After the Impromptu Hiatus....

Yes, this is my model

So... yeah 2 months since my last post!

How did that happen?

Well working nights, house keeping, and a bit of Blood Bowl!

Still trying to figure out how to get to grips with 6th Ed 40k, but only used a few "serious" lists of late and mainly used gimmicky/fluffy lists so far. Games that I remember so far are:

Opening Day of 6th:
Deathwing vs Necrons (L)
Deathwing vs Blood Angels (W)

IG/SW vs Dark Eldar (D)
SW vs Orks (W)
BA vs Nids (L)

SW/IG (friends IG) vs Orks/Dark Eldar (W)
Deathwing vs New Chaos Marines (W)

Swear I have played a few more but I really can't remember.

So far I would say only my Wolves have been seriously kicking ass, with the fluffy Ultramarine's 1st company (Deathwing) being second- mainly due to the massive boost terminators have had.

Also been tinkering with 2 lots of the Dark Angels from the starter set. Converted the Terminators to join the Ultramarines and keeping the rest to join the Paladins of Steel (universal Marine) army I'm doing. Also got some reinforcements for my IG but as much I would like to use them for Blog Wars 4 they will take the longest to build and paint.

So for Blog Wars I'm looking at IG or Deathwing (easy cop-out army), though to my credit (I think) I have used a different army and codex for every Blog Wars so far so I might continue down that route.

We shall see.

Axes - Who are they good for?!

I'm not dead, just busy with work, house move, and old (current, crappy) house having the living room flood a little.

So just a little quickie post till I move....

Anyway during my night shift reading of the new 6th Ed rulebook I thought who *actually* benefits from the power axe?


Guard Blobs.

Everything will strike before you anyway so make yourself St4 ap2, St5 if Straken is around.

Hmmmm St5 Guardsmen.....

4/5 Sergeants with axes and pistols so that's 2 basic attacks, plus pistol bonus makes 3 each, 4 on the charge. Add in a commissar or two....

Also because IC's a pretty much hidden in assault (except for challenges and precision strikes) the Priest is even useful now (well a bit more).

So that's a little post till I've moved house.

Not another 6th Edition Post!

I'm not dead!

Hopefully later today the the deposit for the mortgage will go through, and me and the Mrs should be back in 40k Mecca (Nottingham) by the end of July.

And what better time to be back in strike range of Warhammer World!

Now like most of you I have been keeping a eye on the various rumours/leaks etc about 6th Edition 40k.

I for one cannot wait for it to be in my hands, what I do dread is the insuring internet hate and whinging.

To quote Zach from the Independent Characters Podcast:

""If one little rule change is going to make you rage then in you're in the wrong game!"

Till next time/when I move!

Blog Wars 3: Catachans Assemble!

So here's my army for Blog Wars 3 - Catachan Super Friends!

Colonel Straken,
Guardsman Marbo,
Gunnery Sergeant Harker
Colonel Griess (counts as Creed, Strakens Old Mentor),
and Captain Rock (Count as Al'Rahem - who remembers the old Catachan codex eh?) -
5 characters, badasses all, but unlike the Avengers they are all green and mean.


HQ: (445)
Colonel Iron Hand Straken, Medic, Camo Cloaks, 3 melta guns, 2 Bodyguards, Astropath = 285

Colonel Griess (Creed), Camo Cloaks = 160

Elites: (65)
Trooper Marbo = 65

Troops: (1240)
Catachan Devils (Veterans), Gunnery Sergeant Harker, 3 Grenade Launchers, Heavy Bolter = 150

Ambush Platoon: (560)
Captain Rock (Al’Rahem), Platoon Command Squad, 4 melta guns = 140

Ambush Squad (Infantry Squad). Melta Gun, Sergeant has a power weapon & melta bombs = 75
Ambush Squad (Infantry Squad). Melta Gun, Sergeant has a power weapon & melta bombs = 75
Ambush Squad (Infantry Squad). Melta Gun, Sergeant has a power weapon & melta bombs = 75
Ambush Squad (Infantry Squad). Melta Gun, Sergeant has a power weapon & melta bombs = 75
Ambush Squad (Infantry Squad). Melta Gun, Sergeant has a power weapon & melta bombs + 1 Commissar with a power weapon = 120

