I recently went through a bit of a change in my Warmachine playing life, and I have had some thoughts as to how this will affect my Warhammer 40k playing life. For the details on my radical changes in the game of Warmachine, please read "Forming a Blue Streak."
Basically it talks about my efforts to go through all of the story ("fluff" to most of us) and model ranges within that game and select my new faction based on which faction I thought I could embrace in full. This meant that I was not to avoid parts of the faction in order to play it, and it also meant that I needed to like not only that faction's part in the story of the world but also how they interact with it and, most importantly, if the story inspired me and led me down new paths.
Any interested reader can discover my processes with the other game, but a few days after writing that article I realized that I need to apply this same standard to my Warhammer 40k army of choice.
This will undoubedtly put me in a bad position, I feel. I have always stayed away from the Inquisition side of the Daemonhunters side of the Codex and stayed with the Grey Knights almost exclusively (except for an Inquisitor or two for flavor). This has led to my basically playing with only half of a Codex or even less than half.
Here I have two choices. Either find a way to embrace the full on Daemonhunters Codex, incorporating the whole faction, or choose another faction. I can always ally in Grey Knights with any army, and I hope this continues as things move along.
I am not ready to make any firm statements as of yet, but I think I will troll the 40k sites for a while and pick up a feel for where the hobby is at present, as I feel slightly removed from the Games Workshop hobby right now, and see where it takes me.
Hopefully it will lead my straight back to the Grey Knights.
The Emperor Protects,
D.G.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Long Absences are Good? - Yes!
As many of my faithful readers will have noticed, I have taken a long break from this blog. I have not been idle during this time, and my wargaming has only gotten more intense over the past few months.
Currently I find myself with no complete, playable, or even active Warhammer 40k army, for the first time in about six years. I sold almost my entire Grey Knights army this past summer for a few reasons, but most of which was the fact that I got tired of the greatness of the Grey Knights getting continuously stepped on by Games Workshop and Warhammer 40k. I won't complain much more than that right now, but I am going to start trying to piece together my return to 40k. The latest Space Marines Codex did not spur me to return to the White Scars, so I am currently keeping up with news as I can and awaiting that fateful day when they announce a brand new Daemonhunters Codex.
So I haven't been playing with Grey Knights. In fact, I haven't been playing 40k at all. I have been playing Dark Heresy, however, and I will update on that topic in the days ahead.
What I have been doing is playing Warmachine, from Privateer Press. I know, little off topic from the whole "Grey Knights and 40k in General" title of the blog, but I have come to embrace a more widely reaching view of miniatures wargaming.
I have another blog, too, that I share with some of my gaming group. It's called "Quartermaster's Notes" and can be found here. Also, I have opened up my own online gaming store. It is a very exciting store, and I believe that it has much to offer any gamer. I do not currently have the staff to support carrying Games Workshop products, but I hope to do so very soon. GW's rules about no one being able to sell from an online shopping cart really does hurt the store owners in some ways. But if you want to visit a new and growing (and awesome!) online gaming store, stop on by the Tabletop Armory.
Whew, now that's an update. As you can see, I am glad to be back on this blog. I have a alot of 40k and Grey Knights stuff to talk about.
The Emperor Protects!
- D.G.
Currently I find myself with no complete, playable, or even active Warhammer 40k army, for the first time in about six years. I sold almost my entire Grey Knights army this past summer for a few reasons, but most of which was the fact that I got tired of the greatness of the Grey Knights getting continuously stepped on by Games Workshop and Warhammer 40k. I won't complain much more than that right now, but I am going to start trying to piece together my return to 40k. The latest Space Marines Codex did not spur me to return to the White Scars, so I am currently keeping up with news as I can and awaiting that fateful day when they announce a brand new Daemonhunters Codex.
So I haven't been playing with Grey Knights. In fact, I haven't been playing 40k at all. I have been playing Dark Heresy, however, and I will update on that topic in the days ahead.
