A Multitude of Milestones!

I thought I would condense all of these into one single post as the blogging milestones have all been coming together recently. 

This post is my 300th on the blog! I can't believe how much I have been able to write in just 16 months. 

In addition to that, last week the blog hit over 200,000 views! That is crazy to me, considering it took about a year to get the first 100,000. Not only that, but I recently got over 100 followers and over 2000 comments on the blog. 

I'm really pleased with the direction that St Andrews Wargaming has been going in and hope it will continue for some time. 

Of course, this wouldn't mean anything without everyone out there who takes the time to read and comment on my work here. I'm always looking to improve the blog, so if you have any suggestions as to this or anything you would like to see on the blog, comment below. 

Hobby Season 2016/2017- Hobby Goals

With the recent hobby season coming to a close, I began to cast my mind's eye towards the future and what I want to achieve in the coming years. Here are some of my hobby goals for the 2016/2017 season. 

1. Find a new gaming club

This is the big one for me. I will be moving to Newcastle in a few of weeks to start a new job. As a result, I will be leaving the St Andrews area and the awesome Dundee Wargames Club. My main hobby priority will be finding a new club that I can continue to play at. For me, gaming is one of the great joys of 40k. I do enjoy painting and modelling, but gaming is why I really do this hobby. I will hopefully be able to find a club to continue to do so. 

St Andrews Wargaming is Moving!

Well, not St Andrews Wargaming, but I will be moving! I will be moving to Newcastle in a few weeks to start a new job. 

Do not fear though, St Andrews Wargaming will be continuing even though I am no longer in St Andrews. There may be a bit of a lack of content in the coming weeks as I get settled into my new digs and try to get everything sorted. The most significant lack of content will be new battle reports until I can find a new club and get some games played! 

On that note, if there are any gamers in the Newcastle area that are aware of any local gaming clubs, please let me know!
Another bonus of moving further south is that I may finally get to visit Warhammer World! And I should be able to attend more events at the North West Gaming Centre in the future.

I have really enjoyed my time in St Andrews. A special thanks to all the members of the Warsoc games club in St Andrews and the Dundee Wargames Club for welcoming me into their ranks and providing some fantastic content for the blog over the years. 

Hobby Sunday 28/08/16- Imperial Church and High Elf showcase

This week, I put the finishing touches to my Imperial Church that was built a long time ago, but I only recently got round to painting. 

I gave the doors and decorations a second coat of Brass Scorpion, followed by a wash with Agrax Earthshade. I also painted up some of the vents in Leadbelcher to break up the grey a little. 

Codex Deathwatch Review: Part 4- Formations

This final part of my Deathwatch review will take a look at the formations available in the new codex. Most of these formations are based on different Kill Teams available to the Deathwatch squads.

Kill Teams
The majority of the formations available to the Deathwatch are in the form of Kill Teams, made up of combined units from the codex.
All Kill Teams are fixed at a maximum of 10 models in the unit, excluding transport vehicles. Each member of the Kill Team forms a single unit that can't be combat squaded and cannot be broken up as the game proceeds.

Codex Deathwatch Review: Part 3- Fast Attack

Welcome to part 3 of my review of the Deathwatch Codex. This section of the review will cover the Fast Attack portions of the army. 

Bikers

Unusually, a Deathwatch Biker unit consists of only a single model, with the option of taking a squad of up to 5 models. The Bikers have a Veteran's profile and come armed with Special Issue Ammunition for their bike. The unit also gains Split Fire and Skilled Rider. This is great for ensuring that the bikers don't kill themselves with difficult terrain and gives them a bonus to their Jink save. In addition, any model can take a power weapon (only 5 pts), meltabombs or a teleport homer. 

Deathwatch Codex Review: Part 2- HQ and Troops

The second part of my Codex Deathwatch review will look at the HQ and Troops units available in the new book. 

HQ Units

Being a Space Marine Chapter, there are many similarities between the HQ units in the Space Marine and Deathwatch Chapters. 

Watch Master

The Watch Master is essentially the Chapter Master of the Deathwatch army. He comes with the Chapter Master stats, along with a 2+ save, Guardian Spear, Iron Halo and Clavis. He also allows you to change the Mission Tactics for your army once during the game. 

A Watch Master is a solid character to lead the Deathwatch. He comes with a 2+ save and 4+ invulnerable, meaning he can be quite durable in combat or to shooting. The Guardian Spear also allows him to strike at S5 and AP2 at initiative, which is quite good for taking on a range of opponents. Changing your Mission Tactics is also great for some added tactical advantages during your game.

