Sorry if you feel neglected!

I don't know if any of you guys who actually comment on my blog have noticed, but I haven't really been replying.  For whatever reason the blog has some glitch where it wont let me stay logged in long enough to reply.  I do appreciate your comments!  And, I do want and encourage discussion!  But, I just can't really partake until I get this fixed...

Demons?

Well as many of you know the nova invitational is 1750 not 2000.  My grey knight list at 2000 is crazy solid.  It has everything it needs, and it dones't really struggle with anything.  At 1750 however, I don't know what it is but I just can't seem to make it work.  My army has gone from stupid powerful to meh that's decent in just 250 points!  I understand that my army wont be as good at 1750 , but I honestly don't think this codex functions nearly aswell below 1850-2000.  I have to drop 2 units from my list to cut it to 1750 and it's just too much of a loss.  I've lost almost every test game I've played so far.

So with that in mind, I'm thinking demons!  But how would I do demons to comepete against the new array of msu venom spam dark eldar and the terrifying new grey knights? 

Well, fateweaver can help deal with the torrent fire power of dark eldar and grey knights.   But, then theres getting past hitting on 6's, warp quake, and dark excommunication.

Here's what I think is going to be my demon's best shot.

HQ
Fateweaver 333

Elites
6 Fiends 180
6 Fiends 180
6 Fiends 180

Troops
7 bloodletters- icon 137
7 bloodletters- icon 137
7 bloodletters 112
5 plaguebearers 75
5 plaguebearers 75

Fast
20 seekers 340

1749.  You think it stands a chance?

Optimized Space Marines 2000

I must say this is by far the hardest marin chapter to make lists for.  They are now a relatively outdated codex where most of the other marine varients just do what they do but better.  But the good old space marines still have a few unique, not sucky things about them.  Legion of the damned!  Just kidding... they will always suck lol. 

But let's see what we can come up with. 

HQ
Korsarro Khan- moondraken 205

Elites
5 Assualt terminaters- 5 TH SS 200
Land Raider- multi melta 260
5 Assualt terminaters- 5 TH SS 200

Troops
4 Bikes- 1 multi melta attack bike, 2 melta guns 185
4 Bikes- 1 multi melta attack bike, 2 melta guns 185
4 Bikes- 1 multi melta attack bike, 2 melta guns 185
5 Marines 90
Rhino 35

Heavy
Land Raider- multi melta 260
Thunder fire cannon 100
Thunder fire cannon 100

Man on paper that looks pretty awful.  But, here's how it works.  It can deploy or reserve however much it feels like.  It's got 2 land raiders full of termie death to beat up a lot of things, and it's got tons of fast melta and some anti horde.  In some games I can push forward with the raiders and apply pressure from the flanks with all the bikes.  In others I can reserve, bringing one raider in from my table edge with a 21" threat keeping you on your half of the board, and then outflanking with another raider full of termies and 15 bikes.

It's deffinitely a finesse army but it looks really fun and I think it has some competitive potential!

Running some numbers

I was thinking about how competitve grey knights really are and  how switching to them as my main army has really stepped up my game.  Let's look at the past to back this up.

My demon tournament record,
3-1 at a small tournament last summer.
3-2 at Nova
6-1 at BFS
5-0 at mechanicon
3-2 at SVDM
4-1 at colonial GT

That's a total of 24-7 not bad I'd say.  I won 77% of my games.

But now let's look at grey knights,
3-0 at local tournament
3-0 at BFS
5-1 at the Grim GT
4-0 at small local nova tournament

That's a total of 15-1.  That's 93.75% victory.

My play skill has increased  that's true.  But grey knights are a new army meaning I've had to learn everything myself the hard way where as I had more time to practice and advice from veterans with demons.

Story of my 40k career

This was copied and pasted straight from BOLS and was originally posted by Duke.  I just thought it emplified my views on 40k and thought I'd share it with you.

 

Introducing: The Casual-Competitve Gamers.

