Starting a new army part 6... Building that first list

This is where I have struggled the most since taking on this army. I debate and list build and list build and delete and scour the book again and list build and compare it to meta and scrap it and evaluate mathhammer and list build and go on torrent of fire to compare it to GT lists and I think you're getting the point. Its agony. Why is the list so hard to build? For me its several reasons. Here we go.

One fluff considerations. Some of us fall into this and some of us don't. Some of us never consider a piece of literature when list building. Some of us only consider that. For those of us that do... This is a issue. I know for Legion Night Lords the Terror Squad is the core of the army. Night Raptors are the hard hitting jump troops and Contemptor Dreads are the fire/cc support. Here is the dilemma none of those units are cheap and all are very specialized it what they deal with. However those are all often used and often written about when dealing with Night Lords. They are all units I've read about and love the fluff behind them, so I HAVE to include them in most my lists. Now the real downside to fluff considerations is it limits what you will take. Night Lords are not known for their heavy armored columns of support dropping artillery all over the board suppressing enemy fire and providing a threat, while the infantry closes in on the enemy to annihilate them. They just don't really do that. It doesn't fit with the Legion theme. Hit hard, hit fast, desecrate the dead and leave the living with boots full of urine. That's hot, I keep reading that sentence and damn if I don't get sweaty thinking about it.

Two meta considerations, well you know your gaming group. I know mine. In my group I know AV13 is prevalent through either Knights, Russ's, Cron's or Land Raiders. This is an issue with the above units. They do not have a great way of cracking that armor, outside melta bombs and any decent player isn't going to make that happen. I highly doubt any of my friend's will be like "gee those guys with the jump packs are friendly, I'll save them for later" no they will be more like "I'll blow that shit up first because I know he likes them". I don't like my friends... So how do I work in tank busting with a army that doesn't bring tanks to kill other tanks... My answer Rapier Weapons Carriers... hehehehehe. Not the fluffiest but really cool and really cheap.

Why yes that is a Laser Destroyer array.

Three competitive considerations, this is my army. What if I want to go to a tourney? Can I play three games without getting butthurt over the results? Can I handle the soon to be often seen CronWraithWing? Can I handle the adamantium lance, the sperpent spam, Tau Parking lot, 70 Thunder Wolf Cav, the never ending shots of the Dark Eldar, the incessant bombardment of AM? Short answer. No. Long answer is I suffer the same issue every army has, the TAC(take all comers) list is dead. No I'm not alone. What I can do is try to include the following into my armies.
40-50 shots a turn for medium to light infantry, I categorize these as S4-5 shots. I need to include 15-20 shots turn for T6/AV12 I categorize these as S6-7. I need to include 10 shots a turn of S9-10 to crack the big stuff. This last part is my issue. Everyone has an area they struggle with when then build a new list for a new army.

Four but these look sooooo cool, yeah don't you hate that. Sometimes the coolest looking models are turds. This is a huge part for me because that first list also determines what I want to buy first to get my army on the table fast. So this becomes a real struggle. I want to get cool looking stuff but it cant be a complete joke. Exhibit one your honor: The Dreadclaw:

Stunning huh?

Yeah well its a 100 point flying drop pod. What you say "flying"? Yeah... Its a flyer. With no weapons and it doesn't have drop pod assault. It is sooooo gorgeous though. Like I want to make it have my babies. Yeah it sucks though. Trust me I've tried to figure out how to make it good. No Umm no no no!! It isn't any good. BUT!!!! I know its pretty but it will have to be a luxury buy, because it isn't good. It hurts the army actually. Example two: Scimitar Jetbike.

Yeah it does look kinda like a...

Now this one doesn't look that cool to me. Good friggin rules though! 2+ Armor save T5, variety of weapon loadouts, jetbike, etc... Pretty solid really and only 35 each! But look at it... Its a friggin ,... I promised I wouldn't swear. Its silly, its like a car crash I cant stop looking. So this one has the opposite issue good rules silly model. GRRRRR!!!

So what did I build for my first list. Hell I don't know I keep changing it. So what was this article about? Hell I don't know... See you are around the way...

