Goodbye 2013...

2013 is just about over and what a year it has been. GW has surprised us all by churning out codices, army books, supplements, and new models with a frequency uncharacteristic of their business model. Where will all of this takes us in 2014 is unknown but you can be sure it will be one hell of a ride. Since everyone and their brother is posting articles on what this means for the future of war gaming and tournaments I am not going to bother adding my opinions in this article. Instead I just plan on riding this out and focus on what I have planned in the upcoming year. So grab a beer and join me as we take a look at what has transpired over the past year and what the authors of the Mandulian Chapel have planned for 2014.

Slaanesh Themed Beasts of Nurgle

The original inspiration for my Daemons army was a pure Slaaensh force.  I enjoyed playing the army, but as  my Sisters began to fade into obscurity - and near uselessness - I made Daemons my primary force.  On the old codex there were just too many limitations to a pure Slaanesh force.  For most of my games it hit transports on 6's, it tends to be fragile and it leaves you wanting to play with more of the neat entries in the Daemons codex.

Don't Give Up

Catchy title eh?  Have some T&A and pertinent music along with your read.  An interesting effect of blogging is that now matter how shallow or deep you make your content, you will develop followers who will experience your 40k and life journey along with you.  Even the most stoic and focused bloggers will leave clues to their journey and struggles in their articles if you can read between the lines.

Tis the season...

That's right... it's Christmas eve and ol' Santa Grubnards is feeling festive. Up here in Western NY the snow is falling, the temperature is below freezing and the forecast calls for the temps to fall to the lower teens tonight. Fear not, I have a bottle of whiskey, my family, and Christmas cheer to keep me warm and happy. Since I am feeling the spirit of Christmas I figured I would share some of my hobby updates that I've been working on between wrapping gifts and chowing down on delicious treats. Seeing as this is also the time of giving I've included some templates for you to download of some Eldar/Tau aegis defense lines and a portaglyph for you to print out and use as you wish.

Calypso2ts @ The Millenium Invitational

At the end of every year Millennium Games holds its annual Invitational Tournament, composed of the top 1st and 2nd (not yet qualified) finishers from each month's  tournaments.  I qualified earlier this year in the team tournament I played with Crispy using Tyranids.  I look forward to this event because it is a nice followup to all that hard work painting to prepare for Da Boyz GT - and it is a free tournament with a ton of prize support from the owner of Millennium.  This year Millennium actually doubled its normal support - which is why I travel 100 miles each month to play in events at Millenium Games.

As usual, I decided to take my Daemons, but I wanted to do so with a slight twist.  In light of the Nova proposed composition changes I wanted to build a list that was compliant with those guidelines and that did not use Fateweaver.  That is right, a Daemons list without Fateweaver or  Grimoire of True Names or a Flying Monstrous Creatures.

Calypso2ts @ Da Boyz GT - 6 of 6

Justin and I seem to always meet at Da Boyz.  I narrowly won our first game with my Sisters against his Necron destroyer list in 2010.  In 2012 I played his Tyranids with Daemons and he beat me pretty handily.  This is a great chance for redemption.  I also found out he has had a great year at GT's this year.

Justin is bringing Tau and I wish we had a bit more Line of Sight blocking on the board.  Unfortunately, there is not a lot I can do about that.  His wife had also come with him to the GT - but she was stuck inside a bit due to the snow storm raging that day.

Calypso2ts @ Da Boyz GT - 5 of 6

In 5th edition I had really struggled with Daemons against Dark Eldar.  They were the perfect combination to tear apart Daemon armies with poison shots mounted on fast vehicles that would almost always require 6's to hit in combat.  I occasionally beat these armies, and I am really familiar with how they play.  More importantly, the changes to vehicles with Hull Points and close combat has made taking down these swarms a little easier.

For this game I was playing on an imperial cathedral battlefield.  Here is a picture pre-setup of the terrain.

The really cool part about this board is all the roofs are magnetized, so it is easy to pop them off and move models around the buildings.

Grubnards at the Millennium Invitational

The Millennium Invitational was held this past weekend at Millennium Games in Rochester NY. Every year the store holds a monthly 40k tournament on the 2nd Saturday of each month and in December, those who placed in either 1st or 2nd place in one of the previous months, gets invited to to play in the December Invitational. However, due to bad weather and some people's work schedules, not all of the invitees were able to attend. In all, 14 people showed, including 5 of the blog authors Crimanth, Calypso2ts, Crispy, DaCock, and myself (Hyv3 had to bow out due to his work schedule.) So let's get onto the reports of my games.

