Skull Cannon of Khorne

So I got the chance to take a peek at the Daemon book today and yes the skull cannon is indeed a cannon D6W’s 48 range but it is flaming.  It looks like it can move and shoot like an ironblaster and is 135 points.  Pretty nasty.. 

Equinox 2013

An equinox occurs twice a year (around 20 March and 22 September), when the tilt of the Earth’s axis is inclined neither away from nor towards the Sun, the centre of the Sun being in the same plane as the Earth's equator. 

So this year NZ’s gaming Equinox is fast approaching and hot on the heels of NZTC I’ve had to move past that and resume focus on an all comers list for the open format.  It will see many of NZ’s top players descend on Auckland with Pete coming up from Wellington to defend his title from last year.  Can we find a champion from Auckland to hold off this Wellington domination?  Until lists are actually out it’s going to be pretty hard to get an accurate prediction (2 out of 3 at ArchEnemy and all of the top 4 at NZTC) but I’m going to chat a little about a few of the top players that I’m planning around playing if I want to podium.     

Pete Dunn – It’s hard to look much past Pete as the man to beat coming into this.  He is NZ’s number 1 ranked player and with skaven or ogres is a tough proposition.  Despite him dodging me at NZTC if you are pushing for a podium you’ll likely to have to play Pete. 

Tom VR – Tom comes into this with a great run of form, an NZ ETC rep last year and now pushing the ogres he comes off wins at Arch Enemy and not dropping a game at NZTC on the way to 2^nd place with the Nerdymen.  I played Tom at NZTC and lost out in the Ogre match something I’m going to have to rectify this time around.

Tim Joss – Selected to play for NZ ETC this year, NZ Masters participant and highest VP scorer at NZT at the weekend you better have a plan for playing his Chaos Dwarf list or else don’t expect to be gracing the top tables.  I expect Tim to be bringing a list that fits under ETC comp as he builds for later in the year.

 

Dan Butler – always the bridesmaid never the bride.. Expect Dan to be pushing hard for 2^nd place (the phrase was coined by Rory Butlerism) always coming second.  All jokes aside I expect Dan anther NZ ETC player from last year to be leading his Daemons in a last hurrah before the new book.  If you don’t know how to deal with Siren Song you better find out fast.    

  

There is also a group of very solid players just under this group that will all be fighting it out in what is one of the toughest fields we will see this year. 

Rory F – his mental toughness was questioned but he stood up at NZTC also a Masters participant

John W – a team mate at NZTC JW I think has really benefited with his Lizards getting thrown under the bus and is now working towards big wins

Ant Kitson – another NZTC team mate who didn’t drop a game at the weekend and former Master – he has the bit between his teeth with the Brets

Simon Kwok – Aus Master’s participant

Write these guys off at your peril – old they maybe, grumpy also – Mike King, Reid Pittmans,

Ross HJ (I had to put Ross in here as he would have moaned even though he is a chump!) 

Let me know your thoughts on who you think I have written off/missed out!  Lists will of course change things.

There can only be one...

NZTC Rounds 3-6

Round 3 V The Grumpy Old Men

We’d got off to a hot start and now met one the teams I had predicted to be up and around the top places.  They had 4 very solid (and did I mention very old players?!) I really didn’t want to play Reid due to Pappa Nurgle able to do horrible things to my ogres, Ant wasn’t that keen either so we needed to be effective on the match up’s. 

J

W v Reid Daemons

Ant v Tane Dwarfs

Glenn v Ray Dark Elves

Me v Mike Lizardmen

At first glance I was pretty happy with how the match up’s went.  I had dodged Pappa and the rest of the team seemed pretty happy.  It was an extremely tight round and to be honest it was a bit of a blur! I underestimated Mike’s list and ended up getting stuck on an ethereal slann and two WS10/I10 Sarus blocks that ended up grinding off my mournfang and maneaters.  I had initially felt up but once the magic took hold I was pretty happy to come away with a small loss.  I blocked my own gut star and in hindsight I should have reformed with my bulls fighting the slann to try and allow one of my characters with a magic weapon to charge in solo.  Other key highlights were JW leaving Pappa Nurgle on 1W… A great bunch of guys who actually weren’t very grumpy at all!

