Tuesday, December 27, 2011

2012 Wolfbrothers PRIMER Tournament - Saturday, Jan 14th


Come one come all, The Wolfbrothers will be hosting a 1250pt Warhammer 40k Tournament on Saturday January 14th! 

This will be a classic "PRIMER" Tournament and Wolfbrother Club Meeting! We Need You There! 
Location To Be Announced soon.

Prizes and Sponsorship to the actual Jan 28th Contest of Champions at Great Escape Games, Sacramento for the winners!

Remember, the PRIMER Tournament is to get you ready for The Big Deal in Sacramento. We will mimic the CoC in all ways, so watch for any changes or announcements!  Please review the composition scoring system and the mission book!

Please RSVP so we can make sure to have enough tables and terrain for all!

Contact Douglas of Wolfbrothers anytime by text or call at 775.997.3268 or Wolfbrothers40k@gmail.com

Thanks everyone!


Monday, December 26, 2011

Happy Wolfbrothers Everyone!


We have had a really great 2011 Warhammer40k season and cant wait for the 2012 MURDER!

Thanks everyone!


Thursday, December 22, 2011

A quick list review from Daywalker on the units used in his TLT list

Your favorite Blood Claw here, and ready to give you my Post-Tournament Report.



In our local Twin-Linked Tournament, I brought 1000 points of Space Wolves, and Makooma brought 1000 points of Tau. We played three matches, Winning two and losing one (Makooma will cover the BatRep).



So, here is my individual unit breakdown. I wanted to do this because I feel it offers readers an intimate look at how individual units perform with different wargear options.



Wolf Priest

Grade: A-

From my personal experience, the Wolf Priest never disappoints. He supported the Blood Claws in many ways, making them an even greater force to be reckoned with. Preferred Enemy is great. As is the 4++ invulnerable save in the Wolf Amulet. The Saga of the Hunter was a GREAT option for him leading the Claws on foot. I made to sure to remind all my opponents that they would have stealth, and ALL of them at some point were looking rather distraught when reminded of this as I was taking my 3+ cover saves. This alone saved me at least 8 Claws over the course of three games. For 10 points...I'd say that is well worth it. Runic Armor was also a great choice, proving itself after rolling four or five 2's for armor saves. I never had a chance to use the Meltabombs or Wolf Tail Talisman, though I still feel they are good upgrades for the price.



Overall, I feel this was an optimal loadout for the Wolf Priest leading a pack of Claws on foot. It made both him and the Claws more survivable, which is a must when footslogging. The only change I would make is adding a Plasma Pistol. In all three matches I played, I either encountered a situation where I needed some low AP shots to take down some extra MEQ's, or I needed an extra high strength shot to help open up transports to expose its contents. Even with the one or two melta guns with the Claws, their BS3 cannot be relied upon. The plasma pistol could really help with that shortcoming.



Blood Claws

Grade: B+

The Blood Claws are by far my favorite unit from the codex. With the full 15 Claws on foot, they are a force that must be dealt with. They soaked up lots of fire, which was great whether they survived the storm of bullets or not. This left the other units in the army unscathed for the first few turns, which was even worse for my opponent if they had been reduced at least below half strength. Once they reached combat, their attack numbers (along with preferred enemy) proved to be overwhelming.



The Powerfist is a must, IMO. They are exposed to a multitude of enemy units, and the fist makes them more capable of defending against some of the tougher units. And, three fist attacks on the charge isn't bad. The melta gun was a good addition as well, since I was able to put it to use by killing a few MEQ's, and opening up a Rhino (and it was free). There have been too many times in the past where I choose not to bring a melta gun, and I always regret it. I now always try to fit them in now. The flamer is great too, since there is no worries about the BS3 when using it (this one is free too!).



Grey Hunters

Grade: B

It wasn’t a surprise that the Hunters performed well. Aside from some inevitable mission constraints, these guys moved into position with their Rhinos and did their jobs controlling/contesting and laying down cover fire for other units.



