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Monday, December 15, 2014

Daemons Painting Update - Tournament Thoughts

This weekend was the Millennium invitational, an event held at Millennium Games every December.  It is a great event, with the participants qualifying through the normal tournaments at Millennium Games over the year and all the prize support being on the house.  Normally I play my Da Boyz GT army at the event, but this year I did not attend Da Boyz and changed things up with a Highlander style list.  I had intended to bring these fellows...


...unfortunately they did not make the cut.



They also represented the only unit I have painted in the last 3 months (much to my chagrin).  I am pretty happy with the way they came out, they still feel Blue Scribey but fit into the overall theme of my army - flesh tones for the most part with bright spots of puple, blue and green.  I wanted to make the riders Albino to separate them a bit from their disc, which matches the look of my screamers as well.  A few more pictures of the scribes before I talk tournament.

Taking notes in class.

Tools of the trade - extra quills and ink.

Back mouths are the new black.

In spite of looking forward to the invitational, my day was interrupted after the first round by an automobile malfunction.  I had to help my stranded spouse and two kids, which made me just late for round 2.  Round 3 was the worst game of 40k I have played in the last 3 years (maybe more).  It was against Koszka, who you cannot afford to make mistakes against - especially with an infantry blob bearing Yarrick, Cypher, Primaris and Priest with an Imperial Knight for backup.

Back to the first game, I played a Nemesis Strike Force with 2 Dreadknights, 2 units of 5 Terminators, Librarian and Interceptors.  I had brought Full strength units of Hounds, Fiends, Screamers, 4x Crushers, a Khorne Herald and a Keeper of Secrets.

I ate the Alpha strike, but the game really turned when I was able to get an Instant Death hit through on a Dreadknight caught in a multiple combat with the Keeper.  With both knights down I was able to pick apart the remaining terminators one at a time.  The automobile problem hit in the middle of the game, so I only have a few pictures of the result.

Turn 1 the terminators drop in to shoot.



The Keeper assaults into a dreadknight,

The Dreadknights disappear - mainly due to the Khorne Herald rolling a 6 to Instant Kill one

Looking back at this game, I realize that I made a ton of rules mistakes in this one.  It might be I was off today - I do not think it should have influenced the outcome, but it is hard to predict.  My apologies to the GK player because I:

1) Forgot Sanctuary makes terrain Dangerous for Daemons.  This should have forced terrain tests on my Crushers and put them at I 1 against force weapon activated Interceptors (though they were at I1 from the Fiend that hit them), put my keeper at I1.  In the end though, the Khorne herald that killed that Dreadknight was charging into an existing combat so the terrain did not matter.

2) Missed a strength 6 shot that I think should have instant killed a Herald of Slaanesh - which would have knocked 1 more wound of my Fiend.  I blew the herald up casting Invisibility on the Hounds, which should not have gone off.  That is okay because I actually forgot about it during assault and the Hounds were not the right target to shoot the next turn anyway nor to assault.

Congratulations to the overall winner, who brought 1 of each Aspect (including Banshees and Scorpions) and took the tournament with an Eldar army composed of only 2x Wave Serpents.  Next week some new year resolutions and a first shot at CSM for a combat patrol mission in the new year.

5 comments:

  1. I don't think I've ever seen the scribes model in person! Yours looks great! Sorry about your auto troubles. That is a real big bummer!

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    1. Thanks! I actually found it on sale - otherwise it is pretty pricey for a finecast model.

      This is actually the second dead vehicle I have had in the last month - and I just bought two 'new' (less than 3 years old) cars! I had not had an issue with my 22 year old van or 10 year old focus for a few years before that.

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  2. Great game as always Erick. I think it was just revenge for the spanking i received from y and Aaron back DaBoyz team tourney.

    I wish you brought the blue scribe to the invitational. It's random spell generation makes him highly unpredictable, but then again makes it hard to counter for your opponent.

    I wish you didn't roll that seize. If you hadn't I would had nothing to shoot at turn 1 really due do everything being hidden out of LoS. Your army is a really tough list to face and after multiple times facing your hound strike I've grown wiser.

    A smaller deployment footprint makes it easier for my forces to react and support one another. If you had a cannon of khorne or a soulgrinder my packed deployment would have been immediately denied ( especially with that ignore cover!).

    It was great to see so many highlander armies this invitational. It makes it really difficult to play comfortably, as well as reaching deep into your model collection for units you'd rather keep hidden. I was nervous playing with ogryns and bullgryns in the same list, as well as dropping cypher into the mix ( collectively thats a 510pt. swing for my list).

    Your lists always scare the crap out of me. That combined with an amazing general always keeps me second guessing every action of the game. Next time when i slip up against you i wont be so lucky.

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    1. My original variant on this list had a Soul Grinder and Skull Cannon in it instead of the Keeper and Mastery 1 on the Slaanesh Herald. I think that would have been a better list overall - but I did not have time to get the Cannon based that week. One of the tenants that I used to push more often with Daemons is some credible blasts/template in the army. It forces the other player to diffuse their firepower or eat some big casualties. That is definitely something I need to get back to - which means basing that Skullcannon. Overall, whenever I bring a greater Daemon I always struggle on how to use them. In some ways I think they are not conducive to my playstyle

      I think deploying everything would have been a better way to go against you - you mentioned this before, but I think I overestimated the reach of your Knight - and I could have created a screamer wall to protect my Hounds/Fiends for the 1 turn I needed to get into the blob squad.

      I also really made a huge mistake in deployment, I took the side without the relic being blocked, and I think a Hound unit could have let a herald pick it up, and then sneak back with it. Forcing you to move forward into me. The Herald also prevents shenanigans from the Wyvern with Lookout Sir, and his larger base makes it hard to get more than 2 hits with the blast marker.

      I am really looking forward to the January tournament, it is small enough for me to bring something different and I am going to use it as inspiration to get painting on my CSM force.

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  3. Very nice post!! Thanks for sharing!! I have seen something like this in an art and cultural events in NYC. I wanted to buy that but it was not for sale. I am really excited that I can make same piece on my own!!

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