Bait Platoon: (450)

Platoon Command Squad, 2 Flamers = 40

Baiter Squad (Infantry Squad): Lascannon, Flamer = 75
Baiter Squad (Infantry Squad): Lascannon, Flamer = 75
Baiter Squad (Infantry Squad): Lascannon, Flamer = 75
Baiter Squad (Infantry Squad): Lascannon, Flamer = 75
Baiter Squad (Infantry Squad): Lascannon, Flamer, Commissar = 110

Deathworld Veteran Patrol Squad (Counts as Penal Legion) = 80

Total = 1750

Lots of outflanking, scouting, some infiltrating, no tanks, and only 7 real ranged guns and lots of lasfuns and short range firepower.

If you want to check out where I got my Ideas, names, and theme from you can download the old Catachan Codex from the GW site:
www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m1180160_Codex__Catachans.pdf

Since I cannot ambush like in that old codex I decided to use and rename Al'Rahem as it's probably the best way to represent that mechanic, and keeping it fluffy at the same time.

I could of even gotten Nork Deddog in there too as Colonel Griess was his first ever bodyguard detail.

To set you an ambush you need some bait too! Baiter squads is from a nice little bit of fluff in the Catachan Codex, where squads would bait a Ork Horde on to a massive canyon that had been covered and would only collapse when enough weight would be applied!

Shame I cannot take booby traps in the Guard Codex :(


Welcome to the Jungle!

War of The Roses: A Quick Aftermath Summary

Due to work and sorting out buying a house this is only a really quick wrap up of my games, so sorry for my unusual shortness of a post.

Game 1 Vs Dan Eatch's Eldar

Dan is a member of the roll with it club at Maelstorm Games and i have been down a few times but never met him, so here's to some more games against him in the future as it was great fun! He had Eldrad with a Seer Council on foot with Yriel in a Wave Serpeant, 3 Dire Avenger unkillable Falcons, Fire Dragons and Banshees in Serpeants as well.

The mission was kill points primary with 3 objectives all in mid table. To sum up the game it normally took all my shooting to the last shot to kill something, but normally that something was rock hard. Somehow it ended up 6 all on kill points and with 1 objective each and 1 contested. Highlight was Straken spending 4 rounds in combat with Eldrad and neither being able to kill the other.



Game 2 Vs Gareth "Fat Boy" Donnelly - Black Templar Terminator Missile Spam

Tournament Marathon Man Gaz wasn't using his Grey Knights which was a big relief for me but 4 units of Double Cyclone Terminators still wasn't a pleasant sight for my Guard! But Gaz only had around 10 games under his belt with this army so it was going to be a lesson for us both.

This mission was table quarters primary (scoring units count double) and kill points secondary. Since Gaz set up first I reserved everything and come my turn 2 he had been so aggressive I realised I could drive in 12 pop out 2 and be in rapid fire range! So I did, and he was a unit of Terminators down before he had fired. He had walked and ran down the middle so I did the old split flank Guard tactic and he split his forces so I torrent his 5 man units down bit by bit. I managed to get 3 table quarters thanks to my numbers and mobility, but he had it on kill points.

Gaz is a very good tournament player and a regular, but most of all he was a top bloke to play against who I play again anytime anywhere!


Game 3 vs Gary "The Voice" Percival's Necrons

Gary of 40kUK podcast fame - so it was fair to say I knew his list. But he was running 2 units of Destroyers instead of Scarabs/18 Wraiths.

The mission was 5 objectives but 2 counted towards the secondary of bore draw. It was Dawn of War so after swapping lists Gary put two units of 5 Warriors with a Destruc-Teks with Lances right up to the 24 inch line, so turn 1 involved my hellhounds driving on and dropping a unit. My first 3 turns where devastating to the necrons, but Gary hung in there but by turn 3 or 4 he managed to immobilise all my forces heading for his and the middle, and if I had gotten one more turn of movement it was going to be more burny hellhound fun for me. By the end all I had left was 1 Russ and 5 guys from a special weapon squad left and my age old problem vs Necrons of there's a lord on my objective and he wont die. I left open with my Russ who nicked a wound of the lord and fortunately the 3 melta guns and 2 lasgun managed to drop the lord with the last dice rolls of the game. SO I had lost but I manage to grab some points back from it.

