Guess who cashed in some frequent flyer miles for airfare, booked a hotel room, and bought tickets to the Las Vegas Open Warhammer 40k Championship Tournament?
I couldn't be more excited! Now, to fine tune my army. Here's what I'm considering taking.
1. My Salamanders. Flame Strike formation with a First Company Task Force. In the First Company Task Force, I'm packing three Sternguard units with double heavy flamers (that are S6) and putting them in drop pods. Vulkan is my warlord and giving preferred enemy to all of the other units packing meltas and multimeltas. This list is solid all around and is great against Chaos Daemons but may fall to heavy shooting like Eldar or Tau. I also have to paint about 30 more Sallies.
2. My Astral Claws. This list features lots of bikes, a Centurion Devastator squad with boatloads of grav, a Skyhammer Assault Formation, and using the Ultramarines Chapter tactics. This is actually my first pick and I think it's the strongest against the broadest range of enemies. The army is mostly painted and I would be just touching up my models to get a better painting score.
3, My Rogue Trader Ultramarines. The list actually is a standard all-comer list that is right out of an old White Dwarf battle report. It's a hodge-podge of units but I do have an old Land Raider and 10 terminators. Using the current formations, I can also add a Librarius Conclave that would add some punch to the army. I have to paint most of the minis, about another 50 Ultrasmurfs, 3 Rhinos, and a Landraider... While I don't think this list has the punch to win the championship, I think I can make a strong case for best faction award. Who wouldn't say that a bunch of 30-year old minis from my childhood isn't the best Space Marine list out there?
4. Khorne Daemon kin. This list is something that I cooked up with my buddies. Two CADs that both feature 3 Heldrakes for 6 turkeys. I'll have lots of cultists to run around and support my two D-thirster HQ choices. I think this list could burn it's way through enemy units with ease, allowing me to earn bloodtithe points and summon more units, and kill even more enemy models. The only trouble, is getting those helturkeys on the table. The Strategic Warlord trait table has a selection that will give me +1 to my reserve rolls and I would have two shots at landing it. With a bit of luck, I think this army could take on all comers and improve my odd of wining by reducing my dice rolls - thus increasing my chances. The vector strike from the heldrakes don't need to roll to hit, nor do the S6 AP3 baleflamers. With my poor rolling, the fewer rolls that I need to make, the better off I am in the game. However, if I go second and my opponent submarines my reserve rolls, I could be in a lot of trouble.
Despite the downsides, I think the Daemonkin is the army I'm going to take. I've always wanted to build a space barbarian dragon army and this is my chance/slash/excuse. I picked up the first of the 6 heldrakes and started putting it together. I've had a hard time settling on a paint scheme, but I think I'm going with black dragons, silver trim and faded red tips of the wings, but man, these things are buggers to paint.
I've been experimenting with speed painting these wings. First I tried dry brushing the silver, then going back in an painting the interior panels. Next, I'll try a wing by hand brushing the veins and airbrushing the interior panels. I suspect that dry brushing will be the easier method, but the airbrushing and hand brushed veins will look a lot better and likely will take more than twice as long.
I couldn't be more excited! Now, to fine tune my army. Here's what I'm considering taking.
1. My Salamanders. Flame Strike formation with a First Company Task Force. In the First Company Task Force, I'm packing three Sternguard units with double heavy flamers (that are S6) and putting them in drop pods. Vulkan is my warlord and giving preferred enemy to all of the other units packing meltas and multimeltas. This list is solid all around and is great against Chaos Daemons but may fall to heavy shooting like Eldar or Tau. I also have to paint about 30 more Sallies.
2. My Astral Claws. This list features lots of bikes, a Centurion Devastator squad with boatloads of grav, a Skyhammer Assault Formation, and using the Ultramarines Chapter tactics. This is actually my first pick and I think it's the strongest against the broadest range of enemies. The army is mostly painted and I would be just touching up my models to get a better painting score.
3, My Rogue Trader Ultramarines. The list actually is a standard all-comer list that is right out of an old White Dwarf battle report. It's a hodge-podge of units but I do have an old Land Raider and 10 terminators. Using the current formations, I can also add a Librarius Conclave that would add some punch to the army. I have to paint most of the minis, about another 50 Ultrasmurfs, 3 Rhinos, and a Landraider... While I don't think this list has the punch to win the championship, I think I can make a strong case for best faction award. Who wouldn't say that a bunch of 30-year old minis from my childhood isn't the best Space Marine list out there?
4. Khorne Daemon kin. This list is something that I cooked up with my buddies. Two CADs that both feature 3 Heldrakes for 6 turkeys. I'll have lots of cultists to run around and support my two D-thirster HQ choices. I think this list could burn it's way through enemy units with ease, allowing me to earn bloodtithe points and summon more units, and kill even more enemy models. The only trouble, is getting those helturkeys on the table. The Strategic Warlord trait table has a selection that will give me +1 to my reserve rolls and I would have two shots at landing it. With a bit of luck, I think this army could take on all comers and improve my odd of wining by reducing my dice rolls - thus increasing my chances. The vector strike from the heldrakes don't need to roll to hit, nor do the S6 AP3 baleflamers. With my poor rolling, the fewer rolls that I need to make, the better off I am in the game. However, if I go second and my opponent submarines my reserve rolls, I could be in a lot of trouble.
Despite the downsides, I think the Daemonkin is the army I'm going to take. I've always wanted to build a space barbarian dragon army and this is my chance/slash/excuse. I picked up the first of the 6 heldrakes and started putting it together. I've had a hard time settling on a paint scheme, but I think I'm going with black dragons, silver trim and faded red tips of the wings, but man, these things are buggers to paint.
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