Getting Ready for tournaments!

There are a few things that I do before a big tournament to get ready for it. I find that it helps me feel ready and a lot less scared when I have a solid game plan going into the tournament. I'm going to go over some of the things that have worked for me.

Research: This is a pretty simple thing to do. Do a little research on the area that the tournament is being held in. Find out who wins a lot of the tournaments in this area, and what there list is. You can find ANYTHING on the Internet these days if you know what your doing. Its a really simple task that will help you feel a lot more ready for the tournament, and give you an idea of what to expect.

Check out the Missions: About 90% of tournaments I attend post there Missions somewhere online before the tournament. This is another great thing to check out when your doing your research. I myself sit down and write out a game plan for each mission, and even take it with me to the tournament. Its good to know the mission before hand so you don't have to spend time that could be used on playing. Write down where you would like to place objectives, Overall Mission game plans, What you might reserve for this mission, ETC. Anything that comes to your mind or that stands out about the mission is a good thing to write down. You might catch a little part of the mission that you will be able to use to your advantage.

Practice Practice Practice: I say this a lot but if you want to be a serious tournament player then practicing is very important. You need to know your list inside and out. What its strong against, and what you may need to watch out for. This is in my eyes the most important thing you can do. What looks good on paper might get smashed in the face more then you expected. You list might need to be fixed a little before the tournament.

I have about two to three tournaments a month that I addend so it can take up a lot of time. Its important to remember why your doing this. Everyone has there own reasons. Some just love to play the game others have that inner need to win. I myself have that inner need to win. I love to win more then anything. I'm okay with losing, but I make sure no matter who I play I have a good chance of beating them.

This month I have:

-Finals of the international “Ard Boyz” Warhammer 40K

-The Third Annual Warmaster’s 40K Challenge

I feel pretty good about both events. I have done enough research and practicing that I feel I could win if all goes well. The Third Annual Warmaster’s 40K Challenge I feel really good about because im going with my good friend jon. Its a two day event with a Doubles one day then the Singles the next. Its rare that I go to a tournament for the fun aspect, but I decided to go to this one and try to have as much fun as I can. Dont get me wrong im still going for gold.

Hope you enjoyed the read

Peachykeen

Chicago here I come!

With just over a week till the Ard Boyz Finals I have been going crazy with practicing & getting myself ready for the Tournament. Sadly they have the Ard Boyz Finals only two weeks after school starts so I have all of that going on also, but lucky for me I have a job that allows me to play Warhammer 40k at work so its not a complete loss.

Games Workshop has informed me that they will not be announcing the missions till the day of the tournament so sadly I have no idea what they will be like. I tried & tried to get a sneak peak at them but no luck. I have a solid well rounded list so i'm not to worried about it.

I'm going into this tournament expecting to win. Why would you expect to win you ask? I feel its important to go into every tournament thinking this way. You need to have confidence that you can slam everyone else. It helps a lot. You cant just go in there all cocky though because that's when you start to make mistakes.

I'm also going to be following some of the rules that I have talked about in my blog. These rules have brought me success in the past, and i'm sure they will do so again at the Ard Boyz Finals. Some of the rules that I make sure I follow are:

Practice, Practice, Practice....

Stick to the plan...

Go over the Math...

Play Fast, Think Faster...

Play the mission not the Player...

Reserve...

Hide...

Objective Placement...

Look at topics in the Archives for examples of how I define these rules.

There are also many more rules that I make sure I follow, but I have not gone over them yet. I will be going over more of the rules that I use to win Tournaments very soon.

OH HAPPY DAYZ!

When I woke up today little did I know I would be waking up to a call from my Friendly Gaming Store Jeff's Cards & Comics telling me my order is in. When I heard the good news I sprung into action faster then a fat kid in a buffet line.

For coming in first place at the semi-finals I was awarded a 2500 point army of my choice free of charge from GW.. I have a lot of armies already so I figured I would pick Imperial Guard because the new codex looks like it could be fun, and not a lot of people at the shop play IG.

Here is a list of my free loot:

2x Cadian Command Squad

4x Imperial Guard Cadian Battleforce

3x Imperial Guard Hellhound

3x Imperial Guard Leman Russ

2x Imperial Guard Valkyrie

2x Imperial Guard Leman Russ Demolisher

Sticking to the plan!

I'm away till Thursday, but I wanted to write something up while everyone is still in a beer coma from last night so here It goes.

Today I will talk a little about something I live by in the 40k universe. Sticking to the plan. I try to have a solid plan for every army I play. It might be Orkz, Eldar, Marines, etc. You have to have a solid game plan going into a game if you expect to win it. This like most of my blog thoughts are meant for Tournaments not just fun games with the boys. If its just a fun game just have some fun.

Remember this is not just a game about killing the other players models. 2/3 of the missions you can win with out killing a single model on the table. Always try to play the mission not the player.

Stick to the plan: Its pretty simple. Don't let other people mess with your head. Don't let ANYTHING stop you from following your game plan. A lot of peoples problem is they have a solid plan but don't follow it the way they said they would.

Play the Mission not the player: This is pretty simple. Don't just rush in with a blind rage and try to kill as much as you can then on turn 5 start thinking you should get close to those objectives. You should be planning for turn 5+ during turn 1.

Playing as a Fast Army!

One of the things I looked at so far is “ How to play AGAINST a fast army “, now lets take a look at the people out there that love that crazy 24” - 36” inches of moving a turn.

This can be Eldar, Dark Eldar, Orks in Battle Wagons or on Bikes, Marines on Bikes etc. Almost any army can have that fast moving if you have the right list.

Deployment comes first in the game so lets go over that. Being a fast Army there is a lot you can do during deployment to impact the game. The game has not even started yet and you are already increasing your chances of winning.

A lot of people tend to spread out there army during Deployment. They try to use up as much of the board as they can if they deploy first. Everyone has there own reasons for doing so. Some people like having that lone Heavy Choice in the corner all alone, because they feel it will draw less attention to itself that way. Some people do it because they want to come at you in waves. Others do it so if you deploy heavy on one side they are not completely screwed over. Your a fast army. You deployment does not effect you as much as someone that can move 6” - 12” a turn.