I am back!

Tournaments

I finally have a chance to play some games this weekend.  In particular, I have a chance to play some one on one games.  Sure at the DaBoyz GT I played in the team event but I do not count those because Aaron (hyv3mynd) was holding my hand through every game.  He was also making most the tactical decisions.  I am sure if he was not there I would have lost at least one game - possibly more. But that is for a different blog post.

The End is Near...

Ok, I'm are not talking the end of the world or the end of 40k, (although with all of the recent releases and changes GW has added some may think that), rather I am addressing the end of 2013 and what that means to me in regards to the hobby. There is one more tournament that I will be attending this weekend to round out the 2013 season plus I have a few modeling projects that I want to knock out before 2014 rolls around. So now that I am somewhat refreshed after taking off some time last week I figured I would run through what I am currently working on and then talk about the Millennium Games Invitational. So let's take a look at what I've been working on over the past couple of weeks.

hyv3mynd @ DaBoyz GT ~ Game #1

After much drinking and many shenanigans the evening following the team event, I went to bed reasonably early and mostly sober.  This was my one big event of the year and I didn't want to compromise my grey matter for the GT.  The picture above was the view from the main gaming hall on Saturday morning before round #1.  One entire wall was floor-to-ceiling glass doors so half of the room had this view all weekend.  A snowy view, a fire in the fireplace, hardwood floors, antler chandeliers overhead, it was quite the rustic venue.  Also a note on pictures:  You'll notice a bright white glare back-lighting the photos.  There was actually a blizzard raging outside that dropped a couple inches of snow.  All the big windows and a bright blizzard washed out these pics so apologies they weren't better.

* A note on my battle reports * I realize and accept that fact that not everyone designs optimized competitive lists.  I realize not everyone plays a tactically perfect game.  The main purpose of my reports is self reflection and improvement based on the situations at hand.  Out of respect to my opponents, I prefer comments to be based on my own list or performance and avoid overly critical comments on my opponent.  This will be a standard disclaimer for every game *

Calypso2ts @ Da Boyz GT - 4 of 6

This will be the last game of Day 1 for the GT.  The previous three games have been written up Game 1, Game 2, and Game 3.  I had the chance to play on the board that won the players vote for best board - this thing lights up and really looks great.  On top of that I had a chance to play against the army that had the highest, or one of the highest painting scores.

It is hard to tell here, but Francois's army is beautiful and chock full of cool conversions and Kit Bashes.

hyv3mynd @ DaBoyz GT ~ Recaps and Spoilers

Well after three grueling days of gaming and four days to recoup, I'm finally starting to feel rested and back to normal.  DaBoyz GT 2013 was the best and most fun I've attended in my four years.  I'm sure by now you've read enough glowing reviews of the venue, staff, and other players that I don't need to cover it again.

This post will be a quick (long) recap of my nine games and results.  Individual battle reports will follow in the coming weeks.

Calypso2ts @ Da Boyz GT - 3 of 6

If you missed the action from the first two games then you can check out  Game 1 and Game 2.  For game 3 I was paired against a Slaanesh themed CSM army with Daemon allies run by Beth.  I had the chance to play Beth in the team tournament locally back in the spring - so I had a pretty good idea what list she was bringing.

As it turns out, she made some modifications that made her list much stronger for the GT - which is to be expected!

2013 DaBoyz Gt Random Pictures

Here is a bunch of Random pictures I took throughout the weekend.

Round 2: Nick Nanavati vs Paul Miglino. I am not sure what is happening!

Calypso2ts @ Da Boyz GT - 2 of 6

If you missed my performance in the first round - and my final army list - you can still catch the write up here. After my first round - notice there are no spoilers until you click into the article - I was paired up against an Eldar player with a fairly strong Iyadan list.  I am glad he actually had the Iyadan Yellow and Blue to make it work too.

As I am writing this too, I realized that we completely forgot Ancient Doom for the entire game.  I am not sure if I assaulted any of his guys with the rule using Slaanesh Daemons, but it is one to remember.

