NetAE tourney 4th place and…..

 I went 1 – 1 – 1. Granting my 4th place finish.

I also scored the crappy dice, unmotivated army award.

Game 1; 5 activation fails. Game 1 and 2 opponents had zero total
Game 2; 7 activations fails.
Game 3; 14 activation fails! Turn 1 and 2 had 5 fails each out of 12 total activations. 40% of the army sat the game out. (Karl had 10 total fails that game) We both had zero desire to go through the 4th turn.

HMGS Fall In Day Three

         Our tables today were occupied by another tourney yesterday. I am bring 4 tables and terrain to support. Setting up in the morning blows. At least AdeptiCon lets you set up the night before. Straight in the ass! My last game of the night was as hit show. After walking away, I hung around till 9. Early morning start, 5:30. Shit, shower, shave, stuff my fat face, get ice, and load the beer.

Kal had every player last year return. Plus added 4 more, 60% growth year over year!

Tables

          I am running the Tau again. This time out I took the Manta as a WE. The spacecraft is a waste, a one and done activation. Tau work on high activations.
          I had 3 primer games with the Manta. By the end of the last primer (Friday afternoon), I seriously thought asking the guys and begging Kal if I could bail on the list I sent in. No sissy, I ran with it.

My list

My history of picture taking continues at this event also. I set the phone there to remind to take pictures. I get one or none.

Game 1     Tau Vs Marines  3 – 1
Activations  12 to 10

Deployment
Teleporting Terms

Game 2     Tau Vs Plague Marines  0 – 3

Activations  12 to 10

         The Zombies vomited out by the spacecraft are a spectacle tactic. Jon dumped them basically on the Blitz. You had to burn activations killing them or park a unit to contest the blitz. On turn 1 your down Blitz, DTF, and TSNP. First turn teleporting Stealth suits?
         Jon is one of the best tactical players you will ever face. He makes zero mistakes. You have to be turned up across the table from him.

Soaked up more fire and activations then any unit all day. MVP!

          When the detachment with his Sup Commander broke, I got confused. I suddenly decided that was the BTS. Then proceed to go after it, leaving the BTS sit.

Objectives and Garrisons

           Here you see me blow the Objective placement. My 2nd and 3rd objectives are on the center line. Jon’s army has no transports. I just gave his garrison units a free 55cm of movement!

Deployment
Jon’s BTS goes after the Suits 

Game 3     Tau Vs Lost&Dammed 1 – 0 end of 4th,  points 857.5- 750

Activations  12 to 12
Deployment
1st turn Teleport
end of 3rd

Battle reports will be on TacCmd

Lessons Learned;

****  Manta  ****

Twin Heavy Railcannons          90cm MW2+, Titan Killer (D3)
3  Heavy Ion Phalanx               75cm AP3+/AT4+, FF Arc
4 Twin Manta Burst Cannons   30cm AP5+/AA6+
Twin Missile Pods                     45cm AP5+/AT6+
2 Seeker Missiles                     90cm AT6+ GM

At 650 it is a total waste. The model is huge! It never earns back its points. Nor does it suck up enough of your opponent’s activations dealing with it. The weapon load out is not a threat. Even with units MLing the target.

Stealth/Crisis Suits scare people. Two upgrade detachments of suits will do more damage. The fire power will brake a detachment every time it hits.

**** First turn Teleports  ****

 What a gold mine. (With the exception of rolling 5 ones on landing) Those stealth suits broke every players opening game plan. Each player burned at least two activations trying to eliminate the threat. Then they continued to go after them like a fat kid chasing cake until the were dead to a man.

**** End Phase  ****

Well…..shit! A rule never followed or known. I got no excuse!

In just about every game, at the end of 3, we never rallied broken units. We skip 1.14 and 1.14.1 going straight to 1.14.2. In game 2, Jon did say we rally. I can’t tell you how many times I never did this.

1.14 End Phase
“The End phase takes place, unsurprisingly, at the end of the turn, once both players have taken an action with each of their unbroken formations. Both players must attempt to rally any formations and then check the scenario victory conditions to see if either side has won.
1.14.1 Rally formations
1.14.2 Victory conditions

Next HGMS tourney;

Cooler; 18 beers and 12 Dews were about right. Next time I should throw in some water. Went home with 2 beers and 3 dews.

