What I Like Today - Azrael

Welcome to another WILT article for today, I've not had much chance over the last couple of days to get one done because I've been too busy. However, last night I was having a skim of the Dark Angels codex to check up some special rules I was unsure of and read Azrael's rules properly. I'd been using him in my last few lists in prep for a tournament soon but didn't realise he had a few of the extra rules.

Deathwing / Ravenwing
The original reason I chose to take Azrael was as a quick way of getting Deathwing and Ravenwing as scoring units, without me having to take both Belial and Sammael, as I don't own Sammael.

Azrael lets me take both for just over 200pts in one handy package.

The Protector
This is a suit of Artificer armour which also bestows a 6+ feel no pain, which means Azrael can happily tank wounds and deal with AP3 weaponry. The only downside is that it doesnt give the "Grand Master of the Dark Angels" the Eternal Warrior special rule.

Lion Helm
The Lion Helm is a cracking bit of wargear that gives Azrael's unit a 4+ Invulnerable save. Decent enough with a Tactical Marine squad, even better when you combine it with a big Imperial Guard platoon squad.

Warlord Traits
Azrael can choose any of the traits from the Dark Angels Warlord table, which is pretty handy too, as you can then tailor to what you need from the game. Personally I like the Feel No Pain within range of objective (although only on works on Dark Angels units) and also the modifiers to reserve rolls is quite handy too, so I can try and get Flyers on when I need to.

Rites of Battle
Something I didn't realise when I picked him is that he has the Rites of Battle special rule, meaning all units from the DA Codex use his leadership while he's on the table. Which means I don't have to be spending points on Veteran Sergeants in my units in order to get the LD boost on the unit.

Inner Circle
Azrael also has the Inner Circle special rule which makes him Fearless and also gives him benefits against Chaos Space Marine units.

Sword of Silence
Being a S6 AP3 weapon means that Azrael doesn't have to drop to 1 attack and use Krak Grenades against vehicles, which is pretty decent.

So that's it for now, so far I'm really enjoying my games using him, another WILT installment some time soon!

SB

(Song - "If You Love These People" from Man of Steel Soundtrack)

W.I.L.T - Ravenwing Bikers

Morning and welcome to another WILT installment! Yesterday in the post I got another 3 Ravenwing Bikers to get my Dark Angels w/ Guard allies list up to 1750 looking towards a tournament at the end of July.

It got me a bit excited to write about Ravenwing bikes and why I like them... So here's a few reasons.

1. Scoring
If I choose to take Azrael, it allows me not only some benefits to his unit, but also lets me take my precious Deathwing AND Ravenwing as scoring. It's great having a group of scoring bike units that are fast to get to places.

2. Fast
As I said above, Ravenwing are fast elements in my mostly static Dark Angels and Guard army. They can also Scout move allowing them to get further up the field meaning in a standard deployment, they can be 24" across the board in Turn 1.

It also means later on in the game, thanks to turbo boost and whatnot, they can be reaching objectives quite a distance away.

3. Hit and Run
Something I always forget about, but can be massively helpful is the fact they all have Hit and Run special rule. Meaning they can bang into a combat, do some damage, stick in during the enemy turn and then leave for a re-charge in my own turn.

4. Homing Beacon
Great in tandem with my Deathwing elements, especially combined with a Scout move and Turbo boost and hoping they survive until Turn 2. Or even reliable deep strike on Turn 1 Deathwing assault.

5. Firepower
A group of twin-linked rapid firing bolters can do a fairly decent amount of damage to small units, combine that with the 2 plasma guns I run and we're putting out a decent few shots for the unit. On top of that, adding the Banner that gives Salvo 2/4 nearby works on Ravenwing bikes as they're Relentless.

6. "Free" Landspeeder
The last thing I like about Ravenwing bikes is the ability to attach a Land Speeder if the squad is a full 6. This frees up my Fast Attack slots for other things or even more Bikes. This is handy since I've got a new found love for the Land Speeder.

So that's all for now about Ravenwing Bikes, maybe next week I'll delve into Azrael and Land Speeder Typhoons.