Funny thing was it wasn't until turn 6 that I noticed things had gone from very good to bad for me as it was such a interesting tactical game.


Game 4 vs Gordon Wilson Grey Knights

I saw 2 Grand Masters, 3 Dreadnoughts, and 20 Terminators and thought Draigowing, but it was not!

The mission was 5 objectives primary and2 of them as bore draw secondary.

Like against the Templars I reserved everything. Gordan had dreadful luck in this game and to sum it up the first 2 and last 2 dice rolls of the game sum it up: firstly in using Psychic Communion to keep his outflanking Terminators off the board both his Grand Masters suffered from perils and lost a wound each, and in turn 3 one of them took another wound!

Despite Psychic communion I manage to keep all bar 1 Russ and a unit of Veterans off the board till turn 3. When Straken came on he shoved his Chimera up my left flank taking cover behind my hellhounds making a beeline for his objective which was held by 2 scoring Psyrifle dreads Straken ate them for Breakfast.

It came down to me trying to shift one of his units off the middle of objective to win the game. He charged a Grandmaster into a unit of Veterans who fled and shot him down as they fled some more. His other Grandmaster and middle unit of Terminators multi-charged my massing forces and he couldn't immobilise or stun my chimeras and to top it off the Grandmaster on 1 wound cut down all but 1 special weapon squad Catachans and in turn took a Catachan kiss to the face and died.

And that last dice roll of the game he rolled a 10 for his LD9 Terminators when I tank shocked the middle unit of terminators. All he had left was a immobilise weaponless Dreadnought and 10 Terminators who only damage was taking a multilaser of a chimera and stunning it - his luck was that bad.


Game 5 vs Dan Sackett - Grey Knights/Cotez Henchman spam in Stormravens.

It was table quarters and kill points, and i got bummed. This sort of GK build just rips mech guard to pieces I just sat in the corners trying not to die and just survived but didn't win.

His paper suffocated my rock.



Game 6 vs Alex West, Space Wolves

This was a really fun game as Alex is another great but nice guy to play and even though I lost in the end it was a game full of highs and lows for both forces. I set up my 2 Russes and reserved the rest so I keep his Long Fangs out of the game. But his Rune Priest had other ideas. Boosted by Logan his Rune Priest only ever got 1 or 2 shots but he destroyed whatever he looked at. It was like he had a finger of death!

One thing I learned was that in future I'm taking Runic armour on my Priests in the future as Alex rolled so many 2's for his armour saves it was silly! I tried the same drive on and rapid fire trick to his Logan bomb which worked well but due to wound allocation there where survivors and I lost a unit of Veterans but it mangled the unit up enough to kill it's overall effectiveness off.

Straken got stuck into a unit of Grey Hunters and had them for Breakfast, but mainly due his body guards taking power fist hits for him, but that's what they are there for.


I came 40th out of 60 but I had some really great games against good but pleasant players who I would all play again may it be in competition or for fun.

Next up is blog wars 3 and a super silly and fun army that I will post up tomorrow or mid week at the latest.

War of the Roses

I'm not dead! Just buying a house.

Anyway my next tournament is next weekend and it's the English team's ETC fund raiser - War of the Roses. I'm using a similar IG list than I did for Open War but with a few changes. I added Straken, and only taken 2 Leman Russes instead of the 4.


