Monday, August 3, 2015

NOVA Bound: Selling My Soul

While last week I talked about sticking with my Tyranids for the GT, I'm starting to question if that will end up being the case. Pretty much every one of my friends has pushed for taking the "nastier" list. It is, after all, a tournament, and it would be nice to go better than 4-4 this year. Additionally, one of the main remaining drivers in taking the Tyranids was to improve my score in painting; at this point, I'm concerned I won't finish my planned list and end up subbing in some sub-optimal choices just for painting points.


So with leaning to taking the Necrons, I'm also looking into ways to have a unified looking army on the table. Bryan graciously traded me the Warp Spiders I need and they should arrive in time for hobby time this weekend.

Alex, who is lending me the Necrons I need has agreed to let me paint them up in my scheme, but I'll have to paint them back after. I'm also getting some more Scarabs from Rick and Chip, so that fills out my need there. I've secured one Spyder and 3 Wraiths, and I'm still exploring options for acquiring the remaining Spyder and 3 Wraiths, while trying to not spend a lot - tough balancing act.

The plus side is, even with some logistics to work out, my To Do list becomes much more manageable, particularly considering the speed at which I can paint the Necrons. My stretch goal becomes adding some details to some of the models from last year and maybe bumping my likely 30 to a 50 for paint score.

The To Do list now looks like this:
  • Must Paint:
    • 12 Wraiths - 7 assembled
    • 10-20 Scarab Bases
    • 4 Spyders - 2 assembled
    • 21 Warp Spiders
    • 3 Tomb Blades
  • Stretch Goals
    • Army wide touchups - Sepia Wash, edge highlights, squad markings
    • 5 Immortals (on 32mm Bases) - assembled
With the decision to go with the lower paint scored army, trying to get that bump from 30 to 50 will be big if I still hope to crack the top 20. Looking at last year's overall standings, to make top 20 with a 30 for paint score, I will likely need to be undefeated going into day 3, with close to max scores in every game. If I can manage to earn a 50 for paint, that bar comes down a bit and I can get in with a 4-2 record and high points or a 5-1 with modest points. 

The average BP Score last year for those who made the top 20 was about 61 points, or 10 points per round. I'm expecting higher average scores with this year's primer (and 4 more points possible per round). The average score for those with a 50 for paint was 65 points, or about 11 per round. The two players with a 30 for paint in the top 20 averaged 12 points a round while being undefeated. 

If I can manage a 50 on paint, I'm thinking I can still crack the top 20 if I average  15 points per round, going 4-2 or 5-1. I'd like to think this army might allow me to do that, as it gives me tools to choose my primary based on my opponent, I can do either  end game or progressive equally well. It has the damage output and speed to hunt down vulnerable units for kill points each round and to achieve secondaries of my choice. Simultaneously, it's durable enough to make my opponent's secondaries and tertiary goals difficult, and contest primary points. 

For those curious, since I haven't explicitly broken it out, the list looks like this:
  • Necron Decurion
    • Reclamation Legion
      • Overlord (Warlord)
      • 10 Warriors
      • 10 Warriors
      • 5 Immortals: Gauss
      • 3 Tomb Blades: Shield Vanes, Nebuloscopes
    • Canoptek Harvest
      • Spyder
      • 3 Wraiths
      • 3 Scarabs
    • Canoptek Harvest
      • Spyder
      • 3 Wraiths
      • 3 Scarabs
    • Canoptek Harvest
      • Spyder
      • 3 Wraiths
      • 3 Scarabs
    • Canoptek Harvest
      • Spyder
      • 3 Wraiths
      • 3 Scarabs
  • Eldar Craftworlds Aspect Host (+1 BS)
    • 7 Warp Spiders: Exarch, TL Death Spinners
    • 7 Warp Spiders: Exarch, TL Death Spinners
    • 7 Warp Spiders: Exarch
The other bonus to not taking the Tyranids as my GT list is, since one of my goals was paint, I can now enter some of my favorite Tyranids in the Capital Palette painting competition. I'm not thinking any of my models would place as they're closer to high table top than display quality, but it will be cool to see my Mawloc in the display cases all weekend.


That's all for now - I'm off to hunt down some Canoptek Harvests and get everything assembled in time to crush through most of my list this weekend. If I get enough painting done we might even be able to get in a couple test games. 

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