Project Thunderhawk Rescue Pt 1

As a long time 40k nerd, I will admit that owning a Thunderhawk was always on my bucket list.  From the old school all metal monster that required an engineering degree and welding experience to the current eight pound resin beast, it (well until recently) is the biggest of the Space Marine specific minis that Forge Worlds produces.  Although titans are badass in their own way, as the center piece of a Space Marine (or spikey heretic marine) army, it is that model.  Its like lusting after a Ferrari, but 1/100th the price, resin, and it will not help to get anyone laid.  Probably the opposite... anyways...

A few weeks back one popped up on eBay.  For $175 shipped.  Now, with the prevalence of Chinese/Russian recasts, one would assume for that price, its a fake.  However, this thing was painted and dusty.  The grainy pictures showed something that had sat on a shelf for a long time after getting painted to an okay ish standard in Dark Angels livery. I couldn't say no.  If worse came to worse, I could clean it up and flip it.  

The poor thing arrived  more broken than in the listing, wedged in a USPS flat rate box with almost no padding or protection.  The resin engines were broken, many of the bombs, heavy bolters, wings etc. were in rough shape.  The Dark Angels paint was about as I figured, it was a clean, table top standard but lacked any washing, highlighting or use of an airbrush.  The dust indicated many years of sitting since it last saw a table, but also showed it to be pre-forgery world.  Closer examination showed proper FW resin, clean casts and for the most part a mini that was by no means beyond salvage.  Its the 40k version of a barn car, like finding a Hemi Cuda with 10,000 miles, all numbers matching just needing some love.  

As of now, the poor thing is getting a stripper bath in sections.  The hull will have to be a multi-part strip and brush. All the ancillary bits that fell off (except one of the wings, the stripper bucket was full) are getting a solvent bath.  After about a week, I'll pull them out, scrub off the evil and see where we are. 

I haven't decided exactly how I'm going to paint the rescue Thunderhawk.  I'm tempted to paint the bright red of my 40k Blood Angels, a color scheme that best matches 5th Edition and earlier paint schemes.  I don't know if it will get used in 30k, probably not, and my other Space Marine chapters don't see much play.  Either way it will be a long road before the poor thing is ready for fresh paint and I'll keep updating as we go forward.  

Nuns with Guns at NOVA Open 2016

So, following my ill fated attempts at playing my War Convocation list at ATC and going 1-5, I decided to run a significantly less competitive list at the NOVA Open this past weekend.  I figured an Inquisition themed list with Sisters, Inquisitor Coteaz + Henchmen and an Imperial Assassin would be fun and fluffy. With the exception of the Culexus Assassin, I’ve got dozens of games with the bolter girls/Coteaz/henchmen combo so I’m more comfortable with their rules and how to get what I can out of them.  

My list was:

Sisters of Battle CAD

HQ

Jacobus- Warlord

St. Celestine

Troops

Battle Sister Squad x 5 w/Melta Gun in Immolator w/Multi Melta

Battle Sister Squad x 5 w/Melta Gun in Immolator w/Multi Melta

Battle Sister Squad x 5 w/Melta Gun in Immolator w/Heavy Flamer

Fast Attack

Dominion Squad x5 w/4x Melta Gun in Repressor

Dominion Squad x5 w/4x Melta Gun in Repressor

Heavy Support

Retributer Squad x5 w/4x Heavy Flamer in Repressor

Retributer Squad x5 w/4x Heavy Flamer in Repressor

Fortification

Aegis Defense Line w/ Quad Gun

Inquisition Allied Detachment

HQ

Inquisitor Coteaz

Elites

Henchmen Squad

2x Jokaero

3x Acolytes w/ Plasma Guns

4x Acolytes (1x bolter)

1x Psyker

Assassin Detachment

Culexus Assassin

Going into NOVA I knew my list would suffer against long range shooting (namely Tau and some Eldar builds) as they could pop my transports right quick.  Space Marine grav spam would hurt my tanks and troops, but Celestine and the girls can handle MSU pretty well whilst Coteaz has a 24” bubble of fuck your drop pods.  Chaos Daemons, IG, Orks, Jet Bike spam, Nids, would all offer their own challenges but I felt confident that I could do okay via ignoring cover melta guns and spamming flamers.

