Wednesday, September 22, 2010

"The Dice"


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpw_64wUMwo

We are all pretty superstitious about “the dice” and no doubt many of you have noticed more than a few weird or dubious habits amongst your friends or enemies in the 40k universe.

I have played Dice games since I was very young. The magic and mystery of the dice has always been something I have assumed. The fervor over Adepticon 2010 nonsense really got my attention. Seems to have worked out in the end but it was quite a big deal on the internets at the time.

http://www.battleforsalvation.com/

We are a big fan of the NOVA format and very excited to seeing this event and others play out in the future. Battle For Salvation will be a High level competitive GT event and will INCLUDE GW DICE for all participants. (Although they are allowing competitors to use their own GW DICE… maybe that will change.)

Doing just a little bit of looking around on the internets and you will find out that it is easy to tamper with dice and that most dice are flawed to begin with. So IT IS a big deal in the end.

The best resource you will find on this topic for w40k players:

http://win-warhammer-40k.blogspot.com/2008/12/dice-rolling-101.html

http://www.gamescience.com/

Online Dice Rolling Tool:

http://code.google.com/p/the-40k-roller/

Dice Tower:

http://papermakeit.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=17&Itemid=42



Since YOU ARE interested:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/dice-play/DiceCrooked.htm

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/dice-play/Rolling.htm

Dont get carried away, ya'all.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lsk_7ptZZxE

Monday, September 13, 2010

BattleReport: Chaos Nurgle Space Marines vs Wolfbrothers 2k



Nurgle Host:


2x Demon Prince w/Wings, Warptime, Mark of Nurgle
3x3 Obliterators
4x6 Nurgle Marines with Champ & pfist, two melta, rhinos

Wolfbrothers:

Wolflord on Thunderwolf mount, many fixins, two wolves
1x Thunderwolf Cav w/Stormshield, Frost Axe
1x RunePriest w/Necklace
2x5 Wolf Scouts w/Power weapon, Melta, Mark of Wulfen
5x5 Grey Hunter w/Power Weapon, Melta, Mark of Wulfen, Las/Plas Razerback (1 Rhino)
2x6 Long Fangs w/Five Missle launchers
7 Wolf Guards with Power Fists into Wolf Scouts and Grey Hunters. Scoutie pack leaders have combi melta also.
Pitched Battle, Command and Control, Wolves go first!

Long Fangs deploy on two levels in the right hand corner. One group cant see the right flank very much because of blocking terrain. Top group can see mostly everything on table, except for behind terrain in center of table (bottom level.) They are all out of range of back left Chaos corner where green fortress dominates. Enemy objective was in terrain in center of deployment, just in range of long fang units.

Rune priest goes in Rhino on left near Wolf objective with backup Razorback Kill Team. Thunderwolves in the middle, three Razorbacks on right near long fangs with one ready to scoot over to help objective battle (claim objective after everyone dies in fight.) Using cover and "t-formations" to get cover saves to everyone from almost everywhere. One unit of scouts infiltrate and a second stay in reserve.


Chaos deploys in tight castle on wolfbrother left, two units of oblits and one demon prince on extreme left, a line of rhinos, then 3rd unit of oblits and 2nd demon prince on right. The formation tapered from Wolf left to right to frustrate highly annoying and destructive Wolf scouts that would be forced to infiltrate in less than optimal manner. They hide out of sight on the bottom level of center building terrain.

Wolfbrothers go to work. Scouties in center shuffle around so they are still hidden but can take long melta shot at right-center nurgle Rhino. They could have charged out and taken two melta shots and then assaulted or multi-assaulted the Rhinos in the open, but the Wolf strategy required patience. The Wolfbrothers wanted and needed the Chaos army to spread out a bit. RP Rhino speeds up the center-left and pops smoke. Thunderwolves move into cover in center. Long fangs and Razerbacks concentrate fire on 3rd right hand group of obliterators and kill all three.

Chaos army unfolds a little. Demon prince and One Rhino on left move all out towards Wolf objective. Rhino on far right camps on Chaos Objectives. Rhinos in middle move up a little and take melta and bolter shots at Wolf Scouties in center, killing three. Demon Prince on right takes cover behind Rhinos and supports objective, threatening Wolf Lord in center. Obliterators wreck RP Rhino and blast plasma at the Thunderwolves, who are unscathed due to cover saves on the buffaloes (fenrisian wolves attached to wolf lord.)


Space wolf turn two is uneventful. RP and Grey Hunters retreat into cover and camp on Wolf Objective (bait #2.) Razorbacks push forward and shoot. Thunderwolves zig zag to the right behind center building terrain heading towards chaos objective (now out of sight from remaining obilts on left.) Long fangs and Razorback shooting destroys a bolter and immobilizes Nurgle Rhino on Objective. Scouties shot that Rhino with Melta and then assaulted it spilling out Nurgle Marines.



