Wednesday 8 July 2015

First game of 7th edition wasn't so bad after all

On Monday night I played my first game of 7th edition 40k. I had made a simple list for my Necrons to ease me back into things.
HQ - Destroyer Lord with Warscythe
HQ - Destroyer Lord with Warscythe
Troops - 20x Warriors
Troops - 20x Warriors
Troops - 10x Warriors
Troops - 10x Warriors
Transport - Ghost Ark
Transport - Ghost Ark
Fast Attack - 6x Wraiths with 3x whip coils
Total - 1499 points

My warlord trait gave all models within 12 inches of the warlord Relentless and Crusader.

I managed to get a game with a guy practising with his Daemons for a tournament in October. He had Kairos, using the grimoire of true names for a 2++ re-rollable, some champions, 2 squads of pink horrors, some blood crushers and some plague drones. He had enough psychic power cards to wallpaper the room!

Deploying 6 numbered objective was a new thing for me and the fact that one player deployed them all.

I got first deployment and first turn. I deployed everything close together on the right hand side of my deployment zone. My destroyer lords were attached to the 20 warrior squads to give them preferred enemy, the 2 10 man squads were in the ghost arks behind the big squads, to regenerate any losses, and the wraiths were deployed on the right hand side.

He deployed his forces stretched out along his deployment line. His fatal error at this point was deploying Kairos opposite the wraiths, hidden behind ruins, but opposite them none the less.

The entire battle basically involved him summoning daemons and me shooting and killing them. He had a few shooty psychic powers but these didn't do much. 40 rapid firing gauss shots that re-roll 1s to hit and to wound made a mess of anything that went near my army. He deepstruck his big squad of plague drones near one of the squads of 20 and I shot them and then charged them (due to relentless) and made a mess of them. Necron warriors charged something and won combat!

My wraiths charged up the side of the board and by turn 2 were in combat with Kairos. This seemed like a waste of the wraiths as they couldn't really hurt him due to his 2++ re-rollable but it was a major game changer. Kairos is utterly crap in combat, 1 attack and 1 WS. The wraiths spent 3 game turns locked in combat with him and only knocked off 2 wounds. He charged the wraiths with plague bearers with 2 champions in the squad, and the wraiths just kept shrugging off the wounds. By the end of turn 4 there was one wraith left in combat with Kairos, plague bearers, 2 nurgle champions, a squad of horrors and a nurgle greater daemon had just been summoned next to the combat. The rest of the table however was at this point devoid of any other daemons. He had summoned bloodletters, blood crushers and other things and they were all dead too. My army had lost 5 wraiths and 4 warriors..... He threw in the towel at this point, quite understandably.

Objective wise I had got First Blood, I killed a squad in a shooting phase and I held an objective. He had only held an objective. The new objective system is certainly different now, with the getting 3 cards and changing them whenever they're achieved etc. Its a more interesting way of doing things compared to the old end of game objectives but I do think they're a bit messy. My other two objectives which I didn't achieve were, kill a monstrous creature and kill the enemy warlord. The only way I could get those were to kill Kairos with his damn 2+++ save. God I had that combo.

So I won my first game of 7th. Wasn't expecting that. I don't know what I was so worried about. There are a few changes but it is still more or less the same game as 6th edition. I'm not sure if I like the objectives and I still don't like the way psychic powers work with their randomness and cards everywhere, I prefer the old style where they're basically like wargear with a perils of the warp test.

Once I started moving models and shooting stuff it was as if I had never stopped playing. It all came back so quickly. Now I'm looking forward to next Monday and my next game of 40k. Maybe using my scarab farm this time.

Sunday 5 July 2015

OMG, I'm back!

 

After nearly 2 years to the day of not posting I'm back. I have been on hiatus from 40k for a variety of reasons, mainly because it stopped being fun and then 7th changed 40k beyond recognition for me. I have spent 2 years working on model railways instead. Which was relaxing and there was no pressure to win win win. 

Well, I have now moved due to work and there is a wargaming club where I have been sent. So against my better judgement, I find myself sliding back into it. I'm a little bit miffed about the costs of simply getting back into it though, 1 codex and the rulebook is all I need. Just that comes to £80!!! WTF!! I have found a cheap rulebook on ebay for £20 but I think I'll have to pay full whack for the necron codex. I have access to the necron codex though and I'll write up a list and see if I can get a game at the club tomorrow night. 

So much seems to have changed since 6th edition 40k and the old codex. I don't have a clue what the deal is with formations and pretty much everything seems to have been tweaked or changed. My flayed ones might actually get deployed at some point now, I just have to find them all in the loft and reattach various arms that have come off. 

I think I'll start off with a simple army to get back in the swing of things. Lots of warriors, a destro lord to lead a big squad of them for preferred enemy, a couple of ghost arks and some wraiths if I have spare points.

So much stuff to try and take in. There are 4 new armies since I stopped playing... how did that happen??