Smash & Dash learn to Blog together!

Today’s dose of humour comes in the form of poking fun at my blogmate here Hulkmash. I wish I had artistic talent; I would make a comic strip of a little Ork (Dash) and a little Tyranid (Smash) who banter with each other across a 40k table.

Having survived my first week as a blogger, I’ve been inundated with data. Unique IP hits, traffic directs, flowcharts of blog traffic, and lots of things that Hulksmash takes a keen interest in that I don’t particularly care about. Who knew that blogging could be so complicated?!? Here’s an example conversation between us.

The Necrons Continue Their Merciless...Plodding.

I haven't finished my battle reports for the last tournament (one more to write), so didn't take pictures this weekend, or I'd be overloaded on battle reports to write without time for...well, video games after work. And life.

Today I played in another RTT; my Necron Wraith Wing facing off against Grey Knights, Tyranids, and Blood Angels! I won all three games; scoring 2039 out of 2000 VP against my second opponent thanks to spawning gants. :) Games in short:

Dashofpepper's Necrons at Little Wars: Round Two

50 point massacre from round 1 sees me on my way to game two!

Dashofpepper's Garden of Silence:
HQ: Deceiver
HQ: Necron Lord + Destroyer Body + Phase Shifter + Rez Orb + Warscythe
Troop: 11x Warriors
Troop: 12x Warriors
Fast Attack: 3x Wraiths
Fast Attack: 3x Wraiths
Fast Attack: 3x Wraiths
Heavy Support: Monolith
Heavy Support: Monolith
Heavy Support: Monolith

Mission 2: Gambler
Overview: It’s a game of dice right? Well that’s not nearly random enough. Let’s throw in some variable number shenanigans and see what happens…
Line of Retreat: Units that fall back do so toward their own table edge via the shortest route possible as described by the Warhammer 40,000 rulebook (pg 45)
Game Length: At the end of game turn 5, roll a D6. On a 3+ game turn 6 is played. At the end of game turn 6, roll a D6. On a 5+ game turn 6 is played. At the end of game turn 7, the game ends automatically: Alternatively, the game ends immediately when the tournament organizer declares that time has elapsed. Players should not begin a new turn if there is insufficient time remaining to complete the turn.

The Life of a Professional 40k Gamer

Hey folks! I found an old parody thread I wrote and thought I would bring it here to archive it. Please remember that this is a JOKE!

Since being crowned King of Warhammer 40,000 at a special coronation ceremony attended by only the most awesome 40k players in the world (namely myself, and Hulksmash couldn't make it here in time), I’ve been getting a lot of e-mails, PMs, phone calls, fan-mail, and even a plane flying over with a banner asking me how exactly how I manage to be so awesome.

Well, I didn’t want to answer them all individually, so I thought I’d give a bit of a walkthrough of my typical day and how I keep in top form for tournaments.

JotWW Can Suck it! Building a Nid List w/out I1 Part-1

Welcome to the first part in a series regarding, well, how to build a competitive Nid list without having to worry about losing that big beasty of yours to JotWW or all them new fangled force weapons people will be thriving on for a big. The following paragraph will be the open reminder for each part and then each part will separate based on the archetype deployment strategy.

“So I did mention briefly in my other Nid list that I was working on a list for Nids that could still compete but that didn’t have to worry too much about JotWW or having big, low initiative models. This list is going to need a few things so let’s get them set-up from the get-go.

-The Standard Anti-Tank

-Major speed to offset the lack of durability

-Harder hitting CC to make up for the greater lack of shooting since most of our truly great RoF weapons are on big bugs.

-Numbers! Again to offset the lack of durability

-Synapse

We also will have to decide if we want this to be a standard deployment style of Nid list, a reserve list, or a hybrid as this will heavily influence how we adjust our list to include the above.”

Since I’m pretty much all about reducing the randomness I’m going start with a standard deployment style of list. This means that 99-100% of my stuff will be on the table at the start of the game in Pitched Battle and Spearhead deployments with very little more off the table in DoW.

Fixed the Comments

So I added intense debate to make it easier to post comments. Hope it helps! Try it out and let me know it works!

Would you rather have my venoms...or my venoms?

Howdy doodly.

Is is strange that I always start my posts with "Hey folks!" Or "Hey, this is Dashofpepper" or "Sup mah bitches and hoes?!?" Actually, not the last one because my previous posting venue (Dakka) probably would have screened it out.