SB
(Song: Do I Wanna Know - The Arctic Monkeys)

Tlaxtan Titans first game of the season

The Tlaxtan Titans had their first game on Monday, they were all feeling rusty after a long break from the world of Bloodbowl, but their ability wasn't diminished!!! In their first match their were pitted against the vile Zharr Earthquakes, the Titans were anxious about the game as the Hobgoblins can keep up with their Saurus linemen keeping them pinned in place slowing the running game to a grind, and each of the Dwarves was an expert tackler ready to grab any slippery skink trying to sneak past.

The Zharr Earthquakes  won the toss to receive in the first half and quickly went for the ball with their Centaur, however his hands and legs got muddled up and he failed to pick it up. The Titans capitalised on this, and while the Zharr Earthquakes  were caging around the ball, they began to pick on their faster players with the Saurus on the scrimmage line. TheZharr Earthquakes  attempted to make a break down the wing but were quickly cut off by the swifter Titans and after a full half of pushing back and forth at the halfway point went for a chance pass hoping to single out a lone hobgoblin. The pass wasn't accurate however and landed a few spaces away, The Titans attempted the same action but couldn't even pick the ball up.

The second half started much in the same way, the Titans got the ball deep into the opponents half, but were quickly beaten down, the ball changed hands several times until on the final break a lone Skink, No.10 Ekkeko, broke away from the Centaur, picked up the ball and launched it to his team-mate waiting down the pitch, who promptly scored a touchdown with just enough time for the ref to blow his whistle.

Titans 1 Zharr Earthquakes  0

It was a close match, and the Titans only won by the skin of their teeth with an extremely lucky last ditch run.

W.I.L.T - Colossus Siege Mortar

Good morning folks and welcome to another edition of "What I Like Today" (or W.I.L.T for short).

Today I'm going to talk about the Colossus Siege Mortar in the Imperial Guard codex. This has been a favourite unit of mine since 5th edition with the Guard codex, but only since getting to grips with 6th edition rules have I brought it back out onto the tabletop.

My logic for this has been 2 fold. 1 is to deal with infantry blobs in their own deployment zone and also to take the Colossus over something like the Griffon or Basilisk is the S6, AP3, Ignores Cover.

What this means is that I can 2+ out Tau Firewarriors, instakilling any HQs that it lands on and fail their L.O.Sir test. It can also then deal with backfield power armoured units, like Tactical marines in cover or pesky Devastator equivalents like Long Fangs or Dark Reapers.

In the games I've used it, it's always done pretty well. I'm not sure if it's made it's points back in every game, but it's killed a few HQs and troop units they're hiding in.

It's very reliant on getting a hit since otherwise it'll be scattering full 2D6", but it's got a decent chance of landing a hit, or even scattering onto other nearby units if you play something like Guard platoon blobs or Tau huddled together to benefit from support fire.

And that's time up. What do you guys think of the Colossus Siege Mortar? Both playing using it, and playing against it.

SB
(Song: Mr Brightside by The Killers)

MAWSCON

Hi All,

Angryman here - its been too long since I last posted!!!!

I just wanted to update everyone with what we are doing at the club.  First of all we are now GCN (Gaming Club Network) registered.

This means that MAWS can easily forge links with other clubs, be advertised to a wider audience, see what other clubs are doing and have a network of like minded people we can reach out to.

As the number of 40K players have increased over the past year, we are running our first in-house only competition,

MAWSCON - Sunday 18th August 2013

it gives people of varying skill levels, experience and knowledge of the game a chance to play each other and hopefully take something away from the day.

I hope after this post (I know I said this last time) that I will be able to post on a regular basis.

Thank you to Badger for keeping the blog alive

Everyone else (you know who you are) - post something!!!!

All comments welcome

The Great Maw's Invitational - Blood Bowl League

Good morning folks and welcome to the first edition of this special broadcast from Skycutter Sports News, brought to you by Athel Loren - because you're worth it. The Old World watched on last year as the Middenheim Mawlers demolished every team that stood before them (along with a few stadium walls too...) on their way to multiple cups and trophies.

Critics along the way claimed they relied too heavily on maiming the opposition, rather than actually attempting a touch down, but it made no difference to the Mawlers. By the end of the season, their dominance was so total, that comparisons were starting to be made with the almighty Chaos All-Stars.

