Games Workshop Heat 2

After a very long drive (in snow and ice!!) I’m back from Heat 2 of the GW GT. I went 3-1-1, and came 9th out of 86, with 4 “best army” votes and 4 “favourite game” votes. really pleased about that.

Usual format, brief battle reports, and then a wrap up at the end ..... and a shock announcement!! 

List for Heat 2 of the GW Grand Tournament

I’m paralysed with indecision.

I’ve boiled it down to 2 options for my list for the weekend, and I just can’t make up my mind. It’s a decision between a pure Harlies list to take advantage of our new Strategems, or adding in a Farseer and some Kabalites in Venoms to provide torrent of fire.

Rapid Fire Tournament report

Just back from Rapid Fire 2017, one of the longest running tournaments in Scotland, and one of the first tournaments I every went to about 10 years ago. Number were a little down at this event, but it was v2.0 of the event, the “main” Rapid Fire having taken place in October (I couldn’t make the date). It was hugely oversubscribed, so they decided to run another event a couple of months later. They had 34 at the first one, and 28 at this one. 

I was speaking to the TO, and he things they will do the same next year, but have one event more “fluffy” with some comp on army lists, with the other a little more “hard core”. Think that would work well. There is not a particularly deep pool of competitive players in Scotland, but those who are, are particularly competitive. Most people are casual players who just want to play toy soldiers with the friends over a couple of days. Often they “clash”, so having seperate events would I think work well.

Anyway, on with the bat reps

Harlequins in Chapter Approved

Chapter tactics made a bunch of changes, some of them pretty controversial. But for Harlies, it's most pretty good.

Points Changes

Death jester dropped in points......., OK, you’re still never going to see him!!

Rapid Fire list, Locked and Loaded

OK, next tournament is Rapid Fire weekend of 2nd and 3rd December.

This is one of the longest running 40k tournaments in Scotland and this will be about the 10th year I’ve been to it. It’s usually a great event.

Competition on the top tables is usually pretty fierce, with a bunch of Team Scotland’s ETC wannabes attending to gain qualification points for the team. From the player list there will be half a dozen or so former Team Scotland players attending. However, mid tables are usually pretty laid back, with lots of fun games.

Winter War List Review

A great days gaming. three good games and lI earned a lot. Usual format, what worked and what didn’t in my list, and some learning points.

Winter War Tournament Report

Just back from Winter War, where I was trying out a Pure Harlies list (set out in the last post). Shadowseer, 2 Troupe Masters, 5 Troupes in Starweavers, a unit of 5 Skyweavers with Zephir Glaves, and 2 units of 2 with Star Bolas. It was a one day 3 game tournament, but with 46 players it was a big one.

Game 1

Winter War 2017 - List

This Saturday I'm off to Winter War 2017. Put on by a local club, it's easily the biggest one day event in Scotland - 45+ players for 40k this year!

It's only three games though, so very match up dependant.

Harlequins again. Pure Harliesthis time, dropping the Ravagers for another Troupe and Starweaver, and a bunch of Skyweavers.

Blood and Glory List Review

The list I took to Blood and Glory was 

Troupe Master, Fusion Pistol, Caress

Troupe Master, Fusion Pistol, Embrace (I needed 3 points!)

Troupe, 5 Players, 3 Fusion Pistols, 4 Embraces

Troupe, 5 Players, 3 Fusion Pistols, 4 Embraces

Troupe, 5 Players, 2 Fusion Pistols, 4 Embraces

Troupe, 5 Players, 2 Fusion Pistols, 4 Embraces

Solitaire

3 Skyweavers, 2 Glaves

4 Starweavers

Aeldari Spearhead

Farseer Skyrunner, Doom, Executioner.

Ravager, 3 Disintegrators

Ravager, 3 Disintegrators

Ravager, 3 Disintegrators

Harlequins Battalion

Blood and Glory Tournament Report

Back from Blood and Glory. Great tournament. I went 3-2, coming 15th out of 73. There were soft scores in play, so although I only had 18pts from my games, I got another 6 points from 3 "best games" votes (essentially sportsmanship) and 3 from "best army" votes i.e. painting. I was also one of 6 nominated for best army, although I didn't win. Really pleased.

And I loved playing my Harlies.

So usual format, brief battle reports, a list review, and thoughts on how I’ll develope my list as a result.

Harlequins List Development

A bit of an update on my thinking on Harlies, and a look forward to the next couple of months.

Over the next 2 months I’ll be attending 3 large events. In ITC speak they're all GT’s, and 2 of them will be “majors”. This weekend I’m going to the Blood and Glory GT in Darby (think there are around 70 people going), at the beginning of December I’m going to Rapid Fire in Stirling (34 people), and the weekend after that, Heat 3 of the GW GT at Warhammer World (being “allowed” to go to 2 events back to back cost me a holiday to Rome for Mrs Geek and the Geeklets !!). 

Harlequins Review and Tactics

After a bit of a break, I’m back!