What I have been doing is playing Warmachine, from Privateer Press. I know, little off topic from the whole "Grey Knights and 40k in General" title of the blog, but I have come to embrace a more widely reaching view of miniatures wargaming.
I have another blog, too, that I share with some of my gaming group. It's called "Quartermaster's Notes" and can be found here. Also, I have opened up my own online gaming store. It is a very exciting store, and I believe that it has much to offer any gamer. I do not currently have the staff to support carrying Games Workshop products, but I hope to do so very soon. GW's rules about no one being able to sell from an online shopping cart really does hurt the store owners in some ways. But if you want to visit a new and growing (and awesome!) online gaming store, stop on by the Tabletop Armory.
Whew, now that's an update. As you can see, I am glad to be back on this blog. I have a alot of 40k and Grey Knights stuff to talk about.
The Emperor Protects!
- D.G.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Limits are Good -
I recently came to the conclusion that a big part of my problem with the Grey Knights may be that I have too many. My options have always been open and flexible, with many different possible combinations of Grey Knights units available.
I believe that this has led to me searching for a perfect combination of units, rather than focusing on the mastery of what units I have at my disposal. A list doesn't work out for me, so I change it immediately, trying to fill in weak spots. This unerringly leads to old weak spots being strengthened and new ones opening up as points are shifted to other parts of the army.
Having reached this points, I resolved to reduce my army's size by three units: a squad of 10 Grey Knights in power armour, 5 Grey Knights Terminators, and a Land Raider.
The Knights and Termies have already found a new home in the army of my esteemed regular opponent over at the Ulthwe Eldar blog. The Land Raider is currently on ebay awaiting a bidder.
As I move ahead with the Grey Knights, I hope that this newly reduced total force will make me look at what I have available to me and to maximize and master the use of what I have rather than trying to get what I think I need out of entirely new lists each game.
The Emperor Protects,
D.G.
I believe that this has led to me searching for a perfect combination of units, rather than focusing on the mastery of what units I have at my disposal. A list doesn't work out for me, so I change it immediately, trying to fill in weak spots. This unerringly leads to old weak spots being strengthened and new ones opening up as points are shifted to other parts of the army.
Having reached this points, I resolved to reduce my army's size by three units: a squad of 10 Grey Knights in power armour, 5 Grey Knights Terminators, and a Land Raider.
The Knights and Termies have already found a new home in the army of my esteemed regular opponent over at the Ulthwe Eldar blog. The Land Raider is currently on ebay awaiting a bidder.
As I move ahead with the Grey Knights, I hope that this newly reduced total force will make me look at what I have available to me and to maximize and master the use of what I have rather than trying to get what I think I need out of entirely new lists each game.
The Emperor Protects,
D.G.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Grey Knights Forum Page -
A new wesbite has recently come to my attention, and I wanted to put it up on here so anyone that frequents my blog can check it out.
Grey Knights Forums
So far it has about 100 registered users, but it seems to be growing and could be a good place for our small community to band together and get some alone time away from the rest of the community. I haven't done a full review of all the features of the site, but it is well organized. And the moderators seem to be on top of things.
Well, that's all for today. The Sisters list has already changed a little after getting some feedback on the Bolter & Chainsword (see previous blog post for link).
The Emperor Protects,
D.G.
Grey Knights Forums
So far it has about 100 registered users, but it seems to be growing and could be a good place for our small community to band together and get some alone time away from the rest of the community. I haven't done a full review of all the features of the site, but it is well organized. And the moderators seem to be on top of things.
Well, that's all for today. The Sisters list has already changed a little after getting some feedback on the Bolter & Chainsword (see previous blog post for link).
The Emperor Protects,
D.G.
Monday, March 10, 2008
The Order of the Holy Bolter -
Now for a topic that has been brewing for some time: Sisters of Battle.
I have always liked this army, but for one reason or another have never done it.
