My Road To Adepticon: Making The GT List

SeerK here.  Well despite the 40K malaise that has over taken many, I am still soldiering on.  I have been at
this for 20 plus years so I guess I am just to old and set in my ways to quit.  I have been contemplating what to bring the Adepticon 40k Championships.  I have been mostly contemplating what I may be coming up against in the GT.  The more I think about it the more cross eyed I get.


So I started looking at it from a different angle.  What won't I be up against?  I know it sounds kind of weird, but there is a logic to my madness. If we consult the latest rules for the GT we will see that data slates and such are out.  Updated rules for the fortifications in the BRB from stronghold assault are in.  The firestorm redoubt and the vengeance batteries are in.  No upgrades are allowed.  SO I don't have to deal with titans, shield generators or any annoying Firebase Cadres.

This first bit tells me I have to have a few different things in the list.  Besides the obvious, decent amount of scoring units, anti flyer/ flying varmint capability, anti armor and anti horde capability, I am going to probably have to deal with fortifications and the crap ton of fire they can lay down.  Serpent spam, Seer / screamer star and flying circus doesn't even worry me.  They can be tied up semi easily and when tide up there is not much else left to deal with in the opposing army.  Its weird that the meta has not really changed a whole ton since Codex Space Marines came out.  I think the confusion caused by the advent shenanigans, supplements and lack of FAQ has actually kept the meta pretty stable.  Format of course dictates meta, but I think its fairly safe to say from what I have read on forums, seen on torrent of fire and heard on pod casts that things have not changed a whole bunch.  I just have to keep my eyes and ears peeled to see what the Hive Fleet boys come up with.

I digress slightly though.  I have really been wracking my brain about what to bring.  I initially had a Eldar list with Grey Knight allies and an Inquisitorial detachment that contained 5 flyers and not much else.  It was hard to deal with, but lacked boots on the ground.  This is the real lynch pin of a good list.  Boots on the ground.  Most importantly scoring and denial boots on the ground.  I think the later is as important as the former.  As long as you can deny objectives it means you can keep the valuable scoring units back,  holding objectives.

I have Dire Avengers, Rangers, Guardians, Jetbikes and Wraithguard as possible scoring units.  Everything else that's not a tank, IE Aspect Warriors and such, are denial units.  Now the typical denial unit in an Eldar list is also scoring.  The mobility of Jetbikes make them great last minute objective denying units and scoring units.  This also makes them targets.  With reserves coming in more easily you have to really work at hiding them.  Try as I might mine usually get killed in last ditch efforts to tie or win a game.

So I think I am going with a traditional Ulthwe style list.  I am comfortable and familiar with running Guardian heavy lists.   The list will be anchored by two blobs of Guardians supported by Warlocks.  My Main HQ choice will be Eldrad.  A second HQ choice is what I am going back and fourth on.   If I go Guardian Heavy, which is what I am leaning towards, The Avatar would be a good choice.  A Spirit Seer would be cheaper and make Wraithguard troops, but I don't know if I want Wraithguard are going in.  I swear I need to really work on my flip flopping with lists.

 A working list I have had some success with currently, which is not a real Ulthwe theme,  has an Autarch paired up with a squad of Dark Reapers.  I have Dark Kin allies with a beefy Archon leading them also in with that squad to provide some close combat protection.  The list is as follows.  Since I am probably not using it I will post it.

HQ:  Autarch with Reaper launcher

Troops:  2x Dire Avenger Units in wave serpents with the typical load out
Troops:  1x squad of Rangers

Fast Attack:  2x Crimson Hunters, one an Exarch

Heavy: 1x unit of Dark Reapers

Dark Eldar Allies

HQ:  Archon with lots of goodies

Troops:  2x Kabalite warrior squads with blasters in Venoms with duel splinter cannons.

Heavy:  1x Razorwing kitted for ground assault.

As I said its been semi successful, but not great.  It is Especially not GT winning great.  Firepower is very nice and it deals with a lot of different situations and lists, but its main weakness is lack of hardy scoring units.  I myself am trying to up my own skill as a player as well.  No amount of list building can make up for poor generalship.  I know there are some crutches currently that make that statement a bit false.  I digress again.


So as it stands I have Eldrad and a couple Warlocks in the new list along with two Guardian blobs. I am really trying to flesh it out past that.  I am debating my heavy choices as well as my Fast attack.  I do think Warp Spiders and a Wraith Knight may make it in.  I am not sure about the Wraith Knight though due to points.  I am trying to have something finalized by next week so I can start play testing it.  I am shooting for a list that I don't have to really paint anything.  I will clean up the models and do some more detail work and possibly re base.