HQ:
Company Command Squad (50), Colonel Straken, 4 melta guns, 2 bodyguards = 215
Chimera, Multi Laser, Heavy Flamer =55

Troops:
Veterans (70), 3 Plasma Guns, Sergeant has a plasma pistol = 125
Chimera, Multi Laser, Heavy Flamer =55

Veterans (70), 3 Plasma Guns, Sergeant has a plasma pistol = 125
Chimera, Multi Laser, Heavy Flamer =55

Platoon Command Squad , 4 Melta Guns = 70
Chimera, Multi Laser, Heavy Flamer =55

Infantry Squad, Autocannon = 60
Chimera, Multi Laser, Heavy Flamer =55

Infantry Squad, Autocannon = 60
Chimera, Multi Laser, Heavy Flamer =55

Special Weapons Squad (35) 3 Melta guns (30) = 65

Special Weapons Squad (35) 3 Melta guns (30) = 65

Fast Attack:
Hellhound, Smoke Launchers, Searchlight = 136

Hellhound, Smoke Launchers, Searchlight = 136


Heavy Support:
Leman Russ Exterminator, Heavy Bolter = 150

Leman Russ Exterminator, Heavy Bolter = 150

Manticore = 160


Total = 1,847

So I dropped down to 2 Russes as squadrons as they are Command Barge bait, and  I've added more plasma veterans for the range and the ability to kill Marines/Grey Knights. If it wasn't a true competitive event I might of kept the other 2 Russes.

As I said earlier I am in the process of buying a House so I've got all the legal crap to go through, but hopefully I could be back in Nottingham by mid June. So obviously any blogging is on the back foot for a while.

Till next time!

Army for Sale/Trade!

I've grown bored of Fantasy, and I haven't played in yonks, so I just want rid of this lot:

20 Metal Black Orcs with full comm
14 Plastic Black Orcs/with full comm
20 Night Goblins, Hand weapons and Shields, full comm
60 Skull Pass Night Goblins with Spears and Full comm

Grimgore Ironhide (metal)
Plastic Orc BSB
Metal Orc Warboss (games day mini I think)
Savage Orc Shaman (metal)

Orc Shaman
2 Night Goblin Shamans
20 Skull Pass Night Goblins with Short bows/full comm
3 Night Goblin Heroes (plastic Skull pass ones?)
1 Skull Pass Troll

34 (19+25) Orcs. Choppas and Shields/2 full comm

1 Plastic Warboss on old style boar (broken arm)
1 metal shaman on old style boar
5 Plastic Boar boyz, + 1 unmade
1 Black Orc Warboss (metal) missing axe arm.
3 Plastic Fanatics.

Some movement trays
New, Hardback O+G army book
Small paperback 8th Edition Rule Book

Rough Retail/Ebay price up comes to just over £340, but I'm open to any offers/trades for a 40k army.


Pics:
http://s14.photobucket.com/albums/a331/ ... 20Goblins/
Most pics are doubles - with and without flash on.

So let me know on the following thread on the Warhammer Forum:
http://warhammer.org.uk/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=101075

Open War Game 3: Draigoooooo!!!

So on to game 3 and my opponent was the very same chap that Grazer from Claws and Fists played in his second game - so time for some pay back for my club mate!

It wasn't quite your typical Draigowing, but it was still a powerhouse of pain:

Draigo

Inquisitor Karamazov (aka the Pope-mobile/Walking Cathedral)

10 Paladins maxed out with wound allocation fun

10 Purifiers

5 Man Strike Squad

Vindicare Assassin

Now there's no libby but Karamazov stops the issue of mass tank shock vs Draigowing with a Orbital Bombardment relay and a master crafted multi melta, as well as auto passing/failing morale tests.

The mission was 3 objectives going across the board in a diagonal line from top left to bottom right with one in the middle, but each player after turn 1 scored 100vp's for holding each one with a scoring unit. Deployment was pitched battle but each side had the zone extend up to half way and in 12 from the left hand side. This side was only 12 away from the other armies "starting" objective so all where under threat from the word go. Most Vp's from kills and objectives held wins.

On the same table that I had my first game on vs the Battlewagon Orks, my opponent yet again won the roll for deployment (3 out of 3!) he set up with his Paladins and characters in the little part of the deployment zone that stretched out to half way all the way over on my right. He had his Purifiers on his starting objective behind the massive GW landing Pad. The Strike Squad was in reserve. For his Grand Strategy he choose Hammer of the Righteous (re-roll 1's to wound) on all his units so bizarrely putting the Purifiers on his starting objective made no sense.