One downside of the Watch Master (and most Deathwatch HQ units) is that he is unable to take a Jump Pack or Bike. This seriously hinders his mobility on the battlefield and will force you to take a transport vehicle and an attached squad if you want him to move around the battlefield quickly, with some additional protection. 

Deathwatch Codex Review: Part 1- Special Rules, Warlord Traits, Wargear and Relics

Welcome to the first part of my review of the new Deathwatch codex. We are truly in a golden age of 40k, where armies such as Harlequins, Cult Mechanicus and Imperial Knights are getting their own codices. The latest addition to the wish-list of new factions is the Deathwatch. This review will look at the special rules, warlord traits and Relics available to the Imperium's foremost Xenos hunters. 

Special Rules

The Deathwatch have access to a few special rules that add some flavour to the army. These include Atonement Through Honour, Combat Squads and Mission Tactics. 

Atonement Through Honour- A model with this rule gets to double its attacks when locked in combat with a number of selected model types or if their squad is outnumbered by the enemy unit(s). When I first saw this rule, I'd hoped that it applied to an entire unit. Imagine a unit of Veterans that got 4 attacks base when outnumbered by the enemy! Unfortunately, that is not the case. This rule applies only to Black Shields, a special upgrade for a single model in a Veteran squad (which will be covered in more detail in the Troops review). This is still a nice bonus for a single model. I would be inclined to give the Black Shield a melee weapon of some type to benefit from the increased number of attacks he is likely to get. 

Better Know A Blogger- Part 21: 256th Imperial Battle Group

This week's Better Know a Blogger features Steven Burden from the 256th Imperial Battle Group. 

Steven has been a long time reader and comment-er on my own blog, and I found his own blog after he started following St Andrews Wargaming. 

Steven's blog features a good mix of content to keep a reader entertained. You will find a number of editorials and opinion pieces on a variety of topics, such as Battlescribe, Super Heavy vehicles and creating armies. 

You will also find a lot of hobby progress and the occasional battle report as well.  

A great addition to the blog is the detailed background on his various 40k armies. This gives some great fluff for his armies and is well above what most players will devote to their game (I don't even name my units or characters, never mind come up with a history!). 

Here are Steven's answers to my questions:

Me with the bairns (the pink thing is the young lady's leg).

1. What age did you get into gaming and what started it off?

I don't remember the exact age I started playing but I was at senior school, so maybe 12 or 13. I remember the first time I saw a figure though, a friend of mine had brought in some RT Blood Angels that he'd bought at a car boot sale. I remember being hooked at first sight and from then on I was pretty much always dropped of at the local GW store whenever we had to go to town, much to the relief of my mum as well I think. I also remember the first time I really read the fluff, when I got the started box set, and I read it several times over, it was unlike anything else I had ever seen before.

Medusa IV Campaign- Final turn results

My map-based 40k campaign has recently come to an end. The campaign lasted just under a year, had 18 players at one time or another and over 130 battle for fought for control of the Kharysian sector of Medusa IV. 

The moves and results for battle phase 1 were:

Turn 8, battle phase 1 moves.

Battle Report 72- 1850 pts White Scars vs Daemons

This week, my White Scars were taking on Craig’s Daemons in the Eternal War mission, Crusade at 1850 pts. 

Recently, I reviewed the Terminator Squad, Terminator Assault Squad, Stormraven and Strike Force Ultra for Frontline Gaming. In my reviews, I was not too kind to most of the units, labelling them as over-costed and not really effective at what they are supposed to do. In the Strike Force Ultra review, I was curious to see if anyone had actually run this formation before. This got me thinking and I decided that in my next game I would run the Strike Force regardless of my opponent and mission. Fortunately, my game was against Craig and his Daemons, as a grav-heavy marine army would have blown me off the table and made for a poor game. 

My army consisted of:

Strike Force Ultra

Captain- Terminator Armour, Power Sword, Storm Shield (With T4)

Terminator Squad- Power Fists, Storm Bolters, Assault Cannon (T1)

Terminator Squad- Power Fists, Storm Bolters, Assault Cannon (T2)

Terminator Assault Squad- Lightning Claws (T3)

Terminator Assault Squad- Thunder Hammers, Storm Shields (T4)

Venerable Dreadnought- Multi-melta, Heavy Flamer (D)

Stormraven Gunship- TL Assault Cannons, TL Heavy Bolters, 4 Stormstrike Missiles, Hurricane Bolter Sponsons (SR)

Land Raider Crusader- TL Assault Cannons, Hurricane Bolter Sponsons (LR)

