Special Characters at Blog Wars

Well with the tournament only about 36 hours away and my army pretty much finished I thought I'd share with you a list of the special characters which will be making a (mandatory) appearance at the tournament. For those who didn't know every list has to include a special character. The reason for this was to try and encourage people to use "friendlier" lists which has, for the most part, been successful. It's encouraged people to try out new things and it'll certainly make the games more interesting in most cases. Anyway, in attendance on Sunday will be *drumroll*:

Ragnar Blackmane (mine, Space Wolves)
Draigo & Inquistor Coteaz (Grey Knights)
Abaddon the Despoiler (CSM)
Corbulo (Blood Angels)
Njal Stormcaller (Space Wolves)
Commander O'Shovah (Tau Empire)
Wazdakka Gutsmek (Orks)
Belial (Dark Angels)
Kharn the Betrayer (CSM)
Logan Grimnar (Space Wolves)
Knight Commander Pask (Imperial Guard)
Sergeant Harker (Imperial Guard)
Harker & Marbo (Imperial Guard)
Colonel Straken (Imperial Guard)
Mephiston, Lord of Death (Blood Angels)
Baron Sathonyx (Dark Eldar)
Justicar Thawn (Grey Knights)
Kharn the Betrayer (CSM)

Marshal Helbrecht (Black Templars)
Marneus Calgar (Ultramarines)
Chief Librarian Tigurius (Relictors a.ka. Space Marines)
Kaldor Draigo (Grey Knights)
Doom of Malantai (Tyranids)
Bjorn the Fell Handed (Space Wolves)

As you can see there aren't too many duplicates. There's 2 Kharns, 2 Draigos and a couple of Harkers. Rather pleasingly there's 4 different Space Wolves characters which you can read more about using the links on the right. The eagle eyed amongst you will have noted that there are only 24 on the list. This is because one Tau player and an Elysians (Forge World) player have used their option to be exempt from the requirement. This shouldn't affect things too much I hope but that remains to be seen.

As I've mentioned before there'll be a competition for best painted SC. This means it's worth putting a few extra details on to their models even if you don't have time to do it for the rest of your army. It also means that those two players will unfortunately be unable participate in that part of the competition. There's plenty of other prizes on offer though. With potentially 9 prizes available that means hopefully a third of the people there will get their entry money back! Not bad I reckon. Obviously, some jammy sod will end up winning more than one prize. I must point out that I'll not be eligible for any of the prizes to ensure my impartiality which is a shame because I could do with some Maelstrom cash! It also means you get a 3 in 25 chance of scooping a raffle prize!

Anyway, some (possibly) interesting data on the armies attending. There'll be 5 Imperial Guard players (roughly a 20%) which is no big surprise because they remain a strong tournament army and with their cheap special characters it's easy to write a Blog Wars list. There's 4 Space Wolves, 2 BA, 3 CSM, 1 DA, 1 BT, 2 vanilla and 3 GK lists which means a total of 16 power armour armies or just under a third. There's therefore 69% loyalist Imperial armies. The remaining 5 armies are Orks, Dark Eldar, 2x Tau and Tyranids. There's quite a bit of variety then but there's good chance you'll play Space Wolves or Imperial Guard. Not really surprising given it's an SW blog and IG are always popular at tournaments. I'm really pleased to see a couple of Tau lists as they were my previous army before SW. I'm very thankful to Venerable from SoS for bringing DE in the end as I'm considering them next.

That means the only codexes not represented are Eldar, Necrons, Daemons and Witch Hunters. Sad there's no Necrons because I've never played them but since they're one of the oldest codexes it's hardly surprising. Daemons would probably have been represented by Darren from C&F who sadly isn't attending. There's often a couple of Witch Hunters armies at bigger tournaments though as they remain pretty competitive. At one point there was going to be an Eldar list but that player changed to CSM at the last minute after he discovered they aren't that great any more! Bit of a shame since I've got an Eldar army tucked away.

Hope someone other than mean found all those stats interesting. Tune in tomorrow for pictures of my (hopefully) completely painted army for Blog Wars! I promise there aren't too many more Blog Wars related posts coming up for those who are sick of hearing about it!

Blog Wars This Weekend - few updates and things to bring

So time does indeed fly! I can't believe Blog Wars is this weekend. I've spent the last couple of weeks painting up my army and getting them ready for this so I'm really looking forward to seeing them in action at the tournament. Incidentally, I'm going to post up some pictures of my "finished" army later on today once I've had chance to do some photography in this lovely weather. I use the quote marks because, as I've previously mentioned, at some point I'd like to go back to them and add more detail.