Game One:

I played Kenny from New York, who was an awesome dude and a rather good player, he ended up in like 9th overall.  Sadly, his army was lost in transit by Delta so he was playing borrowed minis at the last minute. He ran pure Tau, a Stormsurge, a few Riptides, Fire Warriors, Drones and a buffmander.  He then proceeded to wreck my face.  I picked progressives knowing that I couldn’t hold on for end game, but his Riptides and Stormsurge just popped tanks then killed girls.  On the plus side, we finished early got some beers and dinner the next night, super good dude and if I end up in Manhattan for grad school, I hope to play him again.

Game Two:

Space Marines.  Normally I’m pretty happy to play Marines as Celestine can run through their squads while the girls can put enough wounds that armor saves go away.  Not so much with the natural Invisibility and Electrodisplacement to a charge.  I played Amir from New Jersey, nice dude, very friendly, fun game, but his dual conclave on bikes with the 2+ re-rollable FNP EW chapter master from Iron Hands.  He dropped a pod in, made it over 12” away, then summoned daemons to kill the Culexus, Electrodisplaced and multi-charged. Without the FAQ/Nerfs to Invisibility and Electrodisplacement, he was able to move up, swap units, then multi charge me with an invisible star.  It went down hill from there for the bolter girls.  His summoned screamers did damage, while my Dominions were able to outflank and move to his back field. I scored a few points, but it was a very one sided loss.  

Game Three:

Tau again, hooray!  I played Joe from Georgia, who had an amazingly well painted Tau Army.  He had won best Tau and best painted at ATC a couple months back, and I could see why.  Running two squads of three Ghostkeels in the formation, some deep striking stealth suits, a Tidewall with Fire Warriors and two outflanking Kroot Squads, I was hoping that I could ignore his cover, cause enough wounds to kill some Ghostkeels and force leadership checks.  So I didn’t.  I managed to score a few points, slew his warlord (Celestine made it across the board and charged the Fire Warrior squad with the HQ) and killed a couple units, but in the progressive version, I couldn’t actually move the relic back so I just had to try and hold it; his Ghostkeels made short work of my tanks despite a ridiculous amount of 6++ invuln saves made.  After the game we got dinner and beers, and we found out that he had painted and made a fair amount of the charity Ork Army, especially the Ork Jet Bikes (which are amazing, some of the coolest minis I’ve ever seen).  A great competitor and a true hobbyist, or really an artist. I look forward to seeing his next project.

So day one was a 0-3 day, not my best, but I couldn’t ask for a nicer group of guys to kick my teeth in.  

Day Two

Game One:

I played Jack from Delaware, one of the Icehouse guys that host the annual Delawar GT.  Super nice dude and a quick game.  He ran three Imperial Knights including an Atrapos and a Riptide Wing (3x Riptides with bonuses). I hoped to scout up and melta a Knight or two, and I did manage to put some hull points down, but I just couldn’t affect the army.  He killed my henchmen squad early on, then proceeded to pop tanks, gatling gun girls to mist, and assault whatever was left over. I scored a couple points, then it ended and we got beers.  

Game Two:

Ben from New Hampshire brought a fluffy Space Wolves list with old school las/plas razorbacks, a Land Raider, Arjac, Ulrik and a generic lord with some Wolf Guard riding in it, three land speeders and some troops in the razorbacks.  It was a pretty close game, but the girls managed to pull the win, it didn’t hurt that his lascannons rolled way more ones than normal, either to hit or to penetrate, thus my tanks and girls stayed alive a lot longer.  Fun game, two pretty fluffy lists playing on a bottom table and drinking beers later one. Great guy, great game, and I finally got a win in.  

Game Three:

I ended up playing a guy that just moved to the same town in which I live, but I had not yet met. John is also in Fayetteville, NC, and was running an Imperial Guard list with an allied Genestealer Cult. He had a couple Chimeras, a few Taurox, a Leman Russ, a Valkyrie, one Wyvern, and Imperial Knight and a few squads in the transports.  The Genestealer cult had a Magos, a couple squads, and the Broodlord that could infiltrate up to one inch from my dudes, which is pretty rad especially since that nasty bastard rolled Invisibility and I couldn’t target him with templates.  The game was pretty close, but he was going for end game points while I was going progressives. I managed to wear down Genestealers and stay alive against the Broodlord which attacked Coteaz and the Henchmen, but he perilsed and lost his last wound.  We made it through five turns until time and I pulled off a minor win.  Another great close game against a super good dude that I can play in the near future.  