So with his Death Star of Paladins all the way over on my right flank I set everything up on my left and most of it up near the half way line. I hid my Demolisher and Eradicator behind some BloS terrain in the middle of my zone of it covered "my" objective and the middle one, as well as the way his Paladins would have to come. I also put the Hellhounds in front of these so if he shot the real danger to his army the Demolisher I would at least get a cover save if he got past the Armour 14. The Manticore hid in the left corner and my Chimeras set up behind my Exterminators who where ready to rush the Purifiers.

My Opponent takes his first turn and moves his isolated Paladins back towards the fight now. His Purifiers move so only the Psycannons could see a Chimera between the Exterminators. The Vindicare blows up the Exterminator that had its front armour facing him! The Purifiers shake the chimera.

In my first turn I push the last Exterminator and the horde of Chimeras into the Purifiers faces. The Manticore lets loose with 2 shots and kills a Paladin. The Hellhounds are both just in range of the Vindicare and burn him out with ease!

In the GK turn 2 the Paladins run closer and the Purifiers charge the Exterminator and blow it up, but now they are in range of multiple heavy flamers, plasma veterans and the demo charge....

.... which in my turn 2 is exactly what happens! After plasma gun fire kills 2 or 3 Purifiers the little demo charge toting nutter who has spent 2 games twiddling his thumbs lets loose his bag of fun and drops 7 Purifiers in one go! The Manticore drops another Paladin as I get a few wounds upon the unit.

Turn 3 sees the Strike squad still off the table so the Juggernaut of Paladins roars closer and one model is just in charge range of my Hellhounds. The one Paladin rips of the turret and that's his turn. He would of done more damage but by conga lining his unit out to avoid mass pie plate hits he minimized the number of models who could assault.

My turn 3 sees the Special Weapon squad and a infantry squad take "his" starting objective and sit there for the rest of the game. With his Paladins in my flank now I commit everything in this turn. Chimeras move forwards, veterans pile out and masses of ordinance, plasma, and melta is let loose into Draigo and his cronies. The dust settles and the result was somewhat not very impressive, but multiple Paladins are wounded, Draigo is wounded and Karamazov is wounded too.

His turn 4 sees the Strike Squad arrive and cower behind some LosB terrain the Vindicare was in. The Paladins multi charge so they hit the damaged Hellhound, 2 Chimeras and a single Paladin makes it into the Veterans. One Chimera is destroyed and bizarrely only 1 Chimera and 2 Veterans are killed, more annoyingly the Veterans hold in combat on a 4! This seemed bad but it actually worked out for me as only 1 more Paladin could pile in as the Veterans where sat between 2 Chimeras.

In my turn 4 I break off the Demolisher and Eradicator is go after the Strike squad and reduce it down to a single man. In the middle everything that is mobile retreats and sets up a new line after the veterans die, but they live, and escape to fight another day!

Turn 5 sees the Paladins chasing shadows in the form of fast moving Chimeras, but by diverting a few towards the middle objective I force where he goes as I am racking up the VPs from the other objective I hold. The Paladins charge and destroy a Chimera just (again Conga lining limits his assault power).

My turn 5 sees the Veterans rally but only after "Get back in the fight, but it's plasma guns back in the fight. I send more ordinance, melta and flames at the Paladins and at this point Draigo is down 2 wounds (half VPs!) and so is Karamazov, and more importantly the last 6/7 Paladins are all on 1 wound too. I manage to take another wound of both the Characters and drop the Paladins down to 6. I need a turn 6 to see a certain victory.

There is a turn 6!

The Paladins kill the units I sent into the middle but with my last few plasma and melta guns I take down Paladin number 5 - half Vps for his 700 point unit! The game ends and we total up VP's

Including the Vps for 1 objective held for 3 turns I come out exactly 600 points in the lead! So a solid victory for me, but not a total bloodbath on paper, but on the table all he had left was 5 wounded Pladins and Draigo on 1 wound, and Karakmazov on 1 wound too.

So 3 wins out of 3! But where does it leave me in the final placings?

Well after a lonngggg wait and a superb raffle I wasn't top 3 so when the placings where handed out I was 4th! Joint 3 on Battle points but I was knocked down to 4th on VPs earned over all 3 games.