Once I get a list done and a couple games in I will report back.  All this thinking out loud is getting the gears turning more.  So If you were me what would you bring to the table?



Until next time..............



Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


and as always

Remember Dramos!!!!!!!!!!!!

Breaking The Malaise: Firestorm Armada 2.0

SeerK here.  I know its been kind of silent around here with the start of the new year.  I am sad to say that GW reorganizing and having a 24% drop in its stock value has not made things better.  As it stands I am the only person playing in 40K events at Adepticon from our local group.  Everybody is still going of course to participate in open events and the comradery the convention encourages in all of us.
the 40K malaise has hit the shop hard and the news about

I am still deciding what to run in the GT.  I guess I am kind of holding back waiting for the FAQ to drop so I can build to suit the rules and the missions.  I know I am running a strait Eldar list possibly with some Dark Kin allies.  I am kind of hoping Adepticon kind of takes the bull by the horns and does some drastic tweeks with the FAQ.  That's a whole other post though.  I digress.


So what are we doing to try and break the malaise?  Hammering our a campaign and forging a rock hard narrative that's how!  We are not doing it with 40K though.  No sir.  We have a fever and the only cure is spaceships.  Firestorm Armada 2.0 has taken hold in the FLGS, Evolution Games in Lansing, and the regular "40K nights" are now filled with the sounds of kinetic, beam and torpedo weapons.  Also the curses that go with them.

The new rules set for Firestorm Armada is very tight.  it is simple to pick up and has a lot of tactical depth.  I almost forgot what tactical depth was.  I have been to busy trying to figure out how things work and arguing over rules interpretations with my "primary game".  Yeah I used sarcastic quotations.

The 2.0 rules are very clear and concise.  We have not had any major arguments at all.  Well other than my war game diva kicking in and bitching about Directorate cyber warfare and bio hazard torpedoes.  I think this has been why its been so popular at the shop.  Its a nice rule set and we can just have fun and immerse ourselves in the game.  Spartan Games has really outdone themselves with the new models as well.  The new Patrol Fleet boxes come with more stuff and got cheaper than the old ones.

I spoke about tactical depth.  I have to say I have lost my tactical edge.  I have to much going on in real life it would seem.  Firestorm has really made it clear I need my tactical edge back.  Being a reactive style game, by reactive I mean you have alternating activations.  This may not be a concept you are familiar with if you have done nothing but 40K in your war gaming career.  Basically the player who goes first does not move and shoot with all of his or her units all at once.  You move and shoot with one squadron and then your opponent goes with one.  You move back and forth until all the units have activated.

This style of game tends to be more tactical by nature.  This is mainly because you cannot alpha strike your opponent like you can in 40K or War Machine.  It makes it more of a game of chess.  In fact Dreadbeard and Spellduckwrong surmise that Firestorm Armada 2.0 really is won in the movement phase.  Position, facing, range and firing arc all have to be taken into consideration as well as the position and disposition of the enemy fleet.

I will be doing some articles about the different phases of the game to try and introduce it to you a little at a time.  I will also be taking about my Rense System Navy fleet quite a bit.  Spellduckworng  and Dreadbeard will also be chiming in covering different topics, including their Dindrezi Federations and Terran Alliance fleets respectively.

They have both conspired to start a store campaign to test out some campaign rules.  It is running 4 weeks and is mostly to get us all in the mood for a bigger campaign this summer and to get to know the new rules.  We have been playing so far with mostly patrol fleet sized games.  That is 800 points or less.  The big campaign, which I am composing a narrative for, will include Spartan games new land based war game when it comes out as well.  Planetfall is set in the Firestorm universe and is in bascially an epic scale.  It pits tanks, mechs and other engines of destruction against each other in a future battlefield.  I am really looking forward to it.


Thats all for now.  I am thinking about topics for 40K.  I am toying with list ideas.  I am really trying not to just vent in a big spazzy post complaining about the stat of the game.  Lets face it things don't look good right now. My resolve may fade...




Until Then.............



Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes War Calls!!!!!!!!!


and always

REMEMBER DRAMOS!!!!

Tj Must Die! Results And A Kill Team Review.