Starting a new army part whatever... Curze

So I ordered Curze right before xmas. You maybe asking "Curze, what's a Curze?" That pain you feel was my right hand up against your head. That sound you hear is called "ringing" that's what happens when a Night Lords fanboy slams his palm into your ear when you ask. What's a Curze?

This is a Curze.



So now stop asking silly questions. I'm not going to do a painting tutorial on him. I'm instead going to cover my emotions when I unboxed him and then review his rules. I'm not going to do a paint review because frankly I'm a average painter and my Curze is mediocre.

So last Thursday my girlfriend text "hey you got something in a box". I knew what it was. I ordered him xmas eve. I could hold out no longer. I was so in love with the model I had to have it. This is all while I was still debating selling an Eldar army I had. I decided I had to have the model that night and just on a whim ordered it. I knew at the time I wouldn't see him for a while. The FW team was for sure off till that Monday and then the week after was New Years. So I waited. Then I got a backordered email... Great.

Then  the best day ever came, last Thursday. Konrad Curze, The Night Haunter, The Primarch of the Night Lords was at my house. So I got home and unboxed him. Everything looked great. Sometimes resin warps, sometimes it just looks like leftover turds in a crapper. No holes, no cracks, no jacked ass non sense. He was going to be a wash. assemble and paint. Wow I was speechless.

Then it hit me. The shakes. What? I'm a grown man why am I nervous about a frigging model? I quickly realized I was overwhelmed. I'm not a good enough painter for this model. Fruck. I knew at that moment that I wouldn't be happy with my results. I'm a firm believer in personal honesty, most people has a tendency to overestimate how good they are at something. That's not me. I like to weigh my abilities in anything on a honest scale. Ok enough psycho babble crap! I was nervous is all I am saying.

So the next day I was off work to celebrate diversity and all. You know cuz I'm black.... I'm not I was totally milking the system that celebrates a great man's accomplishments and deeds. Thanks MLK!!  So I decided that would be perfect kids would be at school and I could paint un-harassed. I got him about 85% complete Friday. Spent about 7-8 hours on the model before calling it quits for the day. Then Sunday I wrapped up the details. I'm satisfied with the results but by no means am I happy. I think its really close to the best I could do. So now that I am done whining.

Rules review.
Konrad Curze, The Night Haunter, Primarch of the Night Lords.
Well he comes in between 400-450 points. He has a lot of great stats and rules. IWND, Stealth, Shrouded, Jump Infantry, EW, Fear, Fearless, he is one tough mother.
Stats wise no let down either:
WS 8, T6, S6, W6, I7, Hot damn looking good yo!!
Wargear and  weapons
Armor 2+/4+ hit and run, D3 Hammer of Wrath attacks!
Paired weapons, AP2 , ID on a 6, Shred, yikes!!! Ranged weapon 12" S4 AP5?? Lame, wait what's this lethal precision ohh its just precision strikes and on a 6 to wound it ignores armor saves AND INVULENRABLE SAVES!!! Ouchie ouch!!
Wow that's a lot of good stuff there!!! Notice however this sound in the background.
No grenades, only S6, (insert long stream of profanities here).
He charges anyone in cover and he goes at I1 insert more bad words here). He cant kill a Knight Titan that is 60 points cheaper then him, he cant scratch a land raider, a straight up fight vs a Wraithknight will be a bear, any AV 13 walker he has to run away from. That's all highly annoying.
But I never stay focused on the "what you can't do long". I jump right into "what you CAN do".

He is a infantry killer, that's a understatement. He is a god damn infantry calamity, a message from the gods that you shouldn't be here. He is the King of Terrors for a reason. You will run from combat that's because against Curze you'll be taking that fear test at -3, ohh you have ATSKNF, good then he will just murder you to a man. 10 Death company Marines with Thunder Hammers with 60 attacks, rerolls to hit and wound, only do 5 wounds to him. Love that mathhammer. So I cant kill AV13 walkers, Imperial Knights and such. Good deal that's why I have Night Raptors, Sicarans, Contemptor dreads, Fire Raptors, Rapier Weapons teams. As my good buddy Kyle told me when I expressed my concerns. His statement was pure and true. "That's not Curze's style to kill that stuff anyways, he'd send someone else to do that". Truff right there gents and well I'd say gals but lets face it, their are about as many women in Wargaming as there are college degrees on the cast of the jersey shore.