On the whole NOVA 2016 was a blast. I withdrew on Saturday evening as although I was 2-0 in the bottom bracket, I didn’t have it in me to play two more games and really just wanted to drink, socialize and see everything that was going on.   On the bottom level there was Warmachine, X-Wing and Armada, Fantasy/AoS, Malifaux, and several other games I couldn’t name.  There was a 30k event that looked A-Mazing, and I might play in that next year instead of the GT.  I really enjoy competitive 40k, but eight games is a lot and I don’t think I will have the time to really practice with a strong army to play it well enough in a year’s time.  

One thing I didn’t dig was NOVA’s not using the ITC nerfs.  Invisibility is nasty, and playing it twice in its full strength just sucks.  Ditto on the Electrodisplacement.  I could have taken advantage of the ruleset in use and brought my girls in via Drop Pods, but every other tournament in the US is observing that FAQ so I didn’t.  Mike Brandt, Dewry, Neil Gilstrap and the dozens of other folks I can’t name that ran NOVA did a great and wonderful thing, they held an awesome event that lasted Thursday through Sunday and had something for every tabletop gamer.  If you ever get the chance, NOVA is a blast.  

Shenanigans

Shenanigans.   It’s one of my favorite words, and is rather an apt term for this game we love.

Ever run up against that re-rollable 2+ save?  Be it the Screamer Star or the new hotness Iron Hands invincible chapter master?  

Or maybe its the crazy 6s, I remember one time rolling to wound with my rending heavy flamers in a drop pod against a cent star (without invisibility) and getting like six rends, and none of the nearest minis had invulns. Poor guy lost a librarian and two grav centurions then took a wound on Tigurius on his first turn.  This was at ATC in 2014 against one of the General Staff teams and the (then) new Gladius.  That he didn’t get off invisibility and that I rolled so lucky enable me to win that game by a large margin.  

Maybe it’s the fails.  Remember tanking bolter shots on your 2+ armor save badass, like, he’s fucking got this… then you roll three ones in a row and he’s dead, on overwatch.  Special snowflakes go away just like everyone else. I remember Draigo dying like that.

What about the current perils of the warp?  I played a guy with a similar list to mine (both running 6th Ed Grey Knights) and turn one he perils’ed his Coteaz twice in a row, almost killed him and gave me first blood, just shitty rolling.  

And let’s not forget deep strike mishaps.  My first GT, NOVA Open in 2013, I was running a (not very good) 5th Ed Grey Knights Draigo Star.  Turn two against an IG gun line army, and I deep strike mishap…. Unlucky number one, and they’re gone.  Later 700 points!  My opponent’s eyes were huge, as he saw such catastrophe strike. He apologized for such a shitty thing, but hey, it happens.  I made the most of the game as I could, but there was no coming back.  My killy thing was dead, and then it was an 1850 to 1100 point game, I think I killed maybe a Leman Russ, maybe.  

That’s the thing about this game.  It isn’t like chess where you can plan and counter; crazy shit happens. The dice gods are fickle and cruel.  Sometimes I can roll three 6++ saves on my Sister’s tank, sometimes I roll three ones for an armor save.  We’ve all been there, and I it is one of the things that I love about it.  You can be the best, with the best army, roll poorly and boom! You lost the game.  

I guess the point I’m trying to make is this: Don’t get too wrapped up in how amazing your list is or perfectly you deployed and moved.  Your Marines will fail morale and run off the board, the Chaos Gods are fickle and will turn your badasses into spawn, your markerlights will hit nothing, and seven psykers won’t get invisibility.  

This is a great game, but it’s still a game. At the end of the day, you’ll pack up your minis and go home, ESPN won’t replay your highlights, if you are really cool, maybe a couple podcasts will mention your list, perhaps you’ll make the Frontline Gaming blog (which is infinitely cooler than us).  Either way, the game goes on.