The basic idea is death by Bolter, and I think this list bears that out on the reading. Though it would be a pain to buy, as the GW Online Store retails the list at just over $600, I believe that it would be fun, and I am hoping to start collecting it a unit at a time.
I posted this list over on the Bolter & Chainsword, here. So follow the discussion or partake if you like.
The Emperor Protects,
D.G.
The Order of the Holy Bolter
- HQ -
Canoness
- Blessed Weapon
- Inferno Pistol
- Book of St. Lucius
- Rosarius
- Elites -
Celestian Squad (9 + VSS)
- Storm Bolter
- Heavy Bolter
- Imagifer
- VSS
-- Bolter, Power Weapon
- Troops -
Battle Sisters Squad (14 + VSS)
- 2x Storm Bolter
- Imagifer-
VSS
-- Bolter, Power Weapon
Battle Sisters Squad (14 + VSS)
- 2x Storm Bolter
- Imagifer
- VSS
-- Bolter, Power Weapon
Battle Sisters Squad (14 + VSS)
- 2x Storm Bolter
- Imagifer
- VSS
-- Bolter, Power Weapon
Battle Sisters Squad (14 + VSS)
- 2x Storm Bolter
- Imagifer
- VSS
-- Bolter, Power Weapon
- Fast Attack -
Seraphim Squad (9 + VSS)
- 2x Twin-Inferno Pistols
- Meltabombs
- VSS
-- Eviscerator, Bolt Pistol, Book of St. Lucius
- Heavy Support -
Retributor Squad (9 + VSS)
- 4x Heavy Bolter
- Imagifer
- VSS
-- Bolter, Power Weapon
Exorcist
- Extra Armour
Exorcist
- Extra Armour
Total: 2,000 Points
I have always liked this army, but for one reason or another have never done it.
The basic idea is death by Bolter, and I think this list bears that out on the reading. Though it would be a pain to buy, as the GW Online Store retails the list at just over $600, I believe that it would be fun, and I am hoping to start collecting it a unit at a time.
I posted this list over on the Bolter & Chainsword, here. So follow the discussion or partake if you like.
The Emperor Protects,
D.G.
The Order of the Holy Bolter
- HQ -
Canoness
- Blessed Weapon
- Inferno Pistol
- Book of St. Lucius
- Rosarius
- Elites -
Celestian Squad (9 + VSS)
- Storm Bolter
- Heavy Bolter
- Imagifer
- VSS
-- Bolter, Power Weapon
- Troops -
Battle Sisters Squad (14 + VSS)
- 2x Storm Bolter
- Imagifer-
VSS
-- Bolter, Power Weapon
Battle Sisters Squad (14 + VSS)
- 2x Storm Bolter
- Imagifer
- VSS
-- Bolter, Power Weapon
Battle Sisters Squad (14 + VSS)
- 2x Storm Bolter
- Imagifer
- VSS
-- Bolter, Power Weapon
Battle Sisters Squad (14 + VSS)
- 2x Storm Bolter
- Imagifer
- VSS
-- Bolter, Power Weapon
- Fast Attack -
Seraphim Squad (9 + VSS)
- 2x Twin-Inferno Pistols
- Meltabombs
- VSS
-- Eviscerator, Bolt Pistol, Book of St. Lucius
- Heavy Support -
Retributor Squad (9 + VSS)
- 4x Heavy Bolter
- Imagifer
- VSS
-- Bolter, Power Weapon
Exorcist
- Extra Armour
Exorcist
- Extra Armour
Total: 2,000 Points
Friday, March 7, 2008
In the Aftermath -
So, the results of the Battle for Stones River can be found here.
I'm towards the bottom somewhere, and Chris and I think that my painting certainly merited more than a 12 (especially considering the score is Eldar received for painting), but I'm not going to sweat that part of it at all. I had fun and it was a great experience. If you go to a tournament just to win glory all that's going to happen is a bunch of people are going to get mad and feelings will be irreparably damaged. I left my feedback, and that's that. Jason and Grant did a great job with the event, and I am very happy to have been a part of that.
