Post Heat Three Jangles

So Heat Three is all done and dusted and I'll be honest, I had a really good time. After hearing horror stories about the GW GT's, I was a little worried that I might face somebody who can be called a Male Chicken (careful kids I'm being rude) but I didn't and I had a really good weekend. While my goal was to qualify, I also had a mini goal of winning a couple of games. I didn't qualify but I did win a couple of games! In the end I came 102nd. It was 103rd but apprantly there was an error on the results they handed out as there was no 85th placing, so everybody who came 85th or less got bumped up a space!

My army did have a couple of flaws which I'm rethinking about for the new year. Firstly my magic wasn't enough and I needed to either invest more into it or not at all. Secondly I don't think the Lord of Change is very good for me as it's more of a supporting unit rather than a direct smash and grab unit. Also I didn't have much luck with siren song but I think that's more because I couldn't bring anything into the combat after the first round due to space constraints or my flankers being caught up with something else. My main flaw is quite simply me because I need to be playing more and more games!

A quick rundown of my games for those who are interested...

Game 1 - Mike and Ogres (Breakthrough) - WIN
Mike was a nice chap who works for GW and came to the event right at the last minute using the only thing he had fully painted - Ogres! I tried not to think "Easy Game" and get over confident but then I saw he had Skrag and I didn't have a clue what to do about him as I didn't have anything in my army which could really take him on (apart from the Lord of Change). Mike's downfall was that he doesn't play much and his army was in the wrong enviroment as he had - Skrag, Butcher, 2 x 6 Bulls (full command), 3 Ironguts, 3 Yhetees, 3 Leadblechers, 2 Gorgers, and a Slave Giant. Basicly I out magic and shot him and picked the combats I wanted. Got my nettes and Lord of Change into combat with a Bull Unit which had Skrag, and slapped the unit about which broke and got run down (taking Skrag). I got my special mission for his most expensive unit and got three units in his deployment zone which won me the game.

Game 2 - Andy and Daemons (Battle of the Pass) - LOSS
Andy was another nice chap with a cheeky Daemon army. It had a Khorne Herald on a Jugger, 2 Heralds of Tzeentch, 3 x 10 Horrors, Furies, 4 x 5 Flesh Hounds!!!, 2 x 6 Flamers. I wasn't thinking easy game now! Basicly Andy out magiced and out shot me and I fluffed my deployment as well and he took all my toys off the board. Enjoyed the game and chatting with Andy though.

Game 3 - Gareth and High Elves (Fog of War) - WIN
Gareth had a very strange High Elf army as it didn't have much magic (i.e none) and didn't have a Dragon. It did have a Prince, BSB, Noble, 2 x 10 Archers, 15 White Lions, 15 Swordmasters, 2 x 5 Dragon Princes, 2 Bolters and a Eagle. Gareth drew his deployment on the paper handed out while I deployed mostly on my left flank as I suspected that he would deploy centrally and he did. While I knew he had a 'strange' High Elf army, I knew that half my army wouldn't be able to do much about the Dragon Princes or Characters so I picked the Lore of Death for my LoC which flew around zapping the Princes. Towards the end of the game Gareth didn't have many toys left but he managed to stop me getting my secret mission by charging the Flamers who were trying to make a break for his deployment zone. Game ended with me winning mainly because Gareth had a last ditched attempt at killing something and charged my Fiend with his BSB and Prince. They cause a wound to the Fiend who attacks the BSB and runs down the Prince thanks to him auto breaking!

Game 4 - Andy and Dwarfs (Trials of Battle) - DRAW
Another Andy and he had a strange Dwarf army because it had no anvil! He had a Lord on Shieldbearers, a BSB, a Runesmith, 2 x 10 Crossbows, 20 Longbeards, 2 x 15 Hammerers, 10 Miners, 2 Bolters and a Organ Gun. Random deployment stuffed Andy while being fairly kind to me but his big blocks kept on bouncing my Hounds off them and towards the end of the game we had pretty much wiped each other out apart from a scattering of units. Andy got his special mission (get into my deployment zone) and I got mine (Hills) but Andy won with a small marging. Chatting to Clubmates they said that I had to win by 300 points for a win, so it was a draw! I tracked Andy down who nicely agreed and we got it changed to a Draw.

Game 5 - Dan and Vampires (Dawn Attack) - LOSS
Eeep! I've never played Vampires before so only had a rough idea what to do. Dan had Lord on Horse, Vamp BSB, Vamp on Hellsteed, 2 x 15 Skellies, 20 Zombies, 2 x 5 Dire Wolves, a Corpse Cart, 6 Black Knights, and 5 wraiths with a banshee. I picked the Lore of Light hoping to boom his army with my LoC and got stuck in. My LoC failed to boom much, killed the corpse cart and then got butched by the Vamp Lord. We then smashed each other to bits but Dan came out on top in the end. A very enjoyable game but I was so unprepared for the Vampire Magic Phase!

