Goggle Adsense @ 60 - FREE Money!

One of the really interesting things that happened last week [don't worry I'll get to those Blog Wars battle reports I know you're all dying to read] was I finally reached the magic £60 mark in my Google Adsense total. Google only allows you to cash in your earnings at this amount [although as of yet I'm not 100% sure how] so I can finally capitalise on all the clicks you've kindly made. As I discussed in this post about monetising your blog this is really the only thing I’ll… ‘stoop to’ seems so negative, ‘entertain’ is perhaps more appropriate. It may have taken around four years to do it but I’m extremely grateful to everyone who has clicked on an advert, it doesn’t cost you anything to do so [and I regularly click on my fellow bloggers ads for that very reason] but although the initial plan was for it to keep me in paint I’ll be looking to get an Imperial Knight with the proceeds - watch this space.

The breakdown of those that have clicked and viewed is quite interesting, at one point I’d had 2 visits from someone [or someones] in Syria and 50% of those visits had resulted in a click. I’ve since had a couple more visits from there but you’d imagine playing toy soldiers would be low on their list of activities. Similarly quite a few visitors from Afghanistan [I’m guessing troops stationed there?] have been interested in the blog but unsurprisingly the biggest earnings are from:

1.    United States
2.    United Kingdom
3.    Australia
4.    Canada
5.    Denmark

So once again I thank you all for your contribution, and if you're from Syria or Afghanistan, a big shout out to your 40k community! But moving forward I will put my money [technically your money] where my mouth is. The next £60 in adsense revenue I will put towards another Imperial Knight [alongside my own money to make up the difference] but this will be up for grabs in a little competition [of sorts] that I will be holding. I will even offer to paint the Knight at no extra cost. Of course whoever wins the competition can choose an alternative model of equivalent value or for me not to paint it should they wish, it will be up to the winner.

The initial plan of how to win the prize will be based on a picture competition with the only criteria being that it must feature an item freely available from this very blog – STC templates, Print & Play buildings, even just the wound counters [although the picture will have to be pretty darn good to secure a prize using just the wound markers]. The choice will be yours.

There are still details to be ironed out just yet, hopefully we’ll find a way that folk can help make the choosing the eventual winner fair, not just me choosing one. But we’ll have plenty of time to work the details and for you to decide if it’s worth taking part. As I say it took 4 years to get to this first £60 but it all depends on the click rate on the ads how soon I will run the competition.

Let me know what you think about this, as I sit atop this mountain of advertising revenue ;) I felt it only fair to give something back and as it's you folk that are making it all happen in the first place it should be you that benefit going forwards. Also if you're from Syria or Afghanistan let me know!

Blog Wars 9 - King in the North - The Aftermath

Obviously I’m back from Blog Wars 9, it’s only down the road afterall but I’ve only just had chance now to round up what went down and it was this:

So I came away with Best Painted Army, as I did in BW6, but I also secured Best Painted Character for Deathleaper. As I accepted the award my old Squat opponent Graham Sanders joked I should bring a new army next time but it did allow Alex to address the issue of previous winners winning again. I get why some people would think that it’s unfair if it keeps on winning but by that argument you would have to stop people bringing a tournament winning army list repeatedly or in the wider world tell Lewis Hamilton he couldn’t use the same car each race. That just doesn’t happen so why would the painting competition be any different?

But if the consensus changes then I’ll live with it, fingers crossed though I can actually get the Dark Angels done for November! I honestly understand the view not to have previous winners allowed [although I don’t share it] and I do want to run with something different, it’s just the lure of the Hive Mind is very strong, despite my initial aversion to them!

To be honest I actually thought Liam would win and apparently there was only one vote in it, I think if he’d have brought his Armies on Parade winning themed board to go with the Tau he might have snatched it. He did however win the best conversion category so it was still a successful day for him, especially as it’s a new category that he’d not won previously.

Back to my future Dark Angel army and I finally used my Birthday voucher that my gaming crew kindly got me and picked up the Dark Angel Expansion box.

I was so excited I even opened it in the car and got even more giddy when it seemed they’d given me 10 Deathwing Knights instead of the 5, I couldn’t believe my luck until I realised there was no Ravenwing Knight sprue! Clearly I’d got two lots of terminators instead of one each of bikes and Terminators. So I’ve contacted Customer Services and the email so far will need following up. I of course got it from Element Games so the first advice is to return it to the store, but I'm not sure when I'll have time to get out to Stockport again. I know it's only a quick trip on the train but it's my lunch hour I'll have to give up.