Chaos army surges in face of horrible wolf shooting. Demon prince and two Rhinos on Left charge deeper into wolf territory and prepare to assault wolf objective. Demon Prince and two units of nurgles smile at two remaining wolf scouties standing right in front of them. The scouts make a bunch of saves and then die to the demon prince in close combat. He consolidates towards the center. Obliterator shooting stuns two razorbacks.

Wolves start to circle for the kill, Chaos turn 3 will be the start of the end for someone. Kill team on left get out of Razorback and get into position with RP and his squad to receive chaos charge from two sides. Third razorback from right speeds over and pops smoke, his passengers are the counter assault or the cleanup crew, or both! Free razorback on right does the same, popping smoke and providing cover for stunned razorback on right just in case some nurgles get brave and try to scoot over and melta them. Wolf lord zags some more to the cover terrain near chaos objective terrain, just asking demon price on right to come fight him. Long fangs take shots at rhinos on left, wrecking one.

2nd unit of Wolfscouties arrive from reserve and shoot/charge unit of oblits on ground level on extreme left flank. Kill two and lock combat.



Chaos, bottom of three, charges demon prince and one unit of nurgles into the defending wolf units on the left. Of course after blasting away with Two units of Nurgles! Good for wolfs and bad for Chaos, that third nurgle unit was not able to assault! Demon Prince on right jumps into the middle, on opposite side of building from Wolf Lord, now threatening... everything in the Wolf army, including the wolf lord if he wants to eat the nurgles on chaos objective.



Last unit of oblits gets down from perch and charges into the wolf scouties. Powerfists all over, and 1 obliterators lives to 0 scouts. Mission accomplished anyways. On the left the Nurgles locked up combat and the demon prince died to rune priest and mark of the wulfen party.


Wolf Lord and Thunderwolfs get into the Nurgles, killing the camped out unit outright. Razorbacks on right race towards Chaos objective. Long Fangs pop other Nurgle rhino near chaos objective (but wolf lord didn't have enough to multi-assault.) Wolves on left try to kill empty Rhino, Rune priest takes shot at 2nd demon prince (who took a wound from the scout powerfist earlier.) Wolves in combat wiff vs Nurgles and nurgles kill some. 3rd sneaky killteam on left gets in position to hold objective and try to kill remaining chaos forces there.



2nd Demon prince and last set of nurgles on right charge Wolf Lord after single Obliterator shoots plasma at undamaged killteam on left (killing three! wow!) Empty Rhino and little bits of Nurgle climb onto Wolf Objective to Contest. Demon prince sucks ass vs Wolf Lord and dies. Nurgles there die too. Bottom of 5 and No one holds any objectives: Nurgles contest wolf obj and Razorbacks are a turn away from Chaos' - but the game continues.

Wolves on right destroy rhino and clean up last bits of Nurgle. Razorbacks full of guys camp out on Chaos objective. Rune priest kills single-wound Obliterator with Lightning. Wolfbrother Victory!

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Battle Report: Wolfbrothers vs Salamanders 2k


Salamanders:


Vulcan
Librarian in terminator armor
3 x 10 Tacticals. Two in Rhinos, 3rd with Razorback.
Two flamer/typhoon speeders
Techmarine with Thunderfire cannon
Land Raider Redeemer (3rd tactical deployed here w/Vulcan)
5 x Lightning Claw Terminators in ANOTHER Land Raider Redeemer (w/Librarian)


Wolfbrothers:

Wolflord on Thunderwolf with Wolf Claw and Stormshield, Saga of Bear, Two Wolves
WolfGuard battle leader on Thunderwolf with Frost Weapon and Stormshield, necklace
5 x Wolves
WolfGuard battle leader with frostweapon, meltabomb, saga of hunter
WolfGuard battle leader with frostweapon, combi-melta, saga of warrior
9 x Wolf Scouts Pack with Melta, Mark of Wulfen, Power Weapon
10 x Grey Hunters Pack with Flamer, Mark of Wulfen, Power Weapon, Standard, Melta, Drop Pod
2 x 5 Grey Hunters Pack with Melta, Mark of Wulfen, Power Weapon, Rhino
9 x Grey Hunters Pack with Melta, Mark of Wulfen, Power Weapon, Standard, Rhino
6 x Long Fangs Pack with five Plasma Cannon, Drop Pod
Flamer/typhoon speeder

Spearhead, Capture and Control, Salamanders go first!

Salamanders roll forward. Black Land Raider w/Librarian and Terminators. Green w/Vulcan and Tacticals. Rhino in the back near objective. 2nd Rhino near Green Raider. Razorback near Black Raider. Speeders on Wolfbrothers left. Thunderfire cannon in the rear left, near table edge.

Wolfbrothers deployed Plasma Cannon Long Fangs near center of board in jungle terrain. Thunderwolves near center on left in Ruin terrain. Buffalos [wolves] behind the long fangs in cover. Speeder and Rhino on right, and full Rhino + 2nd kill team Rhino on the left. Everyone has plenty of cover except the 2nd kill team Rhino on the left screening the full Rhino also holding saga of warrior battle leader.