39-41 to the Grumpy Old men! 

Round 4 V Over The Hill

This is probably the round/game that will haunt me the most about the event and probably ended up costing us the tournament in the end.  It wouldn’t have changed our draw and we could have got a much bigger win in this one. 

JW v James Millington WOC

Ant v Peter High Elves

Glenn v Simon Dwarfs

Me v Dave Skaven

Glenn got thrown under the bus a little bit with this one but it was done to enable Ant to get into the match he wanted the HE’s.  I took the skaven because no one else really wanted them!  I told Glenn to run at the dwarfs and John W to not leak points.  It was a funny old round, Ant was frustrated by Pete’s HE list and only picked up 12 points in a tight game (Pete despite such a w@nky list you played well!) Glenn decided he didn’t really want to run at the dwarfs and took 9 points, not I major I hoped.  Then that left me the skaven.  I wasn't too fussed as it wasn't an optimum skaven list and felt happy in what I need to do.  To say it didn't go to plan is an understatement.  Dave was a great guy (If he wasn’t such a nice guy I probably would have checked his dice!) and apologies for getting frustrated during the game.  To say nothing went my way was an understatement, leaving around a 1000+ points on 3 collective W’s – the bell on 1W the wheel on 1W and the abomb on 1W.. Dave you’ll correct me if I’m wrong but you made 6 straight 4+ wards on your assassin, and about 15 out of 20 on the bell?  Not to mention rolling three poison wounds on your assassin when you were re rolling 6’s due to heavens..  Needless to say last dice roll of the game 2W’s to the bell 1 W left another 2 4+wards!  It wasn’t looking so good at this stage and I went down 14-6 I think in the end.  To say JW came through for us was an understatement picking up a 16 point win versus the warriors to pull us out of a hole.

NZ Hammered Win 43-37

The only good rat is...

To be fair we were still 10 points clear of the field going into tomorrow’s rounds but I felt we left 8-12 tournament points on the table. 

There were no shenanigans Saturday night as we were all just so damned tired!

Round 5 The Nerdymen

JW v Paul Clarke

Ant v Graeme HE’s

Glenn v Rory Vampires

Me v Tom VR Ogres

The Nerdymen were our closest friends and rivals going into this (I am actually a member of the Nerdymen inducted by Graeme) so we knew each other well going into this one.  Hats off to them, I think they got the match up’s and they ended up with a cracking win and our only real loss of the weekend (I’m not counting 1 point v the Grumpy Old Men!).  Tom out Ogre’d me and to be honest out played me during our round.  I am normally very confident going into games regardless but round 4 was still in the back of my mind and I didn’t play well.  Tom took advantage, out deployed me and picked up a solid win.  Rory rode “Lordy” to victory after Glenn made the fatal mistake of killing the bus with Gateway and leaving “Lordy”  alive!  Often the only way to get him is the res from the knights but it wasn’t to be.  Rory did his best Chuck Norris and took Glenn’s men off.  I hear there has been a grudge thrown out for Equinox? Gray picked up a draw v Ant and Paul sneaked a win v JW.  We went down in this round and from being in 1^st we slipped into 4^th.  Well done guys and we will see you next year!    

