Blog Wars 3 - Build Up Around the Blogosphere

As promised here's my run-down of everyone's build-up to Blog Wars 3. With less than a week to go now people are either ramping up their painting to get things finished or sitting pretty knowing they've had the army finished for weeks. I'm certainly in the former category but my new approach of sod-it-let's-get-three-colours-on-and-leave-it-at-that is working out nicely.

Here's some coverage from the blogosphere which should hopefully give you an idea of the armies you'll face at the rapidly approaching Blog Wars 3 tournament. It's always good to know your enemy so I advise taking some time to get a feel for what you can expect.

Phil over at Armoured Sentinel has been taking us through the selection of his Tyranids list and talks about a couple of his games playtesting them before the day. I met Phil at one of the GW Doubles days and unfortunately he learnt the hard way about what JotWW can do to a tervigon list! Hopefully with only one Space Wolves list at BW3 he'll have a better time of it. It's certainly nice to see 'nids so well represented at Blog Wars 3 and I hope they can prove they can be a force to be reckoned with.

After toying with the idea of bringing Eldar, Graham Sanders from Rogue Trader/Claws and Fists eventually opted for his trusty Tyranids list. I often end up playing Graham in a tournament and it's always a friendly game. Highlight for me was playing him at the End Times which saw two games of SW vs Tyranids running side by side. After a punishing start Graham pulled back well only to be denied victory by a disgustingly good performance from the otherwise hit and miss thunderlord. Nothing yet (that I've noticed) from Andy Lane who's also from C&F but he'll no doubt post something up soon or failing that some AARs from the event.

As ever there's been a lot of coverage of Blog Wars 3 build up over on Sons of Sanguinius. Defending champ Andy Humphris has published several posts with him debating whether to be competitive or not. As I've previously mentioned he's also thrown up a post talking about how to beat the Necron list he eventually settled on. Elsewhere Bully has talked about what he would've taken if he hadn't had to pull out and I expect some stuff soon from Atreides and Kabalite about their offerings.

With three members attending this time around, Blog Wars 1 & 2 veterans the Weemen will be hoping to put in a strong showing this time around. With Chris (the6thdegree) winning Best Painted Army last time around it's certainly worth having a look through the blog for pictures of his Tyranids. Having missed out on BW2, Siph returns with his Relictors for some more Blog Wars action. I love the colour scheme of this army and he's put together a strong force for next weekend's event. Finally, pornstarjedi will be our only Daemons player so keep an eye on him to see how the ageing codex performs.

Ken Morley over at Ignatum placed 3rd in the first Blog Wars with his Tau list. Let's see if he can pull off a similar feat with Tyranids this time around. He's in good company for Tyranid players but confesses to being less experienced than others. Maybe bringing a different angle to the army will pay off. Look out also for Ken's friend Jon Cox who'll be bringing Crimson Fists along to BW3.

One of the armies I'm most looking forward to seeing in the flesh at BW3 is Ian Connolly's "Empire Strikes Back" IG list. There are some excellent conversions in there and some fantastic "counts as" offerings that should still work out great on the tabletop. You can check out his blog Need More Tanks for more pictures.

It seems only right to give a mention to my good friend Jamie and his Index Astartes blog. He's bringing along an Iron Hands SM army with some interesting conversions. Jamie always puts my poxy "conversions" to shame so I'm looking forward to seeing what he's come up with for BW3.

John Holland (MC Tic Tac) from Blood Claw has taken a different tack for Blog Wars 3. Last time around I have a very difficult Wolves vs Wolves game against him which saw him come out on top. Whilst his list for BW2 was very much a competitive list he's opted for a very strong theme this time around basing it on the old Catachans codex applied to the current IG book. I'm looking forward to seeing this army on the table too.

There'll be a strong competitive presence at Blog Wars 3 from the guys at the newly created Generation 40K site. Frank Marsh is somewhat of a nemesis to Matt and I as we've played him at various events across the tournament scene. His friends Rob and Gary will be joining him this time around and I'm sure I'll end up playing one of them at some point. Whilst the site is a bit sparse at the moment keep an eye on in it in the run up to the event and hopefully we'll find a bit more out. If not I'm sure there'll be some aftermath stuff on there.

Last but not least in the this round-up is James Lamb from Sheep of War who's bringing a Grey Knights list with a difference. There's a distinctly simian feel to the army with an abundance of Jokaeros. He's used some third party models to represent them and I'm looking forward to seeing how it's worked out.

So that's it for now. Of course I'll create a similar post for the after action stuff across the blogs. If you're coming along to BW3 and you think I've missed you out then get in touch and I'll make sure to include you. All in all I think it's shaping up to be the best event yet with a great mix of competitive lists and interesting army themes. Stay tuned for more build up over the coming week. Not long to go!