These are guys that your not quite sure what to expect when you face off against them.  Their army is nicely painted (by them).  Their army isn't necessarily a "net list," but it looks like it could put down some hurt.  Usually this guy will remind you if you forget something like issuing an order...Though he still might not tell you something that would totally lose him the game.  This is the player that may think about letting you go back to your movement if you forgot to do something.  Generally he doesn't want to beat someone because that person forgot a rule... He wants to win because his tactics and such were simply better.  He will usually tell some jokes, but gets serious when the game comes down to the line. He knows the rules but might forget small details from time to time. This Gamer's attitude is this way generally because he has already proven himself on the big scale... Likely winning large tournaments in the past.  They know that they can win and as such they know they don't have to be a douche-waffle to prove it. Either that, or they don't care too much about being 'best overall,' as long as they feel they played well. All in all they are more casual about winning, but they still want to win, nonetheless.  This person might name their characters, or include some 'less-effective units,' just because he thinks they "are cool." When you play your game with him you aren't left feeling happy and fuzzy, but you will likely share a beer with this guy after the tourney and laugh about your game and how tough it was.

Grim GT Round 2

Going into round 2 I was the top seed so I got paired up with the lowest winner.  Necrons!

My opponents list was as follows
Deceiver
2 units of 10ish warriors
2 monoliths
3 units of 5 destroyers
2 tomb spiders

Well most grey knight players would be afraid of monoliths, but i have S10 hammers everywhere so they can suck it.

The mission was objectives primary, table quarters secondary, kill points tertiary.  Deployment was pitched battle.  I won the roll for first and took it.

I deployed centrally as such.  With my dreads on the flanks.

He deployed in the 2 corners.  1 monolith in each, 2 destroy squads and a tomb spider near one, and the deceiver destoryer squad and tomb spider near the other.  The warriors were put in reserve.

My Turn 1

I pushed up into the center and unnloaded dreads andd heavy bolters into the deceiver.  I could not roll to wound to save my life and he survived unscathed.

His Turn 1
The destroyers move out for line of sight and they all shoot dreadnaught.  They can only glance them so they cause a bunch of stuns and shakens.

Thankfully I have fortitude.

My Turn 2
I pushed up again (forgot to take a picture I guess.)  I managed to kill the deceiver this turn and 2 destroyers.  The destroyer squad that lost 2 guys actually failed their morale test and flew right off the table.

His Turn 2
Both warrior units came in and hid in the corners.  The destroyers shot again.  1 at a razorback and bew its weapon off, the other at the dread accomplishing nothing thanks to fortitude.

My Turn 3
I push up a little but stay in midfield, I also spread out.  1 strike squad got out and charged a monolith hoping to wreck it.  Sadly I perilsed trying to cast hammerhand and lost my hammer before he could attack.

I also shot up all the destroyers and since there were none left on the table they could not get back up.


His Turn 3
His monolith moves back 6" an particle whips the strike squad that got out.  He tries to do somwthing to my army but fails.

My Turn 4
I push for objective and get closer to his monoliths in an attempt to blow them up next turn  with multiple hammer charges. 

His Turn 4
He doesn't do much to stop me.

My Turn 5
My purifiers and stikes get out on both sides ready to blow up monoliths.  They all charge in and both monoliths go down.  The tomb spiders also get thrown into a multi charge and die aswell.

His Turn 5
His warriors retaliate with rapid fire!  They might have killed a guy or 2 lol

My Turn 6
Because of the wrecked monoliths most of my dreads cant see the warriors.  I charge in after doing what I can in shooting and whiff and barely kill any warriors.

His Turn 6
We continue to fight on his turn but I don't phase him.

The game ended here.  I won 4-0 objective.  (1 strike squad was dead the, the other was in combat) 4-0 quarters and get a ton of VP's.

Grim GT Round 1



Ths is the army I took to the Grim GT.  It's  not nearly finished yet, I just tried to get it all base coated in time since the tournament required painting.