SeerK here. Well the “Tj must Die RTT” had a real good turnout for taking place in a blizzard. 20 players

descended on Evolution games and when the dust settled and the snow started to hit hard, Mr. Bill Kim took top honors with his Daemons. I had the honor of getting tabled in round one by Tj himself thanks to me having to go first. I rolled way to high for my reserve rolls for my Autarch to keep my air force off the board, so they were easy prey for the Chaos and Necron air forces.

Round two had me matched up against Chris Vintons Space wolves. 16 Thunder Wolves ran ramshackle over my ground forces while my air force killed all of his troops. In the end He won based on Slay the Warlord, Line Breaker and First Blood.

After somebody dropped I got a by in the 3^rd round so I could chill out. Needless to say the Eldar Grey Knight combo has been deleted from army builder and 2 lists I should have run are now going to go into full development mode for the Adepticon GT. I have a pure Eldar list and one with Dark Eldar Allies. We shall see how they do over the next couple months. I will be doing some updates on the progress of the list and posting some pictures of the display board once I start its construction.

I had an opportunity this week to try out the new Kill Team rule set. Since Tj was in town all week we had a big crowd on our usual 40K night at Evolution Games. 40K night is Wednesday night for those that are close to Lansing and want to pop in.

Kill Team was released as a data slate. Its a short addendum to play small games of 40K. You have 200 points to buy a kill team and are limited to troops, elites and fast attack choices. The list building limitations are actually similar to the rules for the Adepticon combat patrols in past years.

Basically you are able to get a squad or 2 and then each individual model moves and acts on its own. So its basically a skirmish based mod of 40K. 3 models are assigned a USR from 5 different lists based on what kind of “Specialist” is. The highest leadership model becomes the leader and gets a special Warlord trait. Its pretty simple and the games play fast.

My main complaint is that it does not allow for real customization of each individual. Granted I don’t think it was meant to be as involved as Necromunda, GW's first real skirmish game, or the Fan built Killzone. Its nice for a pickup game. Its also kinda nice for small games in a campaign. It wants you to play on a 4x4 board, but I think using terrain thats more like Zone Mortalis would make it more fun. In fact next time the group plays, we will be combining zone Mortalis and Kill Team together.

I think its a little pricey for what you get. $11.99 is a bit steep for a rather basic modification of the rules. It seems like the price hikes are just going to continue. It really is a shame. I think between the lack of FAQ's, price hikes and undefined direction of the game it is causing hobbyists on the fence to walk away from 40K or at very least cause a malaise.

The cure of course to to just play and hobby and break it up a little bit. Try out some other games and diversify. This is what our group is doing. I will be discussing Firestorm Armada 2.0 in the coming weeks and Spartan Games newest endeavor. Planetfall, when it is released.

We will be forging some rock hard narratives with both 40K and Firestorm in the coming months as we have campaigns planned for both. More on those as they happen.

Until Next time..

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!

War Calls!!! The "Tj Must Die! RTT"

Welcome to 2014.  SeerK here to start the new year off.  Last year was rough and I have to say things are
starting to look up for myself.  I hope the little snippets of luck and good fortune continue to snowball and make good things happen.

Speaking of good things, one of the very good things that I am looking forward to this weekend is the "Tj Must Die!" tournament happening at Evolution Games this Sunday.  Registration starts at 11 am and dice roll at noon.  Entry is $10.  This is an 1850 standard force org, no escalation, no stronghold assault and no data slate tournament.  It is being held in honor of Tj AKA Old School Terminator the Primarch of Dark Future Games.  He is on leave from his duties defending our country and is coming back home for a week  of gaming and Emperors Children like partying.

Myself and Spellduckwrong will be playing.  I am bringing the Eldar with some Cormmorite allies.  I am all tooled up to deal with Flyers, Daemons, Nercons and Tau battle suits.  Its been a while since I have played in a tournament so it will be nice to get back in the mode.  I have to get a list hammered out and prepared for Adepticon.  I got the call this past week and I am officially off the wait list and in the GT.

I have a couple different lists I am going to be playing.  Of course the Eldar and Dark Eldar are what I am leaning towards as I dont have to buy any models, just paint a few and touch up and embellish the rest.  I have another list that involves Grey Knight allies, but I really don't feel like buying $150 dollars worth of models.  We will see how it does I guess.  I know one thing for sure.  I will have to deal with hordes.  The Hive Fleets are upon us and I fear if the codex is decent, Nids will be making a big comeback.


Well thats all for now.  I hope to see some of you Sunday, if you are in Michigan.  I know they are calling for a big amount of snow this weekend.  so if you do make it out, drive safe.


Until next time.....



Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!