Pictures of the Armies at the 2013 DaBoyz GT

Here only small amount of armies that were at the DaBoyz.

Bill Souza Eldar Army

Results of 2013 DaBoyz GT

Here are overall rankings at 2013 DaBoyz GT.

I extracted these results from the Torrent of Fire website - so those who are not registered can view them.  Some of the columns have been cleaned up compared to the Torrent site.

Soft Scores for the 2013 DaBoyz GT

More of the Da Boyz results show!

Here is list of the soft scores for the DaBoyz GT. 
Early list turn was worth 10 points.
Sportsmanship was worth 30 points.
Painting was worth a total of 60 points.

If see any issues with it send an email to daboyzrocgt@gmail.com. I not sure if the judges will give you a response here.

Grubnards at the Da Boyz GT

The 2013 Da Boyz GT is officially over. Before I get into a recap of my weekend I just want to give a shout out to the members of the Da Boyz, Bill (from Beef n' Wing), and people from the Erie(PA) gaming group for volunteering their time and effort for putting on a great event. I've attended the Da Boyz event each year since 2009 and by far this has been the best experience I've had in terms of a smooth running event, the event location, and the players I faced off against on all three days. I'm sure you will be hearing more from the other guys who write for this blog over the course of the week with their experiences and thoughts but let's get started with a brief recap of the event.

Terrain at DaBoyz GT 2013

The Da Boyz GT has allowed players to bring tables to the event over the past few years and to encourage high quality terrain there is a player voted award for the top 3 best tables at the event.

Some of these tables are Da Boyz mainstays, while others are new tables constructed for the GT or by enthusiastic hobbyists.  Here are a set of photos showing off some of the terrain.  Some of these have working lights and moving parts.  As a teaser, here is a table that lights up:

This table lights up!

DaBoyz GT 2013 Pictures and Video before Team Tournament

The weekend started with a team tournament, but before that it started with alot of volunteers setting up the venue.  Thanks to all of them for their contribution to making the event run so smoothly.

Calypso2ts @ Da Boyz GT - 1 of 6

This year the Da Boyz GT was run at the beautiful Bristol Harbor Resort. I had the chance to room with fellow members of The Grand Strategery (Grubnards and Sinistermind) and the Beef and Wing team from Buffalo .in a cottage on the property.  I arrived at around 9:00 on Friday and had a chance to have a few drinks, talk warhammer and get to bed.  The room when I arrived was already filling up - but it was a nice throwback to college.  Here is a shot from the morning before I ran off to register for the morning.

If you look closely on the sleeper sofa is a Beef and Winger whom I gave a hard time that morning too - he came in a bit late the night before and I was sure to wake him up!  There was also some last minute painting prep going on too.

The Monks March to War

That's right, the Da Boyz GT kicks off today with the 40k and Fantasy team events. Since each of the blog authors have been busy over the past week trying to finish their armies, touch up their display boards and stocking up on alcohol we decided that we would compile our posts into one blog that sums up our thoughts going into the weekend. We are also planning on posting updates to either this blog and/or our forums page at http://thegrandstrategery.proboards.com/ so be sure to check out the sites periodically as each day progresses. So without wasting any more time, let's see what each monk has to say...

Da Boyz GT - Final Prep - Part 1

I am moving into the home stretch for the GT, which means there has not been much time for anything other than painting and modeling touches for the GT.  This is part 1 of a multi-part post this week that will hit on my army list, final GT prep and maybe include those final two battle reports that motivated 

As always, I look at my army and think of a million different things I would like to do in the next week - but I am happy with the million different things I was able to accomplish.  The theme for this army has always been a Slaanesh force - even if other units made appearances, they are but actors in the Grand Masquerade of Slaanesh.  After all Life is a Stage!

In this spirit I have been basing all my units for the last year on hardwood floors - the stage for their grand performance.  It is a bit of a tedious process that involves cutting to size actual wood planks, gluing them down, using a dremmel sanding drum to round them out and then staining them to the correct color.  This is my last batch - but it was my second batch of the week.

Da Boyz GT: T - 1 Week - Crispy

     We have a little over a week to go until Da Boyz GT, and I'm in a comfortable position for this last week of prep time. I have 3 models to touch up, 1 to paint, and 1 more that's half painted. Real life has certainly been pulling down most of my free time lately, but I have been able to get a bit of gaming and hobby time in to prep for the GT. A few weeks ago I was able to attend The Warstore Weekend, and that was a nice primer for Da Boyz. From that experience I've made a few changes to my list. Next week, I'll post up my final list along with pictures of the army.