See you around the way...

Starting a new army part 3... Leaping...

So for both of you reading this. I did it I made the leap. I jumped feet first into the Night Lords. I made a decision last Thursday night to do it. I couldn’t shake my desire for this army. I had to have them. Had to. So I also made the decision that 2 armies is the right amount for me. I knew my Beastmen weren't going anywhere. They frigging rock. Love those crazy goat men. My Eldar though.... I wrote a blog about actually check it out here. I didn’t want them anymore I was over it.  

So I sold them like 8000 points and for 50% and they were 65% painted. However I sold them to a guy I like and he got a deal and more importantly I got the money I wanted for them. How could I right? Selling my primary army, leaving me 40k less. I was ok to me I knew if I had 3 armies someone was never gonna get played. I love Night Lords and I'd play Fantasy any day over 40k. So the winner was???? Ding, ding, ding... F you Eldar bye bye.  

So the spoiler for the last article was how much is this going to cost? Answer. A god damn a lot.... Like a lot. Holy shit its a lot. F you Forgeworld. No actually don’t you guys rock. Great stuff. So this is a teaser how much it was going to be. You'll want to zoom in... That’s not all of it either. Yeah I know stab me. I am already at 964.... POUNDS!!! That’s what like 3400 American? No its like 1500 I know that.  

 

So the list of what I WANT is long and the list of what I NEED is a bit shorter. I need a playable army of course. I also need small enough parts not to overwhelm me painting wise. Makes sense huh? Very odd for me as I am known for bad decisions. I'm dumb, what can be said? So I am on my way to a new army. I am giddy with excitement. I cant wait to play them. I cant wait to learn them. To MASTER them, more then anything though to put together a beautiful army. One I will be beyond proud of. So I am doing some test Marines while I wait for the first models to come in.  

I'll leave you with a little snippet of what I am trying out so far. Only issue I am running into is this the base I cannot for the life of me decide what I want on them... AHHHH its always something. This is the stuff you struggle with when dealing with a new army. See my issue is my Beastmen have fudging amazing basing. Its amazing. I got zero issue saying that. So here is a little snap shot of the Night Lords. Suggestions are welcome. I was thinking I want body parts on the base but I don’t know what I want underneath of that. Fire off some ideas folks that I can freely steal and claim as my own. See you around the way...  

Starting a new army part 2 or will I like how they play?

 

Its actually a great question. It really is. Like really is. I cant stress enough how big a deal it is. I'm going to keep harping on this until you get it. Like it’s a huge god damn deal man!! So I knew I loved the fluff of the Night Lords. This group of Marines who's sole purpose was to pacify renegade planets and systems. How did they do it you ask? They did it with fear... Lots of fear... They did it by butchering those that surrendered.  Think about this "We did not come for your supplication". They knew to break the heart and soul of a enemy they must fear your wrath. That’s exactly what they did.  

Right on that gets me pumped thinking about that. Now how's it play? Seriously can you replicate that on the tabletop? Short answer is no. Its not possible with the current rulesets of the game to really "break" a army. Hell so much ATSKNF and fearless and re-rolling morale checks and zealot and relics and psychic powers. Get my point? Its not doable but that doesn’t change I love them and the idea of them. They are sooo cool to me. I cant stop thinking about how much I'd dig having this army. 

So its my 2nd army and where do you start? Start with the rules. STFU I knew you knew that but I have to type it anyways god damn it. What rules would I need? Horus Heresy rules for Books 1-3 so I bought these sexy ladies! 

