The Deployment Zone’s – Black Spiral 40k Campaign

The Deployment Zone’s – Black Spiral 40k Campaign

 

Hello everyone, 

Due to the overwhelming success of the Deployment Zone’s Tamurkhan Campaign, the podcast has decided to launch a new campaign for 40k.  The campaign is called “The Black Spiral” and will kick off September 9^th and continue on until December 14^th.

The Black Spiral Campaign is what we called a “weighted” campaign where there are multiple paths and ways the campaign will actually go based directly off of the actions and results from the players.  There will be a total of 4 campaign phases during the game.  Each phase will have 1 to 3 scenarios that players may choose to play and report their results about.  The reported results will then determine what scenarios will be available next phase as well as where the storyline proceeds. 

What side do I have to play on?

While in most campaigns you have a side you choose, in the Black Spiral campaign the “side” you are on is chosen when you open the scenario.  Every published scenario will designate the players one of two rolls from which I will collect win/loss/draw data from those who played what side. 

What point level is the campaign?

Each scenario will also have a different point level and will have rules provided for the more unique scenarios that this campaign will provide for. 

Why are you hosting this campaign?
The Deployment Zone takes great pleasure in hosting these online campaigns and we find reporting the findings every few weeks to be a great example of why we love these game systems.  The Tamurkhan campaign had well over 100 players and 250 games reported to me over the 12 weeks from all over the globe.  Seeing how different games went and the special events and occurrences that happened as a result of the weird scenario rules were very enjoyable and we look forward to seeing how 40k plays out.

Well what’s in it for me for participating?

Also, for every game that you report to us then we will put your name in a hat for the drawings at the end of the campaign.  Last year we gave away an army battalion and 2 gift certificates.  This year we will be providing an Army Battalion, 2 Warhammer 40,000: The Rules books and 2 Gift certificates to the winning participants of the campaign’s raffle.  So the more games you report, the greater your chances of walking away with a prize!

Where do I find the scenarios?

The Company of the Damned and The Deployment Zone websites will provide the scenarios to everyone and we will be dedicating a small segment to the results section for each phase. 

Who do I send the results to?

The results of the campaign should be mailed to john@thedeploymentzone.com

How often will scenarios be published?

That is a great question.  The scenarios will be made available every three weeks on Mondays and the results reported on our podcast The DeploymentZone.  The campaign will start Monday, September 9^th (I’m releasing the first scenarios early) so the next set of scenarios would then be made available on September 30^th. 

Over the next week I shall be releasing the campaign background and prelude prior to releasing the first scenario. 

Hopefully everyone will enjoy the up and coming campaign!

Thanks,

John

 

 

Operation Hobby Deconstruction

Operation Deconstruction:

It is common knowledge that over the past oh 9 months since I was graced with my two lovely daughters, that I have had my ability to do anything hobby related (who am I kidding – anything in general) has been severely limited.  Now while I have found that fatherhood is a splendid way to spend ones time, I do still enjoy having “my time” to pursue my hobby and other interests.  You will see many hobby updates and articles posted once August has expired.

Because I was able to go to OFCC this summer (both Fantasy AND 40k) my wife asked me to give my hobby a break until the end of the month (except for podcasting) in order to spend more time with our daughters since I spent most of July trying to hammer out the Dark Eldar for the 40k OFCC.

So in an effort actually be involved in my hobby, I have prioritized my projects moving forward:

1.       The Crimson Sigil – my 2000 point Dark Eldar force will be the first to be completed.  I have only a few units left and some vehicles to finish out this force at 2k.  I enjoyed how it played at OFCC and look forward to seeing the force completed. 

2.       The Company of the Damned – the new Eldar codex has revitalized my love for my 1^st 40k army.  While I never actually quit playing them, I did back away from 40k for a while during 5^th edition and chose to concentrate more on fantasy.  I will be rebuilding 90% of the army over the next 9 months or so as I replace older units and hobby sins of ages past.  I am really excited to rebuild the Eldar since I am not actually building a 2k list but rather a large force.  I have ordered an Avatar from Forge World and have purchased several vehicles lately to have a diverse and yet fully themed Ulthwe` Strike Force.  I am very excited about this endeavor.