Anyway, onto Blog Wars. I've updated the tournament page with some more details including what to bring, prizes, food & drink etc. The numbers are now finalised and the number you see next to your name on the list is the number I'll use for the results and fixtures on the day. Please make a note of it now and print it at the top of your army list. 

A couple of quick reminders. Firstly, the venue has asked me to remind all of you that no externally purchased food or drink is allowed on site. They have a shop for hot & cold drinks and snacks so make use of that instead. Secondly, your army must be painted to at least a three colour minimum. It's at the discretion of your opponent how strictly this is enforced. If there's a problem I'll come and make a ruling but if it's clear little or no effort has been made to paint your miniatures then it is possible you won't be able to use them. Obviously, I don't want to do this but it's a shame if the rest of entrants put a lot of effort into army appearance only to find others haven't put the time in.

Other than that I look forward to seeing all of you on the day and I'm sure it's going to be a lot of fun. From the look of the lists and group of people attending I'm sure it will be a laugh. Please remember that even though prizes are involved it's only a bit of fun so no nerdrage please! 

I hope this will be the first of many Blog Wars events so let's try and make this a great starting point and a regular fixture on the calendar.

My Blog Wars Army List

Well since you lot have all been kind enough to submit your lists for Blog Wars it seems only fair that I should post my up here too. I have to say I'm pleased that the majority of the lists have embraced there spirit of the compulsory special character. I know that some of you might not have been keen on the idea initially but it seems from reading various blogs that people have had fun trying out different combinations. It's made people think about their army selection a bit more rather than just churning out the same old tournament list.

Anyway, here's my offering:


1749 pts of Space Wolves

Ragnar Blackmane
Rune Priest (Jaws & Lightning)

Lone Wolf w/ TDA, chainfist and storm shield
Lone Wolf w/ TDA, chainfist and storm shield
3x Wolf guard w/ combi melta & power fist

8 Grey Hunters w/ meltagun, Wulfen & standard in Rhino
8 Grey Hunters w/ meltagun, Wulfen & standard in Rhino
10 Grey Hunters w/ flamer, meltagun, power weapon, standard & Wulfen

Land speeder w/ multi-melta & heavy flamer

5 long fangs w/ 4x missile launchers
5 long fangs w/ 4x missile launchers
Land Raider Redeemer w/ multi-melta

Well nothing too shocking there. Ragnar and a full strength grey hunter squad go in the redeemer and are my "hammer" unit. It's sickening how many attacks they can put out. I had a test game against Matt's grey knights and Ragnar took out Draigo's bodyguard of terminators on his own and the rest of the squad would've finished off Draigo and a dreadknight (that I multi-charged) were it not for some good saving rolls by Matt. As it was Ragnar finished Draigo off in the following turn. I ended up losing the game but it was certainly memorable for a number of reasons. When you get a decent roll for the extra attacks from Ragnar and combine them with a Wolf Standard your opponent may as well forget it! Furious charge means they strike before most things too so it keeps them pretty safe. They completely rely on the charge though so that's where the Redeemer comes in.

The redeemer seems to get overlooked in favour of the other variants but I think the flamestorms are brilliant. It's not so much the number of marines they can kill but the fact that your opponent has to try and guess the range of a flamer template when he's trying to manoeuvre around it.

The rest of the list is pretty standard. I've never used lone wolves until recently and I have to say I love them. There may be a few groans around the blogosphere but they're in the codex same as anything else. It's amazing the amount of punishment they can take sometimes and they scare most vehicles and monstrous creatures. The long fangs are essentially there just to soften up targets for them.

Well when I got back from honeymoon I had 22 footsloggers and a land raider to paint. I've got the models sat in front of me as I type this and they're all done apart from the washes and basing. I've still got Ragnar and the Redeemer to paint but I've got plenty of time. It's a shame I've not had chance to convert up a better Ragnar. The old school model I have has no presence on the field and I'd love to try my hand at something like this.

The entire army needs free hand company logos adding to it but I think that will only happen if I've got time spare once the raider and Ragnar are done. I might even do a quick tutorial if I can. I reckon the basic logo can be broken down into shapes and it shouldn't take too long.

Well not long to go until Blog Wars now and hopefully you've either got your army painted or you're frantically getting it there. I've got a few practice games on Thursday against Matt & Scott but I'm pretty happy with the list and how it plays so it's just a wait and see. It's a good all round list but there will obviously be armies it struggles against like Grey Knights. Have to wait and see I guess. Just over 6 days to go!