Going First:

Standard: This is pretty simple. You want to follow the rule that a lot of people use and try to deploy along the whole table if you are playing just the normal 12” out deployment. Chances are the person you are playing will try to match up unit for unit trying to think to themselves “ Ok This can take that, And this can kill that. If I put this here I can take that out pretty simple etc“. This is fine because this is how you want them to be thinking. On your turn one you are going to start heading to there weak flank with your entire army so that you can over whelm them with everything you have. You will only be fighting a small amount of there army at a time so this should be an easy task.

Spearhead: This is a little more tricky. I tend to reserve everything in this Deployment because then all my reserves come on my table edge instead of in my deployment zone.

Dawn of War: I tend to only put my Seer council on the board so I get that turn 1 Fortune off. Being because its Night Fight for the first turn i'm not to worried about being shot at if they seize. Turn 1 come on the board with the rest of your army and try to spread them out so that when your opponent comes on the board they will do the same. Then on turn two simple use your speed to attack there weak flank leaving ½ there army doing nothing for most of the game while you wipe out the side that had the least amount of squads.

Going Second:

Standard: Its a lot easier to deploy second then first. You already see there deployment. Simply pile everything you have on there weak flank and go to town.

Spearhead: I feel the same about going second as I do about going first for this mission. Reserve everything ( maybe keep a couple heavy weapons on the board depending on what they have ) and come on the board from there weak flank.

Dawn of War: This deployment is great because putting everything in DOW reserve means there turn 1 they have nothing to shoot at and you will be able to pin point there weak flank when you come on also. Dawn of War is great for fast armies, and I love playing it any chance I get.



Objective Placement:

Here is another thing that we can do before the game even starts to increase our chances of winning. If there is more then one objective being placed by both players then make sure you keep your objectives far apart. The farther the better. You are going to have a lot easier time getting from objective to objective then a slow army will. 2 turns of moving for you is 4-6 turns of moving for them. Part of playing a fast army is using that speed as much as you can.

Overall Plan:

The plan is simple. Your fast. Use your speed every chance you get. Being fast means you get to pick the fights that you want to fight. If you don't want to fight against those termie's in a Land Raider then don't. Pick your battles, and when possible attack on there weak flank. A lot of people think to be successful in War Hammer 40k you need to do a lot of things that are complex and hard to understand. This is not true. Most of the time if you follow 3-4 simple rules you come out as the Winner.

By: Peachykeen

Single Heavy Weapon in a Squad!

We have a saying around the Club here in Peterborough “ Single Heavy Weapon in a Squad! “ This is for any squad that has that one random Heavy Weapon that never seems to do anything. At least I have never seen them do anything to amazing. Sure 1/50 times you might get that lucky Land Raider pop or take out a Rhino, but in all honesty the points you save from not bringing those over priced Heavy Weapons gets you a lot more scary choices in your list.

This works with almost any Troop choice to be honest. Troops all around are just NOT WORTH BRINGING FULL SQUADS OF! This changes with some armies but about 80% of the armies in 40k this Rule holds true. I would say Nids, Orcs, IG have troops you want full squads of but a lot of other races its just not worth it. 9/10 times the things you replaced those troops with are going to do a lot more damaged on the battlefield.

Lets take Eldar for instance. Its 60 Points for 5 Dire Avengers. You throw them in a Falcon if you are taking Falcons or you get them a Wave Serpent. Maybe even put a Bright Lance on that Wave Serpent so you have some extra Long Range Fire Support. If you got the 10 man squad of Dire Avengers then the squad jumps to 147 ( You have to take bladestorm if you are bringing a 10 man squad ). That's an extra 87 points for something that won't do as much as people think. Now some people like the Bladestorm+Doom Combo, but I myself am not to fond of it. I would rather be doing other things with my Farseers then backing up some Dire avengers.

So we spend an extra 87 Points per squad on our Dire Avengers to get them to 10 man squads. Lets say we are playing 2000 Points and we have 4 squads of them. That's 348 Points that you could have spent on something else. 348 Points is a lot of points.

Think about the person you are playing against. If they spend those 348 Points in Troops, and you are putting those points into scary things such as, Termies, Dreadnoughts, Land Raiders, Carnifexs, Fire Prisms, Warlocks on Bikes, Nobz etc, then there job is that much harder now. Getting rid of troops to bring more use full things helps a lot in the long run.

By Peachykeen

Ring Ring... Free Stuff Calling!

Little did I know I would wake up to a call from Games Workshop today giving me some congratulations on my 1st place at Ard Boyz Round 2. Needless to say I was happy because I knew what this phone call was going to be about.

What was this phone call about you ask? Why would Games Workshop call little old me? the answer is simple

Part of winning round 2 of Ard Boyz is you get a free 2.5k Army of your choice. Sad Part about is that you only get to pick the Race. After a little sweet talking though I was told its ok to give them a theme so now I should be getting what I want in the mail ( its being mailed out Friday ) I told them I want Air Vet IG. So im going to be getting 9 valks and alot of vet squads in the Mail. Im Tingling with the wait...

By: Peachykeen

Good Luck at BOLScon 2009

Just wishing a little good luck to Jawaballs, and Fritz who will be attending BOLScon 2009 in Texas this year. Show Jwolf what the 5 Dimension is all about. I look forward to hearing all about it when you return.

By: Peachykeen

40K Community Support

I would like to give a fast shout to two men that have helped me with my success in War hammer 40k. Fritz and Jawaballs. Fritz's way of thinking is a lot like mine, and Jawaballs has really helped me step up my painting skills. I know that a lot of my success in tournaments as of late has been thnx to these two men. If you are not already a member of there sites please do so. Show them some love. They have a lot of knowledge to each anyone out there.