3.       The Eye Aeternum – my 2800 point Warriors of Chaos army has been started.  I have pre-ordered from Mierce Miniatures the Tarvax group of minotaurs.  I will be using those not only to replace my Games Workshop minotaurs in my Beastmen army but also to serve as Chaos Ogres in my Warriors of Chaos army.  The minotaurs from Mierce will require some pretty heavy converting to make them fit my theme but I really look forward to receiving those models.

4.       Retribution of Scyrah and Circle Orboros – I have over 150 points of Warmachine and Hordes still waiting for me to paint and play with them. 

5.       Black Templars – Next month the new Space Marine codex is being released and my Black Templars are being rolled into the new Space Marine codex.  It’s bittersweet since I know they will be unique still as they are no longer making the entire Space Marine group follow the Codex Astares and I’m also getting a new codex for an army of mine.  I just don’t like losing them as their own unique entity.

If Games Workshop continues to release their army books and codices at the rate they are, I may need to add my Wood Elves and Bretonnians to the list as well.  With a new airbrush, and finally prioritizing my projects I should finally be able to make some decent progress on the "list".  I know that a good majority of the blog followers are Fantasy players, but I will be dividing up my posts equally between the two game systems since I enjoy playing both.

 

One of the challenges that I face is confidence.  I haven't been able to really use my airbrush as much as I would like and as a result I am not anywhere near confident enough with it to use it as a primary painting tool.  I recently bought the Badger Renegade Krome airbrush which is a phenomenal airbrush.  I was able to use it pretty well when basecoating the Warp Hunters for my Eldar army but I need to get to the point where I feel as comfortable with it as I do my paintbrushes.  With practice however makes perfect and so I hope to continue to work towards that goal.

 

I also will be doing some more Preferred Enemies articles as the new books come out as well as a new line of articles called the Path of Khaine where I'll discuss Eldar units and tactics as well.

 

Lastly, the Company of the Damned will be hosting the missions for the Deployment Zone's - Black Spiral 40k Campaign.  The Black Spiral will be a 4 month, 4 mission campaign that the first mission will be available on Sept. 1.  This campaign will be like the Tamurkhan campaign where everyone who participates is put into the drawing for the prizes at the end of the campaign.  I encourage everyone to take part and play in the campaign as the results of each mission will yield a new twist to the story line.

Needless to say, there will be a good amount of new articles being posted on this blog dealing with a variety of content once again.  Until then, August will be fairly minimal as I did promise my wife I would behave when it came to the hobby.

A Tale of Two OFCC's.

This summer has been rather hectic for me and the hobby and as a result I have not really had much time to properly blog about what's been going on.  As you may well know, the Ordo Fanaticus puts on two big annual events.  The Ordo Fanaticus Club Challenge Fantasy and 40k are put on every June and every August for members of the gaming club and their associates. 

The OFCC as we call it consists of a team based challenge where all members of the gaming population may come and participate.  This is not a tournament since in the traditional sense since win/loss percentage is only a small part of the actual overall experience.  The main goal is to provide a venue for club members to come together, hang out, play some Warhammer and have a great time with people they see only once a year.  

This is the first year that I have had an opportunity to participate in both the Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40k OFCC's.  Both venues this year completely sold out with OFCC Fantasy selling out with 20 teams of 5 players each and OFCC 40k selling out with 24 teams of 4 players each. 

For OFCC Fantasy this year I brought my Bretonnians.  The list was themed and had it's disadvantages but I felt that with intelligent play I'd be able to be successful.  My list is located here.  I ended up having 0 wins, 2 losses and 3 draws this year at the OFCC Fantasy after facing Skaven, Ogre Kingdoms, Daemons of Chaos, Ogre Kingdoms again and ending with Tomb Kings. 

My first game was against Matt Harrison whom I have played every year and each time we have played we have both had a different army.  I lost the game in the 4th round when I lost 3 Knight units in one turn and my General.  Matt was and always is a fantastic opponent that I enjoy playing every year.

