Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Local Tournament Batrep Round 1 - vs. SW

This was my first game of the day, and the first serious game since 2nd edition.  I roll up to the table and meet Mike, a very nice guy who had brought his nifty red and white Space Wolves.  After watching the amazing play with SW armies at NOVA Open, I was less than thrilled that my first game wasn't going to be against something soft and squishy like maybe a Tau battleforce army =p

Here's my list again:

2000pts
Swarmlord - 280
2x Tyrant Guard w/LW - 130
Parasite of Mortrex - 160
3x HG - 150
3x Zoans - 180
8x Ymgarl Genestealers - 184
8x Genestealers w/tox, Broodlord - 182
8x Genestealers w/tox, Broodlord - 182
8x Genestealers w/tox, Broodlord - 182
6x Raveners w/rending claws - 210
20x Gargoyles w/AG, TS - 160

The mission was pitched battle, annihlation; I saw drop pods on his tray and was worried about Jaws in a drop pod; fortunately no Jaws, no Murderous Hurricane, and what looked like a SW list I might have a chance against if I didn't screw up movement too badly:
RP - Chooser, Runic Armor
GH pack (9) - flamer, wolf standard, MotW
  Rhino - extra armor
GH pack (10) - flamer, meltagun, wolf standard, MotW
  Rhino - extra armor
GH pack (10) - flamer, meltagun, wolf standard, MotW
  Drop Pod
LF Squad (5+1 leader): 3x ML, 2x LC
LF Squad (5+1 leader): 3x ML, 2x LC
Wolf Scouts (5) - flamer, melta bomb, plasma pistol
Wolf Guard (5) - Melta bomb, TA SB - wolf claw (3), TA PW - wolf claw (3), TA SB - storm shield (2), TA PW chainfist (2); terminator armor
  Drop Pod
Dreadnaught - HF, MM, extra armor
  Drop Pod
TWC (4) - boltgun, meltabomb, powerfist, storm shield

The drop pod units, TWC, and the need to assault 3x GH squads with counterattack and MotW presented problems for my cunning plan to race across the board and eat his army like so much hairy biomass.  He won the roll and chose to go second.  I wound up deploying first, and bubble wrapped with my gargs, leaving holes near Swarmy and my HGs outside the wrap as pod bait on my right flank with partial LOS blockage, and infiltrating stealers on either flank to keep his melta scouts back.  Ymgarl asleep in the center hill.  He reserved his drop pods and scouts (surprise!) and the top of turn 1 looked something like this:

From Local tournay round 1 batrep


From Local tournay round 1 batrep


Friday, June 10, 2011

Rumor mongering: How would you amend the rules for the Harpy?

From Not Quite a Batrep - plus Hobby Update


If you haven't heard the rumors from Warseer yet, our much-maligned shake machine may get some amended rules in the "Summer of Fliers" via White Dwarf.

Rumors reposted:

I have been sitting on some information for a week now about upcoming Tyranid models I’ve been forgetting to report on.  My contact who allowed me to successfully report Catalyst becoming a psychic power that gave Feel No Pain and the Tervigon’s 3D6 spawning ability MONTHS before the release of the Tyranid codex has started talking with me again and has had a few things to report about Tyranid:
  • First of all, apparently some Tyranid second wave models had to be redone into Finecast so that put an even further delay on anticipated models.
  • Second, there is currently (well, as of last week) no concrete date set for the models to be released but a general timeframe will be late this summer and early fall.
  • Third, all the models are done, and many are painted and have had their photos taken for promotional usage, but the release of the models will be staggered among several second waves.
  • Fourth, the Harpy model has been done for a long LONG time, but apparently there is something that has been holding it back from being released (educated guess is that whole summer of fliers thing that might still happen).
  • Fifth, the Harpy’s rules are looking at getting amended along with several other large flying non-vehicle models ala White Dwarf (who my contact is also affiliated with) some time in the future. These might just be optional rules or a preview of what’s to come with 6th, but you never know; they could make White Dwarf useful again. That would be a good way to get people like me to resubscribe.

This has been on my mind off and on over the past few days - how will GW amend the Harpy and make it useful?  The second part - this being a big assumption given the FAQtastic history. Here's my guesses:

  1. Simple: bumped to T6; no other changes.
  2. Simple again; points dropped to 120-140 range.
  3. Harpy takes on role of Harridan/Tervigon - Harpies spawn 2d6 Gargoyles rather than drop spore mines; ability ends on doubles a la Tervigon.
  4. Points reduced to 100 and "standard" options become pay options; i.e. Spore Mine cysts 20 pts, Sonic Screech 10pts, etc..

How would you amend the Harpy, assuming you want players to shell out $$$ for the new model and therefore will make it a viable option to HG, Zoans, and Tfexes?  Care to make any predictions or guesses?