2000-point Ultramarine list for NOVA Open.

To All,
Here is the list I'm going to bring to the NOVA open. I decided to drop the Legion of the Damned (Jawaballs was right) and get some more firepower. I also didn't want to walk my Dreadnought across the board anymore (because he was not making it) so I went with a drop pod. I also am "upgrading" to Chaplain Cassius - a few extra points for some nice features.

Chaplain Cassius  -   125 points
Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Power Armour; Rosarius; Bolt Pistol; Crozius Arcanum; Infernus; Combat Tactics; Fearless; Feel No Pain; Honour of the Chapter; Independent Character; Liturgies of Battle

Space Marine Librarian - 140 points
in Terminator Armour; And They Shall Know No Fear; Combat Tactics; Independent Character; Psyker; Might of the Ancients; Null Zone, Psychic Hood; Force Weapon; Storm Shield

Thunderfire Cannon  -  100 points
Techmarine Gunner  - Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Artificer Armour; Servo Harness; Bolt Pistol; Thunderfire Cannon; And They Shall Know No Fear; Blessing of the Omnissiah; Bolster Defenses; Combat Tactics; Independent Character; Servo Harness

Thunderfire Cannon  -  100 points
Techmarine Gunner - Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Artificer Armour; Servo Harness; Bolt Pistol; Thunderfire Cannon; And They Shall Know No Fear; Blessing of the Omnissiah; Bolster Defenses; Combat Tactics; Independent Character; Servo Harness

Thunderfire Cannon  -  135 points
Techmarine Gunner  - Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Artificer Armour; Servo Harness; Bolt
Pistol; Thunderfire Cannon; And They Shall Know No Fear; Blessing of the Omnissiah; Bolster Defenses; Combat Tactics; Independent Character; Servo Harness 
Drop Pod - Transport Capacity: 12 models; Storm Bolter; Drop Pod Assault; Immobile; Inertial Guidance System

Terminator Assault Squad  -  475 points
Lightning Claws (pair) (x3); Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield (x1);
And They Shall Know No Fear; Combat Squads; Combat Tactics; Land Raider Crusader
Sergeant - Lightning Claws (pair) (x1); And They Shall Know No Fear; Combat Squads; Combat Tactics
Land Raider Crusader - Transport Capacity: 16 models; Access Points: 3; Frag Assault Launchers; Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Extra Armor; Multi-Melta; 2x Hurricane Bolters; Twin Linked Assault Cannon; Assault Vehicle; Power of the Machine Spirit

Tactical Squad  - 235 points
Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Power Armour; Bolt Pistol (x9); Bolter (x7); Meltagun; Multi-Melta; And They Shall Know No Fear; Combat Squads; Combat
Sergeant - Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Power Armour; Bolt Pistol; Power Fist (x1); And They Shall Know No Fear; Combat Squads; Combat Tactics
Rhino - Transport Capacity: 10 model:  Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Storm Bolter; Repair

Tactical Squad  - 215 points
Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Power Armour; Bolt Pistol (x9); Bolter(x7); Flamer; Lascannon; And They Shall Know No Fear; Combat Squads; Combat Tactics;
Sergeant - Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Power Armour; Bolt Pistol; Bolter; And They Shall Know No Fear; Combat Squads; Combat Tactics
Rhino - Transport Capacity: 10 models; Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Storm Bolter; Repair

Tactical Squad - 165points
Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Power Armour; Bolt Pistol (x4); Bolter(x4); And They Shall Know No Fear; Combat Squads; Combat Tactics; Razorback
Sergeant - Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Power Armour; Bolt Pistol; Bolter;And They Shall Know No Fear; Combat Squads; Combat Tactics
Razorback - Transport Capacity: 6 models; Access Points: 3; Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Twin Linked Lascannon

Ironclad Dreadnought - 185 points
Extra Armor; Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Ironclad Assault Launchers; Dreadnought CCW; Meltagun; Seismic Hammer; Storm Bolter; Move ThroughCover; Drop Pod
Drop Pod - Transport Capacity: 12 models; Storm Bolter; Drop Pod Assault; Immobile; Inertial Guidance System

Scout Squad  - 125 points
Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Scout Armour; Camo Cloaks; Bolt Pistol (x4); Sniper Rifle (x3); Missile Launcher; And They Shall Know No Fear; Combat Squads; Combat Tactics; Infiltrate; Move Through Cover; Scouts
Sergeant - Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Scout Armour; Camo Cloaks; Bolt Pistol; Power Fist (x1); And They Shall Know No Fear; Combat Squads; Combat Tactics; Infiltrate; Move Through Cover; Scouts

The Stout Smurf

Weathering and Battle Damage - Is it necessary?