Also this was the last box they had in stock so I'll have to wait a while for a replacement. More worrying is the request for proof of purchase in that stupidly I was juggling my lunch, while talking to people in the store so never actually got a receipt! I'll try ringing GW and Element tomorrow see what they say but given how long I've waited for these I'm just a little bit disappointed about the whole affair.

Anyway, Battler reports will follow shortly, i'm really struggling to fit blogging into everything and I've actually got lots of news to share, darn it!

1850pt battle report - nids vs Necrons 'never die Decurion nonsense'

It finally had to happen, I've watched the might of Otty's nids face down the decurion and heard all sorts of horror stories versus PeteB and even Otty's 21 D-weapon Eldar [about the only thing that can touch the Crons]. So I couldn't put it off and it'll be practice for the weekend. I even suggested we randomly see which mission as Kill Points is not something I should avoid, so what did we roll...

Psychic Powers Winged Tyrant W Tervigon Plain Tr Zoanthrope Dominion Dominion Dominion Warp Blast Onslaught Warp Blast The Horror Psychic Scream

The low down:

• Purge the alien but based on the Blog Wars 9 rules - Unit Points for killed units, half points for half killed units which then translates to VPs - Hammer and Anvil
• Warlord Trait -3 enemny units must make Pinning Tests
• Night fighting first turn, lost deployment, went second and failed to steal the initiative. 

I set up conservatively, trying to learn from my last game but still put three units of Stealers in the centr ruins but that had allowed the Flayed Ones to deploy in my end. So I put some Stealers in my back field and put Deathleaper in a position to go both forward or back in support.

And this is the mass of living metal I'm facing, I'm so doomed.

I wasn't thinking  too clearly and forgot to put anythhing in the drop pod but I have three Rippers so deployed them inside, they've got deep strike anyway but I can sacrifice 6pts to concentrate my force.

Pinning tests failed to halt the Flayed Ones and the Tomb Blades just passed also, well worth the Warlord Trait.

Everyone was having a jolly time on the trampoline of doom.

So from the off I forgot how fast the 'slow and implacable' Necron force is with Wraiths and Scarabs getting in charges first turn. The Wraiths easily  removed the first unit of Stealer for First Strike, I think I managed a single wound in return thanks to their Invulnerable saves AND Reanimation Protocols.

The Necron Horde targeted the remaining Stealers, pinging off a couple while night fighting helped save a few. Scarabs got into a multi-assault with the remaining Stealers and even Deathleaper. Most of the Stealers diamond tipped rending claws failed to do much damage Deathleaper may have done OK except Reanimation Protocols brought them back. One of the Stealer broods was reduced to a single model who broke and ran.

The Flayed Ones went hunting.

I was lucky and managed in my go to take out one of the Wraiths thanks to a 10" charge and 3 Hammer of Wrath strikes. The other Carnifex took a couple of bases out as did Deathleaper and the Hormagaunts were useful. I considered Hit & Run with the Stealers and Deathleaper but that would have left them exposed in Ben's turn so I kept them embroiled. The Flyrant [just out of shot] managed to rally the Genestealer and shot [and killed] 3 Flayed ones!

 Nemesor managed to get his Praetorians into combat with the Carnifex, so much for slow and purposeful! While the Tomb Blades also moved up.

The centre of the battlefield turned into a massed scrum. More Wraiths assaulted Deathleaper, Hormagaunst and another sole Genestealer.

 Flayed ones faced off against the Genestealers

 and assaulted. The premier close combat unit in the 40k universe managed to kill 1 Flayed One.

Inn return I had to make 10 armour saves, as you can see I made half of them but given my brood was only 5 strong [or should that be weak] that slaughtered the unit.

Ironically the recently rallied lone Genestealer was also assaulted by the whole Flayed One unit and managed to do the same amount of damage as five of his coleagues. We didn't even bother to roll the dice to see if he would survive.

Nemesor and the Praetorians killed the Carnifex, with the rmaining one still locked in combat with the two Wraiths.

The Hormagaunts perished and Deathleaper took a couple of wounds and the Genestealer was largely ignored so the both Hit & Run out of the melee.

I managed to Challenge Nemesor but as if the wealth of rules the Necrons and the Decurion already have Nemesor also gets to borrow/steal special rules from units nearby, like Stealth so even after manifesting Warp Blast without Deny the Witch on my Zoanthrope, hitting AND wounding the fact he had Stealth from Deathleaper JUST sace his sorry a$$. So Deathleapers Challenge ended in him being cut to pieces. He actually did quite well, wounding 4 times [two rends] but the 2+ save and Reanimation Protocols negated everything. Meanwhile the Tyrranofex tried to kill the Spyder, with a couple of wounds taken I think for a wound on the Spyder.