Raptor Wing

Landspeeder- Multi-melta, Typhoon Missile Launchers (L)

Stormtalon Gunship- TL Assault Cannons, Skyhammer Missile Launcher (S1)

Stormtalon Gunship- TL Assault Cannons, Skyhammer Missile Launcher (S2)

I took the Strike Force Ultra and upgraded a few of the units to include some additional wargear. I had initially given the Captain some Cataphractii Terminator Armour, a Thunder Hammer and the Shield Eternal to allow him to tank wounds. However, this gave me very few points left in my army and I wanted to add another detachment to the force. I decided to go with the Raptor Wing. I have been meaning to try this out for a while, so I dropped some wargear off of the Captain and took the wing. The automatic arrival on turn 2 would also be a boost if my reserve rolls were poor. On a side note, I completely forgot to roll up my Warlord Trait before the game, I only realised this when I came to write the battle report. Oh, well…….

Hobby Season 2015/2016- A Review

With Dave (Confessions of a 40k addict) recently putting out the call for the 2016/2017 hobby season, this seemed like the perfect time to review my progress from the previous hobby year, based on my list of goals that I made up at this time last year. 

1. Run a 40k Campaign

Done and done! This year, I ran the Medusa IV map campaign at my local gaming club. The 17campaign has recently come to a close, lasting almost an entire year! It featured up to 17 players in total and featured over a hundred battles to decide the fate of the Imperial sector. I will need to write up the final turn of the campaign and then do a review of it and where it could be improved.

Better Know A Blogger- Part 20: The Twin-Linked Warlord

This week's Better Know a Blogger features Rudd (AKA Greysplinter) from The Twin-Linked Warlord. 

Rudd's blog is the most recent addition to my blog list, having got in touch with me when I was recently looking for new blogs to read and new participants for this series. 

Rudd's blog is quite different from many of the blogs that I follow. He doesn't post hobby progress or battle reports, but what you will find is a whole host of tactical posts. In Rudd's own words: 

"I started The Twin-Linked Warlord to provide a creative outlet for my hobby thoughts and ideas, especially innovative or "out of the box" tactics, which really interest me. While I definitely appreciate the modelling and fluff side of the hobby (especially well-modelled/painted armies), my main interest is in the gaming itself and all the thinking/strategizing that goes into that aspect of the hobby."

His posts do a great job of breaking down the strongest units in the game and the myriad of combinations that you can make with these powerful units and factions. His most recent post (at the time of writing this) was to look at one of the newest units making a splash in Space Marine armies; the Cataphractii Terminator Captain. He takes a look at the strengths and weaknesses of the Captain, as well as suggesting some very potent unit combinations to get the best out of his abilities. 

As well as reviews and analyses on certain units, you will also find a lot of articles proposing a whole host of new rules and suggestions for the game. These include rules for a Decurion-style formation for Grey Knights, rules for Warp Gate Beacons for Chaos Space Marines and specific psychic powers for individual Grey Knights units. 

The Twin-Linked Warlord is a great read for those with a strong leaning towards competitive 40k or

for anyone who likes more unusual rules suggestions and army compositions.

Here are Rudd's answers to my questions:

1. What age did you get into gaming and what started it off?

I started when I was about 25 and I learned about table top 40K, surprisingly enough, via the Dawn of War computer game (great game! Can't wait for number 3- Mike). After I played the game, I started to become more and more interested in the lore/armies, etc. and eventually transitioned into a full table-top player.

Hobby Sunday 14/08/16- Forests and Imperial Church

For hobby progress this week, I decided to make a start on my Imperial Knight and get some terrain done that has been sitting around for ages. 

I finally got round to magnetising my Imperial Knight that was purchased back in April. I posted about this earlier in the week, so check that out if you are interested. 

Ages ago, I also purchased some wooden bases for my trees that I had lying around. The last time I had looked at these was back in February, when I glued the bases together and added sand to them. A few weeks later, I was able to undercoat them black, and that is where they sat for several months awaiting completion. 

Frontline Gaming Articles

The more eagle-eyed readers of the blog may have noticed a new tab in my menu above, the Frontline Gaming Articles tab. 

My first few articles on Frontline Gaming have started appearing, I will be providing links to them in the tab periodically, so keep an eye out and check them out!

Magnetising the Imperial Knight

Here is my guide on magnetising the Imperial Knight. 

With my White Scars army recently completed, I was keen to make a start on my Knight. I had picked up the Imperial Knight Renegade box as it was a bargain, selling off one of the Knights to make it even better value. I decided to magnetise my Knight to use all the available options, as I would be unlikely to purchase another. 