I’ve not really had a break from 40k to be honest, just from blogging .... well at least here. I’ve actually been asked to contribute a few articles to Frontline Gamin, and my blogging time was taken up with a review for them. You may have already seen it (it was also posted on BOLS), but if not I include it below for completeness.

Why? Well, I want to do a series of posts on 3 GT’s I’m attending offer the next few months, and the article is “background”.

So, for those who haven’t read it, here it is.

Harlequin List Review

So, a few thoughts on my list and some changes.

The list I took was

Harlequins first tournament

Took my Harlequins to their first tournament at the weekend. It did not go well!

Out of a total of 80 possible points available over the weekend, i got 3, losing all 4 games. To be fair, it was a team tournament, and my list was by far the weakest list in the team, so tended to get "preyed" on, but it was still pretty woeful!

The list I took was

Harlequins for 8th

I'm a bit late with all this 8th edition stuff I know, but I've had my "usual" (OK, it's happened twice!) break from 40k after the LVO and spent the summer getting fit and losing weight (it's all relative!!), before getting bored with that and coming back to 40k.

I've now played 6 games of 8th edition (2 wins against guard, 2 losses against Grey Knights, one win against Dark Angles and a win against an Alpha Legion list with 40 berserkers, so 4-0-2 so far) and I'm beginning to get the hang of it. Llike most people, I'm impressed. It's simple and streamlined, but still sufficiently complex to be entertaining. The only thing I miss are vehicle facings and firing arcs. Firing arcs in particular added more depth to the game, and helped to reign in flyers (which are of course way more powerful in 8th).

But overall, I'm loving it!

Going Second with Genestealer Cult - Planning your Beta Strike

Going first with GSC is relatively straight forward. There are a number of decisions you need to make, but they are limited within the same general purpose – getting of the most effective Alpha strike you possible can. Going second is harder. In fact I suspect the best GSC players will be  those who win consistently, while going second. So, how do you go second and win with GSC – well I wish I knew. To be honest I’ve not been very good at it! So far most of my losses have been when going second

Going First with Genestealer Cult - The Ultimate Alpha Strike?

Does a Genestealer Cult Army have the ultimate alpha strike? That’s the question I want to explore in this post. However, first “spoiler alert” I think it does! So the rest of the post is really about why! The thing that makes GSC so effective at hitting hard in turn one is the ability to roll on the Cult Ambush table. I’ve talked about the mechanics of Cult Ambush in a previous post, so I won’t repeat myself here. Suffice to say, it’s the ability to deploy using Cult Ambush at the infiltration stage, setting up close range shooting attacks and first turn charges, that makes GSC such a potent Alpha Strike weapon. Maximising the potential of that Alpha Strike is an important element of playing GSC well, although perhaps not the most important element. I suspect the ability to play well when going second is more important. I’ll deal with that in a later post.

Cult Ambush and Return to the Shadows

Initially I was going to have 2 posts, one on Cult Ambush and the other on Return to the Shadows, however they are so connected that it was hard to write about one without the other.

Cult Ambush (CA) is the “big rule” for GSC. But it’s a “fickle” rule, typically relying on rolling a “6” to have direct impact, and having a number of “hard” counters that limit its usefulness in certain situations. It seems to me that the key to success is a thorough understanding of how to use it and when. I don’t pretend to have that understanding yet, but thinking through a few options might help.

Genestealer Cult - Psychic Powers

Disclaimer - I am not an expert on Psychic Power. This is the first army I've really used where psychic powers are a feature.This post is looking for advice more than anything else.

So, with that out of the way (!), here are a few thoughts on the Cult's psychic powers, as it applies to my list.

Genestealer Cult - Short Tournament Report

I attended a small 4 game RTT at the weekend. There were 6 of us, and we only played 1250pts on 4’X4’ tables. I took a different list, with 2 main changes. I didn’t take a Cult Insurrection Detachment, just a CAD and one SubT, and I took Metamorph Leaders in the 3 units of Metamorphs in the SubT. I wanted to see if I missed the bonuses in the Cult Insurrection Detachment, and assess whether the Leaders were worth it, given the not insubstantial extra cost (32pts per model).  

Genestealer Cult - Unit Tactics

Now that I've played a few games, and been to a couple of tournaments with my Cult, I wanted to stop obsessing about lists, and set out a few thoughts on the units I've used, and how I use them.

Bear in mind, I run a pure GSC army, using the Insurrection Detachment with a Brood Cycle and 2 SubTs. So, loads of units and loads of bodies. My thoughts need to be viewed in that context. If you run a different style of GSC army, "your mileage may vary".

Genestealer Cult List Review

So my first list option is to “tweak” the list I took to the LVO, simply to take out the stuff that didn’t work, building on the stuff that did.

That list would look something like this

LVO Genestealer List Analysis

So some thoughts on the list I took to the LVO

Genestealer Cult at the LVO

Just back from taking my Cult to the LVO, and I thought I would put my experience  on “paper”, really as a precursor to some thoughts on how I might change my list.

The list I took to the LVO was a Cult Insurrection Detachment, with  Brood Cycle as core and 2 Subterranean Uprisings.