Yes I'm back, and I'm tanned!

Well two weeks in Cornwall were great, I ate too much, drank too much, played with the kids until I was sore and tetchy and they were shattered and MADE love to my wife under the stars (and the canvas, we're kinky - but we ain't that brave, plus who would mind the babies?)

Needless to say, I looked tanned for a total of my holiday - the day my holiday stopped - I start peeling, It's like an allergic reaction, what's a guy to do?!?

So back to the grindy thing and the email mountain (200 emails, 700 spam emails - I think I got off lightly really)... work become and paychecks Kaching and all that.

On the hobby side - well nada really. I do have some LURVELY forgeworld, specialist and GW priceyplastic to build and paint however and I'm easing back into it gingerly.

Llugft Huron in Terminator Armour - lush.

Abbaddon in priceyplastic - a winning at the BlogWars (yeah!)

Several lush Infinity models.

And a Pirate band...

So no worries.

EXCEPT: DIY beckons and the wifey's foot is tapping, plus World of Tanks has turned into somewhat of a total obsession in the obsessive mind of your truly.

My 'garage' is heaving with some pretty pathetic tanks, but take a look:

M2 Medium Tank

It's completely rubbish, but I'm totally in love with it. It has pretty paltry armour for a medium tank (some German Panzer mediums rival Russian heavies), but the beauty of it is the variety of games you get dumped in. Sometimes I'm going head to head with a KV (huge russian ball breaker, kills me in one shot and crushes my burning remains), other times I'm playing the 'mini-KV' in really noob games taking everyone out with kill shots. Armed with a 75mm howitzer it's totally overgunned for it's play level and a really really fun tank.

PzKpfw II Luchs

This was a joy of a tank until they nerfed it on a recent update. Not the fastest scout tank, but turns on a dime and doesn't slow for hills either. Running around causing havok and playing the 'target' is what this little Luch is a beauty for. It can take a half decent gun too, although ditching it in favour of a super-light pop gun is very tempting and then you just race about annoying people. Even less armour than the M2, but at this speed?!?

VK 1602 Leopard

The latest (and best) tank in my garage. It's almost as quick as the luch (and faster downhill), but with double the armour and a good gun. The downside, every game you are going into battle against tanks that never fought in WW2, IE really really really big tanks that make the IS and KV look well a bit silly. Fun to drive though.

SU-85B

A tank hunter. Up until today (I've been playing a month), I didn't like tank hunters. Basically a huge gun on a shit chassis. That said, I'm gaining respect for this beauty. Hunting is all about the position and the waiting and taking the shot that counts. I'm starting to rack up quite a tally with this beauty - with an eye set on the SU85 ... which is a really dirty tank.

Ram-II

The first of my premium tanks. It has a average gun on a tough medium tank. Good armour though. Won't face down much 1-2-1, but in a wolf pack, this tough nut shines.

T14

My only heavy tank, premium and a bit rubbish. It can take some punishment, but its armour ain't great and it's gun is only good for picking off the supporting tanks. Sometimes however, you manage an outflank with this beauty and the look on their face when a T14 rolls into their base - lush! The biggest asset, this baby earns $7-15,000 credits for every game. Which I can only spend on my other tanks. Nice.

M37

Finally I have my only SPG (Self-propelled gun). I'm not a big fan of these boys as they play (again) completely differently from my style. That said, they are cool and can rack up kills behind a good team no problem.

Conclusion

If you haven't tried it already, do so. World of Tanks is a world of awesomeness. It's free unless you start stocking up on Premium tanks like me (which kinda works) and I've spent a total of £13 on it in a month. And I don't need to spend anymore (at least for a while ... honest!)

I'm going on holiday...

Packed up the Routemaster and I'm off to the Cornish Coastline for some serious camping British styles ... think soggy sausages and hardcore badminton in a monsoon. I'll be sure to pick up a afternoon worth of Aussie sunshine and share it around my whole body!

Needless to say, I won'y be posting until July ... I'll be too busy making with the sandcastles!

BLOGWARS battle summaries

Big thank you to the guys at From the Fang for a great treat of a day at BlogWars. A lot of hard work went into a smashing day. After spending all day there I can confidently report that:

a) Bloggers are 50% normal, 25% geekizoid and 25% very cool.

b) They are also quite cagey about their identities...

c) Some can be quite weirdly competitive about their popularity ... as I discovered.

I never got to meet Mr Colonel Corbane ... despite him being the only person I actually sorta knew.

Anyhow, I met some great boys who travelled in packs, from the following blogs:

Claws and Fists: (clickety click) a bunch of really nice guys (and a very opinionated one with Navy links in his thirties... LOL), I played against Grazer/Graeme in my last game and he was a champion gentleman and a top bloke too.

