Only a half dozen weeks to go and the league is done. Really it was far too big but for the most part it is nice to see the club being active and used.  The victor at this stage still looks like Jon to me but there are friendly bets floating around that it may be Jason or Ashleigh. I feel bad for Brian though as he never has the best of luck and this league hasn't done him any favours.

Once the league ends we can have some friendlies and just chill with fun games. I'm hoping to turn a few of the old Warhammer Fantasy players over to Age of Sigmar before I start a league for that next year.

League Update

The league is slowly progressing towards it's end with just another month and a bit to go. Unfortunately since I last posted about it we have had a couple more players drop out for various reasons. Disappointing but understandable. We have also had some problems with one player who may or may not be cheating which is frustrating. Next time definitely going to have to cherry pick who plays next time to avoid these issues.

My money is still on Jon winning but Jason and Mark both have a chance. I really want Jon to win though. He has worked hard to achieve it and it would be cool to see Necrons win again.

League Update

The league continues and still no one can stop Jon's necron advance to the first place. With only four games left to go for him I cannot see anyone getting close but we shall play on and enjoy the league. It is pleasing to see how some players who in the past didn't do so well are actually getting some good positions on the leader board.

On a side note when this league wraps up we will be having a good break from organised play for some friendlies but come spring next year I am pondering running a small Age of Sigmar league if there is enough interest. If not, I might do a tile based campaign instead for 40K.

League Update

It has been a couple weeks since my last posting and the league still rumbles along nicely. On our club Facebook page I have posted all the remaining dates so we can work around the summer and holidays. This goes on till September! Next time I think it will have to ensure that the league is smaller somehow.

As we currently stand Jon is still very much in first place, and it just remains to be seen who steals second and third place. For now I think Ashleigh with his Astra Militarum will take second but third is too close to call, and you never know what fate might have in store for the other players.

Update... sort of

It's been a while since I've been able to sit down and do some painting for my Death Guard army so I am glad that this week I was able to sit down one evening with Joel Tate and have a painting night. Managed to complete my first twenty man squad of Plague Marines. Going to work on some Plaguebearer allies before I attempt the next twenty man squad.

I'm pleased with how they have come out but I think it is going to be a while before I have enough built and painted to play them.

--

The big old 40K league is going along still. Finalized the games and it wraps up at the start of October! The problem is we have so many players who want to partake but we just don't have the room. I don't want to be an arse in future and limit who can play. I'm afraid that I would show signs of favouritism. We shall have to see.

In the mean time one player, Adam Winstanley, has dropped out. He said that it was due to a conflict of things he also does on a Thursday evening but I've also been told he was getting bored of not winning any games. As much as I hate it when players drop out it is a fair point if you aren't enjoying it and it does help speed up the league end a little. The only problem now is players going on holiday, having evening work and the like. As much as I understand, it is driving me around the twist having to constantly update and change weeks that games are organised on. And take a deep breath. :-)

As you can see Jon Quinn is still storming ahead with his Necron army. Out of the players he has left to face I really don't think any have the ability to steal that top spot from him.

2015 League round 12

Week 12 of brutal combat among the stars! Only two games this week as one player forgot he had a game. Both players are currently discussing whether to call it a win for the player who remembered or whether to replay it at a later date. I think it will be replayed for fairness.


Game 1.
Mark Thomas vs Ashleigh Granger.
World Eaters vs Astra Militarum in this game. In my mind this was always going to be Ashleigh's game and I was right. I didn't see much of the game but I figured with his experience Ashleigh would have the upper hand and I doubt Mark was prepared for a decent mechanized army. Victory to the Imperium.

Game 2.
Michael Parker vs Joel Tate.
Now this game was a shocker. Michael is a playing a Horus Heresy World Eaters list which hasn't done him very well so far while Joel's chaos daemons list had been doing so very well lately. In a strange twist of fate Michael actually built a list that won him the game, although against daemons I'm not sure how. Victory to the World Eaters.