My second game was against Bronson James who brought his Ogre Kingdoms army.  We had a knock down, drag out fight of Ogre on Knight for a full five rounds before time was called.  The point difference between our two armies in the end was 46 points.  This game ended in a pretty solid draw.

My third game was against Taylor Flesch of the Black Sheep.  Taylor brought a very well painted Daemons of Slaanesh army.  This battle was the Dawn Attack scenario where you had random placement of units in one of three regions.  Taylor had a very well balanced army and was able to defeat me in turn 4.

My fourth game was against yet another Black Sheep player named Matt Wiley.  He brought a pretty interesting Ogre list.  We had a hard fought game where it swung back and forth each turn.  The end result was a draw with a 6 pt difference between the two armies.  It was a great game.

My final game was against Edwards from the Dice Age group and his Tomb Kings.  He had a really well designed list that I may look at mimicking to some extent in the future.  We had a long game that ended with a draw as well with a 60 pt difference between the two armies.

The problem I had with the Fantasy OFCC was not my opponents, not my tactics and not my playing.  I demonstrated pretty poor Sportsmanship because my dice were absolutely wretched.  I wasn't unfriendly to my opponents but you could tell the entire game I wasn't enjoying myself as we played because every thing I attempted to accomplish was foiled by bad dice rolling.  That however is something that I will have to work on and not let get to me next OFCC.  It is my responsibility to be a good opponent during a game as is my opponents responsibility to do the same - regardless of dice rolling.

Here are some images of the games and the event.

Leading up to the OFCC 40k, I put a lot of effort into painting my Dark Eldar.  Unfortunately, I did not account for the Twin Factor. 

These little girls happen to magically take up a good majority of my hobby time.  I can't imagine why!  (that poor Cookie Monster never stood a chance)


Despite the late nights I would spend painting, I was not able to complete the Dark Eldar to 2000 points for OFCC 40k.  I instead decided to use my existing Eldar (who had received a new book - Posts on those units soon to come) and use Dark Eldar allies. 
Here are the WIP pictures of the Warp Hunter, my Sylvos Greystorm (Illiac Nightspear) conversion and the Razoring Jetfighter and Venoms.

Razorwing Jetfighter

Warp Hunters



As you can see I used lightning bolts on the Warp Hunters (much in the tradition of the Ulthwe` because god forbid we just have black and bone coloring - no there has to be LIGHTNING BOLTS to make it effective).  The process was very simple, I merely used a mechanical pencil to lightly draw out the bolts, and then painted the bolts with a light Dheneb stone followed by Bone White.  It took some time but the end result was something I was pleased with.
Venoms:



The rest of the army used models I had already painted and will be retiring to replace with new paint jobs and better assembly.

Overall army pictures:

 

This army performed much better than I had expected.  I was 3-2 at ocf and only had one incident where I would complain to a Team Captain that opponent was not behaving in an sportsmanlike manner.  I also played five games where I would face Tau, Chaos Space Marines with Daemonic Allies, Tyrannids, Space Wolves with Imperial Guard allies and finally Sisters of Battle with Imperial Guard allies.

I played Josef and his Tau the first game and lost.
I played Mike's Chaos Space Marines with Daemon Allies and deated him.
I played again Saul's Tyrannids and lost but I had some serious issues with my opponent during this game that I will go into another and topic.
Day two I played against Donovan's Space Wolves with Imperial Guard allies and defeated them.
Lastly I played Jamie Stockdale of ChoP!  and his sister's of battle.  This was by far my most favorite game of the event and actually out of both OFCC's.  I was awarded a victory and the coveted "Favored Opponent" pin as well for this game.

Most of the pictures of these battles are located on the Ordo Fanaticus site.  I did not have time this OFCC to take many pictures so I will be depending upon other's images to provide you with a good idea as to how the event looked.

In the ends I had a very good OFCC experience this year and I look forward to the next major event that the Ordo is planning.

Thanks for reading, I'll be providing you all with more blogger content as the month progresses.