But now, concerning my further service to the Inquisiton.
I tried a 2 Land Raider set up for BfSR, and I liked it well enough, but I ended up a little light on bodies. My second unit of Terminators also ate up points, so I've reviewed my list, looked at what's worked for me in the past, and taken what I've learned recently to construct a new army list that should compensate for some of the problems that I have experienced of late.
_______________________________
Returning to my early days of playing Grey Knights, the list again contains a small amount (40 points) of specifically anti-Chaos wargear and upgrades in the form of a Grimoire of True Names, Sacred Incense, and 2 Blessed upgrades. I did this because it returns flare to the army, if only for me. These guys fight Chaos, so that's what they're gonna be geared to do. I don't usually select any psychic powers, however, as they are generally useless against most opponents, and when I do fight Chaos other abilities, such as the Nemesis Force Weapon, are generally a much better use of the Psychic test.
Next, I paired down the Terminators to a single unit of 5, led by Grandmaster Emrys. I liked the performance from Brother-Captain Stern in the tournament, but I believe he would have survived more often if he had a third wound and better shooting gear in his unit.
Moving on the Troops, I selected to add Psycannons into the units in order to provide for static firepower and go back to relying on the Shrouding to protect me more often that I have been. I have not been taking advantage of the Shrouding when I should be, so these units will try to keep me doing that, as their usefulness is in the big guns.
Fast Attack I maxed out, selecting a unit of Incinerator toting Knights and 2 units of regular Knights. I won't always teleport all of these squads, but the Fast Attack slots allow me to place the bulk of my power armoured units on the field after the enemy has most of his army on the field, hopefully.
Heavy Support is probably the most changed. I removed both Land Raiders and put in 3 Grey Knights Dreadnoughts. Though not as resilient as the Land Raiders, I believe that they fit the feel of this list better than the tanks would have. Two are armed with Twin-Lascannons and Missile Launchers (they have the two Blessed upgrades) and one is standard with Assault Cannon, Storm Bolter, and Dreadnought Close-Combat Weapon. Land Raiders tend to play too aggresively for my taste, it seems. There is a fellow GK player who loves Land Raiders, and he has a very successful forum following at The Bolter and Chainsword, found here.
The list is below, for those of you interested in the details of it, but that's about it. My plan to be a little less aggressive than the Land Raiders seemed to demand (mostly because of how many shots they took) and be more reactionary and opportunistic. I will post future details, of course, about how this list begins performing. I believe that I will stick with this list for at least a dozen games to get familiar with all the ins and outs of it before I determine if changes need to be made.
The Emperor Protects,
D.G
The Grey Knights of Grandmaster Emrys
Points: 1999 out of 2000
-HQ-
Grandmaster Emrys
-Master-Crafted Nemesis Force Weapon
-Psycannon
-Grimoire of True Names
-Sacred Incense
-Psychic Hood
-Icon of the Just
-4 Grey Knights Terminators
--Psycannon
-Troops-
Squad Auran
-Justicar Auran
-5 Grey Knights
--2x Psycannon
Squad Gormann
-Justicar Gormann
-5 Grey Knights
--2x Psycannon
-Fast Attack-
Squad Detlin
-Justicar Detlin
-7 Grey Knights
Squad Sirim
-Justicar Sirim
-6 Grey Knights
--Incinerator
Squad Bressal
-Justicar Bressal
-7 Grey Knights
-Heavy Support-
Brother-Dreadnought Trian
-Assault Cannon
-DCC/Storm Bolter
-Extra Armour
Brother-Dreadnought Domnall
-Twin-linked Lascannon
-Missile Launcher
-Blessed
-Extra Armour
Brother-Dreadnought Brisind
-Twin-linked Lascannon
-Missile Launcher
-Blessed
-Extra Armour
I'm towards the bottom somewhere, and Chris and I think that my painting certainly merited more than a 12 (especially considering the score is Eldar received for painting), but I'm not going to sweat that part of it at all. I had fun and it was a great experience. If you go to a tournament just to win glory all that's going to happen is a bunch of people are going to get mad and feelings will be irreparably damaged. I left my feedback, and that's that. Jason and Grant did a great job with the event, and I am very happy to have been a part of that.