I am glad that I didn’t go over the top with the Hunter squads’ upgrades, since What they had seemed to be enough. This was the first time I went with the melta-plasma combo. I found it quite useful, have multiple opportunities to use the separately and together. The key here was that I was never in a position where I regretted taking one or the other (which has often been the case in the past). The Wolf Standards performed great as well, never failing to prove itself as one of the best upgrades in the codex. Specifically, in one round of combat where I was rolling 20+ attacks, I managed to roll somewhere around 8 or more 1’s just to hit.



Razorback

Grade: D+

Though it was chosen as a dedicated transport for the Blood Claws, I am mentioning it separately, since I was essentially used as a separated unit.



It is hard to judge its performance, considering how often I failed rolls to hit with it. It was a good lesson is statistics, where in my last match I managed to miss on 4 strait turns. I, too, thought that was virtually impossible…until I saw it myself. Since my reason for bring the Twin-Linked Lascannon vs. the las/plas combo was it reliability, it is now making me consider otherwise. Also, there were a number of occasions where it received a weapon destroyed result, which would not have affected it as much were it a las/plas.



With that being said, I can see it being useful in the future (pending some better rolling on my part). It was fairly cheap, and still managed to contest objectives and drew attention away from other more essential units.



Land Speeder

Grade: C

Cheap, lean, and ready to rock and roll. When you roll well…



Single Speeders are always hit or miss for me. I am always counting on the multi-melta, only to have it miss or fail to penetrate. The Heavy flamer is a nice combo for it, though, since both are usually used in the face of the enemy. I think the speeder would have been more effective with a twin beside it for support.



Even though I manage to miss often with my speeders, they almost always manage to soak up loads of firepower from my opponents to take them down. As far as deployment goes, I used deepstrike in two out of the three matches. I did this because I knew my opponents would be camping. This was a very risky tactic, but it seemed to pay off, as I was able to get the speeder exactly where I wanted it. In the match against the Blood Angels, I knew they would be bringing the fight to me. I reserved it to come on the board normally, which worked out well as it came on to explode a Rhino (killing around 6 assault marines in the process).



Overall List Grade: B

I was happy with the list I brought. It supported the partner’s Tau forces well, which was most important for me in the tournament. Looking forward, I would only make minor changes to the list, such as giving the Wolf Priest a plasma pistol and switching the TL Lascannon to a las/plas (or even swapping it for another speeder). The most important thing was that I was able to use my favorite unit, the Blood Claws, and have fun with them.



I hope this review helps others with their ventures. Please, feel free to ask any questions or leave comments. Thanks for tuning in…



-Daywalker

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Victory!! Team Wolfbrothers 3-0 for BEST OVERALL / TWIN LINKED CHAMPIONS!


 That's right...ShotDownMind and General Oadius did it again. The gods of war have rewarded our persistence and dedication to the pursuit of victory with yet another fruit from the tree of battle. Hard fought victories make the spoils that much sweeter and this was no seal clubbing. In fact we were forced to face off against MadJohn and Santa our respected peers and forum mates for 1st place. The dice and fate would play as big a part as any superior list or strategem we may have used against the OrkyKnights but victory came none the less.


Our lists:
reclusiarch with death company in a rhino
2 razorback assault marine squads
las/auto cannon predator
Baal Predator with twin linked assault cannon and heavy bolter sponsons

2 haemonculous each with a webway portal
2 x 15 wyches with the fixins
8 wracks in a raider with Nightshield, flickerfield and grisly trophies
a razorwing fighter



GAME 1
Team Wolfbrothers vs Interstallar Blitzkrieg(Grey knights and Blood Angels)



enemy list(approximately):
Mephiston
Furioso Libby Dread with Drop Pod
Death Company Blood Talon Dreadnought with Drop Pod
Death company in a drop pod
something else.. can't remember [a fast vindicator]

Coteaz
8 Death Cult Assassins in a Chimera
Jokaero and Servitors in a Chimera
Grey Knight Interceptors(full squad)
A DreadKnight



Summary:
We went first and deployed the Wrack and Haemons in raider with a Predator, the rest were coming in from reserve and the Baal was outflanking. They deployed Mephiston and Coteaz. Interstellar Blitzkrieg didnt' want to seize so Shotdownmind deployed a Webway portal near middle left.