Game 6 - Andy and Daemons (Pitched Battle) - LOSS
Again, another Andy. He had a bit of everything Daemon army with a Great Unclean One, BSB Nurgle Herald on a Palaquin, Slaaneshi Herald, The Masque, 15 Plaguebearers, 15 Daemonettes, 2 x 10 Horros, Furies, Flamers. I had a big brain fart for deployment and then my dice decided to work against me, so I did the best thing possible and had a laugh. Good game but wish I could play Andy again to play him properly and not chump bash me.

So a good weekend and I'm going again next year. Also got to meet John Blanche who was just sitting in the couner doodling! He's a really nice guy and it was nice to meet him as I've liked his artwork since I've been in the hobby.

Pre Heat 3 Jingles

Just finished getting all my stuff ready for Heat 3 and I'm quite excited about it. I've set up a Twitter Account which I'll try and keep updated over the weekend. Go to http://twitter.com/Gaz_T to see what's happening.

I'm hoping to qualify and to do so for certain I need to win four or more games. Realisticly I'll probably only win a couple at most due to lack of experiance and focus but we'll see.

BAM! BAM!

Just a quick update

My Heat Three Ticket has come through the post so I'm a happy monkey and I'm really looking forwards to the event. Not expecting to do that well but I think it would be good as a baseline to improve upon next year.

More interestingly for you, my readers, GW have announced that Beastmen will be the next WFB Book! Here's a bit of sales speak.....

In the dark places of the world, the Beastmen have been gathering in number and in February they will unleash their rage on the Warhammer world with renewed vigour. A feral army of twisted monsters, the Beastmen have inhabitant the dark forests and wild places of the world since such places existed. To lead a Beastmen army is to field vast herds of braying, brutish beasts who worship Chaos in all its forms, and who fight to level the civilised world.

This will be the first time ever that the Beastmen have had their own, completely stand-alone, army list. The forthcoming Warhammer Armies: Beastmen is full of twisted monsters old and new, and an all-new lore of magic. The Beastmen are the original inhabitants of the Old World: in February 2010 they come to reclaim it from the hands of Men.

I quite like the new cover and it looks like GW are taking a step back from the 'orange' Beastmen of the 6th edition. Modelwise I think we can only really expect new Minotaurs (possibly plastic) and Bestigors (probably plastic), as I strongly think that the rest of the range will stay the same. I expect we can look out for some kind of big beastie (like the trend in the last couple of books) and some new characters. Hopefully we will see more over the next few weeks.....

Two Steps back or Naughty Boy!

Just sidestepping the ominous title for a moment (well I do want you to read my Blog); I had yet another game this week against my long time gaming buddy, Chris. We ended up playing a GT scenario which was Pitched Battle and Chris had brought his Combat Wood Elves out to play. I'm not going to report on the game as there wasn't much to say apart from I got bummed (or for those folks who not know the lingo, I lost badly). I deployed like a numpty by splitting my army up and Chris shoved everything forwards and smashed me. It didn't go all his way as he only had a few units left (well more like half his army), while I had lost everything. Highlights were my Lord of Change butchering lots of things (including a Treeman) but he got gradually worn down and was the last thing to die. Chris was happy as it was the first time he had managed to kill it!


Anyway, the ominous title.....


Thanks to Luke and the lads down the Dudley Darklords, I have been playing a lot more Warhammer and I gave in to going to a GW Throne of Skulls Heat (Heat 3). Now considering that the very first entry I made on this blog was to stop being so Tournament Focused, I think I’ve failed in what I was trying to do. On the other hand I’m really looking forwards to it and I’m impatiently waiting for my ticket to come through the post! I shall be taking my pink daemons but in classic Gaz Taylor fashion I’m seriously considering bringing something else (a borrowed High Elf or Dwarf army) or manically painting something new and different.


I've got a busy few days due to work but I'll keep you posted if I decide to do something silly and paint another last minute army!!!

Another Daemonic Civil War

Oddly enough, I popped down the club again on Tuesday for another game. They must either be putting something in the water or I'm doing less work. I had arranged a game against a young lad called Dan who was a mate of Luke's and he too was off to Heat 3. Because of this we played one of the GT scenarios but because Dan wasn't too fussed which one he played, we diced for it. The dice gods decided we were playing "Trial of Battle" which is basicly a pitched battle but you only score points for table quarters (100 for your own and 300 for your opponents). Secret Mission wise, Dan picked his and I decided to roll for it and ended up with having to destroy his most expensive unit to get 400 points.