There were two other guides online that I found very useful for my own attempts. These were Nick's guide (the Burning Eye) and Alex's guide (From the Fang). I decided to write up my own guide too, in part because I was going to do a couple of things differently after checking out the assembly, and what else is the internet for except repeating the same information over and over in a variety of different ways. 

For my guide to magnetising the Imperial Knight, you will need:

• Imperial Knight (obviously!)
• Imperial Knight assembly guide (I used the one from the Renegades boxed set and I will be referring to numbered parts throughout)
• Hobby drill with 6 mm and 2 mm drill bits
• Eleven 6 mm x 2 mm magnets (I used these ones)
• Nine 2 mm x 1 mm magnets
• Hobby knife/stanley knife
• Superglue
• Plastic Glue
• Green Stuff or modelling clay
• Marker pen

GENERAL NOTE: I left the armour plates off of the Knight when assembling to make it easier to paint these separately and get to the detail underneath. 

White Scars Army- Complete

After a very prolific painting spree over the past two months, I was finally able to complete my White Scars army. The first models for this army were purchased in December 2014 and I have added many, many more to my collection over the past two years.

My White Scars army consists of:

HQ

Kor'sarro Khan on Moondrakkan
Chaplain- Bike
Librarian- Bike
Librarian
Captain- Bolter and Power Sword
Captain- Bike, Storm Shield, Power Fist

Better Know A Blogger- Part 19: Code 40K

This week's Better Know a Blogger features Mike (AKA extremedoc1 AKA Doc) from Code 40K.

Doc is chief amongst the large number of contributors to Code 40K. As a result of having various people writing for the same blog, you will find a wealth of different writing styles and work on various different armies and projects to keep you entertained.

Doc's own work includes his great series of posts on building and painting his Cerastus Knight, with plenty advice on building the massive kit and some great links to tutorial videos for certain aspects of the build.

You will also find various posts on his 30K Death Guard and some great terrain pieces on show.

Doc is also a fan of video blogging (vlogging) and you can find many videos on different parts of his 40k collection on the blog. You will also find some great video battle reports on the blog.

One of the most recent series on Code 40k is "Using the interwebs for hobby purposes". In this series, Doc aims to collate a number of hobby videos and hobby blogs, each to do with a different topic. The first in the series, Mechanicum, features some great hobby links and content and will be a great resource for anyone interested in the army or who is thinking about collecting the force.

Here are Mike's answers to my questions:

Hi Mike,

So first off I am ‘DOC’ the chief of the code40k blog and a member of the group of the same name. We have been blogging since 2010 and have been running our gaming group since 2006 with many of the core members gaming together since the 1990’s. 

Our blog is www.code40k.blogspot.co.uk

Our facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/code40k/

Our youtube account is: https://www.youtube.com/user/extremedoc1

All members of the code have gamer nicknames developed over the years of our gaming life, although mine is my childhood nickname. I loved the young gun films and DOC was my favourite character and simply it stuck. I also used it for all the three letter scoreboards men of certain age will remember putting their initials into. My real name is also Mike, like you Corrm. 

Hobby Sunday 07/08/16- White Scars Rhino and Razorback

This week, I have completed my White Scars Rhino and Razorback. 

Originally, I had two Rhinos for my White Scars army, which I thought would be more than sufficient for the force. However, the release of the new White Scars Formations brought the Stormlance Battle Demi-Company that required 4 Rhinos or Razorbacks to use. I picked up another Rhino from ebay a while ago and recently acquired parts of a Rhino from ebay. The Rhino parts were missing the top hatch, so I decided to use the opportunity to convert a Razorback from my extensive bits box. 

Caledonian Revolution 2016: Best Army Nominees Photos

Today's post features the nominee armies for the best army at Caledonian Revolution. This was a really tough decision to make, as the quality of the armies was amazing. 

First up, we have a deathstar type army based on several fantasy and Age of Sigmar models. 

Caledonian Revolution 2016:Armies on Display

Since I had a lot of spare time with my first tournament game finishing so early, I got a chance to take some photos of the various armies at the tournament. This post will feature some of the random armies that caught my eye as I walked around. Tomorrow's post will feature the armies that were nominated for best army. 

Hope you enjoy the photos.

Caledonian Revolution 2016: White Scars Army Review

As is customary after any tournament that I attend, I like to take a look at how my army performed to see which units worked well and which units could be improved in the next iteration of the list. For the context of my army review, check out my battle reports for the tournament in the Tournament Battle Reports tab above.