Fritz Way of Saim-Hann

The Blood Angels and Warhammer 40k by Jawaballs

2009 Ard Boyz Semi-finals Battle report

My List:

HQ 1 - Farseer Total = 185
Runes of Warding, Runes of Witnessing, Spirit Stonee, Eldar Jetbike, Fortune, Doom

HQ 1 - 7 Warlocks Total = 380
Eldar Jetbikes, 4x Destructor, 2x Embolden, 1x Enchance

HQ 2 - Farseer Total = 170
Runes of Witnessing, Spirit Stones, Eldar Jetbike, Fortune, Doom

HQ 1 - 7 Warlocks Total = 380
Eldar Jetbikes, 4x Destructor, 2x Embolden, 1x Enchance

Elite 1 - 10 Howling Banshee's Total = 297
Exarch W/ Executioner, Acrobatic
- Transport Wave Serpent
Twin-Linked Shuriken cannons, Spirit Stones

Elite 2 - 5 Fire Dragons Total = 190
- Transport Wave Serpent
Twin-Linked Shuriken cannons, Spirit Stones

Elite 3 - 5 Fire Dragons Total = 190
- Transport Wave Serpent
Twin-Linked Shuriken cannons, Spirit Stones

Troop 1 - 5 Dire Avengers Total = 60
- Transport (See Heavy Support 1)

Troop 2 - 5 Dire Avengers Total = 60
- Transport (See Heavy Support 2)

Troop 3 - 5 Dire Avengers Total = 60
- Transport (See Heavy Support 3)

Heavy Support 1 - Falcon Total = 175
Scatter Laser, Holo-Fields, Spirit Stones

Heavy Support 2 - Falcon Total = 175
Scatter Laser, Holo-Fields, Spirit Stones

Heavy Support 3 - Falcon Total = 175
Scatter Laser, Holo-Fields, Spirit Stones


For this years 2009 Ard Boyz Semi-Finals I went to kitchener waterloo. I heard some rumors of a massive cheese cloud raining down over this area so I was a little worried. I knew that the cheese would be in full force today. I knew that I was prepared though. I did my research on the missions. I practiced each mission at least 20-30 times and I had a solid game plan for anything that could be thrown at me.

Round 1: Marines

Cassius
Librarian W/ Avenger and infinity Gate
10 man tac squad W/ Power Fist, Plasma Cannon, Flamer in a razorback
10 man tac squad W/ Power Fist, M Launcher, Flamer in Rhino
10 man tac squad W/ Power Fist, M launcher, flamer in Rhino
5 sniper scouts
5 sniper scouts
5 scouts W/ melta bomb
5 assault termies in land raider
techmarine
dreadnought W Multi-melta and storm bolter
5 assault marines W/ Storm Shield in drop pod
land speeder storm W multi-melta
2 land speeders W/ 2 heavy bolters each
vindicator
vndicator
predator annihilator W/ T-L lascannon and las cannon sponses

When I first seen this list I gave my head a shake. I could get my head around it. On paper it's not very scary, and it was about the same on the board. The person playing it was new to the game so I understand. He was a great guy though, and we had a fun game. When he seen I was playing a double council list I he told me he knew it was over, but he still fought the good fight and we had a great game because of it.

Mission: This was a kill point mission with a few things being changed.. HQ = 1 Troops = 3 Elite/fast/heavy = 2.

Dice off: I won the roll and let him go first.

His Deployment: He deployed using most of his side of the table. He left the drop pod, in reserve with the assault squad both his Hqs and the techmarine in it.

My Deployment: I threw both my councils on the board and my three wave serpents. I made sure I deployed on his weak flank because he made the mistake of spreading out against a fast army, because of this I knew how this game would end.

Turn 1: He dropped his Drop Pod in front of one of my seer councils. He also moved his land speeder storm W/ 5 scouts up to help back up the drop pod. He used his scout move to get the Land Speeder a little closer so he was in charge range turn 1. He Targeted my council ( no fortune up yet ) with everything in the drop pod and manged to kill 5 of them. He had two flamers and also avengers his AP3 flamer. I will admit it hurt. He then charged me with his scout hoping to tie me up for one turn so that the drop pod marines can charge me, but I wiped out the Scouts with my witch blades. He took some pot shots at my skimmers but was unable to do anything.

My turn 1: I fortuned up both my squads and moved into charge ranged of his drop pod. I sent the Wave serpent with the Fire dragons closer to his Land Raider. I moved the full 24' and got right in front of it so that next turn he would be unable to get the distance to back up Cassius with his assault marines. I then moved the wave serpent with the banshees 24” and it was right behind that. My goal was to use the dragons to pop the raider then use the banshess to kill the termie goodness inside. I used the other wave serpent to go after his lone predator annihilator. I also went flat out with this Wave Serpent. In the assault phase I charged into the marines that came out of the drop pod. I also charged the land speeder storm and drop pod in a triple assault because everything was close enough to do so. I managed to pop both the Land Speeder and the drop pod. I killed all 5 assault marines and the libraian but Cassius was still standing there laughing at me with his FNP. He took his Fearless wound and still held. I was happy with this out come though because now my seers could not be shot at next turn.

Turn 2: He knew his Termies would not get into range to back up Cassius so he made the choice to get out of his Land Raider and charge the two Wave Serpents in front of him. I put them there for that exact reason so I did not mind. He did very little moving other then that. During his shooting he put everything he had into my 3 wave serpents but the luck of the Dice gods would not let me fail a 4+ cover save. After charging with his Hammer Termies He blew up my Fire Dragons Wave Serpent. I was not to worried because better he kill a wave serpent then tie up my seers all game. Also in the assault I managed to finish off Cassius.

My turn 2: I fortuned both my seers and doomed his termi squad. The banshee's smiled with delight. I made the choice to just go flat out with my small seer squad because it was missing 5 warlocks already. Its new job was to keep going flat out till I got close to a tank. The full seer squad went 24' towards his scouts to cook them up with some ap4 flamers. The banshee's got out of the Wave Serpent and ran towards the doomed termies. I then moved the Wave Serpent behind the termies so if I wipe them out this turn I wont get sniped by his scouts or have a plasma cannon shot on my head. The Fire Dragons moved up to the Land Raider and the other fire dragon squad got out of the wave serpent to blow up his predator annihilator. The Land Raider got blown up as well as the predator annihilator. The banshees managed to kill one of his termies in shooting so I was feeling better about my odds against his massive 3+ inv. Them being doomed helped a lot though because I managed to get in just enough wounds that I wiped the squad. I used my D6 to get close behind the wave serpent I placed there so I would get a cover save from his vindicators and plasma.