The list I brought was,

HQ

Coteaz 100

Elites

5 Purifiers- 2 psy cannons, 2 halberds, 1 hammer 145

Rhino 40

5 Purifiers- 2 psy cannons, 2 halberds, 1 hammer 145

Rhino 40

5 Purifiers- 2 psy cannons, 2 halberds, 1 hammer 145

Rhino 40

Troops

5 Strikes- Psy cannon, master crafted demon hammer 125

Razorback- dozers, searchlight 56

5 Strikes- Psy cannon, master crafted demon hammer 125

Razorback- dozers, searchlight 56

5 Strikes- Psy cannon, master crafted demon hammer 125

Razorback- dozers, searchlight 56

5 Strikes- Psy cannon, master crafted demon hammer 125

Razorback- dozers, searchlight 56

3 Henchmen- meltas 42

Chimera- dozer blades 60

3 Henchmen- meltas 42

Chimera- dozer blades 60

Heavy

Dreadnaught- 2 Twin Linked Auto Cannons, psy bolts 135

Dreadnaught- 2 Twin Linked Auto Cannons, psy bolts 135

Dreadnaught- 2 Twin Linked Auto Cannons, psy bolts 135

2000 exactly.

Round one I found myself against a blood angels player who I tangled with at Battle For Salvation.  He brought a simillar list.  It was a pretty straight forawrd mech blood angels list.

His List was as follows:
Dante
5 Honor Guard- meltas and power weapons
4 5 man assualt squads in rhino with meltas
2 5 man assualt squads in twin linked assualt cannon razors with flamers
2 Baal Predators- Ass Cannon 2 heavy bolters
3 Predators- auto cannon 2 las cannons

Pretty standard and straight forward I say.

The tournament used NOVA format so there was a primary, secondary, and tertiary objective.  The primary was kill points where you had to win by 3 to win, secondary was objectives, and tertiary was quarters.  The deployment style was dawn of war.

His Turn 1
He won the roll for first turn and he deployed centrally with all the rhinos and razors, he also put 2 predators on 1 flank in the corner, and 1 predator and 2 baals on the other.

My Turn 1
I countered his deployment by coming in the center, but not in the terrain.  The reason for that is despite my dozers if I were to immobilize myself half of my vehicle would be off the table and it and its contents would count as destroyed.  No reason to risk such things just yet.

I deployed 1 razor with search lights to illuminate a rhino and then I let it up pretty hard with my dreads.  I also popped smoke with my front lines.

His Turn 2

He drove up and used the LOS blocking rock to hinder my plans.  The preds shuffled around and took some shots at me.  He shot a lot at my razorback behind the rocks, but it had cover and he only managed a few shakes and stuns and a weapon destroyed.  Since I popped smoke last turn I survived his shooting relatively unscathed.

My Turn 2

I pushed forward 6" or so, and 12" on my right flank.  I wanted to demech him early so I could get the charges on him instead of vice versa.  I set up countercharges everywhere and began my shooting gallery.  I'm pretty sure I blew up 2 tanks and stunned a bunch.

His Turn 3
Dantes's squad and another squad moved up and tried to pull some stuff off.  He failed to blow up the weaponles razor in the picture with his preds, so his meltas from Dante's squad had to do it.  My squad got out on the other side of the tank, and made it impossible for him to have charge range to me.  The assualt squad on the left didn't accomplish anything either, but one of the predators blew up the rhino in front of them.

As you can see here this is how to properly disembark a squad after their transport gets blown up.

My Turn 3

I decided it was time to cause some real damage.  I got a purifier squad out, moved the purifiers and the strikes that were forced to disembark and got another strike squad out to kill a squad that he left in charge range in mid field.  A bunch of shooting later I blew up a rhino or 2 and really hampered his squads.  After assualt I killed the assualt squad on the left and consolidated back, I killed all the honor guard except one, and dante.  I even through a hammer onto him but it didn't do anything.  Then he hi and run away doing nothing.  The squad in midfield got charged and we held but I was clearly winning the fight.

He had a rhino and squad nearby his squad in mid field ready to support.  I got lucky and blew up their rhino and pinned them so I didn't have to worry about the counter charge.

 Combats in action.

His Turn 4
Dante and the guard jumped over to my dreads.  Notice their positioning allowed tem to have clear site to his advance in the center, but the predators in his right hand corner had no los back.  He just moved up his predators and shot.  He was running out of units, and all of his rhinos and razors were dead or shaken.  He messed up a couple tanks and a squad of strieks with the baals but that was about it.  Dante and the guard charged a dread to keep it from shooting, and he could jsut hit and run after my turn.

