Building the "Imperial Sector" Cities of Death Terrain

After my surgery last December, I had a lot of time to go ahead and catch up on the many Games Workshop products that I had been putting off for... years. Imperial Sector is something I had bought while playing 5th edition regularly at the Games Workshop Battle Bunker in Glen Burnie. Purchased around '08, I've had this thing sitting around for nearly five years with only one building started.

Two 1000 point lists -- Initial Impressions

So, the Bladestorm League has recently grown from 500 points to 1000 points, doubling the cap and allowing for a lot more customization of armies. The Planetary Empires rules also grant some additional point bonuses, but for week one all of the bonuses were waived by the participants.

The first list I tried out was a Blood Angels mixed army. It actually plays similar to Eldar with a Librarian taking Prescience and essentially 'guiding' some guys. There is some heavy support in there for Big Guns Never Tire, but no Fast Attack. It can provide a pretty hefty amount of scoring units, though, and most of them, if not all, will have Feel No Pain.

Battleforce Recon Tournament Results

As expected, the competitive nature of the tournament made some new lists appear, with threats that you wouldn't necessarily call 'casual.' Nurgle CSM bikers, a Helldrake, and a Flying Hive Tyrant all found their way onto the field -- but who fared the best is actually somewhat surprising.

October Planetary Empires Campaign

In October our league will be doing a Planetary Empires mega-map campaign. Games and Stuff happens to have a set of tiles laying around, as well as mighty empires tiles, and I do as well! Another member may also be using his tiles to make an approx. 192 tile map for the friendly local game store, making an impressive map that will span the many environments the game boards have to offer.

The Bladestorm Battleforce Recon Tournament!

Hey everyone, I'm very pleased to announce the first Bladestorm tournament using the Battleforce Recon mission for Warhammer 40k Sixth Edition. All of our practice over the past months has gone to good use, now let's see who fares the best in our first ever tournament!

When: September 28th, 11 a.m. (Registration begins at 10)
Where: Games and Stuff in Glen Burnie, Maryland

Format: Swiss, 3 rounds. 1 hour time limit per round.
Entry: $10
Slots: 16
Prizes: Store credit (dependent on number of entrants) plus other goodies, and the honor of the first Bladestorm Champion!

Mission Details: Battleforce Recon (pg. 362 of the Big Rulebook or available transcribed here)

Event Info: Conduct, rules questions and judgements will be handled by Ed Vaughan as acting "judge."
No painting requirements.
No sportsmanship/painting/composition scoring (unlike other 40k tournaments.)
Tie-breakers determined by victory points.
Victory by "table" or opponent forfeiture counts as the maximum number of points your army is capable of getting at the end of the game.
No night-fighting.
No allied detachments.
Counts-as models acceptable as long as they are similar scale and on 40k-style beveled bases of applicable size. If you have questions on whether a model is acceptable, ask the organizer BEFORE the event preferably.
*All entrants must submit a printed or written army list to be verified by organizer before the first round.*

Use the mail link at the bottom of this page to get in contact with Ed Vaughan (tournament organizer) before the event begins -- with questions, concerns, comments, anything! Also feel free to use facebook -- facebook.com/radical.edwardd

You can sign up using the Bladestorm facebook group (link on the right-hand menu), getting in touch with the folks at Games and Stuff, or by showing up the day of the event! Hope to see you there!

Bladestorm Pictures & News!

Mike Doyle's old-school Ultras in the city ruins

Our league is chugging along quite nicely and nearly all participants are playing quick games, fully memorizing the rules! No small feat for such a rules-intensive game such as this one. The best generals are also taking to helping newcomers learn the nuances of new armies, picking up new ones themselves, and sharing the wealth of knowledge about the game and the hobby.

Understanding Battleforce Recon... the finer points of 500 points

Battleforce Recon differs from the core six missions of 40k in a number of subtle ways, creating a unique tactical challenge that's not just a points restriction. After playing tons of games this way, it's become evident that a good general will need to pay attention to these little details in order to come out victorious!

Bladestorm League News! 7/13

So, things have been stirred up and have also settled down since I've last posted. The new Eldar codex has been released, making my list actually a bit more viable and definitely way more of a threat than it was before. As a result, Brian, one of the guys who swings by every other week or so, has started picking them up. Up top is his first Wraithlord painted up, and below are some Striking Scorpions...

Necromonday & Bladestorm Saturday (Pics)

The last Monday in April was the first of our local game store Games and Stuff's "Necromonday" events, hosted by a guy named Dylan I had never met prior. I really enjoyed GW's specialist games range, as evidenced by the Mordheim posts I occasionally get around to. Naturally, I was pretty stoked to try out Necromunda, a game that I've never had a chance to even see in person. It was virtually phased out in the area by the time I had started Mordheim. I don't have a lot of sci-fi models suitable for a Necromunda gang, but I was thinking at the time that if I liked it enough, I'd probably go home and buy a metal gang, probably Escher, or Redemptionists. I've been pretty partial to the model of 'The Caller' also, even though I have no clue what the relevance to the game is.