In fact, to make that more "kosher" I should note that I've always called Black Templar "Black Devils" and lump BA/SW/GK all into a lump of "SM" cheese. Since we all know that Black Templar are bitches, and BA/SW/GK are hoes, then I could actually start my posts with, "Sup mah BDSM fans?!?"

But I digress.

After an unpleasant bout of debate concerning my venom conversions and their attendance at the Alamo, I sent a followup e-mail to the organizers of the Railhead Rumble GT with a picture of my venoms and a more descriptive explanation of the conversions. I had previously solicited and acquired permission to use them - as I did for the Alamo GT, Wargamescon, and the Nova Open - but after Michael Brandt noted that he didn't actually expect them to be as big as they were, I decided to revisit to make sure I was in the clear.

Dashofpepper's Necrons at Little Wars: Round One

Hey folks!

I've never done a Necron battle report before, so thought that I would give it a shot to supplement my Wraith Wing Tactica. I may very well be fighting a losing battle here. The new Necron codex is around the corner and Yakface's 45 pages worth of inside scoop makes them sound pretty bad ass. I've always liked underdog armies. First Tau, then Orks, moving to Dark Eldar when I saw that virtually no one played them, and eventually trading out my Tau for Necrons - what I considered to be the worst codex in 40k.

Make no mistake. Necrons *are* the worst codex in 40k right now. They're at the bottom of the competitive bracket, and are considered at best boring to play against. Of course, I've fallen in love. Until they get a new codex compliments of Matt Ward and inspire horrific wailings across the world of 40k as broken, overpowered, and completely unfair. Necron players everywhere will rejoice, and I'll be left wishing I still had my Tau. :*)

Email - All Terminator Army

“These are a couple of the basic mechanized lists I drew up, basing most around the deathwing tactica, as there are some long-time DW players on warseer who have spent a long time getting very, very good with their bottom-tier army. But since the GK codex has a lot more options than the DA do, I wonder if there is are better ways of doing things. Most people have advised SRs over the LRs, but personally I feel the storm raven to be out of place in this kinda list - as a blood talons delivery system I think it works great since its survival is not really required, but in this case its role is more to increase maneuverability... which requires it to be alive. The other advantage I see of the LRRs is that they operate in the same sweet spot as the paladins, and both can be used to screen each other depending on the local threat environment, or even castle up if things turn sour.

Rules: Terminator armour, Dreadnoughts, probably dreadknights, and land raider variants only.

Dashofpepper and Hulksmash Join Forces!

Greetings, hello, and salutations!

Dashofpepper here.

I've never been the kind to write a blog, keep a journal, or report on my current mood or the music I'm listening to - and now isn't going to be the start of it!

For the last couple of years, I've dedicated myself to publishing tactical articles, army advice, and picture intensive battle reports on http://www.dakkadakka.com/. Battle Reports...ahh...near and dear to my heart. The best way to help educate players playing your army, or wanting to play the same army is to SHOW them what you do. Or at least, for those of us who are visual players...that's the best way to learn.

I stopped writing battle reports a year ago. It always turned out the same - I'd spent hours and hours uploading pictures, meticulously trying to recreate the battle, posting my thoughts, what my opponent was thinking, what happened during the game, what strategies I was using...and post an epic-length battle report that anyone could sit down and look at from beginning to end and actually KNOW exactly what happened and why during the game. And after all that effort, the result was usually a couple people going berzerk, trolling my threads, flaming me into oblivion, and making a general nuisance out of themselves - which of course distracted me from the REST of everyone getting enjoyment out of my writings, learning from them, and following up with questions about how to utilize things I did, or clarifications on certain tactics. That isn't to say that I believe everyone who disagrees with me has nothing worthwhile to say, but there is a chasm between intelligent disagreement and personal attacks.

2k Tyranids for A-Kon

So it turns out I'm going to be working mandatory 72 hours a week so my painting time has been severely curtailed. Which means I’m down to taking 1 of 2 armies. I’m not going to be running my Space Wolves because I find them almost boring to play at this point. This leaves me finishing up 15ish models for my DoA Blood Angels army or painting up some Raveners for my Tyranids.