Drop pods with the 2 dreadnoughts came down around the raider with the DC dread coming in near our short table edge. We had DC rhino and razorback come in from reserves and I think one of the wyches. Ended up that the Wyches killed the DC dreadnought in CC with haywire grenades and I ended up assaulting the DC with DC and killing them while my tanks shot at Mephiston and the Libby dread. The other webway was put down farther forward on the other side and that pretty much sealed up their doom.

We had 2 objectives within walking distance of our short table edge and theirs were much farther in. They had expended a majority of their mobility with the drop pods that were, except Mephiston's presence, unsupported. Mephiston and Libby did kill my DC but left themselves open to the hail of fire that exacted revenge nicely.

By the end of the game the wracks had made it all the way across the board to kill Coteaz and the Wyches contested the enemy objective, captured the middle(with both squads) while the assault marines sat on our objectives for a tally of 5-0(center objective was worth 3). Wolfbrothers score 20/20 points for round 1.


GAME 2 Wolfbrothers vs Black Steel (GK and Imperial Guard)

Enemy lists(approximately):

2x10 man Grey Knight squads
Grey Knight Interceptors(full squad)
Psyfleman
Xenos Inquisitor
Vindicare Assassin

Vendetta
3x Vet Teams in Chimera(1 plasma unit and 2 melta)
Flak Battery Squadron(2 units)
Company Commander


GAME Summary
A notable player either tries to insult our intelligence or acted in a manner that was completely inappropriate..General Oadius rolled a 1 for red thirst and all hell broke loose. A compromise was reached and the battle restarted. After that they seized and started to blow our shit up.




Long story short..wyches did the heavy lifting and we won with Assault Marines and Wracks holding a table quarter and the wyches contesting the others.



Bay Area Open GT measuring tool for the win.Wolfbrothers scored like 17 of 20 points.


GAME 3 Wolfbrothers vs OrkyKnights
We were both relieved to get a game that we didn't care if we won or lost because we wanted to hang with the people that we were pitted against us.


Madjohn and Scott(santa) have been a force to be reckoned with at the Twin Linked tournies but we knew win or lose we'd have fun with good people. I won't even get into trying to explain this game to you but sufficed to say that we got first turn(which was huge) and ended up only very slightly ahead at the end. Wolfbrothers win 18 of 20 points.





TOURNAMENT SUMMARY
Super fun and an amazing way to cap out the 2011 tournaments. Mark at Great Escape Games has run these tournaments well enough to attract 20(!!!)TEAMS for a December tournament on Sunday. That says something in itself but the scenarios were fun and very challenging, the terrain was ample/consistent and the prizes were insane. This was a "cherry on top" tournament for Great Escape Games in my opinion. Wolfbrothers can't get enough....


Check out the blog for pics of the made to order dice bags that Great Escape and Mark are hooking up as trophies for the tournament.

UNTIL NEXT TIME....PLAY WELL, ROLL BETTER!!!

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Traitors! Chaos Scum!






XV LEGION: The Emperor's Automatons


The Thousand Sons fellowship of High Sorcerer Matt ready for War!


Like all armies, this one started as a pile of bits (and still has a few to go!)


 Once everything was put back together it was all given a very rough white primering! Most of these models were already primed white or blue or both. Some were painted in various manners. Sprayed right over all of it!

Then I installed the initial base-coat with airbrush, Starting with a band/swath of Warlock Purple from the knees down, but also underneath the entire model. Purple was followed by Regal Blue on the model from the knees up at a downward angle (above the model) - basically leaving the feet white, knees and under surfaces purple. Next up was Enchanted Blue over the same surfaces but carefully avoiding all recesses. Then quick highlights with Ice Blue, and finally Skull White.


 Resulting in the nice glowing blue armor! To prep for the basing effects the lower half of the model was inked with Devlan Mud. Then using the same process I used on the vehicles, dirt/glue mixture was applied liberally to the base and on the models from the knee down, and when the dirt was dry (12 hours+) I painted the bases Adeptus Battlegrey and then worked up each model with Skull White via airbrush to finish the initial basing effects.