I look back at the mission pack and 601 points in my last game was the next point bracket up, and then I remembered that lonely strike squad marine hiding! If I had killed him I would of been over 601 points and taken 3 place! So while on paper it looked like I was 750VP's behind 3rd I was really 1VP away from 3rd, maybe even 2nd!

1. Victory. Point.

But despite that I cannot say I'm disappointed, in fact I'm ecstatic! It's the best I've ever done, and ever more so I had 3 great games, against 3 very, very, different armies, including my first game against Draigowing. No Dreadnoughts but that blob of Paladins is a real pain in the ass, but it can be beaten!

So onwards and upwards after my disappointing GT with my Space Wolves. I will take IG to War of the Roses as well as Blog Wars (well maybe I might go crazy for blog wars).

Up, up, and away!

Open War Game 2: Imperial Guard BBQ

So after a solid win vs Battlewagon Orks in game one I moved on to game two against another Imperial Guard Army.

I was expecting Leafblower as I looked over and saw two Vendettas put down, but it was more infantry based with a Leman Russ and a Demolisher and 3 Armoured Sentinels with Plasma Cannon.

So the opposite IG list was:

Company Command Squad

Lord Commissar

Marbo

Platoon Command Squad

2 Infantry Squads with flamers

Heavy Weapon Squad with Missile Launchers

2 Special weapons squads - one triple flamer, one triple grenade launchers)

3 Armoured Sentinels with Plasma Cannons

Leman Russ with Plasma Cannons, and a Lascannon

Demolisher with Multi Meltas, and a Lascannon

2 Vendettas

2 Veteran Squads with Melta Guns and Demolitions.

So 6 major threats in the Russes, Vendettas and the Veterans.

The Mission was Kill Points Dawn of War.

Again my opponent won the roll and set up his platoon and HQ fairly centrally with the missile team on my right in some woods. After much thinking he decided to bring the Vendettas on normally. I choose deploy nothing but bring everything on first turn.

His first turn basically saw him fully deploy. A vendetta on each flank filled with the melta veterans, his Armoured Sentinels on my right next to the regular Russ and his demolisher on the right.

I brought all my stuff on my left flank lead by the Exterminators, the Demolisher and Eradicator on my right (well middle) with the Hellhounds taking the lead in between with my chimeras behind.

Turn 2 sees him let loose with all his lascannons and nothing happens. His Sentinels shake a Hellhound and the missile team pop a chimera.

In reply I stun lock both Vendettas, Burn a squad with a Hellhound.

Turn 3 sees him bravely move a Vendetta flat out after my Demolisher and the Sentinels and Leman Russ bounce off my Hellhounds. In reply I manage to wreck the fast moving Vendetta and the Demolisher and Eradicator demolish and eradicate the veterans inside. First two threats dealt with.

My Exterminators open up and take down the other Vendetta, and then my Hellhounds BBQ the Veterans who came out of that wreck. Threats three and four dealt with.

His Turn 4 sees his Demolisher come into range and scatter away from my Demolisher. Marbo turns up and kills the Infantry who had lost the Chimera in turn 2, and again the Sentinels again bounce of the Hellhounds.

My Demolisher fires back and kills his, the Hellhounds BBQ yet another squad and the Exterminators kill one and shake the other 2 Sentinels. I start to pile forwards with my Chimeras now that the Vendettas had gone. Marbo survives a lot of lasgun fire only to fall over to a single meta gun.

In turn 5 he charges the Sentinels into the Hellhounds and the Leman Russ finally killed one, but the Sentinels literally bounce of the Hellhound this time. In reply my Exterminators get into the soft side of the sentinels and wipe them out as the Hellhound BBQ's another squad of Guardsmen and parks it self in front of the Leman Russ to block it sight. The Eradicator and Demolisher start shooting at the Missile Team killing one and a few men from the command squad behind it.

Turn 6 Sees his Missiles and Leman Russ bounce off my Hellhound. In reply my Manticore fires in Danger Close at the Russ and just missing my Hellhound an rips of the Battle Cannon. The Eradicator and Demolisher finish off the command squad and the missile team and the Hellhound and Chimeras kill his last Squad and Lord Commissar.