But now, concerning my further service to the Inquisiton.
I tried a 2 Land Raider set up for BfSR, and I liked it well enough, but I ended up a little light on bodies. My second unit of Terminators also ate up points, so I've reviewed my list, looked at what's worked for me in the past, and taken what I've learned recently to construct a new army list that should compensate for some of the problems that I have experienced of late.
_______________________________
Returning to my early days of playing Grey Knights, the list again contains a small amount (40 points) of specifically anti-Chaos wargear and upgrades in the form of a Grimoire of True Names, Sacred Incense, and 2 Blessed upgrades. I did this because it returns flare to the army, if only for me. These guys fight Chaos, so that's what they're gonna be geared to do. I don't usually select any psychic powers, however, as they are generally useless against most opponents, and when I do fight Chaos other abilities, such as the Nemesis Force Weapon, are generally a much better use of the Psychic test.
Next, I paired down the Terminators to a single unit of 5, led by Grandmaster Emrys. I liked the performance from Brother-Captain Stern in the tournament, but I believe he would have survived more often if he had a third wound and better shooting gear in his unit.
Moving on the Troops, I selected to add Psycannons into the units in order to provide for static firepower and go back to relying on the Shrouding to protect me more often that I have been. I have not been taking advantage of the Shrouding when I should be, so these units will try to keep me doing that, as their usefulness is in the big guns.
Fast Attack I maxed out, selecting a unit of Incinerator toting Knights and 2 units of regular Knights. I won't always teleport all of these squads, but the Fast Attack slots allow me to place the bulk of my power armoured units on the field after the enemy has most of his army on the field, hopefully.
Heavy Support is probably the most changed. I removed both Land Raiders and put in 3 Grey Knights Dreadnoughts. Though not as resilient as the Land Raiders, I believe that they fit the feel of this list better than the tanks would have. Two are armed with Twin-Lascannons and Missile Launchers (they have the two Blessed upgrades) and one is standard with Assault Cannon, Storm Bolter, and Dreadnought Close-Combat Weapon. Land Raiders tend to play too aggresively for my taste, it seems. There is a fellow GK player who loves Land Raiders, and he has a very successful forum following at The Bolter and Chainsword, found here.
The list is below, for those of you interested in the details of it, but that's about it. My plan to be a little less aggressive than the Land Raiders seemed to demand (mostly because of how many shots they took) and be more reactionary and opportunistic. I will post future details, of course, about how this list begins performing. I believe that I will stick with this list for at least a dozen games to get familiar with all the ins and outs of it before I determine if changes need to be made.
The Emperor Protects,
D.G
The Grey Knights of Grandmaster Emrys
Points: 1999 out of 2000
-HQ-
Grandmaster Emrys
-Master-Crafted Nemesis Force Weapon
-Psycannon
-Grimoire of True Names
-Sacred Incense
-Psychic Hood
-Icon of the Just
-4 Grey Knights Terminators
--Psycannon
-Troops-
Squad Auran
-Justicar Auran
-5 Grey Knights
--2x Psycannon
Squad Gormann
-Justicar Gormann
-5 Grey Knights
--2x Psycannon
-Fast Attack-
Squad Detlin
-Justicar Detlin
-7 Grey Knights
Squad Sirim
-Justicar Sirim
-6 Grey Knights
--Incinerator
Squad Bressal
-Justicar Bressal
-7 Grey Knights
-Heavy Support-
Brother-Dreadnought Trian
-Assault Cannon
-DCC/Storm Bolter
-Extra Armour
Brother-Dreadnought Domnall
-Twin-linked Lascannon
-Missile Launcher
-Blessed
-Extra Armour
Brother-Dreadnought Brisind
-Twin-linked Lascannon
-Missile Launcher
-Blessed
-Extra Armour
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
On Terrain -
With the tournament over and my war wounds on the mend, I thought this is a good opportunity to chat a bit about terrain and its overall affect on a game of Warhammer 40k.
