November Huzzah RTT SATURDAY!!! November 22nd, 2014 (NOTE IT IS ON SATURDAY)

November Huzzah RTT SATURDAY 22nd, 2014

Hey all I just wanted to get a post out there. This month's RTT will be on SATURDAY November 22. Hopefully this change of day will make it so more people will be able to attend.

Also we're going to change the format up a bit! This event will be HIGHLANDER! The points will still be 1850. The rules for highlander can be located here and a unit clarification list can be found here. The clarification list will tell you what unit counts for what. An example would be that Eldrad counts as a farseer and a Blood Angel Tactical squad is a Space Marine Tactical squad. If you have any question about the format or a unit count as please feel free to ask!

Please arrive between 10am and 10:30. Round 1 will start around 10:45am. No need to sign up though it is preferred. You can call the store at 703-466-0460 or visit their website www.huzzahhobbies.com for location / number. $15 gets you in and we feed you lunch! We have room for about 30 people, so come one come all!

Can't wait to see you there!

Huzzah Hobbies 40k 1850 RTT 10/19

Huzzah Hobbies 40k 1850 points RTT 10/19

This month's Huzzah Hobbies 40k RTT is this weekend!

Please arrive between 10am and 10:30. Round 1 will start around 10:45am. No need to sign up though it is preferred. You can call the store at 703-466-0460 or visit their website www.huzzahhobbies.com for location / number. $15 gets you in and we feed you lunch! We have room for about 30 people, so come one come all!

The next big event is going to be 11th Company, so we're going to go with their setup and that is NOVA Open Format. Mission Packet is located:
http://www.novaopen.com/wp-content/uploads/Final-GT-and-Invitational-Packet.pdf

FAQ:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/13mcnnnPW_nDoAKsWMDOQVnUi3hIizsVrNzppGggzEVs/pub
Please feel free to ask if you have any questions.

Can't wait to see you there!

Huzzah hobbies RTT 9/28

Huzzah Hobbies 40k RTT 9/28

Hey all I just wanted to get a post up and get the word out about this month's Huzzah Hobbies' RTT. So normally its held on the 3rd Sunday of the month, but due to a scheduling conflict it has been pushed back to the 4th Sunday 9/28.

Please arrive between 10am and 10:45. Round 1 will start at 11am. No need to sign up though it is preferred. You can call the store at  703-466-0460 or visit their website www.huzzahhobbies.comfor location / number. We have room for about 30 people, so come one come all!

Since Battle for Salvation is right around the corner we're going to use their format:

Format: NOVA Open: Faqs, List Composition, Win/loss
Missions: 2014 Bay Area Open Mission Pack
Points: 1850

Army Construction:
- You may not select more than 2 total Detachments, and must contain a Primary detachment
- You may not select more than 1 Combined Arms Detachment
- If you do select a Combined Arms Detachment, is must be your Primary detachment
- All Formations, Codices, and Dataslates published by 10/1/2014 are considered legal
- Forgeworld rules will not be legal for 2014
- You may select 0-1 Fortifications from the following: (at this time, no further upgrades to fortifications such as though in Stronghold may be taken)
Aegis Defense Line
Imperial Bastion
Skyshield Landing Platform
Firestorm Redoubt
Vengeance Weapons Battery
- Conjured units are not considered part of an explicit Detachment. As a result, benefits from your Warlord such as Conqueror of Cities and benefits granted by being a part of a given detachment do not apply to Conjured Units. Furthermore, as a RAW clarification, Conjured Models interact with other models as per the Allies Matrix, regardless of the Faction that summoned them.
- Super Heavy/Gargantuan/Escalation Lords of War are not allowed at this time (meaning you can still take Ghaz/Logan and an Imperial Knight, just not a Baneblade). (Subject to change if we get enough people who want these, and if we do change, will likely be using the modified list as per what BAO did)
- An Allied Detachment may be composed of models from the some Faction as your Primary Detachment.

If you have any questions please feel free and ask!

NOVA Open 2014 is behind us now...

Hello,

So I want to start by saying that I absolutely love the NOVA Open. I think the format is pretty spot on, I believe firmly that the FAQ they provide is solid (with a few minor oddities), the terrain is great, the location is nice, and overall it is just a really really great event that I think everyone should attend. Actually other than the 11th Company GT it is by far my favorite event.

Just like most other major GT's the nova has some odd quirks but Mike Brandt and his staff have gone to great lengths to create a fair and fun environment for everyone. If you don't like your games to be so competitive then play in the Narrative! It is a fun campaign event which has a story line that moves forward every year. Each game played actually has an impact on how the story progresses. This event is a fun unique experience and is a must try for anyone planning to attend the NOVA. If you are a truly competitive soul then I can personally recommend the Invitational (you will have to earn a spot though! Check out the nova open website to find out where/when you can earn one) which I have had the honor to participate in two years in a row now. They also have a fast growing Trio's event which hopefully will continue to be available next year as it is a very casual environment that still contains very competitive games.