Tomb Blades also Hit & Run out of the assault with the Termagants. They'd lost about 8 of their number and despite Counter Assault they just weren't strong enough to pierce their metal hides.

Nemesor headed for the Skyshiled and my last stronghold.

Slow and steady Wraiths head for the T-fex while Nemesor makes it to the Skyshield.

Tomb Blades reposition to shoot the spawned gaunts under the Skyshield.

In my turn 2 the Tyrannocyte arrived and killed a Warrior, that was actually a big deal for me even if 15 shots from a blind flesh sack resulted in only one kill!

But my glee was cut short in the next turn when it was pulped to bloddy gristle.

Tomb Blades try to assault the spawned Termagants, I get one Overwatch and manage to wound and it fails it's save AND its Reanimation Protocol. With a 5" charge Ben only rolls a 4 so he fails to engage. 

The Flayed Ones make it in though and things wiull go downhill for both this unit and the final 5 that were spawned to the right. [Teh Spawn of Cryptus is proxying for my Venomthrope which I left at home].

With all those Wraiths lined up to do unspeakable things to the already engaged Tyrannofex things did not go down well and I think shortly after this we decided to call it a night, even though it was only the beginning of my turn 3

The headline score comes across as very depressing. Ben was able to kill two thirds of my army in 3 turns - 1230pts and my tally was more like 130pts! not even 10%. Now I had some success and some failures but the real question is that if you took away Reanimation Protocols how much would that have added to my score, sadly, but more worryingly I don't think it would have gone beyond 500pts!

So even without Reanimation Protocols I think the units at the Necron's disposal are much better in this sort of scenario. They seem to have rule after rule, making an already good army even better. The only things they seem to lack is a high initiative and Psychic Abilities but as the vaunted 'Psychic Phase' is pretty much a time wasting exercise in futility that's no great loss. They have high strength weapons, they have high AP weapons, units that move 12" - compare a Wraith to a Ravener or a Scarab to a Ripper!

Even the Flayed Ones outperform Genestealers. We ran a test, 10 on 10 with Stealers getting the charge, they were wiped out with the Flayed Ones losing only 3 or 4 in the process. So much for the premier close assault unit in 40k!

Ben's suggested our next game we replay it but without RP to see what difference it makes. Overall this was actually a lot of fun. Sure the result was appalling but we had a good laugh and I think Ben is coming round to the idea that they're overpowered so he can laugh at the ludicrousness too. Still I felt far happier with my list than the previous one I played against Pete so bring on Blog Wars! 

BASE - How low can you go?

The other night I just decided to do a bit of basing. The extra bases for my objective markers came in and I thought I'd do the Magragge Force Fields, Teleport Homers and Scouts at the same time. I then got my sand mix down and found my Dark Angel veterans in the box. It seems when I added slate to the bases I didn't do the sand and the last time I stumbled on them I thought 'oh I must put this with my sand so that when I come to do some basing I do these too. So what had seemed a manageable task had just tipped over to a chore, but still it all needs doing.

The following night I gave them all a Red Oxide undercoat, masking off the two already painted hive nodes, one with blue tac the other just a bit of ripped card, I think the second option was probably the easiest

One of the other things I decided to base [which also made the process that little bit more daunting] was my future destroyed Bastion Crater. It's a slow burn project this, but on my To Do List. I need to do a few blown up Chitinous plates which is the delaying factor in this one but the edges being based was also a hurdle which has now been overcome.

I subsequently painted all the bases of those I'd started [except the scouts as I wanted to fix the broken cloak first]. I then continued on with the objective markers. They need to be complete for BW, so it's actually nice to have a deadline to push for.

I may as well throw this in here too, the final pair of Fleshborer Hives, I need them for BW so it was another incentive and while I was at it I painted the last of Carnifex bases

I've actually been working on a whole host of things while I've been doing things just little bits here and there, touching up the Genestealer Cult, adding bits to various side projects that are completely off list.

Hopefully I'll get to share more bits as we go on.

1850pt battle report - nids vs nu-new Craftworld Eldar cash grab not wave serpent spam anymore, no! just some other cheese :P

PeteB and I got a Blog Wars rehersal in the other week, its taken a while to get round to writing it up so I'll be hazy in places. i think I was just trying to forget the result *SPOILERS* but as you'll see if it's Purge the Alien it was never going to end well for me!

Psychic Powers Winged Tyrant W Tervigon Plain Tr Dominion Dominion Onslaught Paroxysm Catalyst

The low down:

• Purge the alien but based on the Blog Wars 9 rules - Unit Points for killed units, half points for half killed units which then translates to VPs - Hammer and Anvil
• Warlord Trait - Night Fighting in turn 1
• Night fighting first turn, lost deployment, went second and failed to steal the initiative. 