Salamanders open fire! Immobilizing 2nd kill team Rhino on the left with no cover with Speeder kraks. Thunderfire cannon, Land Raiders, Razerback blast everything they got at the Long Fangs Pack in the Jungle near the wolf objective - deployed as close to the center of the board as possible. When the smoke cleared the unit had been annilhated!

Wolfbrothers didnt flinch and charged at the deadly Salamander line. Long fang drop pod (empty) entered and landed directly in front of Black Land Raider, between two super heavy Jungle terrain pieces, effectively blocking that Land Raider and Razorback from advancing into the Wolfbrothers Deployment Quarter during turn 2. Wolfbrother Land Speeder zoomed into a similar position blocking the Green Land Raider, leaving only one avenue for advance open to the the Salamander Army! Thunderwolves, Buffalos, and Wolf-Rhinos charged into the upper-left Quarter, 'swinging' to the left, (terribly worried about Flamestorm Cannons) - hugging cover and popping smoke, there was no wolf shooting except the immobilized kill team Rhino fixed itself.


Salamanders are annoyed by Wolfbrother blocking maneuvers and shuffle to the wolf upper-left quarter. The Land Raiders have been moving slow so they can shoot things. The Black Land Raider moves fast to redeploy Behind Vulcan. Razerback takes up position to shoot things near the annoying empty drop pod. Rhinos shuffle also. Speeders split up and shoot more Krak. Salamander army takes lots of shots at Blocking Wolf "Kill Speeder" but accomplish nothing! Some shots kill a buffalo or two and destroy some stormbolters (on Rhinos.) Not a lot of damage turn 2 shooting.

Stuarts Division surges forward. No Wolfscouties or 2nd "Stalker" Drop pod yet - that is good. Kill Speeder jumps into a new blocking position and takes krak shots at Rhino, maybe destroying a Stormbolter (revenge!) Green Land Raider cant go that way next turn! Wolf Rhinos Zig zag and full Rhino's melta wrecks Vulcan's ride. Thunderwolves and Buffalos charge and wreck Speeder on left. Vulcan is pissed!



Black Land Raider squeezes by and moves into center of board position. Vulcan and friends run into the Jungle Ruins and pop "baby-ragnar's" Rhino. Salamanders unhappy with Kill speeder and shoot it some more. Its shaken - now it cant move or shoot (revenge!) Thunderfire cannon, Assault cannons, and some krak kill a few Wolfbrothers hanging out near Vulcan.

Wolfbrother Reinforcements arrive! Wolfscouties with Saga of Hunter battle leader come in from Salamander board edge near troop Rhino and Thunderfire cannon. Stalker-pod scores another direct hit and lands behind Rhino and Black Land Raider, next to Thunderfire Cannon. Gurka Squad inside shakes Black Raider with melta shot! Kill team near baby-ragnar jump out and shoot at Vulcan. Baby ragnar splits from his team goes into jungle after Vulcan - his Gurka Squad moves up and shoots also.

Other Kill team moves to Wolf objective and gets out and kills 2nd Salamander speeder. Wolfscouties melta the troop Rhino and then charge the guys inside. Thunderwolves get the Techmarine and Buffalos pile in with the Wolf Scouties, getting the Salamander tacticals from the other side! Lots of action and baby-ragnar locks up Vulcan and some surviving tacticals.



Salamanders arent out yet! Vulcan is extra-pissed now! 3rd Salamander Tacticals get out and move around Green Land Raider wreckage. They shoot and charge kill team and kill speeder. Terminators and Librarian jump out and go APE. They move along the crater that used to be one of thier speeders and catch that Kill team in combat - slaughtering the wolfbrother Grey Hunters easily. A few more of Vulcans tacticals are killed by baby-ragnar but combat is locked. Salamander tacticals wiff vs speeder and kill team, and take a couple casualties but stay in combat.



Wolfbrothers drenched in Salamander blood and get a little pissed also: Not much to do. Baby-ragnars Gurka Squad gets in the Kill team Rhino and zooms off behind the jungle ruins headed towards the wolf objective. Wolfscouties, Wolf Lord, and Stalker-pod Gurka Squad move onto Salamander objective and try to kill empty Razorback.



WolfGuard battle leader on Thunderwolf with buffalos attack those salamander tacticals that wiffed, and kill them. Vulcan kills baby-ragnar in response and The forgefather with surviving Squad leader consolidate behind screening terminators and the Black Land Raider that crashed into the Jungle Ruins.



Thunderwolf and buffalos consolidate over Green land raider wreckage and Kill team move up near Black Land Raider and then melta it to death! It explodes and the Thunderwolf battle leader charges right into Vulcan!



Vulcan scores some wounds but the battle leader saves them and kills the tactical squad leader.



Wolf lord on Thunderwolf leaves Wolfscouties and Stalker-pod Gurka Squad at Salamander objective looking for some turn 6 or 7 action.

Game ended turn 5, Wolfbrother victory. (1-0 Objectives.)