I still think Nids are competitive. I took them to Adepticon and while I only finished 21^st of 240ish people in Battle I didn’t actually lose a game with them. And hopefully GK’s thin the field of TWC even more which is one of the only units in the game that wrecks Nid face. Plus I just haven’t been happy with most of my MEQ armies lately so Bugs it may be J

2k GK List for A-Kon

So if you read my previous post you know where this is coming from. It's based on the experiences and new things I picked up over the weekend. I think I'm gonna walk thru my process with you guys. Here is where I'm starting from:

HQ

Grandmaster-205
Rad Grenades, Pyschotroke Grenades

Elite

5 Purifiers-186
3xHalberds, 2xPsycannons, Rhino

5 Purifiers-186
3xHalberds, 2xPsycannons, Rhino

Tournament Results from this Weekend

So this weekend I played my GK at their second tournament. This is what I brought:

Grand Master w/Incinerator

10xPaladins w/4xPsycannons, 2xHalberds, 4xSwords, 4xHammers

5xPurifiers w/2xPsycannons, 3xHalberds, Rhino

5xPurifiers w/2xPsycannons, 3xHalberds, Rhino

10xStrikers w/2xPsycannons, Hammer, Rhino

10xStrikers w/2xPsycannons, Hammer, Rhino

Dread w/2xAC’s, Psybolt Ammo

Dread w/2xAC’s, Psybolt Ammo

Well I decided last minute to run 10 Paladins. That part was entertaining. I’m still trying to determine if they are allowed to walk on in DoW as a combat squaded unit since they weren’t held in reserves but since I didn’t know the answer (and still don’t if anyone wants to chime in) I had to run them as a single squad the first game but I digress.

Nova Invitational Dark Eldar List #1

So I officially hate GW!

Well I really don't but those bastards just released some of the models that were missing from the collection and they are, as is consistant with the entire DE range, amazing! I wanna use some so here is a list that I think might work. Tell me what you guys think.

Nova Invitational Blood Angels #1

SomethingYellow-Heresy Online

So army ADD has kicked in again and I'm looking at my 90% painted BA portion of my DIY that I only played at a single tournament. I'm a little obsessed with the Sanguinor but also with a Sanguinary Guard army. Here is what I'm thinking of:

Nova Invitational GK List #1

Well I had 2 posts just go missing. Which is annoying to no end but I'm gonna put this up as a stop gap until I get the other ones ready to roll again.

So we're going to start with a scaled down version of my current GK list for this. I don't actually know how solid the 2k list is yet since I won't be trying it out until tomorrow. I'll let you guys know how that goes but for now here is the first attempt!

The Nova Invitational

Well I was tapped to play in the Nova Invitational. When the members of one of the clubs I used to play with almost monthly couldn’t make it they handed it to me which was pretty sweet. Gonna have to rep for the Sprue Posse J

I’m currently torn. As most of you have probably noticed I tend to have a bit of an attention problem when it comes to my armies. I get a lot of my crazy ideas painted up and use them, just not for very long. In the last year and a half I’ve played SW’s, Daemons (my admech army), and Tyranids. I’m building GK’s right now for that 1,850-2k level of GT’s that I’m attending for the rest of this year.

Draigo Wing!

So I’ve been a little obsessed lately w/a Draigo led Pally force. I’ve done a bit of thinking and I’m kinda liking these as they’ve got the weapons to deal with hordes but seems to have some gumption. This is something I just threw together. Here is the first list:

Paladins – Poor Misunderstood Paragons of Marinehood

So this article is going to be about exactly what the title says. I’ve been reading around the internet a lot as I’m now required to work 3 days of overtime a week and I’ve notice a general dismissal of Paladins. Now that’s not saying that people don’t like them. In fact it seems to be the opposite. People love the idea but for various reasons don’t think they’ll fit into a competitive list. So let’s look at some of the reasons people find them non-competitive and at the same time we’ll address how I see them fitting into lists.

Upcoming Events and Info

So I’ve got 2 GT’s I’ll be attending in June. Originally it was just the Bugeater at the end of the month but I’ve also been roped in by a buddy of mine (Dashofpepper on Dakka) to hit up another event he was gonna be at called the Railhead Rumble in Dallas. Here is the pertinent info for the events:

2k GK list for this Weekends RTT

So I'm getting ready for this weekend. I've got 99% of my stuff finally built. I've started primering my built models and have been tweaking and tuning my last 500pts. Here is what I'm thinking about for this weekend.

I'm Not Dead!!!!!

Title says it all really. Just had some real life stuff going on lately and haven't a single second for blogging between family stuff and mandatory overtime. I promise to start working on it soon. I've been toying w/GK's and Orks lately so I've got a bit to write about!

Keep an eye out!