I lined up, trying to cover the Skyshield so nothing could land on it, I really should work on my Skyshield positioning a bit more I need to make it so folk can't actually assault anything unless they can get under it [when I say 'folk' I mean anything big and nasty]

We were a bit hazy about Pete's new Eldar terrain, we went with it behaving a bit like the Fortress of Redemption - a 3 part building with AV14 all round, no that it was going to protect the Genestealers, but where else was I going to put them?

Deathleaper hid behind a tree because I had nowhere else to put him.

Pete's Wraithknight headed for the Genestealers while the Fire Dragons disembarked from the Wave Serpent and tried to do some damage to the building but it shrugged it off.

The Wraithkight smashed into the Wraithbone building -

And levelled it taking all 5 Stealers out int he process. BW has a First Strike rule - you get a VP if you kill a unit outright in your first turn. This replaces First Blood so both players can get it but as it's only first turn there's a slight difference. Anyway, I swooped my Flyrant forward and took my chances killing the Fire Dragons. I whittled them down to three and a wounded Exarch but couldn't get the First Strike - damn Devourer's AP-!

The Stealers moved into different sections to get away from the Wraithknight or at least draw it near something I could have a chance at overwhelming it with numbers - a mix of tarpit and anything that might scratch it.

Everything else moved forwards and tried to conga and keep shrouded by the Venomthrope.

Turn 2 and the Striking Scorpions arrived with Karrandras - eek!

Weight of fire from the Dire Avengers who just decamped from their Wave Serpent out of picture left, manages to put a wound on Deathleaper, despite the Snap Shots. While the Hemlock Fighter arrives

and removes my Carnifex without blinking, I'm wishing I had two Venomthropes now!

My turn and Genestealers Assault the Dire Avengers which may have been whittled down by the Flyrant. Deathleaper managers to challenge an Autarch, gets 6 attacks, hits twice on 3s and there's my wounds on 2+ dice - snake eyes! Thankfully the Autarch is equally rubbish and does nothing to the galxies most feared ambush assassin killer... as I won the combat the Eldar fail their morale and run off I fail to beat their initiative, yes with Genestealers too!

I think the Wraithknight managed to wound the Tervigon with it's Hammer of Wrath and takes another wound, my Smash fails to hit in return but the Stealer managed to make a wound [or two] and then the Wraithknight Stomps all over them leaving just one and takes out the Hive Guard while it was at it!

Not sure who the Flyrant is targeting here but I think I cast Catalyst and perilled in the process but stayed in the air. The Dire Avengers rallied, obviously, so thos Genestealers were dead even with FnP

With the Striking Scoprions threatening my back field I sent the Termagants and Warriors. mandiblasters were once again successful with my shooting being less than stellar before the assault. Most of the Termagants suffered but the Warriors fared a little better killing a few Scorpions.

The Hemlock lined it's sights up on the Venomthrope, although by this stage his Shrouding was benefitting very few.

45pts is 45pts though and theWarp Spiders had cleared the landing pad of Biovores so who else could it target?

I think Deathleaper may have been killed at some point, it looks like he killed the Autarch but was then out in the open and all the shooting from the Dire Avengers wa stoo much for his Chameleonic Skin. This was probably the least effective performance I'd eve had of him, which bodes well. I'm not sure at what point the Mawloc turned up but he missed his target so was no use in the remianing time he was on the board.

The Scorpions sliced through the Warriors but there was only a lone Scorpion and Karrandras left but I think they prevailed in the end. Meanwhile the Tervigon got smooshed by the Wraithknight, it had managed to Smash a wound onto it and the remaining stealer also managed to wound it, I think I'd managed 4 but it had also saved a couple thanks to FnP.

 

Ultimately this was a bit of a white wash. Once again I was reminded of just how little guaranteed killing ability nids have. Flyrants are universally fêted as our 'best' unit but those Devourers, however strong, just do not kill thanks to AP-. And it can't score while swooping so although it's a lot harder to kill it costs a lot of points and it doesn't impact things as much as it should. The Mawloc was useless which reminded me that without a Comms relay relying on Reserve rolls is guaranteed to make you go grey, or lose your hair! 

So the Mawloc is out and although the Warriors didn't do too bad I've binned them and the Biovores too. Deathleaper was awful but I've painted him now and I may well try and find a way to make him work this time... The great thing is this rehersal has allowed me to excise some of the elements I don't rate but were in my list regardless and now I've added in some new and different things. I'll get one more game in against Ben before BW9 but I definitely need ot make more use of my Skyshield, particularly in this mission. I need to remember I can't kill so I must survive, lure things to me and position things better on the Skyshield so I can't be assaulted.