The result is 15 - 2 on kill points.

This was a game where my opponents dice deserted him completely he pretty much always failed to penetrate by 1, but my deployment and only ever giving him hard targets to shoot at greatly reduced what he could actually hurt and then he needed 5's or 6's on one or two dice.

Again the Hellhounds, Russes, and the Manticore proved to be so effective, but how will they do against Marines or Terminators?

Well you can find out tomorrow as I take on the man of the moment, the internet hate figure, and his batch of Cronies in the form of Draigowing!

Open War: Game 1 vs Battlewagon Orks

It's been a while since my last post which was the army list I had taken to Open War 17 ran by the Nottingham 1st Company Veterans which you can read here.

So without further ado here's the first of the three games I played:

Game 1:

5 Objectives (classic X set up), pitch battle.

Opponent: Battlewagon Orks! Gazzie with Nobs, Big Mek with force field with burna boyz, shoota boyz, a unit of grots, 2 nits of 6 lootas, and 3 rokkit buggies.

Well it was my first game vs Battle Wagon Orks so I didn't have much faith in pulling out a win.

Well he won the roll for deployment and set up slightly off to my right due to a piece of impassible terrain, so I set up in my left corner around a piece of impassible terrain too. I left my 2 infantry squads in reserve, one in a chimera to try and get the central objective late game, and the platoon command squad on my right hiding behind cover in their chimera to either hold a objective or if things go badly jump out and melta a wagon

So turn 1 sees the battlewagons come to the middle for the turn 2 wagghh & charge, while one of the rokkit buggies snuck a wrecked result in verses my veterans Chimera. In response my Manticore lets loose 2 shots in to the Shoota boyz wagon and wrecks it, and then the demolisher lets loose and takes out the Big Meks/burna boyz wagon as well! A very good start! The Exterminators wittle down a unit of lootas while the Hellhounds push down my left to get the grots next turn, but this turn kill a rokket buggy. A great reply for my first turn.

Turn 2 sees him not commit Gaz yet and the boyz in the middle spread out to avoid my pie plates, his rokkit buggies go after the hellhounds to no effect. My turn 2 sees the Manticore starting a bombardment of Shoota and Burna Boyz in the middle but the big mek shield starts to work. The Demolisher takes out Gaz's Wagon as my Chimeras start to multilaser his nobs. The Hellhounds take out the whole unit of Grots so hes down to 2 scoring units.

Turn 3 sees him commit Gaz and the nobs to charge and kill my Demolisher and Eradicator but this leaves him mass las, flamer, and melta range. The buggies keep on trying to annoy the Hellhounds and finally do some damage in ripping of one of the inferno cannons.

My turn 3 sees my Hellhounds tank shock 3 lootas off the board, while the Exterminators wipe out the buggies and his nobs are wiped out as Gaz left the unit last turn so I made the most of it.

Turn 4 sees Gaz just make it to my Exterminators but he only kills one. In my turn 4 my infantry squads arrive, just in time to first rank, second rank his Burna boyz and then the Big Mek into oblivion. My Hellhounds nuke the remainder of his shoota boyz so he has no scoring units left, the Veterans rapid fire their plasama guns and reduce Gaz to a single wound just before he kills of the second Exterminator.

Turn 5 Sees Gaz charge my Veterans and kills only 2, the Veterans who hold. My Hellhounds kill the 2nd unit of Lootas leaving only Gaz left on a single wound locked in combat with my Veterans who hold all the way till turn 6 when the game ends. But not before I push the Chimera Mounted infantry squad into the middle to take the objective giving me a 2 - 0 win

It was a one sided game but I had never played Battlewagon Orks before so I was expecting 4+ cover saves and deathrollas to the face, but being opening open topped, and shooting indirectly to hit the side armour with the Manticore was devastating along side the Hellhounds killing whatever they liked in a single turn.

But the Ork army was beautiful, just the right level of orkyness to the Battlewagons and a Gazzie conversion that had its base in a Blood Bowl Ogre and a million of bits from various kits made for a fine Warboss.