Turn 3: He was running out of choices. He shot his Vindicators and scatters off. His plasma could not see the banshees and did nothing to the serpent. His scouts could not see the banshees so he kill the Fire dragons that killed his Land Raider.

My Turn 3: I fortuned up and doomed both his scout squad. All 3 of my Falcons come on the board. I move them each on 12' and shoot the Pulse Lasers at the dreadnought managing to pop it. The banshee's got back in the Wave Serpent and the fire Dragons followed suit. The big seer council went after the scouts to flame them to death. The small seers went after the vindicators. I made the choice to detatch my Farseer so I can go after both at the same time. 1 did not move at all so I made the choice to put the farseer on him because I would be auto hitting and glancing on a 1+. The other one I would need 4+s to hit so I figured having 2 warlocks would give me 6 attacks on the charge. Not bad odds. I moved my wave serpents behind cover best I can and make my charges on the vindicators blowing both of them up I killed both of his scout squads using my destructors

After turn 3 he shook my hand and said good game. He figured there was no point on going any further. I got 24 points from this Round.

Round 2: Marines

Lysadner
Libraian W/ Null Zone and gate of infinity in termi armour W/ storm Shield
10 man tax squad W/ meltagun, muli-melta, power first, combi-flamer in a rhino
10 man scout squad W/ power fist camo cloaks and combi melta
8 man scout squad W/ power first camo claks and combi melta
7 man assault squad in Land raider crusader
7 man assault squad in Land raider crusader
venerable dreadnought W/ heavy Flamer, Multa Melta in a drop pod
7 man devisator squad W/ 3 missile launcher 1 lascannon

I felt bad this round because this was a friend of mine from my Local Club. He managed to come in 2nd at the first Round of Ard Boyz and I was hoping he did well again. We practiced this mission a few times together and we both knew how it would end. He was upset that he drew me for this Mission.

Mission: 6 Objectives are placed on the board. On turn 2 , 4 , 6 you roll a D6 whatever number the D6 is that is one of the REAL objectives for the end of the game. The secondary is Kill Points. The Deployment is also Dawn of War with Night Fight the whole game.

Objective Placement: I placed the first Objective in the right side of the table in the far back. He placed one on his side pretty close to the middle of the board 12” out. I then placed the next one 24” to the left of my first one. He placed his next one 12” away from his first. I then placed my last one 24' away from the middle objective on my side and he placed his 12” away from his 2nd. I commented on his nice placement being a slower army. My goal for my objectives was simple. If I keep two Falcons on the middle objective most of the game they will be able to reach either objective in a single turn of moving but the objectives would be to far away for him to have any chance of making it to two of mine if two happen to be the real ones.

Dice Off: He won the roll and forced me to take first turn knowing how much I love 2nd turn.

My Deployment: I place nothing on the board and reserve everything in Dawn of War Reserve.

His deployment: He also places nothing on the board places his 2 scout squads in normal reserve and then the rest in Dawn of War Reserve His Drop pod would come down on turn 1.

My Turn 1: I knew I had to split up his land raider some how. I had to pull off some sneaky tricks for sure. I places a fire dragon Wave Serpent on each flank both moving up 18” to get the cover save. I moved my Banshee's Wave Serpent 24' right in the middle. I put a falcon on each side of the banshee's about 8' away from the banshee's Wave Serpent. I then put a seer council spread out one on the left and one on the right. I used the other falcon to fill in a random cap so it looks like I would be using most of the table to attack. My goal here was that he would see a seer on each side and place a Land Raider on each side to tie them up a good 4-5 turns with his termis. I also knew that with Null Zone up I was going to have a hard time if those Raiders stayed together.

His turn 1: He dropped his pod on one of his objectives and got out. He moved his devistators into cover and brought the land raiders on one on each side just as I hoped he would. To make it worse for him he managed to immobilize The Land Raider with Lysander in it. A huge Smile came on my face because that single dice changed the whole game. For the rest of the game I knew I would ignore that Land Raider. He took some shots but was out of range because of the Night Fight.

Dice Roll for objective: It was a 6. The bottom Right objective on my side. This made me very happy.

My turn 2: I fortune up and doom and start to move everyone to the right side where the Libraian's Land Raider is. The goal was to Swarm his squad with both seers and the banshees to try to wipe them out before any of them can attack and then I can get rid of Null Zone once and for all. I moved up 24” with all my skimmers placing them in a line so I can put my seers behind it and not get assault by his termies. Passed the turn

his turn 2: His reserves did not come on the board. He moved up his Raider and got out to assault. He was hoping to pop one of the skimmers to make a whole big enough to charge threw. He used his raider to spot light the Wave Serpent with Fire Dragons in it, but after shooting almost everything he had into it he could just not get past the 4+ cover. He said screw it and charged the skimmers having nothing else to do. He also made the choice to Lysander and his termies out of his Land Raider and started heading towards my objective. He failed to get his Null Zone up thnx to WOW.

My turn 3: I managed to get both my fortunes off but both doom's got denied by his Hood. Now with no Doom I figured my banshee's might not be worth going into that squad. He would just use them to tie or win combat and try to run me down. I made the choice to go 24' towards his dev squad with my wave serpent instead. My Fire Dragons got out and went move toward the Land Raider and popped it.. I then moved my Wave Serpent out of the way so both my seers can double team his termies. I moved my councils in a line so that my Farseers where in the very back of the pack about 8” away from his models but 2” away from mine so that they would be in my warlocks unit still but be unable to make the assault. This way I would not have to worry about failing a unlucky save and get insta killed. I used my 3 falcons to try to pop his Rhino but no luck. I managed to bring his Termi squad to just the Libraian and one termi. He is stubborn from Lysander though so makes his test with a 3. He was unable to kill any of my warlocks.