My Turn 4
This is the turn that ended the game.  I pushed into midfield with more of my army to really start to overload the 3 squads he had left.  I also killed the squad that was pinned last turn.  But, most importantly my psy cannons got to fire on heavy mode at his predators, and he gave one of my dreads side armor.  1 turn, 5 psy cannons, and 2 dreads later and 4 our 5 preds were wrecked.  Both baals and 2 regulars.  We both know the game was over now.

Dante also used hit and ruun to get behind my lines.

His Turn 5

A bunch of assualt marines got out and tried to kill a bunch of grey knights, I think all together they managed to kill 1 squad and injuere another.  Dante blew up a chimera with his infernus pistol and they had to emergency disembark.n  It was cool lol.

My Turn 5

I think I stopped taking pictures because here is where it ended.  I shot his last pred and wrecked it.  I got 2 strike squads and the last purifier out and killed all the assualt marines.  And I threw S8 auto cannons and melta guns at dante until he died. 

His Turn 6

He had a couple stunned razors.

My Turn 6

I tabled him.

So it was a fun game, and turn 4 is really what turned from a good game into a slaughterfest.  I won 4-0 objecives, 4-0 quarters, and by a large margin in kill points. 

Optimized Space Wolves 2000

HQ
Rune Priest-Chooser of the Slain 110

Elites
5 Wolf Guard- 4 combi melttas 5 power fists 235

Troops
9 Grey Hunters- melta, mark of the wulfen, wolf standard 170
rhino 35
9 Grey Hunters- melta, mark of the wulfen, wolf standard 170
rhino 35
9 Grey Hunters- melta, mark of the wulfen, wolf standard 170
rhino 35
9 Grey Hunters- melta, mark of the wulfen, wolf standard 170
rhino 35
8 Grey Hunters- melta, mark of the wulfen, wolf standard 155
rhino 35

Heavy
6 Long Fangs- 5 missiles 140
Razoraback- las cannon, plasma gun 75
6 Long Fangs- 5 missiles 140
Razoraback- las cannon, plasma gun 75
6 Long Fangs- 5 missiles 140
Razoraback- las cannon, plasma gun 75

2000

Update from the Grim

Well out all of my friends and regular GT guys that I hang out with I'm the only one to make it to day 2 undefeated.  There's only 5 or 6 of us undefeated, but all the matches will be tough.  On the bright side there's a demon army on the top tables!

Battle reports with pics soon to follow!

Wish me luck!

News incoming!

Well my friend got out of the hospital and he's in a lot less pain which is great!  I made a point to visit him yesterday, and I even bought him a brown dinosaur from the gift shop.

I also have the Grim Open this weekend.  My friends Brad and Vinny are driving up with me tonight, and I'm bringing my grey knights out fo rtheir first GT.  Sadly they aren't finished btu since they had to be painted I base coated all of them and did basic detail work.  Not your every day 3 color job with just 3 dots of paint, but nothing I'm really proud of.  Also my dad is loaing me his camera for the weekend so you guys are going to get pictures for once!

a tribute

Well I was going to make an optimized sisters of battle army and write up an article on that, but as I was working with points  I was infomed one of my best friend's is in the hospital because of an accident on a quad.  He apparently crashed into a tree and has a severe cuncushion, 2 fractured vertebray, and neck trauma.  From what I hear he's going to be okay, but I just wanted to give him my condolences.

Nicholas Ciancara feel better, I love you man.

Optimized Horde Orks 2000

Well if you're going to run orks competitively there's only 2 viable builds left.  Horde and mech lol.  Most people don't even consider horde for tournaments due to how many models there are to buy/paint and time to play.  But, I've run into horde orks more than enough to know how utterly devestating they can be if you can't deal with them.

HQ
Big Mek- KFF 85

Elites
15 Lootas 225
15 Lootas 225
15 Lootas 225

Troops
30 shootas- nob PK BP 220
30 shootas- nob PK BP 220
30 shootas- nob PK BP 220
30 shootas- nob PK BP 220

Heavy
3 Kanz- bog shootas 120
3 Kanz- bog shootas 120
3 Kanz- bog shootas 120

The kanz and power klaws deal with land raiders, monoliths, wraithlords, and paladins.  The 290 S4-7 shots a turn comnig at you deal with everything else.  I understand that 5 lootas and 15 kill a rhino the same (which they really don't), but 15 gives you poptions when there are better targets than rhinos.  15 lootas can really hamper 10 marines, or even termies without fnp.  Basically, the minute your opponent takes something that isn't pure MSU the 15 lootas really start to shine. 