Here's a few shots of what I've most recently been working on. Check them out below the fold.

Grubnards GT Countdown T-1 Week

We are entering the final stretch and I've been busy working on my army, display board, and getting in some games. Here is a quick recap of what I've done last week and what I still need to do before next weekend.

Da Boyz GT: T - 3/2/1 Weeks - Calypso2ts - Prep G1

I had originally planned to write up this Da Boyz GT preparation tournament from 4 weeks ago at Millennium as part of my road to Da Boyz.  A few things stopped me in my tracks though as I started writing.  The first is that my 2 year old took and hid the memory card the photos from the tournament were on.   I have just recently recovered it - she actually recovered it by walking in the room one day and placing it on the table.  The second is that the tournament prompted me to work through some changes to my list in response to the way the list has played over the last two events.  For that reason, I have been busy making preparation for the changes I decided to make.

This tournament was the formal Da Boyz GT preparation tournament as people brought and tuned their armies with 6-7 weeks before the event.   I think it is only fair that - before the GT - I showcase how I arrived at the army I plan to play - mainly so I can effectively second guess myself later.  To this tournament  I brought my previous iteration of Daemons which included:

DaBoyz GT - Crunch Time!

Two weeks from today the team event kicks off DaBoyz GT 2013.  I've been painting as much as I can without totally killing myself.  Here's a small hobby update and some thoughts going into the final push.

Grubnards GT Countdown T-2 Weeks

That's right...the Da Boyz GT is almost upon us and I'm getting pretty excited. This past week was pretty productive as far as working on terrain, my display board, and my army. I was also able to get in another game this past weekend that did not go well for me at all. Since list submissions are due within 6 days I've been busy making some changes to my list that I will cover below. So without any delay, lets looks at last weeks progress....

hyv3mynd's Eldar + Dark Eldar @ October RTT - Game #3 and Results

So... DaBoyz GT primer game #3.  I'm at 64 battle points out of 66 possible at this point.  I find myself paired against Paul for the final round, who is currently in second with 49 battle points.  If you've followed the blog for a while, you've seen Paul's Grey Knights and Imperial Guard across from me on several occasions.

Grubnards GT Countdown T-3 Weeks

 ... Or less than a month until the GT....

This past week I was able to finish painting my Dark Apostle. All that is left is to add the basing materials and paint the base. I'm pretty happy with how the tattoo of the chaos star on his head turned out. I was also fortunate enough to get in two games with the guy who runs the monthly events at our LGS. Look for my feedback and thoughts on those games farther down in the post. With this being the last week in October I started to categorize what I still need to paint, build, and play test. So without any further delays, lets look at what I did this past week.

hyv3mynd's Eldar + Dark Eldar @ October RTT - Game #2

 Our local monthly event for October was a DaBoyz GT primer.  I scored max battle points in my first round by tabling my opponent and ended up paired against Nogle (Mike) who also plays Eldar and scored well in his first round.  I was actually really excited for this game as Nogle has done really well with Eldar at tournaments in Erie and Syracuse and I haven't had the chance to test myself against him yet.

Da Boyz GT: T - 4 Weeks - Crispy

     We're a month out from Da Boyz and it's crunch time to get everything finished. On top of that, I'll be heading down to the Warstore Weekend to participate in the Colonial Fantasy GT Optimally, I want to get everything wrapped up over the next week and a half.

     The Colonial has historically been in the spring, but this year they split the event in to 2. The 40K event is still in April, but the Fantasy portion is being run at the Warstore Weekend. With the Colonial moved to the beginning of November, our gaming group didn't think we'd be able to swing 2 GT's in a month (Colonial Nov 1-3 & Da Boyz 22-24). Well, it turns out that there's a lull of activity before the holidays and we all wanted to get a few more games in before the holiday hibernation comes along.

     On the list of things I need to finish, I can cross off the Movement Trays, Trolls, and Night Goblins (see below the fold). Now I'm just down to touch-ups and single models. For single models, I still have a Savage Orc Shaman, and a Night Goblin Shaman. In terms of touch-ups, I'd like to redo the wood parts of a few chariots I have, and maybe even re-paint my Arachnarok.