To All,
I'm proud of my Dreadnought.

Looking at the rubric from the Colonial GT there were points awarded for weathering and battle damage. My question is: do I really have to mess up what I believe is a nice paint job to represent mud and rust? Wouldn't Ultramarines, or any other force, take care of the weapons and armor that keeps them alive?

Do other painting rubrics at GTs award points for weathering?

I need some guidance here.

The Stout Smurf

Forge World MK III IRON ARMOUR Marines

To All,

Before I evaluate and revamp my list, I want to get back to the part of the hobby that I truly enjoy - painting. I'm pretty sure I am going to keep the 25 marines in my list - 2 units of ten marines and 1 unit of five - so I'm going to spent the next week or so painting up the fifteen Forge World marines I bought to replace the Marines in my army that come from the Assault on Black Reach set.   (in reality I'm going to replace all 25 because I went with extreme highlighting on my first army and I'm going to do some blending on my next list. My goal is to get all the figures and models on my list to the quality of my Dreadnought.)

In a previous post I put up pictures of the soaking and washing of  the figures. Here's what I did a few weeks ago:
                                                               

Unpack and Flash

 

Soak

Scrub

Dry 

Last night I used Army Painter primer to prime the five Mark III armor marines. Because I'm going for a darker base I first primed them black:

and followed with a light coat of Blue:

 

Here are the primers I used:

I'm looking forward to getting some paint on them. I'll keep you posted.
The Stout Smurf

Paging Paul Sherratt - You Won the Dread!!!

To All,
Paul Sherratt - You won the Dreadnought. Contact me at StantonCT@gmail.com with your information so I can send it out to you.

The Stout Smurf

Sorry about last week - I'm back.

To All,
Sorry that nothing was posted last week. I went with my family to Washington, DC and had scheduled some posts to go up but I screwed it up somehow and I'm not tech-savvy enough to correct it through my phone. I haven't been to Washington since I was 18. It was fantastic and I recommend it to anyone as a nice, 3-4 day trip.

On Monday I'll start regular posting again.

Happy Easter everyone!

The Stout Smurf.

Colonial GT Recap - Day 2

To All,
Entering day two I figure I'm going to have two opponents who are having similar luck, matchup, and list issues.

Round Four:
My round four opponent was running Demons.

Again the dice failed me. I couldn't make a single saving throw the entire game. I didn't get tabled though and I did manage to get 6 game points. But Demons are nasty - the Princes and keeper of Secrets were wicked.

So this brings me to Game Five. I'm feeling that I'll be able to get at least a draw if not a win. I have 6 points, the guy I'm going to be paired against only has 13 points. But, as the weekend is going, they guy drops out and I'm then paired against the "ringer." The ringer is Ray O'Dowd and he has a "Deathwing" army and knows how to play it. He dismantles me and I end the tournament getting tabled. Ray was a great opponent and the game was incredibly fun.

Thus, I ended up with the Smokin' Boots. I would like to make it like the Stanley Cup - I'll hold onto the trophy until I present it to the Smokin' Boots recipient next year. That would be pretty cool.

The Stout Smurf

Colonial GT Recap

To All,

My non-game Colonial GT experience was awesome and the organizers of the event should be commended. The facility was awesome, the tournament was well run, and it seemed a good time was had by all.

As far as the tournament for yours truly it boils down to two words - Smokin' Boots!!

 This is the trophy/diorama they gave for Smokin' Boots - A beautifully painted diorama by Ray O'Dowd.

For those of you unaware of who the Smokin' Boots are awarded to it is the person who comes in dead last. And that was me - I was outgunned, smashed, crushed, destroyed, etc. As far as I can tell there are three things you need to be successful at a tournament - a good list, a couple of favorable matchups, and luck with the dice. The Stout Smurf had none of these last weekend.