Lastly of course we have the namesake event, the NOVA Open GT which is a 256 player open brawl. It is made up of 8 games which are used to determine the best of the best on the east coast. The first 4 games are played to determine brackets. Then after each player has been placed in an appropriate bracket using their scores from the first 4 games the event is basically broken up into mini bracket tournaments. Each bracket has a champion determined by win/loss. This system helps to ensure that for at least half of your games you are ideally playing against players of similar skill and army power.

I have to say that I was nervous going into the event this year. With 7th edition having just been dropped on us poor 40k players and the rise of the Imperial Knights...well I will suffice to say I had no idea what to expect as far army composition. I went in expecting to see many Imperial Knights and honestly I saw far less than anticipated. I actually saw significantly more necrons than I expected. I know that Eldar were all over the top bracket but when walking around I felt I saw a fair mix of most armies you would expect to see.

What the NOVA really has going for it is a two part recipe for a great event. Proper terrain and great missions. I heard tons of people complaining about the complicated missions, but I also saw armies that people claim are dead (flying daemon prince based armies and chaos space marines to name a few) winning games because the generals had read/studied the missions beforehand. I agree with the masses, the missions are complex. But this game is complex and with a game like this...we need a more robust mission. The missions that were used allowed for multiple win paths with nearly any army. They are far from perfect, but I think they are going a long way to making this game better. I would challenge anyone who claims the missions are needlessly complex to go play each mission 5-6 times before complaining. Most of the missions are not as hard as you think...they are just different from how Warhammer has traditionally been played.

The other aspect of importance is the terrain. Open tables are a huge problem in 40k. I have been to loads of small and large events where the terrain has just been lacking. I understand how much of an investment terrain can be (both time and money) but it makes a huge difference. If your table lacks terrain the game becomes very one dimensional. A lightly terrain'd table makes for a perfect place for a all shooting gun line army to set up shop. It also makes a great place to use Imperial Knights whose biggest drawback is that they like any other walker are slowed by terrain. But at the NOVA they had very large terrain pieces that often forced a player using Knights to walk through the terrain. It forced players to make choices, take the long way around...or charge through the terrain and risk getting stuck for a few (most likely game changing) turns.

So overall, this years NOVA (my third one!) was another great event. I will definitely be going again next year and I hope to see everyone who reads this there too. Also on the near horizon is the Battle for Salvation GT in New York and the 11th Company GT in South Carolina. I highly recommend both of these events!

-Farseer Tsarith

Another cool update, Team PoweredPlay!

Hey Everyone,


I just wanted to post up that I have been selected to join Team PoweredPlay!
http://poweredplay.net/meet-team-poweredplay/



I am looking forward to all my fellow team members and I am very excited to start lighting up my army with some of their awesome and easy to use lighting kits! Go check them out here: http://poweredplay.net/

Best of luck to my teammates who will be competing this weekend at the Bay Area Open GT!

-Farseer Tsarith

Random thoughts and some army pictures..new warlocks!

Hello,

So I figured I have not posted any newer pictures of my models...So here they are! I have been working on and off to update my warlocks to be..more consistent. The ones I had were a mosh pit of bits that I managed to toss together in my very very poor college days. So a few months ago I ordered the dire avenger swords and shining spear bits to properly build my warlocks. I have just about finished them up, they need to be highlighted and I think I might replace the bikes as well (the ones they are current mounted on are from my salvage bucket) but for the next few events these will do much better than the old poorly converted ones I have been using for the last year or so.

They are all consistent now! (some of the old ones had space marine power swords...)

Just a close up of my Baron Sathonyx model (the free hand was all done by a close friend)

This dude just got some extra highlighting done and I finished magnetizing his arms!

This was the list I was playing last weekend at the Huzzah Hobbies RTT.

In other news I was noodling on Imperial Knights and I am quite convinced that they will probably be out in force at the NOVA Open this year. I heard from my friends who went to the ATC that they were ALL OVER THE PLACE down there. And with the new formation (its in the Red Waaagh campaign book) I expect them to do very very well. The gist of that formation is that it is composed of 3 Imperial Knights and as long as they are within 3 inches of another one of those knights they can re-roll their invulnerable save and a few other things. Even without that formation though they are quite good. I was play testing some beastpack lists the other day (after my success at Adepticon I thought it was worth seeing how they do in 7th edition) but sadly those Imperial Knights can just trollololol all over the little doggies. I think beastpacks can still be made to work in 7th but at the moment I am leaning away from playing them. 