His turn 3: Both his scouts come in and try to pop my Wave Serpent the banshee's with there melta + charge but failed to do so. He moved his Lysadner and friends closer to my objective. At this Rate he would be there by turn 6. He then tried to use gate of infinity to get out of close combat with my Council. After a short convo I said lets just let the judge make the choice because ½ the people in the world say you can and ½ the people in the world say you cant. I'm one of the you cant people simply because other ability's like that “ you can use this to leave combat “. The Judge said ya you can so I left it at that and was not to worried. He used his gate to start going toward the objective just like Lyander and friends did. Lucky for me he got a 9 inch scatter coming back at my units. I use my consolidate to move closer to his termies again. He used his dead to move a little closer to my banshee Wave Serpent. I knew that if the banshee's got out he would tie them up with his dead for the rest of the game. He moved his rhino up closer to my seers and was going to rapid fire next turn. Null Zone fails again.

Turn 4 Dice off. A 4. This was the far left objective on my side. This was going perfect for me.

My turn 4: Fortune goes off one one council ( the full one ), but not the other one. Doom goes off on the termi squad. I got out of my Wave Serpent with my with my banshee's and start moving in for an assault on the dev squad. My Dragons get out close to his Dreadnought. I knew I had to pop this Dreadnought or I would be tied up with my S3 the whole game. Lucky for me I popped it and was a happy camper. I moved two of my Falcons in front of the Lysander Squad so they would either have to charge them or go around them. At this rate they would not make it to the objective by turn 6. I used my other falcon to hold the objective on the far left. I moved the other fire dragon wave serpent to try get in the way next turn. I circled his Rhino with my non full seers and use my other seers to go after the pesky libraian and friends. In the assault I charge the dev squad leaving one behind and he makes his Leadership because of stubborn. I managed to kill the Librarian I also popped the Rhino with a 5 and his troops had no where to go. So they got destroyed.

His turn 4: He used one of his scouts squads to kill the fire dragons and brought the other scout squad In to help against the banshees. With the luck of the dice he managed to kill the banshee's off but I finished off the last dev squad member and a couple scouts. Lysander and friends popped a Falcon and stunned the other one ( thank you spirit stones ) My 5 Dire Avengers got out of the Falcon.

My turn 5: I brought the seer council that popped the Land Raider closer to his 3 objectives ( with 4 objectives being able to be the real one there was a 75% chance that one of them would be one of his ) I wanted to make sure that he was unable to get it just in case he ended up getting Lysadner to that other objective to contest and try to tie it. I moved the Wave Serpent one inch in front of lysander and friends and I did the same with the other Falcon. My Mighty 5 Dire Avengers moved and ran to the objective being about 1 inch away from it now. I use the full Seer council to go after Lysadner and would be on him next turn.

His turn 5: he spread his scout out enough that maybe he could get lucky and grab one of the objectives I was now about 19' away from both so would not get the assault. I was planning on just sitting on whatever objective it was on turn 6 if it was on his side.

Turn 6 Dice off: A 2 comes up. It was on his side but with my seers in contest range we called it because he would be unable to make it to the objective that my 5 Dire Avengers held or the far left one that my Falcon held.

I ended this with 22 Points.

Round 3: Dark Eldar

I was not looking forward to this Mission. I practiced it at least 30 times and about ½ of those it ended up in a tie or a minor win. I was pretty upset about this mission to say the least.

Archon
Dracite W/ 8 wyches in a raider W/ dark lance Night Shield
9 wyches in a raider W/ dark lance Night shield
9 wyches in a raider W/ dark lance Night shield
10 warriors W/ 2 dark lances
10 warriors W/ 2 dark lances
10 warriors W/ 2 dark lances
9 warriors W/ 1 dark lance in Raider W/ Dark lance Night Shield
9 warriors W/ 1 dark lance in Raider W/ Dark lance Night Shield
9 warriors W/ 1 dark lance in Raider W/ Dark lance Night Shield
3 Reavers W/ 2 blasters
5 Reavers W/ 2 blasters succubus
Raveager W/ 3x disintegrators, night shield
Raveager W/ 3x disintegrators, night shield
Raveager W/ 3x Dark Lances, night shield

Mission: There is a single Objective in the middle. The Deployment is Spear head and the secondary is Table Quarters.

Dice Off: he wont he Dice off and forced me to go first.

My deployment: I placed all my skimmers as far up as I could. This is one of the few times that my skimmers would be able to pop tanks like no Armor 10 open topped does not last long against a lot of str 6 and 8 shots. I placed my seers behind the skimmers and waited to see what he would do.

His deployment: He put his all his foot slogging troop choices and his bikes on the board. He also put his 3 heavy support skimmers and1 wyche raider on the board. He reserved 3 skimmers total.

My turn 1. I moved up 12 with all my skimmers to shoot one gun each. I fortuned up with my seers and moved 24” towards his warriors ( 4+ save vs AP 4 flamers = BBQ ). In the shooting phase I managed to take down Two Raveagers and one Raider. All in all I was happy with the resault.

His turn 1: He had Dark lances of Doom coming at me. I was pretty scared but he was getting all 1s 2s and 3s. I was a lucky camper for sure. His shooting phase ended with killing nothing.

My turn 2: my seers where both in range to kill warrior squads. I managed to flame one of the squads to death with Doom up on them but the funny part is I also killed the Raider behind them with my flamers. First time for everything I guess. The other seer council managed to wipe out a warrior squad also. This council was 1 inch in cover ( funny story for later ) I also moved up all 6 of my skimmers to the middle making a wall of skimmers in the middle so he would have to go threw them before he had a chance of getting to them. I managed to shoot down the rest of his skimmers and also his 3 man reaver squad.