I ask you, can your standard list kill this?

Optimized Dark Eldar 2000

HQ
Baron 130

Elites
3 Trueborn- 2 dark lances 86
Venom- 2 shuriken cannons 65
3 Trueborn- 2 dark lances 86
Venom- 2 shuriken cannons 65
3 Trueborn- 2 dark lances 86
Venom- 2 shuriken cannons 65

Troops
5 Warriors- blaster 75
Venom- 2 shuriken cannons 65
5 Warriors- blaster 75
Venom- 2 shuriken cannons 65
5 Warriors- blaster 75
Venom- 2 shuriken cannons 65
5 Warriors- blaster 75
Venom- 2 shuriken cannons 65
5 Warriors- blaster 75
Venom- 2 shuriken cannons 65
5 Warriors- blaster 75
Venom- 2 shuriken cannons 65

Fast
Beast pack- 4 beat masters, 4 razorwing flocks, 10 khymeras 258

Heavy
Ravager 105
Ravager 105
Ravager 105

1996

I don't know about you, but I think this is scary.  If you reserve your board edge will get blocked.  You're likly to end up going second.  And theres 21 lances and 108 venom shots a turn.  And if you get close I can throw the giant mess of beasts at you.

Tyranids vs Blood Angels 2000

I played a tyranid list last night to see if my latest buld was any good.  I've been struck pretty hard by tyranids lately and I'd really like to get them to a point where I'd feel comfortable bringing them to a GT.

My list was:

HQ
Swarmlord 280
Tyrant Guard- lash whips 65

Elites
10 Ymgarl Stealers 230
3 Hive Guard 150
3 Hive Guard 150

Troops
10 Gaunts 50
Tervigon- adrenal glands toxin sacs catalyst 195
10 Gaunts 50
Tervigon- adrenal glands toxin sacs catalyst 195
8 Genestealers- toxin sacs 136
8 Genestealers- toxin sacs 136

Fast
5 Raveners- rending claws 175
5 Raveners- rending claws 175

1992 I think. 

I played against my friend Tom's blood angels. 

HQ
Mephiston

Elites
5 Termies- 2  LC 3 THSS
Land Raider Redeemer- multi melta
Priest 50

Troops
5 Assualt Marines- melta
Land Raider- multi melta

5 Assualt Marines- melta
Razorback- las plas

5 Assualt Marines- melta
Razorback- las plas

5 Assualt Marines- melta
Razorback- las plas

Heavy
Predator- AC LC
Predator- AC LC
Predator- AC LC

We were testing Nova missions and we got the one that's objectives primary, table quarters secondary, kill points tertiary, and spearhead.

There was a large piece of terrain big enough to give all my monsters cover, and there were 4 large pieces of are terrain in each quarter with some hills thrown in.  I won the roll for first and took it.  I deployed with a gaunt screen of 10 gaunts with the hive guard and raveners right behind it, and the monsters right behind that for a cover save.  Swarmlord was in the middle.  I also left the genestealers to outflank, the ymgarls were asleep in the piece of area terrain in his quarter.

He deployed with the land raider in back on his home objective, the redeemer and meohiston ready to charge at my flank.  The predators close together and away from the table edge.  He put 1 las plas back at the edge of his deployment zone and left eh other 2 in reserve.

My Turn 1
I moved up and ran, I repositioned my gaunts to help cover the side that redeemer and mephiston were on.  My hive guard could only draw range to land raiders and they shook both.

His Turn 1
He pushes his redeemer 12" and fires as assualt cannon somewhere.  his terminaters get out and charge (with the priest) at my hive guard, killing 2.  I left a hole in my wall, becasue I wasn't really worried about him charging me,a nd I didn't actually think he would.  Also if he had multi charged my gaunts too and put the lightning claws on them he could have swept both units with fearless wounds.

He also zoomed his las plas back 12" into another quarter to get teh objective in there.  That razorback is close to the board edge.  The preds and raiders all fire a my hive guard and I pass litterally every cover save. 

