he placed his Hammerers with Lord in front of said hill and both big warrior blocks to ether side of the Hammerers with both unit of Crossbow Dwarves facing down the Glade Guard.  My opening move was to push everything bar the Glade Guard forward with one of the Treeman circling round the circle undead hill thing. I HODAedTM a unit of Crossbow Dwarves to little effect oh and John smashed a Treeman to death with the Flaming Death Cannon. John also moved a Dwarf Helicopter around the hill thing to face down my sneaky Treeman.

Deployment and Early game (1-2)

For Athel Loren: Runefang Day 1

Day 1 of Runefang is done, and so to continue of habit for writing day 1 tournament reports before day 2 even begins here is my report for Runefang Day 1, enjoy.

Game 1: Neil Wiliamson

Game 1 was the always potentially hilarious Dawn Attack against Neil and his Warriors of Chaos. Frequent readers of this blog, and warhammer players in general, will know that Wood Elves have a bad track record against the mortal servants of chaos. The scenario did me no favors by throwing my Treekin and general on the left flank with very little to do. The deployment rules then proceeded to place Neil's Dragon Ogres, Shaggoth, Chariot, one spawn and a unit of Marauder horse on the right flank facing down a unit of Dryads, the BSB (who in a leave of sanity i decided to not put the Glade guard unit) and a Treeman. The opening turns were indecisive with Galrauch miscasting and hurting himself and ,most notability, Neil charging the Treekin with a Chimera, breaking them and being unable to run them down.

Deployment and opening turns (1-2)

Runefang Preparations

On the 26/27 of April this month i will be attending Runefang VII. Now the reason why i will be going to this tournament is because it will be using Swedish Comp to restrict what players can take. For those who don know Swedish Comp gives each unit in fantasy a points value. You subtract (or in some cases add) the points value of each unit in your army from 300 and once thats done divide the end result by ten, giving you a number which will be your Swedish Comp value for your army. Power gamy ultra fifthly lists may get a number as low as say 6, and super soft fluffy armies may get a number around 14 -16. For Runefang players arent allowed to bring an army with a SC vaule lower than 11.

Ask And The Forest Will Answer

When i got home from work today the following were waiting on my bed.

These were bought off were bought off the GW website, and before i go on let me explain. These units form part of my revamped Wood Elf army that i plan to enter in Runefang during April. I simply didn't have the time to find alternate Dryad or Waywatcher models, so feel to rail against me in the comment sections but keep in mind that i plan to buy a limited edition Wood Elf Army Book when they come on sale in may. On the positive side i order the models last Thursday and they arrived today (Tuesday) so well done GW on the speedy delivery,  but you never thought i would say that.

NZTC Misc Photos

During the NZTC i took many photos some of which i used in my write up of the event, however i didnt use them all and have decided to present the rest here in this post. Enjoy.

Loosing is a Theme: NZTC Day 2

Day 2 of the NZTC has come and gone, and so i present to you my write up 2nd day of the event.

Game 4: Rowan

The word "Game" is misleading. Rowan had a Dwarf guneline with 26 Quarrelers and 20 Thunderers, a Organ Gun, 2 Bolt Throwers, a Flaming Cannon and a Grudge Thrower (he was using the old Goblin Hewer from the Storm of Chaos range). He won turn 1 in which he killed the Treeman Ancient with 12 wounds from the Flaming Cannon. Turn 2 he killed the other 2 Treemen. You may notice that i haven't mentioned what i killed, thats because i didn't kill anything. You see this wasnt a game, it was a round of Dwarf target practice. 20-0 to Rowan who was a decent opponent.

Pictures from game 4

Underdog Underfight: NZTC Day 1

March 1st was the first day of the NZTC (the "New Zealand Team Championship" for those who dont know) and it was also my first day of team based warhammer. I captained the 250ths of the Legion of Doom (not my choice of name honest) and going into this event i knew that we wouldn't be playing from a position of strength, for most of the team this was their first taste of competitive warhammer and i was taking Wood Elves. As per usual i took many photos (89 to be precise) and will be uploading all the good ones.

The NZTC Approaches

The list have been released, and there is less than two weeks to go before the NZTC, New Zealand's premier warhammer team event. With the release of the list i thought it a good time to chat about my first time at the NZTC. First of all lets talk about the lists, they are tough as nails, armed to the teeth and ooze danger. 

Guess who bought the Wood Elves

The Wild Hunt

So what with the announcement that Ruination, a 4000 point tournament to be held in January, will be going ahead i decided to write a list for it. Now i am not sure that i will be going to the tournament, but i like the idea of this list so much that i want someone who will be going to use it. SO without further ado here it is:

Painting Scores

Ever since I began going to tournaments this year I have been impacted by painting scores. The basic concept behind them is sound: Assign a number of points to each player in a tournament based on how well painted their army is, the better the army the higher the score. At the end of the tournament this score is combined with battles points and sportsman score to give each player his/her total number of points earned at the tournament and thus their final position in the tournament. However this is one major issue I have with this and that is that it punishes bad painters.

I will be blunt, people who can paint well are artists, and there is no denying it. If you are reading this and constantly score highly with painting scores or win best painted at tournaments then you are a highly skilled artist, to argue this point is to debate semantics. However not everyone who goes to tournaments is an artist (myself included) and it is we who suffer the most from painting scores. We go into tournaments with a handicap to overcome, because we aren’t artists we have to do exceptionally well in battle points to fill in for the points we lose due to painting scores, we are at a major disadvantage even before we get to the tournament. 

Now people will tell me to SL2PB (Seriously? Learn 2 Paint Better), or some such unempathetic response, and this is one of the biggest problems with the panting score debate, that people who are excellent painters/artists often  can’t understand the opposing view and show a lack of understanding for people who aren’t good painters/artists. And that’s a problem. I know I am a bad painter, it took me seven years to get my painting to where it is now and it will most likely take me another seven improve it further, for me “learning to paint better” is a long term solution and one that I am not really sure I want to pursue. For me painting is the worst part of this hobby with the gaming part being the best and the conversion part 2^nd best.

Skitterleap was the first tournament I went to with my fully painted Wood Elves, and in that tournament I scored the lowest painting wise, earning 15 points total. After this tournament I began to seek out painting commission services for my next army. At the time of writing this I have already sent my next army up to Auckland to be painted to a decent standard in order to avoid being hit with handicap of painting scores, this has cost me in the region of 400 dollars. I would love to be able to bring my own painted army’s’ to tournaments but realistically this is not an option. In order to do well and place higher than the bottom 3^rd I need a decently painted army and that is something I cannot provide, I am not an artist, I am not a good painter and so I must seek out alternate ways of getting a well painted army.

To sum up I am strongly against painting scores. I am a huge fan of the first, second and third best painted army system at tournaments because I think that it rewards the best painted armies at tournaments without putting handicaps on bad painters. I know this post will generate strong reaction and I am more than willing to debate this in the comment section. At the end of the day I don’t want people to think this is an attack post, I didn’t write this to “go after” any one, I wrote it because I feel strongly about the issue of painting scores and wanted to say something about it.  Until next time

Rex Foote