The official tournament results have not yet been posted. When they are, I will link to them and discuss the tournament itself, but let it be known for now that I went 1-3 in the four rounds. My only win was of course, against Chaos. For the Emperor!
Ahem, back to terrain. Let me explain the terrain at the tournament first, as it is what primarily gave rise to this discussion. The tables were all set up with a river running through the middle, length-wise, which was "Stones River." It was judged that the river gave a 5+ cover save to any unit inside it, but could be seen through for shooting just like any other river. The rest of the boards were given four (perhaps a few had a very small fifth piece) terrain pieces of about 10-12 inches in length (buildings, rocks, trees). Most of these pieces were in deployment zones, leaving the battlefield largely open between the two deployment zones.
Now, anyone with at least a little experience in 40k will see here the problem. Shooty armies had a wonderful go at this style of board, for they could see the enemy coming and prioritize targets, shooting up what they wanted at their leisure. That's all fine if there are two shooting armies on the table across from one another, but what if one of the armies was an army that likes to get close, assault even?
Mine is one such army. Now I know that many other experienced Grey Knights players will tell me that I shouldn't have tried to get into assault with the enemy, control fire lanes, deny victory points. But that was exactly the problem! There were no "fire lanes" or VP denial opportunities (unless I parked my army at the back of my deployment zone, didn't move turn after turn, and was content to let my opponent get mad at me and give me a low sportsmanship score!). The tables at this tournament were built to favor the extremely shooty armies at the event. As a result, assault-themed armies did not perform well at all, and my own army (a hybrid that favors the above mentioned tactics) found itself more in the boat of the assault armies than of the shooty armies.
I think that this tournament needs to be used as an example that "killing field" tables should not be the norm at tournments, as it is my fear that they are.
More on the tournament itself as the results are posted on the official website.
For the Emperor,
D.G.
The official tournament results have not yet been posted. When they are, I will link to them and discuss the tournament itself, but let it be known for now that I went 1-3 in the four rounds. My only win was of course, against Chaos. For the Emperor!
Ahem, back to terrain. Let me explain the terrain at the tournament first, as it is what primarily gave rise to this discussion. The tables were all set up with a river running through the middle, length-wise, which was "Stones River." It was judged that the river gave a 5+ cover save to any unit inside it, but could be seen through for shooting just like any other river. The rest of the boards were given four (perhaps a few had a very small fifth piece) terrain pieces of about 10-12 inches in length (buildings, rocks, trees). Most of these pieces were in deployment zones, leaving the battlefield largely open between the two deployment zones.
Now, anyone with at least a little experience in 40k will see here the problem. Shooty armies had a wonderful go at this style of board, for they could see the enemy coming and prioritize targets, shooting up what they wanted at their leisure. That's all fine if there are two shooting armies on the table across from one another, but what if one of the armies was an army that likes to get close, assault even?
Mine is one such army. Now I know that many other experienced Grey Knights players will tell me that I shouldn't have tried to get into assault with the enemy, control fire lanes, deny victory points. But that was exactly the problem! There were no "fire lanes" or VP denial opportunities (unless I parked my army at the back of my deployment zone, didn't move turn after turn, and was content to let my opponent get mad at me and give me a low sportsmanship score!). The tables at this tournament were built to favor the extremely shooty armies at the event. As a result, assault-themed armies did not perform well at all, and my own army (a hybrid that favors the above mentioned tactics) found itself more in the boat of the assault armies than of the shooty armies.
I think that this tournament needs to be used as an example that "killing field" tables should not be the norm at tournments, as it is my fear that they are.
More on the tournament itself as the results are posted on the official website.
For the Emperor,
D.G.
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