The scores now look like this:

2015 League round 11

After another week of savage conflict the forces of Chaos have had a very strong time of it.

Game 1.
Dan Durham vs Mike Parker.
Two Horus Heresy lists clash at last. Danny's Night Lords took Mike's World Eaters apart so quickly I didn't even get chance to see this game. I'm waiting for the Dan vs Jon game as that should be one worth watching.

Game 2.
Simon Butler vs Mark Thomas.
I had high hopes that the Grey Knights would secure a good strong victory against Mark's foul World Eaters and Daemons army. It looked like a good close game throughout but Mark snatched it away through victory points from his objectives. After the fact it may be that Mark made some mistakes which we shall have to watch but he had won whatever happened.

Game 3.
Jason Locking vs Adam Townsend.
Jason's Black Legion (generic chaos marines really) took on the Blood Angels this week and secured a solid victory. Adam had quite a nice list and he put up a tough fight but by looks of it the dice and the tactics were heavily in Jason's favour. Adam T is certainly improving in his game though.

2015 League round 10

Another week of brutal warfare has come before us and I've remembered to post this. We have had some good games but with very predictable results.

Game 1

Ashleigh Granger Vs Elliot Hall.

I hate to say it but this game was over before either player set up. Not sure how many games Elliot has had before this but this week he was up against an experienced player with a very good Astra Militarum force that just surrounded Elliot's Farsight Enclave army and turned them into a very large smoking crater. At least Elliot enjoyed it and that is the point.

Game 2.

Brian White vs Jon Quinn.

Another foregone conclusion. Brian like myself enjoys basic fun and casual lists that don't do well when the opponent is actually trying. Although he was never going to beat Jon's Necron army I do feel that he could have tried a little harder. I didn't see the final round of the game but I believe Brian's Tyranids surrendered turn 3 or 4.

Game 3.

Benjo Gray vs Richard McManus.

I had high hopes for my nephew in this game but it was not to be. He had brought a list designed to deal with one sort of list and Richard played something entirely different. I don't think it helped that Richard took Eldar allies from the new Craftworld codex which prevented the Blood Angels from overwatching as they assaulted. Harsh but now everyone else will be prepared for it.

So the scores now look like this:

League Update

Sorry for the lack of updates over the last month. Been busy with some full time work experience and it has left me with little time on an evening to do everything but since Jon Q has given me kick up the backside I'll endeavour to fit everything in as of this coming week. But for now, at the culmination of week 9 here are the scores.

As you can see Jon Q is still very much in the league and I doubt anyone will catch him up now, although never say never. The top spaces have had a little shift around since last time both Simon and Jason being able to claim some victories.

2015 League Round 5

Round 5 was played last week. Apologies for forgetting to post this. We only had two games played last week as we had a last minute drop out (to be rearranged). But what we did have were a pair of good games.

Game 1.
Joel Tate vs Jon Quinn.
This game is probably the ultimate decider for the league as these are the top twinky players. Joel was concerned that daemons did not have anything that could handle monoliths and other necron vehicles so he took dark eldar allies which ultimately didn't appear to do him any good. Jon had all the luck with his dice and Joel didn't have a chance.

Game 2.
Ian Turner vs Brian White.
Ian's first game in the league put his Space Wolves against Brian's Tyranids. Ian had expected many flying monstrous creatures so took a Firestorm Redoubt to blast them and Brian didn't take much flying in the end but the Redoubt still did phenomenally well. Brian's traditional bad luck held and the Tyranids were defeated quite soundly.

Yes, those are cowboy hats on those space wolves.

So, after that week the scoreboard now looks like this:

2015 League round 4

Round four was played last week and we had three very good games. All were fairly expected results but that didn't detract in any way.

Game 1.
Joel Tate vs Adam Townsend.
Daemons vs Blood Angels. Joel's extremely twinked up daemons list was always going to win this one but Adam did play a land raider and storm raven which the daemons had trouble dealing with. Unfortunately Adam didn't really use them to his advantage and Joel claimed an easy victory.