 

Now I gotta tell you this. I do not like spikey Marines. Think they look stupid and all that chaos for the wiener god and look at my herpes its gives me +1 toughness. Well frankly does absolute jack for me. Don’t like the way it looks and certainly don’t like all those stupid charts and goofy other shit CSM use. The Night Lords I love are from 30k which by and large translates to 40k it isn't perfect though. Some of the stuff just doesn’t work. Most the fear causing abilities don’t do shit in 40k (most of my games will be against 40k armies).  For instance causing fear is scary to 30k Marines they run from shit! Their 40k counterparts however go "umm what's with the skull face spooky man?" Then they open up fire on you and bye bye... Lastly 30k stuff is just as expensive points wise even though they are missing rules or abilities. EHHH... Not good. 

So you gotta study and figure out how you are going to play these psychopaths. That’s what I started doing. First thing I noticed. Marines are slow. My Eldar move, shoot, run do a ninja flip and then hide in a bush. Marines move and shoot and then die... Terrifying I know right? My vehicles all jink, Night Lord vehicles explode really pretty and stuff. Shit that’s no good. My monstrous creatures all have high toughness my Night Lords MC have ohh shit... Ok I don’t want Night Lords now.  

Kidding they have some sweet stuff. Nostramen Chainglaives S+1 AP3 rending 2 handed weapons. You can take them or a power weapon, for the same mf-ing price!! Score! Alex I'll take Nostramen Chainglaives for the win. Also I can take pods in mass like any good Space marine army. Nice, nice I likey! Lastly they get Curze. 435 points of madness. A beat stick. A murder train of scary. He buffs the army like crazy and makes them better. Having 7 S6 AP2 instant death attacks don’t hurt much either. 2+/4+, stealth, shrouding, hit and run, D3 hammer of wrath. I do!! I'll bottom its cool.  

So I've found some good stuff. Now I can take anything any other legion can take vehicles, elites, fast attack etc.. A lot doesn’t keep with the fluff though. That’s a big deal to me. That’s why I want them. I'm seeing what my biggest issue will be though. Limited builds to keep constant with the fluff. Can I get over it? Let frigging hope so.... 

Spoiler part 3 

It costs how much?

 

 

 

Playing the best army and dealing with it....

So I am a Eldar player. I know already what your thinking "Hello power gamer...". That's not why I play them, I picked them up June/July 2012. Ok I see the smoke coming from your ears. Yes that is when the new codex dropped and yes that was part of the reason I decided to play them again. Settle down let me explain.... 

 

 See I was out of the game from 95ish to 2012. I played alot of 2nd way back in the day. I played Eldar then because the 3 guys I played against all played some sort of Space Marine, well that and I thought they were cool. So fast forward many years and I wanted to play 40k again. I'm checking out what armies to play and I saw Eldar were getting a new book and I thought it was perfect. I'm getting back in the old army I had has some new stuff PERFECT!! Womp, womp, womp... 

We all know what happened next.... The book was really, really, really good. I won most my early games because of this. I had no idea what I was doing but I was winning so it was awesome. Then slowly reality sets in after I went to my first tournament. 1-2.... Wait I'm good though, I thought, aren't I?  No I wasn't, I sucked but my book was good. So all those casual games against Kyle that I won was because his Dark Eldar had a older book and mine was the best counter to theirs... But yeah I'm a super good player(read that with a sarcastic look on your face). Then I went to my next tourney 0-3... F@*# I'm awful, like really awful.  

So I was determined to be a better player. I put a self imposed 600 points per wave serpent rule, 3 max in 1850. Yes I've broken the rule a few times but...oh shut up let me finish. So I tried to learn how to play...after a year of playing. Define irony right? So here I was with the best codex winning a bunch of casual games and I'm handicapping myself. Why? Well I needed to get better at the game. Learn to play objectives, learn to move troops, learn to deploy, learn to use powers correctly I had to do all of that.  

Meanwhile why all that internal dialog is going on I get the look or the snide comment everytime I win. I was once accused of Dire Avenger spam, DA's without serpents. Process that let me know when your done... I regularly use 30-40 Dire Avengers in my lists. So anytime I win its assumed its all because the book and that's it. Its made me kinda hate Eldar truth be told. I'm the only Eldar player I know without a single god damn jetbike. I don’t play them. The model is ugly, so I wont play them. Recently a buddy challenged me to play without jink (any model unit that can do so anyways). I felt OBLIGATED to do this and my last 9-10 games have been sans serpents. Its tough I wont lie. I am committed to make it work though.  