Sons of Sanguinius: (clicky click). Didn't play any of them (and I'm glad), as these guys creamed all the top spots in the tournament. Two brothers came first and second, and the winner crack'd first place with Dark Eldar - which he'd pick'd up a few weeks before.

Brother Loring from 3++: (if you need a clicky click ... you'll need your head examined). Very nice fella, very nice girlfriend. Good to play against...

On with the battle reports:

Battle One: This is where my day sort of started and ended really. 7:30 start ... first game. I'm toting 105 guardsmen and 7 vehicles against. Draigo and 20 Grey Knight Paladins, 4 Psycannon with an Apothecary in two two wound mass blobs. It was nicknamed as the 'cheesy' list by the tournament runners. And it was VERY boring to play against. It was spearhead and capture and control and I really didn't know what to do about these boys.

I layered up in one corner and then sent the mech out to the other corner with the Vets and platoon command to challenge the other objective. I managed to put a wound on Draigo in the first turn. Then in turn three 20 2W Terminators with FNP arrived within charge range of my blob. I unleased everything at a squad and killed all but a few. They then shot at me and I lost the platoon command and the autocannons (running) (double Ld9 fail!) and then they ate my blob. All of them.

I hurt him, getting many victory points (747), but Draigo sat on his home objective and contested "LIKE A BOSS!", and my vehicles were left licking their wounds.

Battle Two: Brother Loring from 3++. Building a balanced list with unconventional units was a real joy. And then 16 Black Templars Terminators supported Grimaldus, a Chaplain and an Emperors Champion (2+) into my lines...

I played the beggining well. Placing two 'sacrificial' mortars squads on the 24" forces all the Terminators back at 6" from the start and started hurting them. Everything in his army not in Terminator Armour died badly.

And then a dreaded sense of deja vu overcame me as I was yet again trying to kill terminators with mass firepower. At this point it all got a little much ... a multi-army tournament and I'm facing nothing but 2+, 5++, 3++ ... boo.

It's a killpoint game. He's got 8 kill points in total and he topped ten... so there we go, 2 game sin and I'm too down.

And I'm so tired of Terminators.

Battle Three: finally Graeme arrives with Landraiders and Predators and stuff that most people arrived at the tournament with and I'd weirdly avoided. And this went the other way. Turn One, I wrecked his Landraider and a rhino in the first turn. Next up, Kharn and his Terminators went down kicking under the hooves of my rough riders.

With vehicles to bite into and only 4 termies on the board, the mortars ripped apart the Berserkers and the game finished with 3 objectives in my control and only 2 obliterators on the board. After two games of frustration, everything worked. Graeme was a real champ in taking some really hard knocks as all the rolls worked out.

So overall I scored 17th out of 26ish players. Damn you 2++, damn you to eternity.

Conclusions

The army list worked well, except against Terminators ... blasted termies...

Final and Submitted BLOGWARS list

Following the game on Tuesday - a couple of tweaks:

100 Command HQ with 2 Sniper Rifles and an autocannon, officer of the fleet.

105 Infantry HQ with 4 Grenade Launchers and a Chimera

255 3 x Lascannon equipped squads, plus a Commissar with power weapon

165 2 x Autocannon equipped squads plus a Commissar with power weapon

300 5 x Mortar Heavy Weapons Teams

155 Veterans with 3 x Melta and Chimera

85 Rough Riders x 8

120 Armoured Sentinels x 2 with autocannons

125 Devildog, Smoke, Heavy Flamer

125 Basilisk

215 Leman Russ Battle Tank, Lascannon and Pask

I've pulled the lascannon off the Armoured sentinels and gone for some autocannons. 2 extra lascannon shots are nice, but mobile autocannons are a greater threat to light tanks and APC's. I'm expecting a couple of Rhino/Chimelta rushes during the day and those Sentinels will be working their nuts off.

I have also dropped the smoke from the Sentinels - while essential on the hellhound variant, the Sentinels 'should' be moving and firing EVERY turn - making it a wasted 10pts. I've made two change to the command squad, I've dropped the flamer and a sniper and opted for another autocannon. Cheap at the price and it threatens everything. I've also taken that 30pts and invested in an officer of the fleet. -1 to enemy reserves is a must for my army and will force my opponent to consider what he puts in reserve with caution.

I am particularly concerned about flanking flamer tanks (looking at you - Blood Angels) and similar filth. Any chance to disrupt drop pod reserves, flankers is a must for a firebase army like mine.

The die is cast, speaking of which - some chessex dice are required!