I had another list thought after some discussion with some friends at the RTT and I am noodling on the idea of just saying screw everything and just allying with myself (the NOVA Open is allowing you to ally with your own codex rather than use multiple CAD's) and playing Baharroth instead of using the Baron. The reason I do like this idea is that Baharroth will make a better tank for wounds most of the time and he is an Eternal warrior and still has hit and run.

My main concerns with that list is that it looks roughly like this:

Eldar CAD:

Farseer on bike

Farseer on bike

8 warlocks on bikes

4x3 wind rider squads

3x wraith knights

Allied Eldar:

Baharroth

1x3 wind rider squad

This list has 1 less objective secured unit but the one I dropped is the walking warrior squad which was sort of a liability in most cases anyway. I will need to noodle on this more but I do like the idea of using this instead of the Baron. Actually the cool thing is that all the points to get Baharroth come from dropping the dark eldar detachment and the shard of anaris which is no longer needed as Baharroth is fearless. I could still take some swooping hawks instead of the third wraithknight but I really like the idea of just having a bunch of big smashy toughness 8 monsters running around. In any case I still have a little over a month to noodle on this!

-Farseer Tsarith

Huzzah Hobbies RTT Recap! 7/20/2014

Hello,

So today was the monthly Huzzah Hobbies RTT! We had some good attendance with some Torrent of Fire top 50 players: http://www.torrentoffire.com/rankings

Eric Hoerger, Werner Born, Joe Harmon (Smurfalypse for those who know him by his infamous screen name) Phil Rodokanakis, and Brad Voorhees to name most of them.

Anyway...this was a pretty good NOVA Open prep event. We used 3 of the new primer missions which can be viewed in entirety here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XJ20WB96DzRE635aokDX3XbhOHzw4Xt0UobUZ5j56JM/pub

(I am not going to explain the missions in depth, so if you want to understand the missions completely click on the link above this and go read them!)

I brought my current running 7th edition list:
Farseer on bike (warlord)
Farseer on bike with Shard of Anaris
8x warlocks on bikes
5x3 windrider bike squads
3x wraithknights

Baron sathonyx
1x5 warriors

Round 1:

We did primer mission 1 (Blitz and the Maginot)

Round 1 I played vs a daemon player named Andrew Main. He has a wonky looking army which is mostly composed of large floating sea creatures which are all counts as. It is interesting and he makes everything very clear on what it is.

His list:

herald of khorne
2x10 daemonettes
1x11 pink horrors
15 flesh hounds
9 screamers
2x torrent slaanesh soul grinders

csm allies:
tzeentch lord on disc with daemonheart and other goodies
1x5 cs marines in a rhino
3x nurgle oblits

I chose to do end of game objectives and my opponent took turn by turn. I took first blood, slay the warlord, and marked for death (I marked his warlord, the khorne herald)
Powers wise:
fortune, executioner, doom, guide
terrify, shrouding, prescience

Turn 1:

I won the roll off and set up first. I deployed pretty evenly across the board, my opponent cornered up most of his army. I then promtly made my opponent go first.

Him:
He moves most of dogs and screamers up the left flank and ends up pretty much doing nothing of consequence this turn.

Me:
I cast fortune on my council, prescience a wraithknight, and guide another. My knights shoot some pot shots and kill a dog, a screamer, and a pink horror.

Turn 2:
Him:
He scores 1 point this turn for holding 2 objectives to my 3. A soul grinder and some daemonettes deep strike. He moves his dogs up toward me more but still kind of hangs back. His Tzeentch lord jumps over a ruin and comes solo toward my wraithknight and the screamers move up to support the charge. He fails both charges and his turn ends.

Me:
I cast my powers, they all go off. My wraithknight near the tzeentch lord jumps away and heads toward those screamers. My seer council moves up, shoots, and kills the tzeentch lord. My wraithknight charges and kills most of the screamers (i think 2-3 are left)

Turn 3:
Him:
He charges a wraithknight with the dogs and the herald instant deaths him with a cool axe of khorne. The other soul grinder and daemonettes drop in on my right flank where I have a spare wraithknight and some jetbikes all hanging out. He also scored 1 more point this turn (again 3-3 objectives)

Me:
My council casts all its powers and the end result is everything except fortune failed this turn. I then charged into the khorne dogs and have a wraithknight charge the rear armor of the soul grinder who deep struck on turn 2. I kill like...8-9 dogs with shooting and charging and kill the soul grinder with my wraithknight. However on the right side wraithknight number 3 fails to kill the soul grinder.

Turn 4:
Him: He putters around again for the turn with little to do since most of his army is in combat. (This turn he scores 3 points >.< he holds 3 objectives to my 1) We go into combat...I kill the rest of the dogs and some daemoettes.

