Maul in the Mall 2012!!

The Wolves at the Maul

I have returned Dearest Readers from The Maul in the Mall, and I must say fun was had by all. There were a multitude of beautiful armies on parade, with over 40 people in attendance. It was nice to be able to have gotten my Wolves all put together, painted, and based, something long overdue. I ended up with some really interesting match ups, playing against two 4th edition codexes and one that the Interwebz has deemed uncompetitive. My Wolves went 1-2-0 for a total of 20 battlepoints out of a possible 60. Not the greatest showing on my part, but I had fun, and isn't that what matters? Fellow DDK Bloggers Pariah Stevo and Wiley the Nord were in attendance, with Wiley snagging Best Sportsman.

Armies on Parade

Danny's Tau Army

Game One

The first game was against my buddy Danny from Cookeville playing his Tau, a table quarter objective game with 1st and 6th turn being night fighting. I went second against a Farsight/Crisis Suit/Blacksun Filter/Missile Pod army. Lets just say that his first 2 turns of shooting were devastating, and not one of my models ever made it halfway across the board.I ended up with 2 battle boints for having my drop pod in his deployment zone, he got everything else.

Andy's Kroot / Nids

Thor Starin Down a "Trygon"

So after such a butt whoopin, I figured, "Can't get any worse, Right?" So I go into the next game ready to lay the smack down, playing the 5 objective mission that we did the battle report on previously.

I come up against Andy, a nice enough fella with his Kroot "Counts As" Tyranids, a really cool army that, when finished, will be a true testament to what "Counts As' is. He ran 2 Tyrants, 2 Tervigons, 2 Trygons, a Tyrannofex, a few gaunt squads and genestealers. The table really hurt me, as the centerpiece blocked nearly half of the table from LOS, and I did not deploy as intelligently as I could have. This led to it taking me way too long to kill his big bugs, and his ability to control the table. His shooting was very effective too, and I ended up losing the game 3 obj's to 1, with 1 contested. I was extremely frustrated with myself after this game, as I believed that I was capable of much better play and could have put myself in a better chance to tie/win. But i did not, and Andy took advantage of my mental lapses and played a great game. 

Bart's Beautiful Black Templars

So on we went to the Third game, the Classic Maul in the Mall mission, the mission that up to that point, I had never lost, going 4-0-0 thus far. I get paired up with Bart and his fantastic Black Templar, which ended up taking best painted. 

Thor Sees His Big, Juicy AV14 Target

Once again I am on a board with severe LOS blocking terrain, with spearhead deployment. Not good when you are facing up against assault armies. Luckily, his Landraider-O-Doom with Helbrecht/Emp. Champ/Chaplain/Crusaders immobilized itself in his deployment zone. This game was a ton of fun, with things dying all over the place. coming into the last turn, we were almost dead locked on victory points, with Bart having the edge by about 100vp's. 

Long Fangs Preparing for the Charge

On the bottom of 5, i was able to finish off a terminator squad, kill his general Helbrecht, kill the Landraider, and take out 2 squads of Crusaders, tallying over 900vp's in one turn, winning me the game, and keeping my streak on the mission alive. To play on the same table with an army as beautiful as Bart's was simply a pleasure, and made for an even greater experience.

So All in all, a great tournament and some great opponents. I would have loved to have had a better W-L-T record, but hey, can't win em all. Now the priority will be to get crankin on the Grey Knights to get them ready for this year's American Team Championships. I picked up a hard copy of the codex while at the tournament, and am very excited about getting this army together. More pics below of all the goings on at tne Maul. Grizz, signing out.

Ride: Busted

Wiley the Nord's Grey Knight Army

New Tyrannofex

Thor and His Drinking Buddies Dismounting

Video Batrep # 3!!!

Welcome all to our 3rd Video Batrep here on Da Deff Komp'ny! This video pits Yours Truly against my buddy Rex and his Ultramarines. We are playing 1850 pts in preperation for this Saturday's Maul in the Mall.The Mission we are playing is also from the Maul, titled "The Maul Rats".


2012 40k Mission #3 "The Maul Rats"



“I love da’ smell o’ commerce in da’ mornin’!”
DEPLOYMENT: Modified Dawn of War (40k Rulebook pg 93.) NO Nightfight will be used. “Seize the Initiative” May be used.
Number of Turns: Random Game Length.

SPECIAL RULES: The Characters: Before deployment, the player that deploys first chooses ONE unit in their army to be ”Jay & Silent Bob” and ONE unit in their army to be “LaFours”. The other player then chooses ONE unit in their army to be “Brodie & T.S.” ” and ONE unit in their army to be “Brandi’s Dad”.


Primary Objective “This is MY Mall” – Use the Seize Ground Mission Rules per the 40k Rulebook (page 91) with the following Exceptions – 1.) ALL units in your army count as Scoring Units. 2.) Every Table will automatically have 5 Objectives. Each objective counts as one of Five Different places in the Mall: The Game Show Stage, The Easter Bunny, Stan Lee, “Time For Cookies” and The Sailboat Picture.