So what am I doing here? I'm justifying playing a army. That’s not a good feeling for me, probably reason two why I am looking at Night Lords. Reason one is the fluff/30k setting. Now my friends don’t give me grief about what I play don’t get me wrong they say crap. A lot. Ok yeah they are just as guilty. So I'm done whining about how hard it is to play my super good codex... First world right here.... 

Starting a new army...sigh why do I hate myself

 

So like 4-5 months ago I read the ADB (Aaron Dembski Bowden) Night Lords triliogy. Such a good read. This isn't news though, not by a long shot. Talos is such a cool character and they painted Curze in this light that made me love him. I mean heavy breathing man crush on Curze. I mean like hiding my boner and trying not to smile, like a school girl at a one direction concert, when he comes to my place for a shirts off BBQ. Was that gay? I would make out with him ok!!! Whatever.  

So anyways loved that book and I loved the Night Lords. I loved what they were supposed to be. I loved the perilous position the emperor put them in. To be the terror, the judgment of the crusade and yet to be held in such low regard by the other legions. They had no friends and no companions outside their own and they could barely stand themselves. That’s the kind of self-loathing I can get behind.  

Then I started checking out all the 30k stuff from Forgeworld. God damn it why do I insist on being poor forever? AHHHHHH. Have you seen 30k rules and fluff?! AHHHHH and I'm broke or about to be. So now my dilemma become this I have a 40k army and a WFB army. I made a promise to myself 2 armies... 2 ARMIES... 2 GOD DAMN ARMIES!!! I have currently a Eldar army and my Beastmen. I love my Beastmen. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, them.  

I don’t love my Eldar. I can say that. I picked them up when I got back into the game 2 years ago because that’s what I had before when I played 2nd edition. So my dilemma. Sell my Eldar for my new army. I know youre saying why not have both. Well here is why. I barely get to play my Beastmen now, due to 40k's popularity and prevalence. I'd never get to play 3 armies especially one that uses 30k rules. I know not everyone is cool with cross-rules-complications-shananagins-butthurt-OP-ragequit-tableflip stuff and stuff. So I know my tabletop time is limited. Also I got like 60% of my Eldar done and noooooooooo way then ever get finished if I get Night Lords. Besides I made promises to myself. 2 ARMIES!!! 

So what do I do? Sell or stay or collect army number 3?  

So this is the start to my dilemma Where do I go from here? I'm going to cover this for a while. This topic isnt going anywhere so if you don’t like it don’t read it. I need to vent (whine). Hey who put whine in there? MFing editor.  

Part 2 spoiler 

Wait am I even going to like how these play???????

All yours daddy... Wait was that gay?

 

Fire for effect...

Huh? Nice title what's that mean jackass? Well simply what it means is the MasterCraft gaming group is all grows up yo! We are starting a real website with real content with awesome batreps, with sweet ass armies, with righteous tactics, with hot titties, with outstanding paint tutorials, with... What's that you ask? Titties? Who said titties? I didn't...

Its been too long since I wrote anything I was in a blog funk. Its probably the 2-3 times monthly updates for 3 whole months that burned me out you know? That's a lot, what's that? Its not? Ohh...
So this year shit is different. The group has the core members the rough edges are smoothed out (except me, I'll change my screen handle to 60 grit). I feel we can offer a lot to the gaming community. We are a group of dudes (and Alyssa) that get busy with 40k. We have overwhelmingly positive outlook on the game and GW. Frankly some of use are too enthusiastic cough.. cough.. me...Yes its true I viscously attack the haters. I have a disease.

So in the coming days and months look forward to lots of cool stuff from us. Lots. Like you might block us on facepage, filing a restraining order, move to another city, you know all the standard stuff Will's exes have to do.

So as a spoiler tomorrow I will be talking about Night Lords and the sick stuff it involves me doing... Can anyone say "scat"? Meanwhile remember all those Beastmen I had that weren't painted? Well eat it. They are 20 Ungors from being complete. Proof yo!!

 

GOD DAMN I'M GOOD!!!

LOOK AT IT!!!!