Me: I finish off the herald earning the last of my secondaries and then proceed to start sending my council into his back field to deal with his remaining obliterators and marines.

Turn 5:
Him: He earns 1 point, shoots me...and the soul grinder on the right kills off my spare knight >.<

Me: I kill the obliterators...i position with jetbikes to hold 4 objectives if the game ends.

Turn 6:
Him: He moves around and tries to some damage..he cant seem to finish off any units (including a single kabbalite warrior who survives the soul grinder bale flamer!)

The warrior who lived!

Me: I kill off his 5 csm's and then the game ends.

I win 14-10!

Game 2:
This mission was the Heart and Homes mission (relic or turn by turn corner objectives)
 I played vs Lance who was playing an eldar/dark eldar army (mirror match!) not really..he had:

His list:
Eldrad
Spirit seer

7x fire dragons in a serpent
8x banshees in a serpent
2x3 windrider bikes
2x6 warp spiders
baron sathonyx
1x3 trueborn in a venom
1x8 wyches in a raider
beast pack w/ 4 masters, 10 kyhmerae, 4 razorwings

We both had pretty terrible powers, no fortunes and no protects is the highlight, but I did get 3 destructors which probably won me the game tbh.

I won the roll to go first and deployed across the my vanguard line, hiding my council behind the large center ruin. Lance deployed pretty much right across from me. I chose to go first.

Turn 1:
Me: I moved my knights forward and grabbed the relic turn 1. I went cheesy and used an eldritch storm on his clumped up models and targeted his warp spiders..then i scattered onto his beast pack and killed 5-6 of
the dogs.

One of those boys is gonna die!

Him: He killed a wraithknight for first blood with his beast pack but left himself standing mid table.

Turn 2:
Me: I moved my council up, grabbed the relic again and charged and wiped most of his beast pack (baron and the spirit seer lived) but one of my wraithknights punked eldrad. I also renewed 3 wounds back on a wraithknight that was near dead. He hit and ran away to go kill my windrider bikes.

Him: He tried to finish of a wraithknight but failed then he charged my bikes and didnt kill any so we drew combat.

Turn 3:
Me: I killed off his 2 serpents and their contents this turn and otherwise just puttered my troops around and sat on the relic.

Him: He used his "beast pack" to kill some more of my troops but otherwise just moved stuff around.

Turn 4:
Me: I again killed a few more remaining things but otherwise not much changed.

Him: He killed another bike squad and then the game ended.

his baroness killing my bikes on the left..my council holding the center!

9-4 win for me I think (he might have had 6 points)



Game 3:
I played vs Eric Hoerger who was running something close or possibly the same as his ATC list:

GK
coteaz
inquisitor w/ psyker, psycotroke, 3x servo skulls
4x3 henchmen in razorbacks w/ psybolt ammo (psyker and 2x acolytes i think)
2x dreadnoughts w/ double autocannon and psybolt

Guard allies:
yarrick
primaris psyker
2x priest
2x50 guard  blob w/ 5 las cannons each

This game was pretty quick. I got all the powers (fortune, 3 protects) and I won the roll to go deploy first so I did...then I went first. Eric infiltrated a blob due to his warlord trait and deployed a bit further up. He seperated his blobs though which ended poorly. The mission was quarter control, eric chose end of game quarters I chose to drop control tokens.

Turn 1:
Me: I shuffle around, cast powers, and fail to kill a dreadnought with my knights.

Him: he moves his blobs around a bit, shoots 10 las cannons as a wraithknight and doesn't kill it. (A note he probably would have, but I blocked his ignore cover power and then I made probably 2-3 3+ cover saves)

Turn 2:
Me: 4 of my jetbike squads come in I bring them in behind his infiltrated blob and shoot the piss out of his back end. I end up killed something like 15 guardsmen including the priest. My council moves up to charge that blob and finish it off. My wraithknights shuffle around and hold the center line. My council kills most of the blob in combat.

Him: Eric kills a knight and my council kills the blob down to yarrick, the inquisitor and 2 guardsmen. I hit and run away toward the other blob.

Turn 3:
Me: I fail fortune but it doesnt matter...I shoot and charge the other blob with my council and kill something like 25-30 guardsmen between the shots and the charge. Eric swings back and doesnt kill anyone.

At this point I have killed probably over half of his army and in return I lost a wraithknight. Eric asks if we can call the game so he can head on home, I say sure so we end the game here with a 15-0 win for me.

I ended up winning the whole shebang by 1 point over Joe Harmon who also went undefeated with a 3-0 record today. It was another great RTT run by James Watkins (Birdux). Check out his blog over at birdux.blogspot.com!

Thanks for reading guys!

-Farseer Tsarith