Secondary Objective “Do all there is to do at the Mall” – If you have CONTROLED EACH of the Objectives at ANY TIME during the game you achieve this objective. You DO NOT have to have controlled them all at the same time. Players should note every Objective when they control it DURING the game. Both players may claim this objective.


Tertiary Objective “Win back the girls and Fly Fat A5$ Fly!” – If your Brodie & T.S. or your Jay & Silent Bob are still alive and not fleeing at the end of the game AND your opponents LaFours or Brandi’s Dad is dead or fleeing at the end of the game, you score this objective. Both players may claim this objective.


The List I brought:

HQ
Rune Priest
jaws of the world wolf; living lightning; chooser of the slain.

Troops
7 Grey Hunters
meltagun; mark of the wulfen; wolf standard.
• Arjac Rockfist
• Drop Pod

9 Grey Hunters
meltagun; mark of the wulfen; wolf standard.
• Wolf Guard: power fist; combi-weapon.
• Rhino

9 Grey Hunters
meltagun; mark of the wulfen; wolf standard.
• Wolf Guard: power fist; combi-weapon.
• Rhino

5 Grey Hunters
meltagun.
• Razorback: lascannon+tl plasmagun.

5 Grey Hunters
meltagun.
• Razorback: lascannon+tl plasmagun.

Heavy Support
Long Fangs
2× lascannon, 3x missile launchers

Long Fangs
2× lascannons, 3x missile launchers

Long Fangs
2× lascannon, 3x missile launchers
• Razorback: lascannon+tl plasmagun


My opponent Rex was playing his Ultramarines:


2x TDA Librarians w/ Storm Shields

5x TH/SS Terminators

Land Raider Crusader

2x10 Tac Squads in Rhinos
...Plasma Cannon, Melta, Combi Melta

1x10 Tac Squad in Rhinos
...Multi Melta, Melta, Combi Melta

2x Dual Autocannon Dreadnoughts

2x Predator Destructors w/ Heavy Bolter Sponsons

All in all a great game, one that I was about 90% positive was lost by the end of turn 2. When you lose 45% of your long fangs and not one of them has had a chance to fire a shot yet, there tends to be trouble. But the wolves hung tough and made their shots/assaults count, and finally turned the tide back in my favor.

Rex always makes for a great opponent and a tough game, so big thanks to him for allowing us to video our game! I am really liking this list, as it has bodies, assault capabilities, and a massive dakka factor. Hopefully it will still be playing well come Saturday!

Thanks for checkin out our Batrep, Until Next Time, Take It Easy!!

T Minus 6 Days till The Maul!!

Evening readers, Your friendly neighborhood Grizz here. This post was originally going to be a treat for y'all in the form of a video battle report. Unfortunately, as soon as I began filming, my Flip Cam died. Go me.

So instead, I am going to let y'all in on my progress preparing for this year's Maul in the Mall tournament. I have been tirelessly working the past two days trying to get my beloved Space Wolves into proper form, something that has been long overdue!

We are on our way to finishing, with all but 8 models and 2 razorbacks left to paint. Everything has actually went alot faster than initially anticipated, so it seems that I will actually have a completely painted/based army in time for the tourney!

The Painted Part Minus the 2 Razorbacks

What's Left

The army I plan on taking;



HQ
Rune Priest 
jaws of the world wolf; living lightning; chooser of the slain.


Troops
7 Grey Hunters 
meltagun; mark of the wulfen; wolf standard.
• Arjac Rockfist
• Drop Pod


9 Grey Hunters 
meltagun; mark of the wulfen; wolf standard.
• Wolf Guard: power fist; combi-weapon.
• Rhino


9 Grey Hunters 
meltagun; mark of the wulfen; wolf standard.
• Wolf Guard: power fist; combi-weapon.
• Rhino


5 Grey Hunters 
meltagun.
• Razorback: lascannon+tl plasmagun.


5 Grey Hunters 
meltagun.
• Razorback: lascannon+tl plasmagun.


Heavy Support
Long Fangs 
2× lascannon, 3x missile launchers


Long Fangs 
2× lascannons, 3x missile launchers


Long Fangs 
2× lascannon, 3x missile launchers
• Razorback: lascannon+tl plasmagun.

You can expect multiple updates this week of my progress, and upon completion, some close ups of the army. Until then, I'll leave you with a shot of my Counts-As Arjac, Thor, Red Moon's Champion.

Tourney Ideas

So yesterday I was building lists in preparation for this year's Maul In The Mall tournament, and it got me to thinking..."you know what would be fun? A tournament that forced you to build lists out of your element, made you take things you normally would not." the more I thought about it, the more enamored with the idea I became.