My Turn 2
My ymgarls and 1 stealer squad came up.  The ymgarls came out of the area terrain in his deployment zone amd multi charge all 3 preds.  I wrecked one, exploded another, and immobilized the 3rd.  (We both forgot it was immobilized and he started moving it later lol.)  the unit of 8 stealers came in on his side and got within and inch of his razorback.  I tried to shoot hive guard at it, hoping to be able to charge the squad that disembarked, sadlt I only stunned it.  I have my gaunts screen my raveners and my raveners screen my tervigons, trying to keep everything away from mephiston.  The swarmlord charged the termies killling 4 of them and the priest (with the guard) and making the last run off the board.  The stealers on te other side were forced to charge the stunned razorack, and with 24 attacks I only scored 1 hit which did nothing because he moved 12". 

His Turn 2
Mephiston failed his test for wings and decided to turn around,  He charged my ymgarls killing like 6, but taking 2 wounds himself.  The redeemer drove away 12".  Neither of his reserves came in.  The marines got out of the razorback and shot the stealers then charged them.  They killed all my stealers, between shooting and combat, but I redueced them to just a sergant.  His shooting killed a hive guard or 2.

My Turn 3
Sadly, this is where I started making mistakes.  I got the last unit of stealers, however they came in on my side even with the re roll.  I was planning on using them to kill the assualt marine and razorback, then to threaten his home objective.  I pushed up with everything and shooting didn't really do anything, but I managed to shake the last preadtor with a lone hive guard.   In combat mephiston killed my last ymgarls, but took 1 more wound.

Now for my major tactical blunder.  Having never used raveners before I wasn't sure what to do with them.  I thought about giving them furious charge then charging into mephison, hoping to trade with him, but I was informed he was I7 and got scared away.  I decided to be aggressive for no reason and give them furious charge and have them charge the regular land raider.  I could only glance, and although I immobilized and weapon destrpoyed it, it didn't matter since he was on an objective.  I essentially jsut wasted 175 points  What I should have done was give the preffered enemy and thrown them a mephiston.  Mephiston would have to choose who he attacked. He was in range of shadows thanks to the swarmlord, so he might have failed some powers.   And, most importantly I would have tied him up, so the swarm lord could have killed him thanks to his lash whip guard.

His Turn 3
Mehiston walked over, out of shadows, and killed all my raveners before the poor guys got to fight back.  His shooting put 2 wounds on swarm lord and 1 on the guard.  He only caused 3 wounds, and I failed every save...  His reserves came on and drove 12" into his back field.  I still don't know why.

My Turn 4
Swarmlord runs over the terrain, still getting a cover save thanks to the guard.  I put FNP on them and hope for the best.  I start to focus on objectives and start fortifying my 2 and the center.

His Turn 4
This is where it really goes down hill.  Mephison flies 12" looking to kill some raveners.  The 2 razorbacks drve 12" up.  He fires like 3 las cannons, 1 twin linked las cannon and a heavy bolter at the swarmlod and guard who have FNP.  He killed the guard and brought the swarm lord to 1 wound. Reassessing the situation he realized mehpiston would be better off using his freaking plasma pistol to finish the swarmlord off.  On the bright side he didn't kill my raveners.

My Turn 5
I'm desperate to kill mephiston so I do something that should have worked, but didn't.  I spawed 27 gaunts (neither tervigon rolled doubles!) and they all shot and charged mephiston.  With 42 attacks (since he killed 6 before I swung) I caused 10 wounds, of which he failed 1.  The raveners jumped accross the field and charged a pair of razorbacks.  Despite needing 6"s to hit I killed both of them!  And a tervigon killed his redeemer and did nothing. 

His Turn 5
Mephiston killed more gaunts and still hasnt died.  The marines fire meltas and pistols at the raveners, and then charge in.  I killed 1 squad of marines, but then died.  A bunch of las cannons shot my tervigon that was nearest all the gaunts, and brought hi to 2 wounds.  The redeemer drove around and flamed some gaunts in my backfield and forced them o run since they were out of synapse.

My Turn 6
I spawn 27 gauntss again and they chagre mephiston,  44 attaks later, he survives, and kills like 20 becasue of fearless wounds.  I move tervigons to hold objectives, and I daisy chain a suad of gaunts between 2 objectives. 