His turn 2: All his reserves came on and he was planning on assaulting me with both his witch squads. He was about 2 inchs away with both squads after his fleet so I figured I should get ready for an assault on my seers. He uses his Bright Lances to stun two of my Wave Serpents and goes flat out with two of his Raiders far enough away that I was unable to do anything. His Larger squad of bikes shot at the seer council killing 2 of them. During his assault he rolls DT for both squads and comes up with double ones on each leaving him 1 inch out of assault range. Today the dice gods where on my side.

My turn 3: I doom up both of the wyches and move in with my flamers. I wipe them both out as well as the other bike squad and shoot into his new Raiders that came on the board with my pulse lasers but do nothing. He now has 1 wych squad, one warrior squad and two full warrior squads in Raiders left on the board.

His turn 3: he manages to get his Wytch squad into combat with my seers council ( they have the always go first power ). He goes and managed to bring me down to the farseer and 2 warlocks. I hit back and killed ½ of them. My farseer only having one wound left on him after this combat I knew something had to be done.

My turn 4: I back up the seer council in combat with my other seer council managing to wipe them out. I used all my skimmers to finish of his foot slogging Warrior Squad.

The rest of the game he just kept going flat out with his other Two Raiders. I managed to kill one but not both...

I got 23 Points for this round



After all 3 round I had 69 points. I took 1st place.

2nd Place had 68 points. He was playing Battle Wagon Orcs. 3rd Place had 57 Points and was playing Double Lash Chaos.

Final Thoughts: I had a great day of gaming, and managed to sneak out of there with a free 2.5k Army of my choice from GW Thanks to my 1st place win. Im looking forward to the Finals in Chicago and will have Videos and pic next time ( Camera was orderedlast week. )

Respect: I would like to say thank you to my friends Jon and Mike. I don't think I would have done as well as I did with out there help. Mike sat down with me countless nights practicing each mission with me so I would be ready for this Round of Ard Boyz. Jon is a math wiz and went over alot of the what ifs with me. Spitting out % and everything so I would have a good idea of what I should stay away from. For this I thank both of you.

GW will be sending me my Free 2.5k Army in the mail and im hoping to get it in a few weeks. Sadly they only allow you to pick the Race and a Theme though. I cant complain though Free is Free. I told them I wanted Flying IG so im hoping to get few valks.

Thnx for reading and I hope you enjoyed my coverage of This years Semi-finals.

Playing Against Fast Armies

I found out that a lot of people I play in tournaments and at the club just don't know how to deal with the speed from my Eldar. Having the ability to travel 24-36' every single turn throws people off. Today we will talk about how to finish off that fast army. What exactly to do so that you can shut down that speed boost enough to get the win.

Play tight: This is the most important thing. You wanna play as tight as you can. Stay clumped up so that all your units can support each other. If you spread out then they will go after whatever your weak flank is. There is nothing a fast army likes more then a lone Dev squad or Whirlwind sitting on a hill all by its self.

Protect your tanks: I know that one of my strategies against slower armies in objective games is to take out any armor they have then tank shock them off the objective last turn for the easy win. A lot of Eldar players enjoy doing this because it works so well. Try to protect those tanks best you can.

Keep your objectives close: A good thing to do is try to let them place the first objective if the dice goes that way. Place your objective close to the one they just placed. They will place another place the next one as close to that one as rules allow again. Same for the 3^rd. Don't let there be any lone objectives on the board. You want each to be about 12” away from at least one objective.

If you follow those three simple rules you will be winning most of your matches against fast armies in no time. Good luck, and happy gaming...

Going 2nd

I try to go 2^nd in about 90% of the games I play. There are a few exceptions but most of the time I find it better to have Last turn instead of Having First turn. With 2/3 of the Missions in 5^th being objective based that last turn is key. Its a great time to tank shock his guys off the objective and steal it for your own or try to focus on the weakest unit to get that last kill point.

During Deployment there are a few things that you need to think about.. He is going to get to shoot first. Chances are a lot of his things are out of range but those Heavy Weapons are going to be in range. Chances are he will blow up some stuff. Its just how it is. Cant do anything about that. What you can do though is deploy in a way that you can cut your loses a lot. This is key in taking second turn.

So what do you think? Do you like 1^st or 2^nd turn and why?

My thoughts on Troops in 5th

A lot of people have been saying “ you need troops to win in 5^th “ “ OMG you need your troops “ “ Better make sure you have lots of troops “ ETC. To be honest no you don't Troops don't win games. Having NO TROOPS will make you lose games.

If you are not IG or Orks then chances are your troops wont do much in 5^th. They are good for holding Objectives that's that about. This is one reason I have been so successful in War Hammer 40k, and a lot of people at my Club are starting to see the light and follow suit. Are those Dire Avengers really doing enough to be worth bringing 10 of them? Is that over priced 10 man Tac squad with a single heavy Weapon doing enough to be worth all those extra points? I say no they are not. If you turn all your 10 man squads into 5 man squads and bring less of them then you are able to bring more scary stuff to throw in front of the army you are facing. The points you save by doing this might get you another Land Raider or another Termi Assault squad or maybe another heavy choice for your army. Chances are 9.9/10 times the thing you replace those troops with is going to do a hell of a lot more then the extra guys you have sitting in there transport anyways.

Some people try to say 1 troop choice for every 500 points. I don't agree with that to be honest. I say 500 points – 1500 bring 2 troop choices is enough. ( assuming your an army with Transports ) 1500-3k you only need 3 troop choices. We are not trying to win by owning every objective. We are going to own one and contest the rest. The points we save in troops give us enough scary stuff that doing this is a piece of Cake.

There are a few rules when using a min amount of troops:

Reserve: In 5^th no matter what mission you are playing you can reserve any unit you want. What this means is if the person you play goes first then they have a 50% chance of seeing your reserves on there turn 3 because as we know they come out on your turn 2 with a 4+. Those are pretty good odds if you ask me. The game is already ½ over before they get a chance to see your troops if you reserve them. I'm not saying you have to reserve your whole army but if you are playing min troops then its a good idea to at least reserve the troops. In an objective game the rest of your armies job is simple. Stop things from getting to your side of the board and to also kill as much of there AT as you can.

