40K in 40 Minutes on July 4th

Come out and play Warhammer 40K in 40 Minutes on July 4th at HobbyTown USA in Reading!

We will be playing the small game rules in the War for False Hope Campaign book (click here to download). The only difference is that we will not be using system bonuses and the “all painted army” tie-breaker rule will be ignored.

If you are registered for the campaign and you want the results to count toward your campaign standings then email the game results and system won/lost to berkswarhammer40k@hotmail.com. Both you and your opponent must agree for the results to count for the campaign.

If you are not registered for the campaign, then what are you waiting for? Click here to find out how to register for the campaign.

The Brian Tactica

Brian's Grey Knights

First of all, I want to thank Brian for a great game today. We played a 1500 point campaign game with two systems at stake. He totally won with his Grey Knights.

Brian is the one to beat in this campaign. So far his record is 4-0-1. It's not that he plays the greatest army or has an extremely aggressive list. He's simply that good.

So, with that in mind, I decided to write a little "Brian Tactica" to help us finally beat him.

1 - Brian does not make any tactical mistakes in a game. If he does, he turns it into such an advantage that it doesn't matter anyway.

2 - Brian... does... not... make... any... tactical... mistakes. Get it?

3 - Do not expect Brian to make a tactical mistake. By this I mean if you expect him to play a certain way (assaulty, shooty, whatever), forget it. He plays to win whatever the objective is. I've seen him play assaulty, shooty, and even wimpy, but he always achieves the objective.

4 - Ignore the biggest target and kill everything else he's killing you with. You're not going to be able to destroy the biggest target anyway.

5 - Just forget about killing him. They are Grey Knight. They don't die. (same could be said about those Emperor-forsaken Plague Marines). Do what you need to do to achieve your objective and just take the beating he's going to give you.

6 - Don't try to cheat or rules-lawyer him. He's a political science major who plans on a career in law and has memorized the rulebook, all of the charts, and your codex. Games Workshop contacts him when they have a question about the rules.

7 - If you have line of sight that means Brian has line of sight. In other words, you will die. Grey Knights can reach halfway across the board and shoot while running, urinating, and smoking crack. Avoid line of sight.

8 - If you have a 1500 point army and Brian has a 1500 point army, Brian has a bigger army than you.

9 - Brian's reserves come in exactly when he wants them to. The dice are too scared of getting assaulted if they don't produce the reserves role that Brian expects.

10 - There is a way to determine if you will win a game against Brian before anyone deploys. Roll 1D6. On a roll of anything less than 7 you will lose the game.

The most important thing to remember - after you lost the game ask Brian what you did wrong. Then listen to him. It will hurt and you won't agree with him, but listen anyway.

So, Brian, remember that when I'm fielding six Chimeras and nine Valkyries. It's your fault.

Game's on, folks. Someone better beat Brian before he takes the whole damn sector single-handedly.

Campaign Update - 6/11/2009

The War for False Hope

Thursday, June 11, 2009
The Second Battle for Solus Grimm
The combined Hambali 501st forces from Werins and Entrilles Prime attack the Inquisitorial Expedition Force Arrakia on Solus Grimm. The Deamonhunters destroyed the Guard forces, then captured the undefended systems.

Click here for pictures of the games played.

Armies registered for the campaign:
1st Company Tyrannic War Vets
Inquisitorial Expedition Force Arrakia
Hambali 501st Regiment
Hive Fleet Leviathan
Lunar Fangs
Pestilence of Depsair
Sword Angels

Follow the links above to see each army. The army pages will be updated with each battle.

To see an overview of each army (wins, loses, ties), follow this link:
http://berkswarhammer40k.webs.com/Army%20Status.htm

To see the status of all the systems in the Lost Hope sector, follow this link:
http://berkswarhammer40k.webs.com/World%20Status.htm

REMEMBER: Register your games by sending an email to berkswarhammer40k@hotmail.com. If you don't register the game, it will not count towards the campaign.

If you need to download the rules, click here:




Previous Battles
Saturday, June 6, 2009
The Battle for Uthendia
The 1st Company Tyrannic War Vets were defeated as the Inquisitorial Expedition Force Arrakia raided and took control of the Uthendia system.

Saturday, June 6, 2009
The Battle for Jarata
After being routed from Uthendia, the 1st Company Tyrannic War Vets were reinforced by veterans from the Entrilles Prime system attacked the Hambali 501st Regiment in the Jarata system. The Jokers repelled the attack, then went on to occupy the Entrilles system.

Saturday, June 6, 2009
The Battle for Pershing II
After taking control of the Uthendia system, the Inquisitorial Expedition Force Arrakia attacked and defeated the Lunar Fangs at Pershing II.

Thursday, June 4, 2009
The Battle for Asoria
The Lunar Fangs defeated the Sword Angels in the Asoria system.

Wednesday, May 27th
The Battle for Lyseria
The Hambali 501st Regiment attacked Inquisitorial Expedition Force Arrakia in the Lyseria system. After the Deamonhunters beat the Guard regiment, they took the opportunity to claim the unoccupied Sebastion's Strait.

Saturday, May 23rd
The Battle for Sebastion's Strait
The Pestilence of Depsair attacked the Hambali 501st Regiment in the Sebastion's Strait system. Both sides took heavy losses before the Plague Marines withdrew from the battlefield.

Saturday, May 23rd
The Battle for Havaria
It wasn't known that there were Tyranids in the False Hope sector until Hive Fleet Leviathan attacked the 1st Company Tyrannic War Vets in the Havarian system. The Space Marines were caught off-foot and the Tyranids took the system.

Friday, May 22nd
The Battle for Solus Grimm
The 1st Company Tyrannic War Vets attacked the Grey Knights from the Inquisitorial Expedition Force Arrakia in the system Solus Grimm. After a fierce fight, the battle was a tie and the Tyrannic War Vets made a tactical withdrawal.

