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From what I'd heard all the IG armies were nearly identical... couple of vendettas, hydras, misc tanks & infantry.

I recall seeing the DA armies... one was all terminators... I did NOT want to fight that one. Not sure if that was the one in that slot though.

I don't remember the SOB army unfortunately. Well, vaguely... some chick's with tanks... does that help?

vendettas are where its at! i use 2 of em although i have never tried the hydra

I often run my DA as a Deathwing army (16 terminators, 2 land raiders in 1850 points) for tournys. Generally come in middle of the field too It's just a matter of some armies being able to deal with that, and some not being able to.

Love the Tourney pic's, even if they are somewhat blurry

Nice to see "a" bug player present .

So looking at the top 3rd, we have 3 SW, 2 IG, 2 GK and in the who invited them catagory we have DE and SM.

Out of these armies, Pickles (SM) was the only guy from Madison I personally knew. Were the rest from the greater Chicago/Milwaukee area?

Yeah, Pickle, Jerrod, CJ, myself and Levi made up the Madison Contingent. There was a bunch from Minneapolis too.

The bug player was a frend of the TO's playing his army for the day. I'm pretty sure he's not a "competitive" gamer but the funny thing is he finished in the top 10. The TO was very disappointed that there were almost no non-Imperials. I'm part of the problem myself... but I've invested so much time and effort into my marines that I'm not about to set them down just because GW keeps cranking out over-powered marine codexes. Maybe the necrons will change this a little... TLS sold every necron dex that they brought with them.

It's a problem in many if not all GW gaming groups and communities, the Human aspect of the game sells really well ontop of heaps of choices and
powerful dex's most of the imperial armies are fairly simple to build a list for and don't have too many over complicated rules making them great for
newcomers as well and being a cash cow for GW.

Yes, it be a shame. I remember back when I still played Tyranids (ie. the models I sent you for Thing 2) and there was a large Planetstrike game which was supposed to be Tyranids versus Everyone Else, and it ended up as Space Marines Vs. Everyone Else (I was allies with a Guard player... )

It's for that reason that my latest army is one that people can really relate to. Chaos Daemons!

Very true Santobell. I'd "GM'd" a game between my two sons (Nids vs. Marines) and even though we'd been painting and playing Nids recreationally for a while now, I spent the entire game with my nose in the tyranid codex trying to sort out all of the convoluted rules (and probably not succeeding).

I love my orks, but they aren't what I'm concentrating on at the moment. They are a pretty decently written dex though. Several good/interesting builds, couple of tricks... but generally pretty straight-forward.

Ah, yes convoluted rules... it may take me a while to actually get used to Chaos Daemons. I realised I wasn't doing well when I forgot about the deployment rules regarding Daemons... let's just say things did not get better from there...

And yes, Orks are rather straight forwards, and I'm starting to wish I had pursued them than go for 'Nids then Marines.

Actually the current 'nid rules are even less convoluted than their 4th edition codex....which was slightly less so than the 3rd edition codex!

Well, at least they're going in the right direction. I've become a fan of spamming in Nids... just because it helps me keep track of the rules!

3rd edition was horrendous. You had species and mutants and.....gaaaaaah.

4th edition got rid of that but still had the bizarre weapon profiles being linked to model profiles being linked to upgrades like glands....

And then 5th edition made everything into USRs but still had oddities in the way some things interacted.

Great to see pics. Your bat-reps almost encourage me to go to tourneys.

Almost Ain't coming to Chicago any time soon (even with that MW pad that came in the mail ).

Having gamed competitively for years, I understand the appeal, just not the moody nerd rage mentality that inevitably accompanies it. But, you do seem to have a very positive experience thereof.

Well, for me the competitive gaming thing is relatively new. I've played 40k for what... 18 or more years without ever playing in any kind of tournament... just playing games with my friends. Never had any desire to play competitively.

But... times change. I don't have a dozen friends close by to play with as I used to, so I very occasionally get to play a casual game with a friend... but more often than not it takes and "event" to get people together... all events being tournaments (for all practical purposes). Most of the guys can gather at the FLGS for casual games after school or work, but I live an hour away and my evenings are not my own. So my only real chances to play are either at home with my kids or to come in for a weekend event.

I don't have any allusions about entering these tournaments to win anything. I'm just not that good a gamer, but I do like the interaction and the challenge.