Game 2.

Dan Durham vs Adam Winstanley.

HH Night Lords list vs Dark Elder with Astra Militarum allies. Again, this was a game where Dan was always going to win. Adam's usual list now just isn't strong enough I don't think to deal with a HH list. He would have been better focusing on a pure Dark Eldar list with more lance weapons to pop tanks. Unfortunately Dan had a far better list this time.

Game 3.
Jon Quinn vs Michael Parker.
Necrons vs HH World Eaters. Mike doesn't have much luck lately against Jon's Necron army in friendly games and this one was no exception. He had a nice list but the Necrons outnumbered and out-fired him. Mike put up a good fight but his World Eaters were cut down.

To top it off, here are a couple photos of some of Mike's awesomely painted HH World Eaters.

At the end of round four, the scoreboard now looks like this:

Elliot and Ian get their first games in the next few weeks. Due to real world conflicts they have had games that needed to be rearranged.

2015 League round 3

I wasn't about to watch the matches of round 3 as our venue was holding a pub quiz and I'm rather partial to a good quiz. However, three matches were played and this week we saw one player climb the dizzying heights to hold a definitive first place.

Game 1.
Jon Quinn vs Benjo Gray.
Necrons vs Blood Angels. I don't want to be harsh to my nephew but Benjo never stood a chance. He has been playing for a good while but still has a lot to learn about army builds and handling whatever a game throws at you. He had a bit of a grumble about fearless units being locked in combat with something they can't hurt. Well done to Jon for the win.

Game 2.
Richard Mcmannus vs Simon Butler.
I was a bit disappointed with this game. Harlequins with Dark Eldar allies is a nice new force on the table but I remember when Grey Knights used to mop the floor with everyone and I feel sorry for Simon. I am pleased to see that the new Harlequins codex is able to hold it's own weight though.

Game 3.
Ashleigh Granger vs Jason Locking.
Unfortunately due to the pub quiz I only managed to see half the game. Ashleigh played a nice mechanised AM list against Jason's chaos marine army. Only saw enough of it to see that Jason was having trouble punching through the army. Game ended in a draw.

After three weeks the scoreboard now looks like this:

2015 League round 2

Week 2 of the league kicked off well. No draws this week thankfully, with three definitive wins. Three really good games as well.


Game 1
Joel Tate vs Adam Winstanley
Joel's impressive daemons army finally takes to the field in the league against the combined Astra Militarum/Dark Eldar force of Adam's. Joel's list was very competitive and easily overwhelmed his opponent's army. Joel must work harder on speeding his game up though. Victory to chaos.

Game 2
Jon Quinn vs Adam Townsend
Jon is playing a Necron army and Adam the mighty Blood Angels. Jon is perhaps the player most topped to win this league so far even with only a handful of total games played. His list proved very effective and secured him a win. I didn't see all of the game but it looked like Adam was trying more for the kill rather than for objective capturing.

Game 3
Benjo Gray vs Brian White
A proper grudge match here. Brian's tyranid army (genestealers mostly) against Benjot's formidable Blood Angels force. In the past neither player seems to do very well so this was always going to be interesting. Despite a very close game all the way through, Benjo eventually won simply because the objectives fell in his favour.

With these games added to the league table it now looks like this:

2015 League round 1

 So, the first round of the new league kicked off last night with some interesting and unexpected, by me at any rate, results. It makes everything more interesting as a result.

Game 1.
Dan Durham vs Simon Butler.
Dan is playing a Forge World army from the Horus Heresy AKA 30K, while simon has a Grey Knights army. Now, I know that GW had sort of screwed over Grey Knights but even so on any day I would have put down money on a Simon victory (were I a betting man) but it was not to be. The game ended turn 3 if I remember right with Dan wiping everything of Simon's army from the table. Danny never does this well so thumbs up to him. Unexpected.