From the basecoat and basing effect stages its all downhill, no more fancy business!

Nothing special, just foundation and metallics, then Badab Black ink wherever necessary - around and in between and underneath, careful of the nice blue armor finish! This was the reason for the Purple to Regal Blue to Enchanted and so on workup on the armor earlier, to avoid using much ink later to add shading to parts of the armor!

To lock in the army on the Tabletop, light "swooshes" of Army Builder Snow flock was applied with the same cheap glue as the earlier basing effects. 


After the Graabvelt campaign, some easy highlights will complete this army entirely!




Monday, December 12, 2011

The Rubric of Ahriman: Mudd


 As Ahriman crusades through the Warp and across the galaxy in search of knowledge and power, I am painting his Army for commission to tabletop standard. Today, we get to play in the dirt!


 Started with a few big scoops of potting soil. All over the internets you will find warnings about fertilizer and soil pests or pathogens, with instructions to wash and cook your dirt. Blah blah. Use cheap fresh stuff from the store, nothing fancy with fertilizers or moisture control. I didnt care, I get mine from a nice dry sunny spot out in the yard. You can find similar warnings and instructions on sorting the dirt, I just gave it a good shake in the big container, and scooped the stuff that looked the best into the small container.


I used the two part tupperware to mix the mud. In the small side I have about 60/40 glue to water. In the big side I added the glue and water to the dirt separately and mixed into a paste as I used it.


Basically I would roughly coat the area for dirt with the glue/water, apply the dirt paste liberally, then I would coat the dirt with glue and shape the dirt with the stiff brush, brushing off excess etc. I feel the shaping/coating step was the most important.


Once the dirt was dry (12+ hours) it was time for color. In order I applied light layers of Bleached Bone, Graveyard Earth, Bestial Brown, and Scorched Brown, and a final light coat of Bone. Eventually the finish effect will have some very carefully applied tiny swaths of White.


Ah yes, something similar for the infantry - they are next!



Sunday, December 11, 2011

The student-aspirants, The Achaeminians


Painting the Thousand Sons to a tabletop standard - we wanted these guys to end up bright blue, yellow and gold - with hardcore basing effects, this force is on its way to the Gates of The Fang itself!


  I went about 'updating' the blue that was already installed on the tanks. A lot of damage had occurred during the years of transport and of course the rebuilding effort. The first coat of blue was entirely to try and get a smooth finish on the swoosh at the end of all this fun. I also hit the storm bolters, trophy racks, tank tracks, and the vindicator shields with Boltgun. Then I crafted a simple Tzeech swoosh symbol mask and quickly taped off the boltgun areas.


After the first coat of blue and the mask, I hit each tank with bands of Black, Purple, Red, and finally Yellow. After the color bands I hit the Tzeech swoosh with Black to give it a feathered outline.


At this stage I just focused on having a recognizable color band and having a smooth blended transition from and to each. Then I covered the tanks with hairspray and salt. I use a mixture of 4 different sizes of salts for effect. The salt is applied VERY HEAVY on the yellow swath, with less and less as each individual tank's color moved though to the blue.

 
After the salt/hairspray dried, I covered the fleet with Blue and updated the Black Outline on the swoosh mask. I paid close attention to getting the paint down inside the salt buildup and on the model. Once this coat of paint was dry (overnight) I then washed off the salt under the faucet with gloves, a toothbrush and VERY hot water!


 So the Armor effect installed, its time to paint these bitches!


Saturday, December 10, 2011

High Sorcerer Matt's Thousand Sons


Wolfbrother Chapter member High Sorcerer Matt commissioned me to paint [AND build] his Thousand Son Chaos Space Marine Warhammer 40k Army  to a simple, "tabletop" standard:

After sorting the bits and crushing a couple rhinos I was finally ready to build and re-build the Chaos force.


With a quick Tzeech symbol mask for the fixered up vehicles, and the infantry re-organized the army was ready for some equally quick primering!