As a reminder, my army consisted of:

Scarblade Strike Force

Hunting Force

Khan- Moondrakken

Command Squad- Bikes, Apothecary, 4 grav guns, 4 storm shields, Banner of the Eagle

6 Bikers- 2 grav guns, sergeant with power axe and meltabombs 

6 Bikers- 2 grav guns, sergeant with meltabombs 

Attack Bike- Multimelta

6 Scout Bikers- 2 Grenades launchers, sergeant with meltabombs and homing beacon

Stormbringer Squadron

5 Scouts- bolt pistols, combat weapons, sergeant with meltabombs

Landspeeder Storm- Heavy Bolter, Cerberus Launcher 

Landspeeder- Multimelta, Typhoon Missile Launcher

Combined Arms Detachment

Chaplain- Bike, Hunter's Eye, Meltabombs

5 Scouts- Bolters, sergeant with meltabombs

Landspeeder Storm- Heavy Bolter, Cerberus Launcher

3 Bikers- 2 meltaguns, sergeant with meltabombs 

3 Centurions- Grav cannons and grav amps, hurricane bolters

Drop Pod 

Stormhawk Interceptor- TL assault cannon, Skyhammer missile launcher, Las-talon

I will now take a look at each component of the army and see how it performed. 

Scarblade Strike Force

For one of the first times with my White Scars, my tournament army did not solely consist of a Combined Arms Detachment. This time, I decided to use the Scarblade Strike Force (the White Scars' Gladius-type formation). I figured that the bonuses from the formation would be extremely beneficial to my army. 

Lightning Assault:

The re-rolls to failed Hit and Run rolls were useful in this tournament, as there were a few instances over the course of the tournament where I failed these rolls. Unfortunately, the Grav Cannon Centurions were not a part of this formation, as they were the only unit that repeatedly failed Hit and Run rolls (as per usual). 

Ride the Wind:

This allows vehicle and bikes to move an extra D6" after moving flat out or turbo-boosting. I always completely forget about this rule and can't think of too many instances in my games where it would have come in useful. 

Maximum Impact:

Gain hammer of wrath if charing 8" or over (or re-rolls if you already have HoW). Never once came up in my games. The only time I risked a charge that was over 8", I failed the charge. With the mobility of my bike squads, I can pretty much guarantee that I will be charging less than 6" most of the time. I would be unlikely to risk a charge of 8" or over, possibly taking overwatch wounds and failing the charge, unless it was absolutely necessary to win the game. 

Better Know A Blogger- Part 18: Faeit 212

This week's Better Know a Blogger features Gary (AKA Natfka) from Faeit 212. 

I'm sure that Natfka and his amazing blog, Faeit 212, needs little in the way of introduction. For me, it is my first and only stop for all the latest 40k news and rumours. For years now, my morning ritual has been the same; check my emails, check facebook, check Faeit 212 for the latest info. 

I can't imagine the work that goes into finding all the disparate rumours and news from around the internet, but it is very much appreciated by gamers like me. What I really like about Faeit 212 is it is not click-baity, like other news and rumour sites are. You won't find any "You'll never guess what was spotted at GW HQ this week!?!?! Click to find out more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!". What you will find is great and regular updates that actually credit the original source of where the information came from (crazy, I know!). 

Not only is Faeit 212 a fantastic news and rumours site, it also does a fantastic amount of community building. The Faeit 212 Blog Exchange is a must join for any 40k blogger (or any tabletop gaming blog at all). It is by far the biggest traffic source for me of any of the blog networks that I have joined. I frequently scroll through the network at least once a month in order to see if there are any great new blogs that I need to read. 

Another great feature is the "What's On Your Table" posts. In this, photos of gamers' current projects and completed projects are regularly featured. This gives you a chance to showcase some of your work, even if you don't have your own blog or anywhere else to showcase your work. Now could not be a better time to enter, as Natfka is currently looking for submissions for this great series. 

I was fortunate enough to feature once on a Reaching Out post that gives a shout out to blogs when I reached 100,00 views earlier this year. That one small post brought in over 2000 additional hits in just 2 days, which should show you exactly how popular a blog Faeit 212 is. So it is well worth showcasing your own work on "What's On Your Table". 

So here are Gary's answers to my questions:

1. What age did you get into gaming and what started it off?
I got into tabletop wargaming in 1998, when my roleplaying games were at a gaming store ran by a good friend of mine. This led me to really look into games that I saw being played. As far as gaming in general...... well I was playing chess at age 4 or 5. I don’t remember anytime in my life where I was not playing board games, or even early roleplaying games.