        Our tables were nut to butt. We will have to request one more than we need. Some room in-between would have been more comfortable.

         We should also think about charging 15 bucks more. The extra would include lunch and drinks and extras. The guys appeared to hesitate just grabbing a beer. I knew over half of them.
         A lot of time is soaked up by groups going some where for lunch. No time to get a proper stalk thru Walley’s basement sale or hike over to the vendor hall.

        Maybe run doubles or special scenario game Thursday night. At AdeptiCon, there was a special scenario as the second game. That was tactically the most challenging game of the weekend and the BEST!

HMGS Fall In Day Two

First game was RF&F. I was way out on the south’s right flank with hidden units. The game changing command. Except, I suck. After waiting all game, not doing anything but talking shit. I jumped up 3 inches away, 14 FP, rolled a 2.
This crap continued as we tied every charge only to lose the repeating charge. And my attached office died!

The WOW tables of the day.

 My afternoon Epic pick up game. Karl’s lost&dammed took me 4-1 in turn four. Mantra is not living up to its points.

HMGS Fall In Day One

          Meeting the BattleBarn guys for dinner. The usual buffet at Hersey Farms. The local ticket and Vet card gets the lot in for 50%. Well, one guy. Tom is the only die hard member left that attends and runs games for all 3 HMGS Cons. None came out for Thursday night dinner. It was a traditional last solid meal before eating Con food for 4 days.
Sad none come around any more. They were a great group of solid gamers and beer drinking ball busters. I could have gone out with the Epic group. 

Thursday night meet up and the registration line. Came back from dinner and directly behind our car was the NE Epic guys. I jumped them and took their stuff. The pre-register line was better than average this year. The beginning was the usual shit show. But after 15 minutes the worker bees remembered how to do it. I waited the initial rush and got mine in <15 minutes.
Dave ran the expo White Scars’ list. To me the WS seem to be a codex list that was restricted. There was nothing special about it. DAs, BAs, IFs all have special unit for flavor, WS got dick all nothing. 
Dave beat me 4-0. Nothing too messed up. Dice performed as expected. No loop sided activations fails. Both of us could not hit for love or money. Activation count was about even. Don’t know? Deployment was solid, objectives, and terrain usage….no big screw up.
The Mantra is a tough beast to master. Two games in, the Mantra feels out of place in the list. Its speed is a problem and the weapons load out does not seem to match up. For 650 points the beast should be more effective. 650 is roughly 3 detachments of suits.

Forge World Tank Factory

No one supplies high priced resin crack than them. But hey, its the quality that keeps you coming back right?

This crack rock was a pricey eBay special long long ago. If you can find one, an original, plan on shelling out 500 plus. The catalog below is from 2004. In 2004 it was 75USD without shipping. 

With this guy’s rarity, I never wanted to paint it. (like I was going to sell it) It popped out of storage and I got zero to do all day long.

2004 FW catalog

         It was primed with Army Painter wolf grey. Home Depot flat grey was sprayed at a 65 degree down angle. The down angle left the wolf grey in the cracks and over hangs. Craft paint was dry brushed over the outside cream followed by pure white.

          The bricks got a watered down Vallejo Hull Red, washed in Army Painter dark tone, and details picked out with Vallejo saddle red.

I am almost done blocking in the base colors. After Fall In I will get to the details and windows.

Epic Armageddon City Table "Completed"

         Finally. After X years, false starts, distraction, and life its done. The project’s opening statement;

          “I think it is everyone’s dream to have an Epic city table. Mine too, and like most I have failed to create anything remotely cool and useful. Before there was never a plan or layout, just random projects here and there slapped together. Now there is a plan! 
          Today the dream starts, 08 JULY 2013. How long it will take? Will I ever finish the table?”

It took 4 years and 2 months.

          Initially I wanted the whole thing covered with FW buildings. Sadly each tile averages about +/-12 buildings and 26 plus road sections.  That is serious terrain time and funding. 

 That grey square is for a Tank Factory. Hmmm need to find that box.