Game 2.
Ashleigh Grainger vs Richard Mcmannus.
Ashleigh fielded a nice Imperial Guard army with a fair mix of troops and tanks. Richard played the new harlequin codex with dark eldar allies. I didn't see much of this game but by the end of the final turn there were just points in it and it came down to a random VP roll on the tactical objectives to decide who won, and the dice fell in favour of a draw. Tight game and I don't think either player will complain with that.

Game 3.
Mark Thomas vs Jason Locking.

Jason fielded a basic mixed Chaos Space Marine force (counting as Black Legion for the narrative campaign) against Mark's Thousand Sons army. Mark was copying a fellow player who uses his army to summon huge numbers of daemons to the table. It didn't work out so well as I gather. He is also a bit of a "i must win" type player so when time was called at the venue and a draw was agreed to, Mark wasn't happy. We have since realized that he made some mistakes copied from the last edition of the rules but keeping the game a draw seems fair.

A win for Danny who doesn't normally do so well, and a pair of draws was not what I had expected from the first round. Will Dan keep his lead throughout? We shall see.

I also managed to get a friendly game in against my mate Richard Curr and his Dark Angels army. I was trying out the Death Guard army that I have and so expected to come a cropper. And I did. My dice hated me rolling 1's and 2's on attack rolls throughout the whole game. Richard had come with a mechanised list and through no planning on his part systematically took down all the melta weapons I had except the helbrute which was left immobilized on a hill doing nothing. Good game but definitely drove home that playing fluffy Nurgle doesn't leave you with much in a 1000pt game!

Club League 2015

Last year I started reporting on the club league and then stopped as my enthusiasm died on me. But this week sees the start of the 2015 Primarchs club Warhammer 40K league and although I'm not playing (focusing on building and painting my Death Guard this year) I am quite excited to watch the games and see how thing play out under the new rules.

We have some top notch players and a good mix of armies being played which always makes things more interesting.

* Elliot Hall: Tau Empire (Farsight Enclave).
* Mark Thomas: Chaos Space Marines - Thousand Sons.
* Ashleigh James Grainger: Astra Militarum.
* Simon Butler: Grey Knights.
* Adam Winstanley: Dark Eldar.
* Adam Townsend: Blood Angels (Baal Strike Force).
* Benjo Gray: Blood Angels.
* Ian James: Space Wolves (Champions of Fenris).
* Michael Parker: Chaos Space Marines - World Eaters (Horus Heresy list).
* Brian White: Tyranids.
* Jonathan Quinn: Necrons.
* Joel Tate: Chaos Daemons.
* Dan Durham: Chaos Space Marines - Night Lords (Horus Heresy list).
* Richard Mcmanus: Harlequins.
* Jason Locking: Chaos Space Marines - Black Legion.

The first games are this week where we shall see:

Mark Thomas vs Jason Locking

Ashleigh Granger vs Richard Mcmannus

Simon Butler vs Dan Durham

As usual, all games will go towards the club narrative campaign: The Midas Crusade.

League update

The club's 2014 40K league kicked off last week. All games are 1300pts but you can change your list (fixed codex) knowing the mission and opposing codex in advance. Makes for a far better game.

Colin G:                  Farsight Enclave.
Simon B:                Grey Knights.
Richard M:             Eldar.
Benjo G:                 Blood Angels.
Jon Q:                     Orks.
Ian T:                      Tau Empire.
Dan D:                    Dark Eldar.
Joel T:                     Tyranids.
Brian W:                 Eldar.

The current scoreboard after the first two weeks is as follows:

1st place - Richard M, Jon Q, and Dan D.
2nd place - Simon B and Brian B.
3rd place - Colin G, Benjo G, Ian T and Joel T.

I had the bye on round 1 so more time to build my Farsight forces. So far my money is on Jon and his greenskins to win though Richard will give him a run for his money I think. I am very surprised at Joel's loss with tyranids but I put it down to a new codex which needs getting used to. I fully expect to come last but that is fine by me.