Pictures from 4/27

No battle reports from yesterday, but we got in three games on the red planet board to decide who will be "League Commissioner" of our new WWF-themed idea. We are planning on having a reigning champion with a "belt" like trophy that can be challenged for feature matches (resulting in good battle reports) while pairing other players up to see who is deserving of a shot at the title. Hopefully this inspires some Macho Man Randy Savage, Ultimate Warrior, or Hulk Hogan type talk around the games. We're also shooting around some ideas for integrating something similar to ladder matches, cage matches, and other weird events/handicaps for 500 point 40k games. But uh, Saturday... let's see...

Bladestorm Saturday Report! 4/20/13

So, we had a pretty odd schedule today, and decided to come in for some games early (our local game store, Games and Stuff, opens at 10 am) so that we could make an early band rehearsal around 2 pm. Zni and I got an early game in while a Warmachine/Hordes tournament was underway. They were using 4x4 boards, so we actually got to play on one of the newly finished 6x4's in the store! Thematically, these hand-made boards are some of the best in the area, supporting Gale Force 9 scenery and some DIY stuff very well.

Some proposed Battleforce Recon army lists...

So, I've been playing a lot of games lately with the 500 point Swooping Hawk list. Hawks are indeed a big points investment at this level and are still extremely fragile. The points afforded to me for my troop selections leaves me with two minimum-sized squads of Dire Avengers... and I've come to the conclusion that it's unreasonable to assume that I will be able to hold two objectives in any given game. While I paint up a lot of Guardians and Dark Reapers in an attempt to try some different support for the Hawks, I figure I'd cook up some lists for the league, including some love for my near-finished Blood Angels.

The Saturday league report!

Of course, while Zni and I got in a game, Robbie and Kyle were off on another table. Robbie is much less familiar to the rules than we are, but seemed to be holding his own in this game. Now he has some Orks of his own back in possession, and I'm sure we'll see a quickly strengthening "WAAGH!" soon. This battlefield, though simple, looks surprisingly nice and balanced. I'm not sure what happened at the end of this game though, as Kyle pulled out a 6-1 victory, which led to him and I playing a 'Championship Game' for the day.

Battle Report: Tyranids vs Eldar, 500 points

This Saturday showed a bit more success in our group. We had our four show up, as well as two other 40k players, one of which I got in a quick 500 point game with. Zni's army has quite a bit more paint on it this week, and I managed to finish up the Swooping Hawks and add some detail to my bases, meaning that this particular Eldar 500k force is pretty much tabletop painted! The mission we're playing, as usual, is Battleforce Recon, and the army lists are unchanged since this posting.

Battle Report: Space Wolves vs Tyranids vs Orks vs Eldar

We kept the terrain mostly the same after the last game, but pulled off the 2'x4' blocker and made the board 6'x4'. Battleforce Recon again, using modified 18"x12" deployment zones (since it's a four player game, decided to try it out again.) Robbie here hasn't played in years, and will be playing Orks; Kyle's got some Space Wolves (a different list, with painting progress!) and Zni and I are using the same lists. You can see Zni's deployment here... I'm not set up yet.

Battle Report: Tyranids vs Eldar 500 points

Here's a quick game we played before the rest of the Bladestorm group rolled up on Saturday. We played Battleforce Recon (I've taken the time to write up a mission pack for this here) on a 4'x4' board. We modified the deployment to be 6" away from the board edge. My deployment is pictured above, and I took a chance with keeping the Swooping Hawks out from the very beginning, just to see how they'd do. Oh, and army lists can be found here.

Pictures from the first 40k meetup

We held our first meetup Saturday and it was a great success. We played a four player game of Battleforce Recon, modified to have a 12"x18" rectangle deployment zone on a 6'x4' board. I got in another game Wednesday as just a 1 on 1 with Battleforce Recon, using a 6'x4' board, and I think for one on one games, 4'x4' is probably best.

Army Lists For 500 pt Meetup

Just posting the Eldar and Tyranid lists we'll be using tomorrow... pictures will be on the way!

Keeping 40k Relevant

I technically started getting into the GW hobby in 1999, during I believe 40k's 2nd/3rd edition, and Fantasy's 5th edition. I've visited Games Workshop stores a lot, known a lot of employees, and I've watched how the game has grown and changed as both players get older and the company's business scheme has changed. In my own life, 40k was never the huge main hobby, but one of several, like D&D, online gaming, music, and writing. I still love the premise of the game though, and the miniatures. I've put a lot of time into them, and had some fun experiences. The problem is, the 40k game just seems so... disorganized right now.

Random Review: Dropzone Games

So, the Games Workshop Battle Bunker (and headquarters) in Glen Burnie closed down a while ago. It was alright place, a bit out of the way really. The selling point was the tables; The Battle Bunker (and the current one in Bowie, MD) was loaded with Realm of Battle boards painted to a high standard, with well painted official GW terrain. The downside was that you had to deal with Games Workshop's selling approach from a number of employees and well, the place was pretty much restricted to Games Workshop products. The place also seemed to attract a certain crowd that I'm sure you've seen on the internet -- people who are just downright CRAZY about tournament caliber, large 40k games (1850+.) When I heard that the store was bought out and turned into a Wargaming store, well, it sounded like it could be great. Especially if it was anything like what I saw from Miniwargaming's Youtube videos... which many wargaming stores should be looking at!