Fantasy 'Ard Boyz Report!

On Saturday I played in the Fantasy 'Ard Boyz tournament.  Here's my list:

Grey Seer on Bell, Potion of Toughness

Grey Seer, Power Scroll, Foul Pendant

Chieftain BSB, Enchanted Shield, 4+ ward save

Engineer w/ Doomrocket

Plague Priest on Furnace, Plague Censer, Shadow Magnet Trinket, Dragonbane Gem

50 Clanrats

50 Slaves

50 Slaves

30 Stormvermin (Storm Banner)

40 Plague Monks (Plague Banner)

5 Gutter Runners (slings and poison)

HPA

HPA

Doomwheel


I wanted to take a third HPA but I don't have the model.  The Doomwheel has always performed well for me despite what the Internet says, even though in the second game it nearly killed my HPA (he passed all his Regen saves).  I took some advice from Rhellion and improved my original list.  I disregarded some advice to mixed results.  I took the plague censer and though it did put a wound on an big goblin spider thing, I don't think it's worth it.  I didn't take warpstone spikes on the HPAs and it would have come in a lot of use in the first game.  This list was unusual for me in that it has very little shooting.  I did that because of the wonky scenarios.

During the course of the games, my plague furnace got charged by a lone pegasus Paladin with Heroic Killing Blow.  He only hit once, and of course rolled a 6 to wound, taking it out in one shot.  The Monks then pounded him into the ground in revenge, following through to a unit of bowmen, wiping them out, then charging into more knights, but the game ended before we could see the results.  My Monks also took out an Arachnarok spider in one round.  I never managed to get the 13th spell off, my power dice were always really low.  The one time I tried, I used the Power Scroll and rolled a perfect straight which still meets the casting value, but it was dispelled.

Now it's on to the semis, I am going to re-evaluate my list and work in a frenzy this next month to get ready.

Fantasy 'Ard Boyz Skaven Rough Draft List- Need Input

Here's what I've come up with so far.  This is a rough draft for Saturday and I'd like some input based on the missions and what I've got.

Lords:

Grey Seer on Bell
Potion of Toughness (I find he gets chopped up on the first round of combat, this should help with that)

Heroes:

Engineer with Doomrocket

Plague Priest on Furnace
Level 2
Plague Censer
Ironcurse Icon
Shadow Magnet Trinket

Chieftain- BSB
Great Weapon
Talisman of Protection (the 4++ one)

Core:

50 Clanrats
Shields
Full Command
Poison Wind Mortar

30 Stormvermin
Full Command
Shields
Storm Banner
Warpfire Thrower

51 Skavenslaves
Musician

6 Giant Rats, 1 Packmaster

Special:

40 Plague Monks
Full Command

3x Jezzails, Sharpshooter

5 Gutter Runners
Slings and Poison

Rare:

Hellpit Abomination with Warpstone Spikes

Hellpit Abomination with Warpstone Spikes

Doomwheel

Plagueclaw Catapult


Total:  3000 Points

This list isn't ideal, but it's based on what I have.  I am flexible on some of the things I can bring.  Here's what I have in addition to what's listed that I can use to tailor my force.

Engineer/Grey Seer (on foot)
Warlord/Chieftain
Plague Priest
Extra clanrats/slaves (can adjust any unit's numbers, possibly create a new one)
10 Stormvermin
Warp Lightning Cannon
At least 8 Rat Ogres
Bunch more Giant Rats
Warpfire Thrower/Poisoned Wind Mortar

I'm worried that my clanrat and plague priest units may be too large.  I may shrink the Clanrats down to 40 and the Plague Monks down to 35.

Hopefully I'll be able to focus this list and have a solid one by Saturday.

Today's 1k List- Eldar

This is the list I'm taking to tonight's game. I'm going for an entirely mobile force but without being a "hard" list. So here's what I came up with.

Autarch on Jetbike with Laser Lance, mandiblasters and Fusion Gun
3x Guardian Jetbikes with cannon
3x Guardian Jetbikes with cannon
3x Guardian Jetbikes with cannon
5x Shining Spears with Exarch and all the trimmings
3x Vypers with EML and cannons
Fire Prism with Holo-fields and spirit stones, cannon

The plan is to reserve everything (depending on who goes first). The Vypers and Prism are going to stay at range popping vehicles and try to lure him out of cover, at which point the Spears led by the Autarch will break them. If he takes a Land Raider the Autarch is going to make a banzai run and pop it with the fusion gun or 6 S6 lance attacks.

This list has a solid core (jetbikes, vypers and prism) but the spears make it more of a fun list. I would never run them in a tourney. I painted them all up and whether I win or not I am going to use them.

Playing Smaller Games

Recently, a new store opened up here in Lancaster (CA) called Battle Grounds. They are the only gaming store around. The only other nearest one is about 45 minutes to an hour away in Santa Clarita. This store is small, and just getting started. Tonight, they will host what I think is their first 40k game ever in their eight months of being open. About a month ago, the owner put out a list of people who have contacted him about playing 40k, making me realize that there's other people around here who play. I'm no longer alone!

Unfortunately, their tables are kind of small. They're set up for Magic and other board games, not for Warhammer. But I'm not going to let that stop me! Instead we're going to play some 500 pt games. Generally, we agree that 500 pt games don't need an HQ as part of the FOC, only two troops choices. Planning these lists made me realize the game gets a little trickier at small points.

Here's the three lists I wrote up:

10 Dire Avengers with Exarch, Power Weapon, Shimmershield, Defend and Bladestorm.
1 Doomseer (Farseer+doom)
6 Banshees with exarch & executioner
3 Jetbikes, one with cannon
1 D cannon

This list takes advantage of the small table space. D-Cannons are awesome, but their short range is their only limitation. A small board will help mitigate that weakness. The Doomseer lets the shuriken catapults in the army do the maximum damage. I gave the Exarch the powerweapon and shield instead of dual cats because with a small board, I fear that they would get assaulted easily. Those upgrades would help them survive. I normally mechanize my Avengers, these upgrades are to help them guard an objective.

5 Pathfinders
3 Jetbikes (with cannon)
3 Jetbikes (with cannon)
6 Fire Dragons with Exarch
5 Banshees with Exarch

This list is my specialist list. The Pathfinders can get a 2+ cover save, a tough cookie in a small game. The bikes can run around nabbing objectives and generally harassing the foe.

12 Guardians with Scatter Laser, warlock with conceal
3 Jetbikes with cannon
1 Doomseer
5 Swooping Hawks with Exarch
1 D-Cannon

This is my "I'm not really trying" list. I want to love hawks, they were fun back in 2nd and I want their glory days to return. Their problem is they're not sure what they want to do. Are they anti-vehicle, or anti-horde? They're also very fragile. I think if their guns had one more shot, and if their blast template was either increased in strength or number of blasts per hawk in the unit (why not give them one small blast template per 2 hawks?) they would be more useful. Anyway, more on them later.

While writing these lists, I realized that most of the normal game types would be weird with such a small points game. Any objective based mission probably would end in a draw as most lists only have two things that can possibly score. The death of one means you'd have to really scramble to avoid a draw. The only standard mission that would work is Killpoints.

Well, I'll see how tonight goes and report tomorrow.