Skcuzzlebumm's Scuttlebutt 1 Year On

Well yeah that is right. I realised that with the new year it also means this little blog has managed to keep going for a year. Wooooo! Happy Birthday Blog! It has been a pretty fun year of writing, pondering, bantering, and ranting for me on this blog. I am guessing that the 40,000+ hits I have received over the year are testament that at the very least the google bots find what I have to say interesting. All of which is encouraging so never fear, even if I sometimes go quite for weeks on end, this blog is here to stay. So where to next?

Well I am still in the UK trying to enjoy a nice 5 week long holiday since I passed the exams for my first Swedish language course. I say trying to enjoy because since I stepped off the plane I have been full of the cold and wheezing like a geriatric due to the horrible damp air in the UK. I didn't actually bring any hobby stuff with me as I didn't want to tempt fate not knowing if I had passed my exams or would need to return early for resits. But I passed! Woooooo! So therefore, in between playing around with Kromac lists on Forward Kommander (yes Ben you can't put me off playing Warmahordes that easily), I have been seeing what models I can beg and borrow off my fellow UK gamers. Why? Because as any 40K tournament regular in the UK will know, January is all about Caledonia Uprising.

Yep it is back, Tim King's famous Team Scotland 2 day qualification and fund raiser that has over the past 3 years become one of the biggest and most competitive tournaments in the UK. This year the numbers are a little down due to, one presumes, peoples apprehension regarding the Eye of the Storm venue in light of Maelstrom entering receivership. But the gaming venue is still there (and as someone who worked for many years in insolvency I am as sure as I can be that the venue won't be touched - not enough assets there that can generate quick cash to settle Maelstroms debts) and so myself and 85 fellow gamers (and counting - tickets are on sale until 15th) are heading down to Mansfield to once again do battle.

As its main function is to help the Scottish Team select it's ETC team, though obviously many none Scots attend just to do battle, in fact all of the UK ETC teams are always represented in force, the rules pack is written to match, or at best reflect, what the coming years ETC rules will be. However, since everything has switched from 5th to 6th Edition, and the Cally rules pack had to be issued before the ETC captains had started their long winded decision making process (the price of democracy) Tim had to make a few guesses as to what he thought would be ran at the ETC (hence some difference between what the ETC is shaping up to be). Anyway, waffle waffle, for those who are interested here is the rules pack: CLICK HERE

Right so the big question is then what have I managed to beg, borrow and steal to use as an army? Well I wanted to run my Space Marine Bikes as I am really enjoying them and there are 2 more tournaments (back to back with Cally) that I am going to be playing them at in Sweden and Denmark. But no one in their right mind owns a bike army (well except for Matt Robertson but they are all bright pink...) so it was to the drawing board to come up with bunch of possible armies that I might be able to borrow. I struck gold with my great buddy Chris Green when I found out he was not going to be using his Necrons at Cally. Though that is not to say I have gone for the 'standard' 18 Wraith spam army. Come on this is me and so of course I had to do things VERY different from everyone else:

NEIL'S CALEDONIA 2013 NECRON KNIGHTS

HQ: Necron Overlord with Warscythe, Sempiternal Weave, Mindshackle Scarabs = 130

Allied HQ: Supreme Grand Master Kaldor Draigo = 275

Troops 1: 5 Necron Warriors = 65 + Transport 1

Troops 2: 5 Necron Warriors = 65 + Transport 2

Troops 3: 5 Necron Warriors = 65 + Transport 3

Allied Troops 1: 10 Paladins with Apothecary, 4 Master Crafted Psycannons, Brotherhood Banner, Warding Stave, 3 Hammers, 5 Halberds = 770

Heavy 1: Annihilation Barge = 90

Heavy 2: Annihilation Barge = 90

Transport 1: Night Scythe = 100

Transport 2: Night Scythe = 100

Transport 3: Night Scythe = 100

Total = 1850

So what do you all think?

I would have liked to have taken a Destroyer Lord and Wraiths instead of the 3rd Warrior Squad and Overlord, but when you are borrowing models from others (and they are painting some of them for you!!!! Thank you Chris!!!) then you cannot get picky. All the same I think it is a fairly solid, and very different, list. The Paladins are a veritable brick that I think Wraiths and Screamers are not going to have such an easy time breaking (I hope). Then I have just backed it up with some very standard Necron toys of goodness to bring a lot of shooting to the army - which Draigo's Psychic Communion will help to ensure those Flyers arrive turn 2 if needed.

Right that is enough waffling from me for one day. I am going to be doing quite a bit of travelling across the UK for the next 2 weeks leading up to Cally so I am not sure if I will get to say much more before then event. But rest assured there will be plenty of post Cally batreps, plus more of the same for Gamers Weekend (the weekend after Cally) and also for the Danish Team Champs (the weekend following Gamers Weekend). So lots of tournaments and lots of batreps to come over the next month.

Until next time, stay frosty!

Neil