Tumbleweeds

I can't believe that it has been two months since I last posted here. Real life issues and a bit of a downer on 40K has caused that. Real life is still a pain in the backside but slowly the love of 40K is returning mainly due to organising the 2014 40K league.

The Primarchs club has been a bit quiet in recent months as we have lost players. One moved down under, and a couple others have decided that they want to play something else (Drop Zone Commander) which needs more time and space. This time the league has 9 players including myself and that seems about right. It is set to start mid-February and run for three months. Feels about right. More details closer to the time.

The open-ended Midas Crusade has reached it's year 1 anniversary and so far it has been a real blat for me in recanting the battles and I hope it is something that will continue for many years to come. I opened it up to a couple friends outside of our regular group and every so often when they manage to fit a game in I've included their results. Keeps things interesting.

Lastly I have decided that I really do need another army to prevent me getting fed up of losing with my space marines. I had wanted to do Demiurg but since that fell through with the new Tau codex I have decided to go Farsight Enclave since no one else plays them. I just need to get them built and at least a start on painting them before the new league begins.

Speaking of codexes, I am well behind on my reviews so I shall endeavour to get them done over the next week or so.

Thanks for hanging around during my break.

League End Rant

Our 2013 40k league at the Primarchs club has come to a rather pathetic end. It was dragged out far too much and now too many people have dropped out, often for no real reason. All of which has annoyed me to no end. I do all the hard work and they just have to turn up and play. Even if you can't win, still play because its a game of 40K surely?

Theres a small Warhammer Fantasy league starting up next under someone else's charge, so I can just relax and hope that next time I'll have people stick to it. It will require a fixed dates for games, and if one or both players don't turn up without a good reason they get a lose. Players that drop out, again without good reason, they get a ban from the following league. That's what I am thinking right now.

League Update

Unfortunately I have a fear that our club league is going to go bottom up sooner or later which is going to be a tad dissapointing. It is through no ones fault (though if I was so enclined I could point to the venue) just the side affect of having a break while the venue was renovated and we got moved to a smaller, tighter room.

Due to that it was left for players to organise their games and hopefully play a couple at home to speed things up. This has meant that for some reason certain players are taking their time to play games and the club is far too quiet. Also, and the real reason I fear it will fail, is that one of the two players tipped for total victory has played almost half his games already and won them all. I can see a lot of players then saying that there is no point in playing and it all falls apart.

As I say, nobody's fault and couldn't be helped with the disruption.

I had also hoped that the league coupled with all games (league and friendly) adding to the Midas Crusade would have people playing games to help their faction in said crusade might get games played, but seems not.

An oddness of Allies

Maybe that is what an addition of allies should be called; an oddness.

At the St Neots Primarchs we play a tad differently to most clubs I guess. We don't like fixed list leagues. They get boring. All through the history of the club we have played changable lists. You know your opponent's codex, sometimes you know the mission in advance, and you build lists around it. Initially it helped offset the boredom of fixed lists and it helped the FLGS that we had at the time. It works for us. Pick up games, well, that is up the individual players.

Anyway, to make a long story even longer, we had something odd pop up last week. I meant to post about it and forgot until tonight. Player A turned up with a Grey Knights list expecting to face Chaos Daemons. His opponent turned up with minimal daemons and a maxed out allies block of Chaos Space Marines. Player A got crushed. He wasn't upset about it or anything but he did feel that it was a tad unfair as his opponent was supposed to be playing daemons.

It got me thinking that maybe next time around I may have to set a 50% of points limit on allies for this reason. But that isn't what I am posting about. I'm curious about a couple things and wondering what you all out there thing and what your experiences are.

1. Do you play allies yourself? yes, no, and why?

2. Do you like it when an opponent brings allies? yes, no, why or why not?

3. How would you view it if an opponent turned up with minimal FoC and the rest of an army made up of allies?