It seems that when I build a list, I have all these "go-to" units that I always take, making most of my builds play the same. And since 95% of the games I play are at the 2000 pt level, I have very little variation.

So I began to think about ideas to encourage change but keep it fun. So I came up with a few limitations to the list builds. The first was that each codex entry was 0-1, meaning that no entry could be taken more than once, except for troops/transports, which can be taken only twice. For example, my wolves would be limited to one rune priest and 2 grey hunter squads.

Now some of you may be saying, "Come on Grizz, this is just a nice way of trying to eliminate spam armies". Well, yes and no. With this setup, yes it eliminates spamming, but my intent is based solely on the purpose of people bringing lists that are off the wall and different than what we've all been playing, not because I hate spam and think its lame/waac/whatever.

I have no problem with multiple identical units, I just want something a little different. It's like I love steak, but every now and then a bucket of extra crispy fried chicken is kinda nice.

Another way to make it different is to change the points level, which I am thinkin around 1500. This changes everything about list building. Units that are great/suck at 2000pts may be suck/great at a different point level.

The whole idea behind this is for everyone involved to have fun and to build/try things that may may have never done before. It keeps things fresh and new.

So what do we think about the Grizz's tournament ideas? How do you feel about atypical tourneys, or tourneys that encourage different list builds or have off the wall missions?

Thunderwolf Cav, ASSEMBLE!!!

Yesterday, I came home with an unopened box of Thunderwolf Cav. This evening, I present to you, my dear followers, is what they look like out of the box.

The Wolfpack

To the Right, To the Right...

...To the Left, To the Left.

TH/SS Close Up

BP/CCW

CCW/SS

                            

The new Wolfkind with Lord Red Moon

The Pack Is on the Prowl...

 The TWC kit in my opinion may be one of the best GW has produced to date. They go together great, have all kinds of interchangeable parts, and are a lot of fun to paint. The models have a crap ton of character, and are very dynamic. I am almost sad to have finished them :(


If you play wolves and haven't picked up a box of these yet, do yourself a favor and pay a visit to your FLGS and pick up a box. You won't be disappointed!


So what do we think, did The Grizz do the new kit justice, or has he failed horribly? Your comments below!

Maul In the Maul Prep Tourney

Well Bear Cubs, I played in a Maul in the Mall Prep tourney this morning, and did I have a blast! For those of you who don't know, the Maul in the Mall is an annual tournament put on by Dicehead Games of Cleveland that I have been going to since 2004. It is a lot of fun, and really what got me into playing in big events/tourneys across the state. Anyway, this year's Maul is March 24, and will be at Bradley Square Mall in Cleveland, TN. It's an 1850pt tourney, and should be a blast. If you live in the area, or even if you don't, you should come on down and meet Da Deff Komp'ny Krew.


Anyways, today was a dry run, where we tried out all the MITM missions, which can be found HERE. I have been tinkering around with my Space Wolves, and have come up with a list that I am very happy with. Having never played in an 1850pt tourney before (MITM is usually 2000) I was slightly nervous about how my list building would fare.





Total Roster Cost: 1850
 
Arjac Rockfist
8 Grey Hunters Pack
...Mark of the Wulfen, Wolf Standard, Meltagun
...Drop Pod

Lone Wolf in Terminator Armour
...Combi-Meltagun, Chain Fist


4 Wolf Guard in Power Armour
...Combi-Meltagun, Power Fist
4x5 Grey Hunters Pack
...Meltagun
...Razorback
......Lascannon and TL Plasmagun

Rune Priest in Power Armour
...Chooser of the Slain
3x6 Long Fangs Pack
...Lascannon x2, Missile Launcher x3


The tournament was a Power Armored affair, with only 2 armies not rollin with the 3+. The army breakdown was;


Space Wolves - 4
Grey Knights - 1
Imperial Guard - 1
Eldar - 1
Blood Angels - 1
Chaos Space Marines - 1
Dark Angels (DW) - 1


As it all played out, I played Space Wolves in every round, going 2-0-1 and tying the Grey Knight player for 2nd, with the Guard taking the top spot. Overall, the list played well, and I will be using the basic format in my 2000pt list from here on out. 


On a somewhat unrelated note - I Has Thunderwolves!!!11!!11!!! Picked up a box of TWC and Fenrisian Wolves while at Dicehead, so I will be doing a model breakdown/painting overview later on. Till next time, Peace!

New Models this Saturday, Whos in?

Well bear cubs, the wait is finally over! All those models that we sat around and wondered "why is GW not making these?!?!" are on their way! And let me be the first to tell you, I am excited!


We have been waiting a long time for twc/tervigons an the like, and I must say, the models do not disappoint! I never cared for any of the off brand wolves, and these new models blow any of them out of the water.


These new models have motivated me to put some twc back in my list, and I will be posting lists and results in the future.


What do y'all think of the new stuff?? How many of you have already ordered some??