Hide: This is pretty simple don't sit out in the open. You are just asking to get smashed by that Lascannon or Missile Launcher. Try to get 50% of the front facing behind cover for that 4+ or better yet if you have 3 rhinos put one in front smoke and the other 2 behind it. Next turn move them around a little smoke with one of the others and put the other two behind that one. Anyone with Skimmers such as Eldar just keep going flat out for that 4+ save,

Getting the most out of your Seer Council ( on bikes ) & how to counter them.

In my Ard Boyz List I have two Farseers and two squads of Seven Warlocks. When most people see that they freak out. A lot of people have no idea how to deal with one Seer Council let alone two of them. Its not fun I can tell you that much.

For sake of argument lets say your not a cheesy bastard, and you only have one Seer Council. Maybe a 5-7 man squad W/ 1 Embolden, 1 Enchance, and the rest are Destructor. Lets break down the Warlocks Powers and how important they really are.

Embolden: Its the cheapest power you can get at only 5 points so it has that going for it right off the bat, but after spending a good 400-600 points on the squad you not to worried about 5 points here and there. This power helps because it lets you reroll those pesky failed leadership tests. You have LD 10 from the farseer, but from time to time you will lose combat or have to take a test from shooting. Its good to have that reroll so your uber expensive squad is not high tailing it out of there. Its a must in any seer council I feel...

Enchance: If you are going to keep Witchblades on your seers ( I suggest this but will get into it more under “ Singing Spears “ ) then this is a must. It gives you +1 WS and +1 I. This means against Marines ( about 90% of the people in Warhammer 40k ) your seers will get to go first with I5 and you will be hitting on 3s instead of 4s. That's a huge advantage when always wounding on 2s. If your not playing marines you will still go first against most armies, and the +1 WS helps a lot too. A must have in any council with Witchblades.

Destructor.: Ah yes... A heavy flamer coming from your mind. Who cant love that. Its Str 5 AP 4 so with Doom, and four Destructor you can wipe out a whole 30 man boyz squad if you place your flamers the right way. Even against marines you can pop out a good 10+ wounds and make them take a save on that pesky power fist. Its a great power and is useful against almost anything.

Singing Spears: I don't see the point in taking Singing Spears at all. You gain the ability to shoot a Str 9 from 12 inches away but you lose one attack in CC. One of the best ways to deal with a Seer Council already is to tie it up with Units that have good saves so each of your Warlocks having one less attack means they will be tied up even easier. I love charging into things that I know I can wipe out with my seers. They don't have Power Weapons bu being able to wound anything on a 2+ or Str 9 vs tanks means you will be popping out a lot of wounds or Glances and pens. So Singing spears are a no no for me.

Getting the most out of your Seer Council: I use my Seer Council for two reasons. One is they can take a lot of fire power and keep coming at you, and two is they can dish out the pain.

They just wont die Captain: So first thing I will talk about is there ability to take a lot of incoming fire power.. People WILL shoot at the if you put them out there to be shot at. Its a fact. The Seer Council is scary thing, and people want to get rid of them as fast as they can because left alone you can kill well over 50% of a persons army before they know what hit them. With Fortune up you have a 3 up rerollable normal save and a 4 up rerollable inv. If you turbo boosted that 4 up turns into a 3 up. This means 1 SHOULD die for every 9 wounds coming the squad. Those are pretty good odds when you think about it. They are one of the hardest units to kill in the game. I use my seers to keep the rest of my army alive. Keep those Falcons or Fire prisms shooting, keep those Jetbikes, and Vypers alive ETC. They do this job great. People WILL shoot at them. If they are shooting at your council then they are not shooting at the rest of your army.

Dishing out the pain: One thing you don't want to do is get tied up with units with FNP or a 2+ save. You will sit there all game and do nothing. You might kill one Model here and there but its not worth spending 400-600 on a seer council to just be tied up by a squad that you shouldn't have been fighting in the first place. STAY away from things that will tie you up for too long. Your Eldar you have speed, and you should only have to fight what you want to fight. The Council is great at dishing out a lot of wounds at I5. Things like basic marines don't stand a chance. getting into combat with anything with a 3+ or worse save and your seers will preform great. If you feel you might not wipe them out then throw in those Destructors to get the job done.

Dealing With the Seer Council: Its a lot easier then people thought. There are a couple of rules that will turn the big scary Seer Council into a useless point sink.

Rule one: Stay close together. This is important not only when fighting against a Seer Council but fighting against any fast army. If you spread out you will just be taken apart piece by piece. I have done it 100s of times to people, and im sure other Eldar players do the same thing. If they go first ignore there Deployment. They may spread out along the whole table edge, but chances are this is just a trick so you do the same. Remember that Most Eldar Armies can move 24” – 36” each turn. They can easily get all the way across the board in a matter of turns on whatever side they want. Its important to have your army as tight as it can be so you can counter charge/rapid fire the seers when they get close. One of the best things about the Seer Council on bikes is there speed. This shuts down there speed.

Rule two: Torrent of Fire... Torrent of Fire... Torrent of Fire... When I see people shoot heavy Weapons at my Seer Council I want to shake there hand. That Lascannnon is not going to do much to be honest. I have a 4+ rerollable against it so im not to worried. What scares me is when I see those 2 or 3 squads of tac marines get out of rhinos and rapid fire popping off a insane amount of wounds. The best way to KILL them is a lot of wounds. That is another reasons that we stay close together when playing against a Seer Council. You want to do all this together to try to weaken them enough that you take away there ability to dominate the board.

Rule Three: if you cant beat em... Join em... When I say this I mean tie them up. Throw something at them that will last. Termies are great at this. Too good if you ask me. That 2+ save helps a lot and if you can get a fist/T hammer against the Farseer then its only a matter of time before he fails that 4+ rerollable then the squad is dead. With out Fortune the odds of living are horrible. You get a 4+ so 50/50. While Fortune is up you will sit there and look at each other the rest of the game, but this is fine. You 200-280 points of Termies can tieup 400-600 points of Warlocks like no tmr. Other things that are great at keeping them busy is Squads with FNP.