     Here's a taste of my trolls. Check out below the fold for more Troll pictures, Night Gobbos, Fanatics, and movement trays.

Grubnards GT Countdown T-4 Weeks

switching tracks...

Last week I announced that I was going to switch from the Tau army I had planned to bring to the GT to instead run my Word Bearers army. The more I thought about this decision the more sense it made. I am very familiar with the Chaos codex as I have played it many times over the past year, plus the army is pretty much all painted and has a lot of conversion work and details added to the models. This decision alone gives me plenty of breathing space to add more details to my chaos army plus I gain time to work on terrain and my display board. Over the past few days I started working on my display board for the Word Bearers. So let's take a look at what I have done...

Da Boyz GT: T - 4/5/6 Weeks - Calypso2ts

The inevitable painting countdown is beggining and while I am in better shape than last year, things are starting to get a little tight overall.  The unfortunate part is the really key units I want to use are precisely the ones that need painting (Seekers, Flesh Hounds).

Limited progress on the Seekers so far but I did manage some on the Flesh Hounds.  There is some detailing left in the face, but I am going to leave them as is to get at least a minimum standard on the rest of the Hounds and the Seekers.

hyv3mynd's Eldar + Dark Eldar @ October RTT - Game #1

This month's local tournament at Millennium Games was the "DaBoyz GT Primer" and last normal tournament before the GT in November and then the championship invitational in December.  I brought the same army list I've been playing without any changes.  I really like the way it plays and due to the rapidly approaching GT, I didn't want to make any changes that would throw off my painting agenda.

Grubnards GT Countdown T-5 Weeks

... Or Grubnard's big shakeup!

We are nearing the 1 month mark before the Da Boyz GT is upon us and this past week has been a crazy time for me. I've been working on terrain, painting my army, and this past weekend I played in the Millennium Games monthly tournament which was geared towards practicing for the GT. I brought the thus far completed Tyranid terrain to the event so that I could get the players thoughts and feedback on how the terrain worked and what, if any improvements could be made. So without wasting anymore time lets jump into this week's post.

DaBoyz GT T - 6 Weeks - hy3mynd

It's been several weeks since I posted a formal hobby update on the Eldar + Dark Eldar force so here's some eye candy on my most recent models.  Some of the colors are washed out due to experimenting with new lights and light box, so sorry about the picture quality.  Here's my farseer who I just finished up by washing, drybrushing, and adding grass to the base.  I also painted his face plate white to match his runic armor.

Crossroads 2013 GT Wrap-up

     It seems like we’re in the middle of tournament season with multiple GT’s going off every month. Jay just made it back from playing in the Warmaster’s GT and that same weekend I helped run Crossroads GT. On the horizon, we still have Da Boyz (of course), Battle for Salvation (someday when the finances work out, I want to go), and the Colonial/Warstore Weekend (I've gone to the past 2 Colonial Fantasy GTs and it's been a great time). That's just in the NorthEast. 

 

     Getting back to Crossroads, Corey Reynolds continues to grow the event, and this year we brought in 102 players. Not too shabby for an event that’s only advertising is word of mouth. I also think Crossroads is the largest Fantasy GT outside of Adepticon.  

     Without further ado, here are the full results. 

http://www.crossroads-gt.com/files/Crossroads_Challenge_2013_-_Results.htm

Check out the award winners and a photodump of the armies present at the event below the fold. 

Tyranid Spires Pt 1 and DaBoyz GT Tau List

Grubnards GT Countdown T-6 Weeks

This week I thought I would showcase part 1 of the Tyranid Spires terrain that I have been working on for a good part of the past month. This portion of the project was much more difficult than the other terrain pieces since I was working with new material and did not know what to expect. I will be breaking up the project into two part, this week focusing on the initial stages of development and next week I'll wrap it up with the final results. This weekend is also the Da Boyz GT primer being held at Millennium Games and Hobby so I plan on bringing the full set of the Tyranid terrain and see how it holds up before next months GT.