DONE?   Well at least the first 6 tiles are. There are a spare 3 flat tiles looking for love and attention. Maybe one more city tile and the other two grass land.

Lessons Learned;

ForgeWorld Roads are not true or square. They are not the same thickness. It is the normal FW shit job and QC. I think next time I would make copies of originals. Then take those copies and make them true and square. Then makes copies off the corrected versions. eBay the originals.

ForgeWorld Buildings should be scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed. Then primed with auto primer. After painting dip them in AP strong tone. They chip and get damaged far too easily. I have to repair them after every time out.
Also I would like to chop a few of the buildings. If I had the time, I think I could make some interest crazy stuff, Ts and Crosses.

Lay out the boards;  1 with a machinist’s jig. Example; label the tile North, East, West, South and jig the roads out on the north curb.   2 make sure all the roads line up from tile to tile, side to side.

 Just in time for HMGS’ Fall In

3000 point Epic Tau Vs Eldar

 Tau Vs Eldar Iyanden 3000 points standard tourney scenario.

         We hit up Six Feet Under in New Holland, Pa. The place is fully stocked. They have 6 beautiful gaming tables. Ones I wish I had! There is tons of parking, Subway two doors down, and sodas for $1.25.

         Of course the normal crap job of battle reports continues. I took a few pictures and never wrote down turn 3.

My List

Kal’s list

Table

Eldar 10 to Tau 12 activations

Eldar Rangers Garrison left flank objective.
Eldar Wraithguard is in the bomber.
Eldar Wraithguard/bts is in the gate.

Tau Recon1 garrisons center objective.
Tau Stealth Suits are waiting to teli.
Tau Criss suits are in the Manta.

Turn 1
Tau Stealth Suits tell onto the RF Falcons.
Tau win initiative.
Stealth suits engage RF Falcons, FAILED to activate. 1BM
Eldar Bombers GA Railheads. 4BMs
Eldar retains. Falcons LF Doubles targeting ReconG. 3KIA, BROKEN
Tau Manta Advances targeting wave serpents. 1BM
Eldar Falcons RF Doubles targeting ReconG. ELIMINATED.
Tau ReconC calls Coordinating Fire. They take the Skyrays and FireWarriorsC with them.
     ReconC Advances targeting Falcons RF. 1KIA 2BMs
     Skyrays sustain on the Falcons. 2KIA BROKEN
     FW Double into the ruins
Eldar Wraithblade Double targeting the Stealth suits. 1BM
Tau Cuda GA targeting Falcons RF. ELIMINATED
Eldar Vamp FAILED
Tau Railheads Marshalled 0BMs
Eldar Waithlords LF FAILED, Marshalled
Tau PFs Double targeting Wraithblades. 2KIA BROKEN
Eldar WraithlordsG FAILED to arrive via the gate
Tau FW LF Doubles

Turn 2
Eldar wins Initiative
Eldar Waithblades RF Engages Stealth suits. ELIMINATED
Tau PW Double targeting WaithlordsC. 1BM
Eldar Falcons LF Double targeting FW LF. 4KIA BROKEN
Tau Cuda GA Serpents 1KIA BROKEN
Eldar Bombers GA ReconC. 1BM
Tau Cuda GA WaithbladesC. 1BM
Eldar Vamp FAILED
Tau Skyrays Advance targeting Wraithblades. 1BM
Eldar WraithlordsG arrive via the gate. Double targeting ReconC 2KIA BROKEN
Tau Railheads double targeting Rangers. 1KIA 2BMs
Retain
Tau FWs C FAILED targets WraithlordsG 1KIA 2BMs
Eldar Waithlords LF March
Tau Manta Advances targets WraithlordsG Eliminated

Turn 3
Elder win Initiative
I stopped writing stuff down and focused on not screwing myself.

I ended up winning 3-0 Blitz, DTF, & TSNP. Looks bad for Kal, but it was a dice revolt. The Vamp and troops aboard failed to to show up. Missing hits and failing saves were abnormally high. If the dice were even, he would have run me into the ground.

Leasons;

* With blades have no FF ability.

*Manta is a slow beast. Hard to get into position.

* Again I failed to use the terrain to my advantage. I also need to sit tight while a slower army walks into range.