Game One:
 I played a Space Wolves list that was run by a pretty pleasant guy. I would say he was more effective with his shooting as my Land Raider and Dreadnought were gone, blown up, by the end of turn one. that meant I had to either foot slog my Terminators across the board or Gate of Infinity them. GoI it was and the legion of the Damned came in near them. I thinking I'm in good shape until he shot the crud out of them and then assaulted.

That fight raged the for a few turns with me knocking out a couple of units and a rhino but without fire or Dread support all I had standing at the end was a single Terminator with a thunder hammer. Meanwhile my shooting was terrible and he was able to close in on all Ultramarine units on my side of the board. I got tabled.

Game Two:
I was matched up with Rich T. who had a Sisters or Battle list. When Jawaballs came by the table after his game ended he wondered why I was playing a guy/list like this in the second round. Even the guy I was playing against was like "I know?!?"

This army has all kinds of crazy faith point rolls that made the bad stuff happening to me much worse. In this game I was totally outclassed by my opponent. He used his vehicles to box my LR and Dread in and I was toast. I was too hesitant to commit the marines to the melee and as a result I, again, got tabled.

Game Three:
I played a double storm raver Blood Angles list. I won the roll to go first and deployed like I was going to. Then he rolled a 6 and seized initiative. For the second time on the day my LR was burning at the end of turn one.

 After the conclusion of turn two, where I didn't make a single saving throw in my first two turns, the guy felt bad and bought me a gin-and-tonic. Mephiston and the blood talon dread tore the rest of my stuff up. Tabled again.

Day one in the books and I didn't have a single game point. I was looking forward to day two.

Dreadnought Winner!!

To All,

The winner of the Dreadnought "drawing" is Paul Sherratt.

Brother Captn James came in second and wins a bag of Jawaballs bases.

Paul Sherrat please contact me at StantonCT@gmail.com so I can send it out to you.

I will post a Colonial GT report tomorrow - tournament was great, my results not so much.

The Stout Smurf

Forge World Ultramarines Dreadnought - Finished!

To All,
I got the Dread done. I think it came out pretty good.

I'm thinking this Dreadnought should carry the name Dienekes or Stelios. What do you think?

He'll be ready to tear it up at The Colonial GT this weekend!

Quick Refence Sheets - great resource for the Noob!

To All,

Here are the tools I need to use since I am a noob. Jawaballs Gave me a copy (still in the bag) of White Dwarf from July,2008 which is the issue for the launch of 5th edition. I think it should be required reading for all newbies. A great thing about that issue is that a quick reference guide was included with it.Until I get a much better handle on the mechanics of the game I'm going to lean on it heavily!

 I also use the "Summary" page from the Space Marines CODEX:

(I put these pages up as examples of the tools I use to play the game. If this is a copyright problem please email me at stantonct@gmail.com and I will remove them. My intention is not to steal anyone's intellectual property.)

The Stout Smurf

Ultramarines vs IG "Leafblower/Parking Lot" - What can I do??

To All,

Ultimately I'm going to have to play an Imperial Guard "parking lot" or "leaf-blower" list.

Looking at my list, is there any hope for it?

Please offer suggestions.

The Stout Smurf

Ultramarines Forge World Dreadnought - Almost Done!

To All,
I got most of the banner done with the little time I had to work on it this weekend. The Dread will be tabletop ready tonight.

The Stout Smurf

Ultramarines List for The Colonial GT on Army Builder

To All,

A huge help to your humble correspondent, a noob, is the point-and-click list-building program called Army Builder. Not only does it help you keep track of the points as you are putting your list together but also keeps track of the unit statistics and prints out a list specific quick reference sheet that they call "footnotes."

Look towards the bottom and you can see the psychic powers, special rules, unit types, wargear, and weapons associated with the troops I have added to my Ultramarines List. The program also tells you what page you can find the rule on in the rule book or Codex for clarification.

 

I know the program is $39.99 and I'm never one to tell someone how to spend their money. But I justify it like this - in the three months or so I have been involved in 40K program must have saved me 5 hours of list building, tinkering, and "hand-writing it out" time. My free time is worth more then eight dollars an hour.

The Stout Smurf

Ultramarines Forge World Dreadnought - Progress being made.

To All,
Here is the progress I've made so far. I love the model!

What color or what hive should the Tyranid on the banner be? After reading some of the "fluff" I'm leaning towards either Hive Fleet Behemoth or Kraken. Let me know your thoughts.

The Stout Smurf