The Warmaster Challenge - DaCock

My Eldar Army

This past weekend I went to The Warmaster Challenge. As usual I had a great time at the event. It is my favorite event. It was sold out this year with 46 teams playing on Saturday and 58 people playing in the singles event on Sunday. I had some awesome games over the weekend.

hyv3mynd's Eldar + Dark Eldar @ September 1850pt RTT: Game #3 and Results

After solid wins in game #1 and game #2, I find myself paired against Dave yet again.  If you haven't been following my monthly tournaments, I also faced his IG in game #4 of the August event as well as game #3 of the July event.  Over the past 2 months, I've been lucky in our games, but Dave really wants some revenge and the third time may be the charm!

Da Boyz GT: T - 7 Weeks - Calypso2ts

Somehow the transition from 8 week left until the DA Boyz GT and 7 weeks seems like a big difference when it comes to finishing up painting.  Luckily, I am getting close to having the Flesh Hounds complete - which I will be showcasing in this post.  I also had another chance to get a game in with my GT list and had my first game against the new Eldar.



My opponent was Josh - we had arranged a game since I was going to be in town and he brought the following pure Eldar list:

hyv3mynd's Eldar + Dark Eldar @ September 1850pt RTT: Game #2

After a strong victory in round #1, I was paired against Craig's CSM+Daemons for round #2.  I've faced Craig several times in the past and he's always given me tough games, also defeating me on several occasions.  Believe it or not, this is also the first time I've had to face multiple heldrakes in a 1v1 tournament setting.

The Court of the Scarab King

Grubnards GT Countdown T-8 weeks

Wow, only 8 weeks until the GT and there is still a lot to do.  Time seems to go by fast when you are gearing up for a big GT. This past week I took the plunge and started working on a new table that I will be bringing to the GT this year, along with my Tyranid terrain and ancient ruins terrain. Besides finishing painting my army I still need to finish painting up the last of my Tyranid terrain, build a display board for my Tau, and build my new necron table, or as I am referring to as, the Court of the Scarab King. It has a nice ring to it, eh?

Now due to time constraints of gearing up for the GT and trying to type up my how-to series on terrain, I am only going to focus on work in progress shots for the necron terrain now and then once the GT is done I'll go back and type up the steps I used to create the necron terrain. So for now onto the pics....

Da Boyz GT: T - 8 Weeks

The last week has seen a big emphasis on Battle Reports for the previous weekend's tournament.  One of my big takeaways form the tournament was I desperately need to get the rest of my units painted - having black primed Flesh Hounds really hurt my painting score and almost cost me my second place finish.  In fact, a fully painted army may have secured a first place finish for the tournament.

I managed to get a basecoat on all of the flesh hounds so far - that is with a brush still since I have not had time to really break into the airbrushing since my last article.

hyv3mynd's Eldar + Dark Eldar @ September 1850pt RTT: Game #1

I'm a little behind my co-authors in reporting on last Saturday's tournament, but that's OK.  Now you're familiar with the missions and terrain.  Here's the list I ended up taking.  It's close to my list for DaBoyz GT, with a few extra vehicle upgrades to make up for a couple models I haven't assembled yet.

Da Boyz GT: T - 9 Weeks - Practice Tournament-G3

It is the last round of the tournament and I had forgotten how tiring 3 straight games of 40k can be - I am going to need to train (or something?) for the upcoming GT.  I think the biggest problem is reaching across the table - shooting armies are definitely easier on your back.  

In the first game of the tournament I took down a GK player with a little help from the Warp Storm table and in the second game the GK looked to purge the Daemon threat - but were rebuffed again.  This puts me at 2 - 0 thus far along with 4 other players (SM, Eldar/DE, IG and Tyranids).  I drew the Tyranid matchup at the second table which would be my first tournament game at Millenium against non-GK since last November. 

Da Boyz GT: T - 9 Weeks - Crispy

     The last two weeks have flown by with hobby time taking the back burner. School has started for the Kiddo, and this past weekend I missed out on the monthly Millennium tournament in favor of supporting my wife and her sister as they tackled a 5K Zombie Mud Run. I was content hanging out with my daughter as a spectator. Aside from that, Gymnastics for my girl has also started up and I've gotten my fair share of weird looks from the other parents when I pull out the Citadel Paint Station and start working on Night Goblins. Hey, I have an hour to burn and things to do, stop giving me dirty looks. 

     In terms of hobby stuff, I've managed to start up a few projects for the GT and I've also found a few that help me procrastinate. If you're interested in more Orc and Goblin stuff, check it out below the fold.