His Turn 6
He shot the tervigon near all my gaunts and killed it.  That allowed mephiston to finish the last of the gaunts.  The lone sergant that finished the stealers on turn 2 got out and charged the squad of gaunts that was daisy chained.  He killed 3, I didn't kill him, and he swept me, claiming another objective.

The game ended here.  1 objective to 2, 1 quarter to 3, and I don't even want to think about kill points. 

Well maybe if swarmlord didn't just roll over and die the minute someone looked at him, or if I had used the first unit of raveners properly, or hadd mpehiston died when he was supposed to I'd have done better.  But that's just how it goes.  I also had some luck, like my spwan rolls were awesome, my hive guard in the begining passed every save, and my raveners wrecked both razors even when they needed 6"s.

I'm going to try tyranids some more and see how that goes.  I'm already liking the way this list is shaping out.

Can tyranids be competitive? 2000

Well it appears I've been bit by the bug.  The tyranid bug that is *insert laughing*.  Well I've been keeping tabs on my buddy Hulksmash's blog and I've been fairly impressed by his results.  I think I'm coming to a simillar conclusion about tyranids, which is less MC's more speed! 

Tyranids have a couple neat tricks in their over priced, under optioned codex.  No other army has deployment manipulation as much as we do, which is really nice.  But that alone will not win you a game.  We need to be able to blow up tanks in mass.  Well our shooting is kind of I guess, but there isn't much of it, so what we need is fast rending EVERYWHERE.  Stuff that can hit you turn 2 and mess you up badly.

Well enough talk.  Here's what I got.

HQ
Swarmlord 280
Tyrant Guard- lash whip 65

Elites
10 Ymgarls 230
3 Hive Guard 150
3 Hive Guard 150

Troops
10 Gaunts 50
10 Gaunts 50
Tervigon- adrenal glands toxin sacs 195
Tervigon- adrenal glands toxin sacs 195
5 Genestealers 70
5 Genestealers 70

Fast
5 Raveners- rending claws 175
5 Raveners- rending claws 175
4 Raveners- rending claws 140

1995.  It's fast, it has target saturation, it can play the reserve game decently.  And if your opponent doens't have that much S8 then your raveners get even better!  Let me know what you think.

Optimized blood angels, without land raiders

Here's the last of my mech armies for blood angels. 

HQ
Mephiston 250 (I know a lot of you think libbys are better in a mech list, but shield in unreliable, and mephiston really struggles not to make his points back. He's a fantastic choice, and really makes an enemy think twice about charging at you.)

Elites
Furioso Dread- 2 blood talons 125
Furioso Dread- 2 blood talons 125
Furioso Dread- 2 blood talons 125

Troops
5 Assualt marines- melta
Razorback- las plas
5 Assualt marines- melta
Razorback- las plas
5 Assualt marines- melta
Razorback- las plas
5 Assualt marines- melta
Razorback- las plas

Fast
Baal Predator- Ass cannon 2 heavy bolters 145
Baal Predator- Ass cannon 2 heavy bolters 145

Heavy
Predator- AC LC 135
Predator- AC LC 135
Predator- AC LC 135

1980 so you have a few points to do whatever.  8 AV 13 hulls, reasonable anti tank,  tremendous anti infantry.  And most importantly,  mobility.

It finally happened

That's right, you have no idea what I'm talking about.  Allow me to enlighten you.  My regin of terror in NJ with grey knights has ended!  After a month and a half, 2 tournament wins, and countless practice games, I've finally been put down.  So, now I'm like 25-1-3 (3 being draws, and 25 is an approximation)

For those who care here was his list

Blood Angels 2000

Mephiston
5 THSS termies + 1 priest in a redeemer
2 5 man assualt squads with meltas in las plas razors
2 5 man assualt squads with meltas in TL HF razors
3 MM attack bikes
2 units of 4 scout bikes with a fist
2 preds (AC LC)

The game went a little like this.  He got first, there wasn't any terrain to hide my tanks behind.  I should have reserved but I thought I could handle the fire power.  I was hoping my re roll seize would scare him away from the alpha strike with the bikes, and if it didn't then I was hoping to seize lol.  A pretty awful strategy, but I figured it could work.