Round 6 Omen

JW v Joel VDL

Ant v Sam Whitt

Glenn v Glenn B Vamps

Me v James HE’s

I was pumped we got these guys in the last round as they are a great bunch of guys and I was hoping to play James Milner after plenty of Twitter banter.  The match up’s went like a dream for us and we got every game we wanted.  I didn't fancy the DE’s so we were able to put Glenn up first and allow us to manoeuvre the match up’s.  We needed to win big in this one to give us the best shot at the podium so I gave the instruction to go “balls out” for the wins as 4^th wasn't what we came for.  I didn't really have much time to see the games as they unfolded but we picked up wins across the board.  Winning the battle of the James’s and the Battle of the Glenn’s to show our skills!  A few highlights James’s unkillable dragon…  Glenn finally following his Captains orders and Gatewaying the Ghoul King off FTW!!!  John running away with half his army then beating up on a shell shocked Joel and Ant pushing his busses forward.  To say I was proud of the team was an understatement.  We picked up the 60 point win and left ourselves with the best possible chance of a podium.  Thanks to James and his guys they took it really well and I look forward to seeing some of the guys at Equinox.

Wrap Up

You know the rest so I won’t bore you but all I can say Team Warhammer FTW.  The most funny, intense and satisfying event I've been involved in.  Well done to the Dunn’s (Von Traps) on a successful operation submarine FTW!  Pete you avoided me again…

           

NZTC Wrap Up - Glory and Lament

NZTC Wrap Up - Glory and Lament

NZ Hammered (A.K.A Team D.I.L.F)

What a weekend!  Again thanks to the TO’s, Pete (I guess!) and all our opponents over the weekend.  Most of you rolled over as planned, thanks Von Trapps.. but several of you put up stiff competition to prevent the run to final glory!

My team! 

I won’t break down everyone’s lists as I’ve already posted them here.  We gelled really as a team over the weekend and it was a key in the result.

Ant Kitson – Ant took a double treb list Bret list that was set to pick up big wins.  Based on our match up spreadsheet we managed to manoeuvred Ant into some favourable match up’s.  He didn’t disappoint and didn’t drop a game over the tournament.  A great tactician and a funny team mate.

John Willenbruch – John was taking a skink cloud into this one with a party Light Slann.  It was is solid list but JW would be first to admit he felt short of games coming in.  He stood up massively over the weekend and showed what a quality player he is never leaking many points when chucked under the bus and picking up massive wins for us in round 4 and 6 to keep us in the podium hunt.

Glenn Tibbles – Glenn was taking the last ride of the old WOC book with Gateway FTW.. Glenn was a great team member and took whatever I gave him in the match up process without complaint.  Legend, who pulled out a massive 19-1 last round to cap at 60 points and secure the podium

Me – I took an Ogre list that was again hopefully set up for the big wins.  I actually only got 2 games with it before NZTC and I would make changes in hindsight.  One highlight for me was how well heavens works with the ogres – overall  think it gives them more than Maw and I got scrolls turn 1 5/6 six games 4 dice comet anyone..  

   

Round 1 Capital Crusaders

First out of the hat were our friends from across the ditch the Capital Crusaders.  These guys were a bit of an unknown quantity but I think suffered a massive hit when their highest ranked player and Dark Elf player couldn’t make it.  Stu from Welly I believe stepped up at short notice.

The match up’s went really well for us and we were happy with the results

Ant v Stu with Beastmen

JW v Julian with his Empire

Glenn v Tony with his TK’s

Me v the flying Bret list of Ben Haliday

No one in my team wanted to play the flying circus so I stepped up in what I thought could be a tricky game.  I think the comp environment across the ditch didn’t help the Aussies and we got up across the board in this round maxing out at 60 points.  Ant took the Beastmen off 20-0 I shot off the Bret Peg lord turn 1 and then spent the next 6 turns trying not to get dwellers off the board and picking up the rest of his army for an 18-2.  I lost my Bsb turn 1 to dwellers and it gave me a few nervous moments!  JW and Glenn both picked up solid wins! The bus was rolling!   