Middenheim Mawlers in their prized Blue and White home armour.

The Middenheim Mawlers have since been inducted into the hall of fame in the Orclays Empire League after (literally) crushing the rest of their opponents into submission and achieveing a perfect season. In their post-cup final revelling, the mighty Mawlers declared that no team in their current division are capable of dealing with them and have saught out fresh challenges further afield.
Using the massive prize money from winning every honour available to them and keeping the majority of their team injury free, the Mawlers have put together the Great Maw's Invitational - where hand picked teams from around the region will compete to see who are worthy enough to grace the field against the Mawlers.

 So far, the Mawlers have singled out 8 teams from around the Empire:

The challengers make themselves known.

• Drakwald Destroyers, an Orc team from the outskirts of Bretonnia.
• Tlaxtlan Titans, a highly praised Lizardmen team from the Lustria leagues.
• Cabal of Broken Dreams, a mysterious Dark Elf team with ties to a mysterious Warpstorm.
• Altdorf Angels, a team of former Crickethammer players turning to Blood Bowl for the fame.
• Hulton Marauders, a team of hardy Dwarfs from the Khazad Undermountain Leagues.
• Zharr Earthquakes, the Champions of the Centaur Cup.
• Fallassion Rangers, an agile team of Elven nobles who dominated the Ulthuan Inter-Elf Cup.
• Mystery Team, an unknown team who have yet to reveal themselves but have answered the call through their herald.

The Mawlers await, atop a mountain of gold and skulls, for the team who conquers the invitational leaague. The Drakwald Destroyer's star Blocker Nobrot Uzthug has stated "We izn't afraid of dem big ladz. Da Destroyers can 'andle anyfink they throw dis way!". Presumably Nobrot hasn't seen the Mawlers alarmingly high casualty infliction rate - or he has and has taken a few too many blows to the head along the way...

"Thick skulls? Who you callin' Thick skulls?"

Whatever fate befalls the challengers to the Mawlers, it's sure to be an interesting run up in the invitational league whatever happens! There's some strong teams out there looking to take the Mawlers down a peg or two, along with taking a sack or two of their gold as well.

That's all for now folks. Signing off on this special introduction Great Maw's Invitational report - Rodnut Burgundee.

What I Like Today - Rune Priest, Grey Hunters and Drop

Afternoon all.

Since I've been struggling to find the time for length blog posts and haven't really gotten much painted, converted or built since progress is slow, I'd thought about doing some micro-posts each day.

One of the topics has stemmed from my random thoughts whilst commuting to work, usually listening to various 40K podcasts.

So... I'll christen the segment "What I Like Today..." or "W.I.L.T" for short.

The rule here is that it doesn't have to be amazing, points efficient, competitive or whatever else. It's just an idea I've had and would like to try out at some point in the future.

Oh, and I also am limiting myself to the length of time it takes a shuffled song to play through! So I've got (unless Master of Puppets comes on) about 3 minutes to write it.

Without further ado, I give you the very first "What I Like Today" segment.

Rune Priest, Grey Hunters and a Drop Pod.

Having seen the Riptide in action on another table, combined with reading a bit of the Tyranid codex over the last few weeks, I've been thinking about what can be done to deal with big units like the Riptide and Tervigon. These guys can tank a lot of hits and be a right pain for you to play against.


My idea? Jaws of the World Wolf.

In order to get them into my army as allies, I'll pack a Rune Priest into a Drop Pod with a squad of Grey Hunters with Meltas.

Plan is, I drop them in first turn, detach the Rune Priest on one side and the Grey Hunters on the other.

The Drop Pod can be really bold in where it lands since it'll always do it's movement reduction, so as long as I'm not daft near board edges, it's cool.

The Grey Hunters can then hopefully Melta a nearby vehicle or monster if possible, whilst the Rune Priest tries his jaws on the big stuff with low initiative.

It relies on passing the psychic test and there's still a 1/6 chance in stopping the power completely, and then the Initiative test, but either way it's a crippling blow if it all comes off.