Dan was using a Daemon army but while it looked soft because it didn't have any special characters or Greater Daemons in it, it wasn't. He took (from Memory so some of this may be wrong)....

Herald of Nurgle with Slime Trail and Lvl 1 Wizard (also General)
Herald of Tzeentch with Master of Sorcery and Spell Breaker
Herald of Slaanesh on a Steed and with Siren Song
Herald of Khorne on a Jugger with +1 S Sword, Armour (for 0+ save) and was a BSB with D3 Combat res banner

20 Plaguebearers with full command and re-roll to wound standard
2 x 10 Horrors
2 x 5 Flesh Hounds
5 Seekers
1 Fiend
6 Flamers

I took what was becoming my usual 2K list..

LoC with Master of Sorcery and Tzeetnchs Will
Herald of Slaanesh on a Steed and with Siren Song
Herald of Slaanesh on a Chariot with Etherblade

10 Deamonettes
2 x 10 Horrors
6 Furies
2 x 5 Flesh Hounds
5 Flamers
1 Fiend

I'm not going to put a full report but rather some highlights. I'll be honest, I did fancy that I stood a chance against Dan as long as I paid attention. Before the game started we sorted out spells. I took lore of fire for my LoC and Dan took lore of beasts for his Tzeentch Herald and Miasma spell for his Nurgle Herald. Table and terrain wise we had two woods and two hills as well as a building. The two woods ended up in a deployment zone of one side of the board with one in each quarter, and the hills ended up in the middle roughly but on each side (left and right). The building ended up in the middle of the other deployment zone. We rolled for sides and I won, so picked the building side. We both deployed centrally and evenly and my flamers decided to move into the building. I got first turn.

Turn 1
I shove my army forwards in an agressive manner and put units on the hills to make Dan think I had the Hill Mission or maybe the wood one because I could enter the woods next turn. Magic wise I try a few spells off but stupidly target his Flesh Hounds with my horrors forgetting he gets Magic Resistance. My LoC is in position to blast away at some horrors near his Plaguebearers but doesn't do anything. I had a feeling his Siren Herald will be moving nearby soon which I'm fine with as I though my LoC stood a good chance if I could get into the Plaguebearers.

Dan starts his move and moves the siren herald in front of his Plaguebearers and then he make the move which probably cost him the game. Instead of moving his Flamers into a wood which would mean he would get his secret mission and they would be an annoyance, he decides he wanted to shoot my Fiend up. Shooting does little as it only causes a wound and magic doesn't do much more.

Turn 2
LoC gets sirened into the siren herald and I declare charges with the Fiend and Chariot into his flamers as well as a unit of flesh hounds into one of his horror units near his Plaguebearers. Magic does little but I cast Flaming Sword on the LoC and promptly butcher the herald and overrun into the Plaguebearers.

Dan charges my horror units with his hounds and moves forwards with the rest of his army. He tries to get Miasma off but I dispell that as well as him scrolling the flaming sword. In combat his PB Champion challenges my LoC. The LoC pulps the champion as Dan forgot about it having flaming attacks but I pass my Instability test

Other Turns
The rest of the game consited of the following:

• The flamers taking pot shots at anything nearby while decorating their new home and being read to leap out to contest or capture quarters
• The LoC and eventually a unit of Flesh Hounds smashing the Plaguebearers. The LoC didn't have it all his own way as he took some wounds during the scrap. Towards the end of the game, Dan gets Miasma off and challenges the LoC (which drops the LoC down to WS1, S1, T1, I1, 1A) and causes 1 wound. The LoC uses it's Flaming Sword and causes 2 Hits and 2 Wounds (double sixes!) and the Nurgle Herald dies.
• A unit of Flesh Hounds and seekers, spend the game playing kiss chase until the LoC comes over and blasts them with a Conflag of Doom!
• My Chariot Herald gets into combat with the Khorne BSB and Flesh Hounds, challenges the Herald but fluffs it and gets butchered. The Chariot does it's job and kills some hounds with impact hits dropping the unit under US5

And the game ends. I find out Dan had the capture a wood mission which he didn't get but I get mine for killing his Plaguebearers. I had also got his two quarters and one of mine giving me a total of 1100 to 0. I could tell Dan was a little bit gutted but it was a good game and I think he has a nice army which should hopefully do well for him at the Heat. I enjoyed the game a lot as well.