Re-evaluation?

So after a pretty one sided loss to The Boy's Tau, and finally a tie with Illhan's Imperial Guard, I've made some changes to a list I think will really keep an opponent on their toes.

I was a list like this with variation in model counts.
Rune Priest w/ CotS
9x Greyhunters w/ PW, Melta, WS, Rhino
9x Greyhunters w/ PW, Melta, WS, Rhino
9x Greyhunters w/ PW, Melta, WS, Rhino
8x Greyhunters w/ Melta, WS, Rhino
5x Wolf Guard w/ CM+PF
Wolf Scouts w/ Melta
6x Long Fags w/ 5x ML
6x Long Fags w/ 5x ML
6x Long Fags w/ 5x ML
2x Thunderwolf Cavalry w/ SS, FW

On 5/21 I tried out this:
Rune Priest w/ CotS
9x Greyhunters w/ PW, Melta, WS, Rhino
9x Greyhunters w/ PW, Melta, WS, Rhino
9x Greyhunters w/ PW, Melta, WS, Rhino
8x Greyhunters w/ Melta, WS, Rhino
5x Wolf Guard w/ CM+PF
Wolf Scouts w/ Melta
6x Long Fags w/ 5x ML
6x Long Fags w/ 5x ML
6x Long Fags w/ 5x ML
Landspeeder w/ MM, HF
Landspeeder w/ MM, HF

The Landspeeders drew a tonne of fire from Chimeras, Vendettas, Crisis Suits, Railguns, and more. This let my Grey Hunter squads live a bit longer, however, which allowed for a tie in a Capture and Control mission against Imperial Guard, Against the Tau however, I managed to roll terribly and my Rhinos were stun locked for the first two turns. I lost 6-4 in an Annihilation mission against The Boy, and rolled more ones than I have ever since I started playing.

So, I figured a little more target saturation with extra Land Speeders and Scouts will help against the more static heavy weapons of the Tau and Imperial Guard. So I whipped this up.

Rune Priest w/ CotS, LL, MH
8x Grey Hunters w/ MotW, Melta, WS, Rhino
9x Grey Hunters w/ MotW, Melta, WS, Rhino
9x Grey Hunters w/ MotW, Melta, WS, Rhino
5x Grey Hunters w/ Flamer, Razorback w/ TL-HB
5x Wolf Guard w/ CM+PF
5x Wolf Scouts w/ Melta
5x Wolf Scouts w/ Melta
5x Long Fags w/ 4x Missile Launchers
5x Long Fags w/ 4x Missile Launchers
5x Long Fags w/ 4x Missile Launchers
Land Speeder w/ MM, HF
Land Speeder w/ MM, HF
Land Speeder w/ MM, HF

My dependance on the Long Fags really hurt me in most of my games. If they don't perform well, my game plan goes to the shitter. Considering how terribly I roll, the only portion of my army I can consistently count on is my Grey Hunters in close combat when I pop the Wolf Standard. The Long Fangs can attempt to open light vehicles, while my Scouts will help against static heavy weapons - Leman Russ, Hydras, Hammerheads, Broadsides, etc. The Land Speeders can also help against heavy vehicles from a bit more range, and take care of massed infantry - such as Tyranids. I can also Deep Strike the Land Speeders in strategic positions - objects, behind enemy vehicles, near massed infantry, or near Long Fangs for extra protection.

The Grey Hunters move together as a sort of hammer/anvil combo, allowing for counter charges or trapping dangerous weapons (Plasma/Melta) that opponents may be packing. The Grey Hunters in the Razorback will sit on objectives or protect the Long Fangs from the faster elements of, for example, the Tyranids.

The Rune Priest rides with one of the Grey Hunter squads, adding a little extra punch to the unit and giving them some protection with Muderous Hurricane.

One thing I learned from both games is that the Grey Hunters cannot sit back at all. I need to be more aggressive with them as they will eat most other troops alive in close combat - particularly IG Vets, Fire Warriors, and Gants/Gaunts.

I think making my army more mobile, or less predictable for the opponent (Scouts) will really help out with how terrible I am when it comes to making armour saves. I can somewhat control my opponents movements, as the two scouts threaten everything close to a table edge, and the Land Speeders will threaten anything out in the open. Long Fangs will help to reduce an opponents speed if they can stop transports, and put a little hurt on heavy weapons platforms. Over all, I think I put together a pretty solid list that can perform well against most other armies.

What I will be toying with, as well, will be what powers to take on the Rune Priest. Jaws really hurts Tyranid Montrous Creatures and low Initiative models. Living Lightning gives me mobile anti-transport capabilities from long range and can hurt high Toughness models. Storm Caller will give a little bit of protection for my vehicles and Grey Hunters outside of transports.  Murderous Hurricane will really help me out, as it forces difficult and dangerous terrain tests, slowing down enemy units and possibly putting some hurt on them, banking on bad rolls.

So we'll see how well the list performs and I'll make changes accordinly. Lol.

GW reams the rest of the world!