If there's not a Riptide, Necron Wraith horde, Tervigon pile on the opposite side of the table, the unit is still pretty handy at crippling vehicles and whatnot. The Rune priest can always stay in the back field and use his Divination powers instead.

And now the song is coming to an end so that's my time up.

What do you guys think to the idea to deal with big, low Initiative monsters?

See you next week for more W.I.L.T segments!

SB
(Song: Golden Years - David Bowie)

June Painting Pledge - Necrons and Chaos Daemons

Morning folks.

It's a bit far into the month for this, but if I don't post it I will be giving myself an excuse not to do it. Last month was quite a productive month, with the exception of my Eldar vehicle weapons, so this month I'm looking at a bit less painting and more building.

Paint:

• Necron Ghost Ark
• Remaining Eldar vehicle weaponry.

Build and Spray:

• 20 Bloodletters
• 1 Skullcannon
• 1 Herald of Khorne
• 3 Ravenwing Bikes

Buy:

• Eldar Codex
• 3 Ravenwing Bikes

So far I've made a bit of progress by getting the Ghost Ark basecoated in black, which is a massive chore since I've glued it all together and it's a right pain to get into the gaps.

I've also managed to glue up the Skullcannon. Originally I was hoping I could magnetise it to enable me to swap between the Bloodthrone and Skullcannon, but gave up on that as I needed the Herald on foot for my list idea.

That's all for now then, I'll be posting up a few more micro articles over the next couple of days, then on Monday hopefully do a photo dump from Phalanx.

SB

May Painting Pledge - Finished.

Morning.

So I've been meaning to post a blog up for a couple of days but haven't had chance to take pictures, or get it written up on the PC.

In all, it's been a pretty decent month for getting things painted, although I've had absolutely no desire to paint my Eldar vehicle weaponry. Since they're all seperate fiddly weapons, they're a nightmare for painting without getting my hands coated in primer or wash, or worse, smudging all the paint off them while handling them. I'll get around to these at some point this month hopefully...

Anyway! Here's the list and here's what got done!

Paint:

• 5 Dark Angels Devastators
• 1 Belial
• 1 Stormlord
• 1 Trazyn
• 1 Cryptek
• 1 Overlord
• 10 Immortals with Tesla
• 5 Lychguard with Voidblades and Shield.
• Remaining Eldar vehicle weaponry.

Build:

• 20 Bloodletters
• 1 Skullcannon / Bloodthrone

I didn't get any building done since I was pretty busy with painting and playing on the Xbox whilst having hobby burnout.

BUT! I did get a bonus Annihilation / Command Barge completed whilst I was in a painting mood. Used this as a test for painting my other Necrons vehicles, and the intention is that I'll repaint my Monoliths to match - since they were speed painted Boltgun metal to be used in a tournament a few years ago.

Time for some eye candy....

Annihilation Barge - The Tesla weapon (can't remember the name) is removable so I can swap it back to a command barge. As is the weapon underneath to swap between Tesla and Gauss.

Cryptek - His back plating is Ice blue to separate him from the other Necron characters. I also painted up a few smaller details on there in the same blue to pick them out.

10 Tesla Immortals - These guys have a white stripe down their foreheads to set them apart from warriors. Chose to arm them with Tesla Carbines as I already had a squad of 6 Gauss Blaster models.

5 Lychguard with Voidblades and Shields - These guys have gold crests and white face masks to make them more wraith like in appearance and also tie in that my elite units have elements of white on them in places.

Plastic Overlord from the Catacomb Command Barge. Lots of gold detailing on him, and a brass cloak to set him out in a crowd.

Imotekh the Stormlord - Was struggling for what colour to use for him, but ended up with a Jade green cloak... Which ironically is the same colour I use for my Ork skin. He won't like that one bit...

Tazyn the Infinite shares the same white face mask as the Lychguard since he can end up regenerating into one of them. Blue for his cloak since his GW model had a lot of blue elements. Also a little easter egg, he's got a "keyring" with some Eldar runes and a Tau symbol. The Eldar rune is painted as Ulthwe and the Tau symbol is painted as a Farsight enclave, for if I ever get around to doing a Tau force.

Planning get June's painting pledge up in the next few days, since we're already 1/5th through the month.

Cheers,
SB