Stuffed Kangaroo

 

Round 2 The Von Trapps

Clash of the Titans early!  I had dished out the smack talk pretty well on twitter so now was time to back it up... To be honest I was pretty confident we had the edge on the VT’s with our lists and I looked to play on them underestimating us (I’m not sure if they did or not!).  The match up’s really went our way –

Ant v Joe Dixon with WOC

JW v Pete’s Ogres

Glenn v Tom Dunn DOC

Me v the Dark Elves of Jack

I think first off as Pete admitted Joe had Ant down as a big win to him, that wasn’t going to happen and we had it as a big win for Ant as his busses out charge Joe’s knights and have massive res.  That allowed me to get Jack’s Dark Elves which I wanted and JW and Glenn to try and limit Pete and Tom picking up points.  It couldn’t have gone better for us really, Glenn holding Tom to an awesome 9-11 and John doing taking his Captain’s orders and stopping Pete picking up big points.  Ant then showed Joe that he is the “gouda master” by setting him up a treat for the 18-2 win.  Jack had I think been thrown under the bus but held me really well early with good play and some luck.. his L4 poking my firebelly to death in the eye springs to mind.. However my mournfang broke his peg rider after he charged and that allowed me to get the short charge into the Black Guard on my terms.  Harmonic Convergence and ice shard later 20 dead in 1 round – rinse and repeat and the next turn 30 spears in a round.  It went South quick for Jack after that and I picked up the 18-2.  Great guy and took it really well. 

Victory!! 50 point win and smack talk backed up We were flying at this point and had picked up 110-120 possible tournament points

To be continued...  

NZTC 3rd Place!

This is just a quick update; the weekend was so epic I am going to do a full break down/report of the event as soon as I get the time.  I first off want to say thanks to the organisers, the event was well run and went to plan.  Thanks to Pete for setting it up and Locky/Ryan as TO’s.  We had six tough but extremely fun rounds so thanks to all of our opponents over the weekend.  It did get intense at times but team warhammer is by far the most enjoyable form of the game I have played, not wanting to let your team down adds a whole new dimension!  My team were legends over the weekend, Ant who didn't drop a game I think, John W and Glenn who sometimes got thrown under the bus but came up with massive wins at key times John W getting a 17-3 and Glenn a 19-1 last round springs to mind.  So as the title suggests… we came 3^rd!!! Given such a tough field I am pumped at the result.  We had a shot at glory as did the other top 4 teams so I am happy.

1^st The Von Trapp’s

2^nd The Nerdymen

3^rd Team NZ Hammered (AKA The D.I.L.F’s)

 

More to follow.  

Mental Toughness… NZTC

So a lot of talk and preparation has gone into NZTC for this weekend.  Lists have been designed, match up’s planned but what it really comes down to is mental toughness… We can moan about dice, about how I failed all my ward saves but it is going to be the team who plays the most mistake free, good warhammer over 6 rounds who will come out on top.    

“Concentration and mental toughness are the margins of victory.”

I’m glad there is no performance enhancing drugs testing in “professional warhammer” as Team NZ Hammered have been on a strict performance training regime… 

Inspired by the great Tony D’Amato this is the inspirational speech I gave to my team pre NZTC

“You find out life's this game of inches, so is football. Because in either game - life or football - the margin for error is so small. I mean, one half a step too late or too early and you don't quite make it. One half second too slow, too fast and you don't quite catch it. The inches we need are everywhere around us. They're in every break of the game, every minute, every second. On this team we fight for that inch. On this team we tear ourselves and everyone else around us to pieces for that inch. We claw with our fingernails for that inch. Because we know when add up all those inches, that's gonna make the f*cking difference between winning and losing! Between living and dying! I'll tell you this, in any fight it's the guy whose willing to die whose gonna win that inch. And I know, if I'm gonna have any life anymore it's because I'm still willing to fight and die for that inch, because that's what living is, the six inches in front of your face. Now I can't make you do it. You've got to look at the guy next to you, look into his eyes. Now I think ya going to see a guy who will go that inch with you. Your gonna see a guy who will sacrifice himself for this team, because he knows when it comes down to it your gonna do the same for him. That's a team, gentlemen, and either, we heal, now, as a team, or we will die as individuals. That's football guys, that's all it is. Now, what are you gonna do?”