Well he scouted I failed to seize, then his bikes came in wrecked 2 razors and dread.  Then killed 1 of the strike squads I threw at them before dying.  He also took 2 of my dreads out of the game for the first 2 turns, so his tanks went on unscathed.  He shot the crap out of me.  Forced me to split my army, then threw the attack bikes and the redeemer and termies into 1 half, and mephiston and 10 assualt marines into the other.  I managed to kill all of that, but my army was basically dead and he still had 2 preds and 2 razors full of guys on the objectives. 

We actually ended up tying the primary (objective), since it went to turn 7 and I had forced a ld test on one of his scoring units which fled off the objective.  But then he won 3-1 quarters, and like 17-8 kill points.

That's the way the cookie crumbles I guess.  Hopefully I'll make a fewless deployment mistakes in the rematch.

Optimized Mech Blood Angels 2000

HQ
Mephiston 250

Elites
5 Terminaters- 3 Thunder Hammer storm shield 2 Lighning Claws 215
Land Raider- multi melta 260
Sanguinary Priest 50

Troops
5 Assualt Marines- melta gun 110
Razorback- Twin linked Heavy Flamer 20
5 Assualt Marines- melta gun 110
Razorback- Twin linked Heavy Flamer 20
5 Assualt Marines- melta gun 110
Razorback- las plas 55
5 Assualt Marines- melta gun 110
Razorback- las plas 55

Fast
4 Scout Bikes- power fist 115
4 Scout Bikes- power fist 115


Heavy
Predator- auto cannon 2 las cannons 135
Predator- auto cannon 2 las cannons 135
Predator- auto cannon 2 las cannons 135

I'm sure this list can be tweaked to be a little better, but I assure you, this is the template for most mech blood angels armies. 

Aside from my land raider spam army and this one, there is one more mech blood angels army that I'd like to focus on.  AV 13 spam.  I'll get that list posted up soon.

Optimized land raider spam, blood angels 2000

There is no army that can spam land raiders better than blood angels.  It might not be the best blood angels can do, but I sure as hell would never want to come across this at a GT.

HQ
Mephiston 250

Troops
5 Assault marines- melta gun 110
Land Raider- multi melta 235

5 Assault marines- melta gun 110

Land Raider- multi melta 235

5 Assault marines- melta gun 110

Land Raider- multi melta 235

5 Assault marines- melta gun 110

Land Raider- multi melta 235

Heavy

Predator- 2 side las cannons 135

Predator- 2 side las cannons 135

Predator- 2 side las cannons 135

1995.  Can you handle 14 las cannons a turn at 11 different targets and 8 meltas and 3 auto cannons and mephiston?  Even if you can, I don't think your playing the type of army that can actually threaten my land raiders.  

Optimized mech guard 2000

Here's the first of many of my "best of" or "optimized" lists.

HQ
CCS- 4 meltas, astropath 120
Chimera- hull heavy flamer 55

Troops
10 Vets- 3 meltas 100
Chimera- hull heavy flamer 55
10 Vets- 3 meltas 100

Chimera- hull heavy flamer 55

10 Vets- 3 meltas 100

Chimera- hull heavy flamer 55

Infantry squad- melta 60

Chimera- hull heavy flamer 55
Infantry Squad- melta gun 60
Chimera- hull heavy flamer 55
Platoon command squad- 4 meltas al'raheim 140
Chimera- hull heavy flamer 55

Fast
Vendetta 130
Vendetta 130
Vendetta 130

Heavy
3 Hydras 225
Manticore 160
Manticore 160

That's 2000 exactly.  And, honeslty, for mech guard, I really think that's as scary as it can get.

nothing to see here folks

An idea

I've come up with the idea to come up with (what I consider) to be some of the best lists in the game and post them here.  Now that I think about it, a lot like Stelek's best of lists (although I didn't get the idea from there).  Anyway, I'll try to get 1-2 lists posted a day, then lump them all together and publish an article on it.

Kind of like Stelek's litmus test theory (also didn't copy that idea lol, just thought about it).  Basically, if your tournament list can hold its own in a battle against the majority of these lists than you should be on your way to success.

Think it's a good idea?