DarkStarSabre wrote:3rd edition was horrendous. You had species and mutants and.....gaaaaaah.

4th edition got rid of that but still had the bizarre weapon profiles being linked to model profiles being linked to upgrades like glands....

And then 5th edition made everything into USRs but still had oddities in the way some things interacted.

Well, yes and no IMO:

3rd was the most complex in regards to equiping units with individualistic options, followed by 4th, and greatly simplified in 5th. In this way, there was more diversity in wargear selection in earlier editions.

However, from a standpoint of unit interactions and game play mechanics, 3rd and 4th were very simplistic. In 3rd edition, units were very independant thanks to most units having leadership 10 (Biovores, Gaygoyles, Lictors, ect) or fearless and those units that lacked Leadership 10 could purchase the "Hive Mind Node" mutant upgrade which allowed for an effective unit sergeant with leadership 10. So synapse was not a critical component of 3rd edition. There also wasn't alot of inter-unit synergy. Tyrants didn't provide buffs to reserves or allow rerolls to outflanking units. You didn't have Tervigon's that provided bubble benefits to gaunts or Tyranid Warriors that granted Carnifex's cover saves.

4th edition also lacked significant unit synergy beyond a few noteable exceptions. Again, most units still had leadership 10 or fearless...with the noteable exceptions being guants, hormies, and biovores...all of which were significantly absent from alot of lists in 4th edition due to the extreme effeciency of Genestealers, Sniperfex, Snipertyrants, Dakkafexes, and the token squad of re-regenerating guants (I personally prefered DS warriors - but that wasn't a common selection). So again, psynapse wasn't a critical factor. Similarily, there was limmited inter-unit synergy beyond multiple psychic screams (from spamming HT and Zoes) meshing with pinning tests from barb strangler spam, lictors granting a "reliable" bonuses to reserve rolls, or the HT catalyst power.

So in this way, both 3rd and 4th edition units operated independant of each other...kinda like how SW armies operate now. Game play wise, pretty simplistic.

Now compare that to 5th edition. On one hand, you have much simpler wargear selections and the inabillity to indiviually equip different member in a unit. On the otherhand, you have a much broader selection of special abilities and psychic powers some based around USRs, many not. Add on top of that the ability for units to synergize with (and I would even go so far to say rely on) other units so that the sum is greater than the individual components...something very much lacking in 3rd or 4th edition. To start off, very few units in the codex (even MC) have high leaderships and now even fearless units can be negatively affected by lack of synapse. You have Hive Tyrants that buff reserve and outflanking forces as well as buffing assaulting units with PE and/or Paroxyism. You have Tervigons that create guants, buff guants, and buff otherwise vunerable units with FNP. You have Tyranid Primes that buff warriors units and, even more critically, grant carnies cover saves. You have Parosites that along with a large gargoyle unit makes a reliable and dangerous meat shield, mess with your enemies outflanking reserves, and creates ripper swarms.

From a games mechanic and synergistic level, I would have to say that the 5th edition codex is the most complicated nid codex to date and probably one of the most complicated codices in 5th edition.

All right... back OT!

My buddy Vlad (Skarvald the Troll Faced) who runs Wolves for the Wolf God was at Rock Con as well and did really well with his wolves. He was kind enough to post some nice pics on his blog of my army along with some very nice comments. You'll have to go there if you want to read them (that's it... move along, check out the shiny new blog).

But, I'll re-post the pics here...

First up, the army on display for the painting judging. At 1850, this is pretty much the army I envisioned 2 years ago when I began this process.



Second pic from a quarter view.



And proof that Gathering Storm's trade marine has indeed fought with his bretheren before being reassigned! (served as the sergeant for my devastators)



Hope you like them!

what a nice army man, and good choice not going over the top, or bright on the board as it makes your models stand out nicely

@ Git - I swear I posted last night and I check this blog in the mroning and it's nearly on a new page ........ again!
It's going to come alive and get us all shortly.

I would love a few more trip ups for Orks to bring a bit more humor back into them maybe some more colourful outcomes for misfiring weapons, but I have to say I think they get
Orks right in most of the green dex's. (love to see the Shock attack gun missfire and teleport the user mini into combat with the nearest enemy unit, lone guy Vs marine squad or bug swarm).

Yeah nid rules can be confuddling I tend to keep it as simple as possible I shy away from wargear/Biomorphs etc and opt for more bugs everytime which makes the game just as long
when you have to move so many mini's and roll soooo many dice.