Ard Boyz Finals thoughts!

After being awarded 1^st place in both the Preliminaries and the Semifinals I set my eyes on the Future. The 2009 Ard Boyz Finals in Chicago.

I have been told with my strange strategies and ways of thinking about 40k that I have an amazing chance to take home the Gold this year. I would be lying if I did not say that part of me is scared. I have a lot of people expecting me to win. I have a lot of people that are rooting for me, and hoping I can pull off just one more 1^st place in the series.

How I plan to win:

Practice, Practice, Practice....

I cant stress enough how important it is to get that Practice in. For each the Preliminaries and the Semifinals I must have Practiced all three missions at least 30-40 times. It helped me be prepared for any army type that may come at me. It helped me find out my strengths, and weaknesses for each mission. If you want to be a serious tournament player then get that Practice in. On that note I would like to thank my good friend Mike for countless nights of Practice getting me ready for this.

Go over the Math...

Just what is the % chance of my Five Fire Dragons killing that Land Raider or battle Wagon? Exactly how many Banshee's does it take to kill a 10 man squad of Marines on the Charge? What is my % chance of failing a save on a Warlock with Fortune up? A lot of little questions like this help us prepare for the tournament. Its always good to know what the outcome SHOULD BE before you pick a fight. I would like to thank a good friend of mine Jon who is also a mathematician for answering a lot of my Math questions.

Play Fast, Think Faster...

When I play 40k I think of whats going to happen two or three turns from now. When you are moving your models im already planning out my next three turns. Each move a person does wont change your plans much if you try to get them to play your game. Make them think what you want them to think. If a person is given the idea that the outcome of the game is going to be in there favor they are more likely to make a mistake. That is exactly what you want. You want them to be sure of there victory right up to the end when you take it away from them. Also if you are thinking two or three turns in advance you have a better chance of getting all your turns. In the Preliminaries and the Semifinals I managed to get all my turns in but I noticed that a lot of people did not make it past turn 4. This can hurt your plans if you are trying to lead your opponent in the direction you want them to go.

Play the mission not the Army...

A lot of people seem to think that this game is about killing models. 2/3 of the missions are Objective based. That means a person can win the game with only one model left on the board. You might have your whole army alive, and still lose. You have to make sure you are in the right place at the right time. You want to be able to contest those objectives at the end. Also remember we never have to control all the Objectives at the end to win the game. Control ONE and Contest the rest. When people try to spread themselves to much that is when they lose games. Some of us let our pride and ego get in the way. So remember Play the Mission not the Army.

Ard Boyz Round 1 1st Place

First Place W/ 67 Points

HQ 1 - Farseer & 8 Warlocks Total = 625
Runes of Warding, Runes of Witnessing, Spirit Stones, Eldar Jetbike, Fortune, Doom
6 Destructor, 1 Embolden, 1 Enchance

HQ 1 - Farseer & 9 Warlocks Total = 680
Runes of Warding, Runes of Witnessing, Spirit Stones, Eldar Jetbike, Fortune, Doom
6 Destructor, 1 Embolden, 1 Enchance

Elite 1 - Howling Banshees Total = 382
Exarch W/ Executioner
War Shout, Acrobatic
- Transport Wave Serpent
Twin-Linked Bright Lance Shuriken cannon, Vectored Engines, Star Engines, Spirit Stones

Troop 1 - Dire Avengers Total = 60
- Transport (See Heavy Support 1)

Troop 2 - Dire Avengers Total = 60
- Transport (See Heavy Support 2)

Troop 3 - Dire Avengers Total = 60
- Transport (See Heavy Support 3)

Heavy Support 1 - Falcon Total = 210
Scatter Laser, Vectored Engines , Holo-Fields, Star Engines, Spirit Stones

Heavy Support 2 - Falcon Total = 210
Scatter Laser, Vectored Engines , Holo-Fields, Star Engines, Spirit Stones

Heavy Support 3 - Falcon Total = 210
Scatter Laser, Vectored Engines , Holo-Fields, Star Engines, Spirit Stones

Round 1: Eldar 20 Points
Round 2: Marines 24 Points
Round 3: Marines 23 Points

Ard Boyz Round 2 1st Place

First Place W/ 69 Points

HQ 1 - Farseer Total = 185
Runes of Warding, Runes of Witnessing, Spirit Stonee, Eldar Jetbike, Fortune, Doom

HQ 1 - 7 Warlocks Total = 380
Eldar Jetbikes, 4x Destructor, 2x Embolden, 1x Enchance

HQ 2 - Farseer Total = 170
Runes of Witnessing, Spirit Stones, Eldar Jetbike, Fortune, Doom

HQ 1 - 7 Warlocks Total = 380
Eldar Jetbikes, 4x Destructor, 2x Embolden, 1x Enchance

Elite 1 - 10 Howling Banshee's Total = 297
Exarch W/ Executioner, Acrobatic
- Transport Wave Serpent
Twin-Linked Shuriken cannons, Spirit Stones

Elite 2 - 5 Fire Dragons Total = 190
- Transport Wave Serpent
Twin-Linked Shuriken cannons, Spirit Stones

Elite 3 - 5 Fire Dragons Total = 190
- Transport Wave Serpent
Twin-Linked Shuriken cannons, Spirit Stones

Troop 1 - 5 Dire Avengers Total = 60
- Transport (See Heavy Support 1)

Troop 2 - 5 Dire Avengers Total = 60
- Transport (See Heavy Support 2)

Troop 3 - 5 Dire Avengers Total = 60
- Transport (See Heavy Support 3)

Heavy Support 1 - Falcon Total = 175
Scatter Laser, Holo-Fields, Spirit Stones

Heavy Support 2 - Falcon Total = 175
Scatter Laser, Holo-Fields, Spirit Stones

Heavy Support 3 - Falcon Total = 175
Scatter Laser, Holo-Fields, Spirit Stones

Round 1: Marines 24 Points
Round 2: Marines 22 Points
Round 3: Dark Eldar 23 Points