So a recent average price increase of 22% and cutting off sales from UK-based retailers to countries outside of the European Union might have ruined one of my favourite hobbies. I was in the middle of building a Grey Knight army, and I was planning on getting a bunch of vehicles and Dreadnoughts to accompany the infantry I already pre-ordered. The best source for models, being from Canada, was Maelstrom Games. Now I can't buy GW products from them starting May 31st.

Now I'm forced to buy from the States, get raped by shipping, and throwing price increases on top. It sounds like my Grey Knights might be put on hold indefinitely.

I wish GW would adopt sales policies similar to Privateer Press' - get as much out to customers as possible with little hassle and butt fuckery. This is especially unfortunate as The Boy and two of our gaming buddies were looking to start new armies. It might be time to introduce Warmahordes to the gents and play like we have a pair.

This will probably change GW store atmospheres, as more product will need to leave if the store if sales do start dropping because of price increases and cutting of UK sales. This blows, as I really like the staff at my local GW and to have it feel like I'm constantly being pressured to buy shit will make my visits even more infrequent.

Looks like I'm going to start up my Retribution army again.

Some Photos from 4/30

Just a couple of photos from a game against The Boy two weeks ago. Unfortunately for his Space Sushi, I pretty much tabled him. It was a Spearhead deployment and a capture and control mission. Normally The Boy will beat my Wolves in objective based missions because of his skimmer fish, but not this time.  We learned that Spearhead just bones him because of how much closer I am to his army, even if he castles in the back. 1750 points, I took pretty much my regular list, which I'll eventually post up here. Enjoy the photos!

My literal spearhead deployment. Four rhinos packing Grey Hunters getting ready for some sushi.

A clearer photo of Illhan of Illhanicus photobombing my Wolves. And Taylor's torso.

The Boy making a scout move. Sweet terrain bro.

Another shot showing off my Wolves' objective marker and my 'Fenris outpost' terrain.

Sweet Wolves bro. Lascannon Long Fangs standing in for missile launchers.

Kevin made the greatest roll of all time that day.

First.

Welcome to The Burger Bots, a wargaming blog focused on the exploits of myself - Jawn - and my gaming group - basically a bunch of dudes who do a bunch of things?

I'll mostly be concentrating on Warhammer 40k, as this is our current focus amongst my group. However, bits and pieces of Warmachine, Hordes, and Warhammer Fantasy will also make their way into the greatest blog on earth (this one).

To sort of kick things off, I'll explain how I fell into this deep pit of nerdatry. Like most wayward youth, I was introduced to trading card games. This first one I ever saw played was Wildstorms when I was a wee tot. After that, I got into Magic: The Gathering quite heavily. Following Magic, of course, was Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh, like most kids my age at the time. The World of Warcraft card game had also taken up my time considerably as well. I dabbled in Dungeons and Dragons but never really go into it, having little to no people to play with

Around 2001, after getting in and out of Pokemon, I was gifted the Warhammer 40k 3rd edition starter set for Christmas. I assembled a small force of Blood Angels who consistently faced my younger brother, Nick - also known as The Boy - until his Talos tabled my army some how. We got into Fantasy slightly afterwards, myself playing Warriors of Chaos - later Orcs and Goblins - and The Boy choosing the nancy-boy High Elves. I drifted in and out of the hobby after, having discovered girls and mostly played carg games and video games.

Nearing the end of high school, I got back into 40k - during the end of 4th edition - after finding out my best friend was collecting a Necron army. Funny thing is, I knew the guy for five years at this point and we never discussed 40k until the end of high school. Hah.

I sold of my remaining Blood Angels force and started a Chaos Space Marines army in the flavour of Khorne (see what I did there?). The Boy decided to get back into 40k with us and picked up a Tau army. Again, I drifted in and out of the hobby for a few years until 2009. The Boy, my BFF, and I got back into 40k hard again and I decided to start a new army. The choice came down to:

1. Space Wolves
2. Daemonhunters
3. Eldar
4. Orks
5. Tyranid
6. Some sort of Space Marine Chapter

I did the most logical thing and rolled a D6. Such is my penchant for rolling ones, I started a Space Wolves army. Since then, I've amassed a 7000 point army, a 2000 point Eldar army, handfuls of orks, essentially assimilated my friends Necron army into my collection, and I've started slowly collecting a Grey Knights army since the new release. Through out the two years since getting back into 40k, I've also started playing Warmachine and Hordes - as well as desparately trying to get my ladyfriend to play Warmahordes. I picked up a Cygnar starter set for her, and I've put together a small Menoth army, as well as a slowly expanding Retribution army.

Within the past two months, The Boy and I have gotten together with a few other guys to nerd out with - namely Illhan of the USS Illhanicus (resident IG and now BT player) Taylor (Bug Catcher, lol) and Kevin (Filthy Necrons). Included of course are myself, Jawn (every other army), and The Boy (Tau). Now every weekend we try to get together for wine and cheese tastings, sock collection comparisons, stamp trading, lubed up homoeroticism, and a little bit of 40k. I plan to one day force all of them to play Warmachine or Hordes, as its just the bee's knees.

That's the long and short of my dissension into the realm of nerditude. Hope you enjoy the blog and nudes will be available. Tee hee.