The Cult Rises: Update 6: My first Genestealer Cult list and a build week

Greetings Reader,

Here we are, on the last day of February and #thecultrises has been going on for the better part of two months now. I haven't quite hit my total painted models goal but I have been extremely pleased at consistent progress on this army as well as a pretty good quality of painting for my current skill level.

NOVA Recap Part 3 - My Experience

For part three of my NOVA recap, I wanted to finally get into my own experiences at NOVA. Part 1 was a pic dump primarily from the 40k hall, while part 2 dug into some of the stats from the 40k GT. I'll cover my games briefly, and hopefully discuss them a bit more in an upcoming podcast, and overall share my experiences at one of the premier hobby and gaming events out there.

NOVA Bound: List Building Again

As is my norm at this point, I'm still debating what list I'm going to take to NOVA this year. That said, I'm coming closer I think to settling on something, which is good seeing as we're just a little over a month out. 

Malifaux Bat Rep: Gremlins (Ulix) vs. Arcanists (Rasputina)

A couple weeks ago I hosted the guys for a gaming weekend. On Friday night, Chris and I got in a game of Malifaux. He brought Rasputina using her box and a couple other minis. I picked through my Gremlins collection to come up with a list based on the Strategy and Schemes.

 vs. 

Malifaux Bat Rep: Ophelia vs. Lynch

Last week I did one of the nerdiest things ever and played a game against myself. Obviously you can't keep secrets from yourself, but I have found it can be useful for practicing game mechanics and just seeing how things work in-game. The game ended up extremely low scoring in part because I knew exactly what was being attempted, but also because I just wasn't very good at playing to the Schemes and Strategies. Finally, it was a fun way to break out my recently painted minis and push them around a bit.

Malifaux Starter Set Review and Painted

A few months back I picked up the Malifaux Starter box, with the intention of using it as a nice way to introduce the game to friends. I've since assembled and painted the eight models that come with it, and run through the introduction missions with Chris and Chandler.

Bat Rep: Twilight Fight - 1,500 Points - Blood Angels vs. Space Wolves

A couple weekends ago, Chandler and I got in our casual "Twilight Fight, Team Jacob vs. Team Edward" Game. Chandler brought some hard punching Space Wolves to counter my hodgepodge Flesh Tearers posing as Blood Angels. We set up the board to show off a bit our new G-Mat from Gamemat.eu, which inspired the narrative element of our game as well.

Hammer in the New Year: Huzzah Hobbies GT - January 23-24

Friend of the blog Elphilo is running a GT in January at Huzzah Hobbies in Ashburn, VA. The Hammer in the New Year GT will take place Saturday, January 23, through Sunday, January 24. This five round event will be running ITC FAQ and Missions as a great prep for anyone going to LVO, or anyone who wants to try out the format in a pretty competitive event. 

The field is limited to 32 players, so be sure to reserve your spot while you still can. I know some of my local guys are planning on making the trip - I would love to but don't think the schedule will work for me. That said, Phil always runs great events and the competition should be fierce and fun.

NOVA in Review, Part 2: GT Bat Reps, Day 1

As promised in my Bat Rep against Alan Pajamapants, we're moving on to the GT. After losing to Alan in Round 1 in the Invitational, one thing I did with my free time was participating in two display board classes, where I met a few other GT players. After chatting and telling them my list, they jokingly said they hoped to not see me the next day. As luck would have it, Round 1 I saw myself up against Brian. Even worse for him, he was running Lictorshame, which I know very well and is honestly a terrific matchup for my list.

NOVA Review

While I am still recovering from this year's NOVA, I thought I would put together a quick review/overview post. Pic dumps to come, as well as more detailed BatReps, but for now, if you're just looking for some pics of the armies at the event, I suggest checking out all of Greggles's pics over at Feed Your Nerd.

Bat Rep: The Battle of Piscina IV

Last week, Will was down to wrap up his Masters defense (congrats to Will) and we got in a few turns of a fun, fluffy game using the scenario from White Dwarf 73 - The Battle of Piscina IV. The scenario is based on Warboss Nazdreg's field test of his Tellyporta technology on the world of Piscina IV, which was defended by the Dark Angels. We settled on 2,025 points give or take 5 points and got to it.

A Treatise on Gaming; Points Values, You Need 'Em

The topic of points and balance have, thanks to the recent release of Age of Sigmar, been a hotly contested topic for the last few weeks. I generally tried to stay out of flame wars because, after all, this is the internet, and we all know what is said about internet arguments... However, I was no longer to stay silent when I saw an older article pop up, written by Game Workshop's "long term strategy manager," Jervis Johnson, titled "Points Values; Who Need 'Em?!?" Originally published in 2002, you can read the article in the pictures below:

Suggest downloading or at least manipulating to make readable. 

 *Warning - wall of text to follow

NOVA Open Charity BBQ

For those in the Northern Virginia/DC area, if you're available you should look into checking out the NOVA Open Charity BBQ on Saturday, July 18. There is both a 40k and Malifaux tournament, not to mention food and live music.

For more information, check out Mike's blog here. Seems like a great time and good luck to everyone who goes.

Road to NOVA Championships

Last weekend, Rick and I headed up to Huzzah Hobbies in Ashburn for the Road to NOVA Championships RTT. It was definitely a bit intimidating knowing I would be going up against some really solid players using some really nasty lists. Before the drive up, I knew my first round matchup was going to be against Matt Schuchman and his Seer Council. I didn't know exactly would be in his list, but he's been running Seer Council for years, so that was a safe bet. Rick meanwhile was matched up against Werner and his Necrons, which followed the list Neil came up with and I played a couple months back.

Bat Rep: Tyranids vs. Space Wolves - Road to the NOVA Open Game 4*

This week I got my second league game in with Chandler. We would be playing Mission 4, Points and Regions, as part of our Week 4 matchup. This is a table quarters mission.

Bat Rep: Tyranids vs. CSM/Daemons - Road to the NOVA Open Game 3*

I set up a weekly game night at my place for the Road to NOVA league games. For the first session last week, we were planning on playing our Week 2 match-ups and missions. However, Tom wasn't feeling well and Chandler was delayed, so Rick and I ended up playing our Week 3 matchup in advance. Week 3 is Mission 3, from the NOVA Mission Pack, which is a modified Relic Mission.

Gaming Weekend

Last weekend I hosted a gaming weekend at my place. We've expanded a bit since our early gaming weekends, and this time I had three tables set up, with the possibility of setting up a fourth, though we never had more than six people playing at a time. I was a terrible blogger and failed to take any pictures except for one of my Vaul's Wrath Battery proxies for the weekend:

Gaming Weekend and FTGT Kill Team Tournament

A couple weekends ago, we held a gaming weekend at my house. As part of the weekend's festivities, I held a small Kill Team Tournament, encouraging local participants in the FTGT Hobby Challenge to join in and bring their painted minis from December.

Gaming Night: Good Things Happen

My buddy, Will, is in town this week and last night, despite it being a weeknight, we had a little gaming night, broke out the minis and the scenery and rolled some dice (and flipped some cards).

While hanging out at NOVA, I had been talking up Malifaux, so to begin the evening we wanted to get a quick game in. Having only played once I was not the most effective teacher, but we threw together two 25SS Crews and dove in.

NOVA in Review

Three days later and I'm still recovering from the trip. Unlike last year, I really went in for the full experience and stayed at the hotel Thursday through Sunday. I also managed to squeeze in one of the classes Friday morning, in which I built my display board with Eric from the 11th Company.