Your army looks awesome Git! I'm glad to see the board is getting some more use as well. I still think you need to add in some tall grass of yours onto the board. It would be an easy addition that I think will really add a nice touch to the overall feel of your display. It would explain the yellow guys a bit more too.

@Rogue: Yes, they're quite the spectacle! Thanks for the compliments though!

@Santobell: Funny, it's been pretty quiet for the past few days but all of a sudden things got interesting... it's all those bug guys posting on the Nid dex. I miss the silly ork stuff too. Especially the exploding wierd boyz...

I guess it's a P&M blog with no P&M... but I'm kinda burnt out... fiddling with some GMS marines and such that just arrived so I'll show those off presently... but other than that, taking a break to re-charge my batteries.

@Ice: Yep, I wasn't sure I could get the whole army on there but I *just* did. I want to give it a bit of a make-over... nice black frame (will also prevent the models from falling off) and yes, some tall grass for my sternguard. I may eventually make one that's lighter and larger... but for now I like yours just fine!

strange to see there was no ork player at the tournament. Git i am glad to hear that the army you now have is what you wanted 2 years ago. i can still remember some 130 odd plages ago you almost completly rewritten your list

Hey there, Gitsplitta! Glad you found the post. I was just about to send you the link, hehe. Seeing your army in person was just a delight of itself. One day we should totally duke it out.

Btw, just posted my first battle report from the Tournament. You should totally check it out!
EDIT: I also just noticed that your second game you played against Space Wolves? When you mentioned the Cavalry Thunderwolves using cavalry bases it hit me - was the person you played against John Beardsley? Because I played against him round 5 and won! Ate his Thunderwolves on turn 1 with my Thunderwolves. You have been avenged, my friend!

@fatty: Thanks, yeah it's good to have finally reached some kind of milestone... rather than just endless painting. Still have to finish up the LS Storms but I'm almost there.

@Skarvald: Hey, thanks for posting those photos! Really appreciate it. I'm sure we'll get to play eventually. Yep, that was the guy. Not a bad sort but the tiny based super unit left me feeling "blech". Glad you avenged us!




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Got a couple of really stunning GMS marines as of late, so I thought I'd show them off.

First, a librarian from Njal the Weatherman. Njal really pushed himself on this model, creatively, build-wise and with his painting. Will be proud to field him with my Mantis Warriors. I love the servo skulls flying around. I'll be adding the text on the scrolls and such myself.



Secondly, a Red Scorpion Sergeant made by endtransmission. Stunning figure and his effects with this guys hair I'm going to so steal.... (unfortunately you can't really see it in the pic).



I'm really lucky to have these two fine pieces of work, and look forward to fielding them quite soon!

Your army looks amazing altogether! I love the GMS models as well.

Wow! You do seem to have a fantastic stock of GMS models. That Librarian is stunning, and I really like the Power Weapon effect Njal the Weatherman painted onto it. In fact, his technique in general is really cool. And endtransmission has really outdone himself with that Red Scorpion. Nice dynamic posing with a great paint job to boot!

P.S. Gits, I believed you when you PM'd me. But proof is always nice.

Unfortunately I didn't get a shot of him in action. He's behind the wall in the first pic of the demon battle. BUT.... you can take him and make your own legend around his military exploits!

Yes, he shall be dragooned into my increasingly-more-casual-gaming Black Templars army (possibly as a Castellan, as I need a third HQ choice to go along with my Marshal and EC). He also fits well with the theme of the BT army where the general rule is appearance over effectiveness.

Gathering Storm wrote:He also fits well with the theme of the BT army where the general rule is appearance over effectiveness.

THAT's my boys!!! I should have given him a combi-plasma... that way he could look good *and* blow himself up all at the same time!

(Did I mention that the very first casualty I suffered in the very first game of last weekend's tournament was one of my Sternguard killing himself with his own combi-plasma??)

Gitsplitta wrote:(Did I mention that the very first casualty I suffered in the very first game of last weekend's tournament was one of my Sternguard killing himself with his own combi-plasma??)

That's why I run 2 plasma guns in my army and why I put/modeled erm... a few *cough*8*cough* Plasma Weapons in my brother's competitive CSM army. 5 Chosen with 5 Plasma Guns!!!

And yes, a Combi Plasma would have been fun.