Campaign Update - 6/6/2009

Saturday, June 6, 2009

The Battle for Uthendia

The Battle for Uthendia
The 1st Company Tyrannic War Vets were defeated as the Inquisitorial Expedition Force Arrakia raided and took control of the Uthendia system.

The Battle for Jarata

The Battle for Jarata
After being routed from Uthendia, the 1st Company Tyrannic War Vets were reinforced by veterans from the Entrilles Prime system attacked the Hambali 501st Regiment in the Jarata system. The Jokers repelled the attack, then went on to occupy the Entrilles system.

The Battle for Pershing II

The Battle for Pershing II
After taking control of the Uthendia system, the Inquisitorial Expedition Force Arrakia attacked and defeated the Lunar Fangs at Pershing II.

Click here for campaign pictures.

Armies registered for the campaign:
1st Company Tyrannic War Vets
Inquisitorial Expedition Force Arrakia
Hambali 501st Regiment
Hive Fleet Leviathan
Lunar Fangs
Pestilence of Depsair
Sword Angels

Follow the links above to see each army. The army pages will be updated with each battle.

To see an overview of each army (wins, loses, ties), follow this link:
http://berkswarhammer40k.webs.com/Army%20Status.htm

To see the status of all the systems in the Lost Hope sector, follow this link:
http://berkswarhammer40k.webs.com/World%20Status.htm

REMEMBER: Register your games by sending an email to berkswarhammer40k@hotmail.com. If you don't register the game, it will not count towards the campaign.

If you need to download the rules, click here:

The Top Hatch

For all of those IG players out there, I want you to take your Holy IG Codex, turn to page 39, and read the section under Fire Points.

This ain't your daddy's Chimera.

Those little flashlights sticking out the side don't mean a hill of beans anymore. Now you can have five models shooting from the top hatch. That means you now have a full field of fire with any of you squad's weapons.

Let's think about this for a couple of minutes. If you take a vet squad, give them three plasma rifles, and stuff them in your standard multi-laser/heavy-bolter Chimera, you've got yourself some drive-by fun for 170 points.

In smaller games you would own the board with an army of these puppies since most players don't bring significant anti-armor units until 1500 points.

If you keep them still, you will have three S7, three S6, three S5 and two S3 shots at anything within 24". You get that fire-power for the price of a Space Marine squad but hidden within armor.

Just don't forget the golden rule of mechanized armies: don't get out of the vehicle!

Campaign Update - 6/4/2009

June 4, 2009
The Battle for Asoria
The Lunar Fangs defeated the Sword Angels in the Asoria system.

Armies registered for the campaign:
1st Company Tyrannic War Vets
Inquisitorial Expedition Force Arrakia
Hambali 501st Regiment
Hive Fleet Leviathan
Lunar Fangs
Pestilence of Depsair
Sword Angels

Follow the links above to see each army. The army pages will be updated with each battle.

To see an overview of each army (wins, loses, ties), follow this link:
http://berkswarhammer40k.webs.com/Army%20Status.htm

To see the status of all the systems in the Lost Hope sector, follow this link:
http://berkswarhammer40k.webs.com/World%20Status.htm

REMEMBER: Register your games by sending an email to berkswarhammer40k@hotmail.com. If you don't register the game, it will not count towards the campaign.

If you need to download the rules, click here:

Weathering a Leman Russ

This is my first actual attempt at weathering. If anything else I've done looks like it is weathered, it was purely by accident.

After painting the basic colors I used the Games Workshop black wash over the entire model. I've seen people wince when I tell them that I do that to all my vehicles. But to get the worn look and shadows I like, it's just plain easier to wash the whole darn thing.

The trick is to use so much wash that you're just moving puddles around. That way you don't leave brush marks. When you move the wash around, always streak it downward.

For the end of the gun barrel I added about six layers of wash. Surpisingly, in the picture you can still see green. When looking at it in normal light it looks like it has about four inches of carbon build-up.

When the wash finally dried, I dry-brushed the entire model with Graveyard Earth. Then around the areas where mud would splash up, I dry-brushed with a tank brush. This added the streak look.

I have learned that fear, above all else, will prevent someone from weathering their models. You really can't screw it up - it's suppose to look like it's been drug through the mud!

Planetary Empires

Click for larger image

This is the ad in June's White Dwarf. It doesn't have a release date though.

Ride of the Valkyries

Here is an Imperial Guard dream list. It comes in at 1,980 points, which gives 20 points for extras. The objective of this list is to keep your opponent guessing which target to shoot at.

Company Command Squad

2 Platoons each having:

1 Command Squad w/ autocannon

2 Infantry Squads w/ autocannons

2 Heavy Weapon Squads w/ Missile Launchers

2 Valkyrie Squadrons each having:

3 Valkyries w/ multiple rocket pods

Heavy Support Squadron having:

1 Leman Russ Executioner w/Lascannon and plasma sponsons

1 Leman Russ Battle Tank w/ Lascannon

Company Commands squad sits in the back giving orders to the 4 missile launcher squads. They will take out ALL of your opponent's armor in a single turn with the "Bring it Down" orders.

Each Valkyrie squadron has one platoon command squad and two infantry squads

The Executioner gives 5 plasma blast templates - it's a unit killer. The attached Leman Russ is there to soak up the hits (see squadron hit allocation rules). If you hide the LR behind cover, you'll also get a cover save!

Keep the Valkyries moving and you will be able to deploy six troop choices in your opponent's deployment zone by the second turn.

If you play this list you will need to bring a CD player and crank "Ride of the Valkyries" during your movement phase.

Let me know if you think six Valkyries is a "power list" or a "fluff list".