Game 2 is a Guard on Guard Slapfight in kill points no less! So comeback tomorrow for a slaughter fest that Khorne would approve of!

Open War 17: Imperial Guard 1750pts

As mentioned in my GT post I have a "new" style Imperial Guard army in the works as a sort of concept. As it stands now this is what I will take to open war:

HQ:

Company Command Squad, 4 melta guns = 90

Chimera, Multi Laser, Heavy Flamer = 55

Troops:

Veterans, 3 Plasma Guns = 115

Chimera, Multi Laser, Heavy Flamer = 55

Platoon Command Squad, 3 melta guns = 60

Chimera, Multi Laser, Heavy Flamer = 55

Infantry Squad = 50

Chimera, Multi Laser, Heavy Flamer = 55

Infantry Squad = 50

Chimera, Multi Laser, Heavy Flamer = 55

Special Weapons Squad, 2 flamers, 1 demo charge = 65

Fast Attack:

Hellhound Squadron: 2 Hellhounds, Heavy flamers = 260

Heavy Support:

Manticore, Heavy Bolter = 160

Leman Russ Squadron A: 1 Leman Russ Exterminator, Heavy Bolter. 1 Leman Russ Exterminator, Heavy Bolter = 300

Leman Russ Squadron B: 1 Leman Russ, Demolisher, Heavy Bolter. 1 Eradicator, Heavy Flamer; = 325

A Few things to point out. The special weapons squad will more than likely hijack a chimera and make a bee line for the biggest nastiest unit the enemy has (people forget the demo charge is AP2), or hold back as part of a massive flamer base counter attack or advance.

The big odd ball is the Eradicator with the Demolisher. The Demolisher is the big old Ap2 St10 pie plate we love and the Eradicator is St6, Ap4, Pie plate that ignores cover. Why such a odd couple? Well the vast majority of armies will only be scared of one or the other if not both. Anything without power armour will hate the Eradicator while the Demolisher can pick on those 2+ save units. The Eradicator is great at clearing out those deck chair units who only job is to score as most will be crappy units with 5+/4+ armour saves such as Scouts, Grots or Eldar Warriors of some type that the Hellhounds can't get to or are busy with something else. So why mix them? Well I can abuse the squadron mechanics by putting any damage on to the less needed tank, and it's another AV14 hull to hide behind. Also I can hide the not so useful tank in cover to give the useful tank out in the open a cover save if needed.

The Leman Russ Exterminators are pretty much AV 14 Hydras, but unlike Hydras they are no where near as vulnerable and are a lot more mobile, but their 4 shots come from 1 gun unlike the Hydras 2 so a weapon destroyed result can be quite bad but should be less likely.

On the attack/move I can hide most of my army behind cover and the AV14 hulls and advance. Once the enemy is in range or have themselves advanced to try and melta the Russ's they are in strike range of multiple flamers, meltas and plasma weapons. It's not full proof but as things stand at the moment it's a drastic change of pace and tactics for the Imperial Guard.

One thing I can see giving me serious problems is Necron Lords in their Douche Canoes Command Barges doing fly by attacks, but I think smart deployment and movement should make this suicidal at best.

Like I said in my last post in these last few months of 5th Edition I think it's time to really mix things up and go against the established grain, and have some fun doing it!

40k UK GT: Saga of the Defeated....

"Gather round pups and let me tell you a tale of woe..."

Well it wasn't that bad, but by god it was frustrating.

I won't go into a full "stato" breakdown of the numbers as Neil Kerr has done a good job already. But as one of the 6 Space Wolves I played 4 of the 25 Grey Knights in a field of 114 players.

Now I will make it clear now that I am not whinging about the Grey Knight Codex itself. In the big bad days of leafblower, IG where my bread and butter (Thanks to wolf Scouts), but even IG where rare with only 3 players present.

I came 85th, with 1 win (Grey Knights), 1 draw (Blood Angels - almost tabled him), and 4 losses (3x GK Henchman spam, Deamon Cavary with Fateweaver).

Anyway I would go over the games I played, but I think it's irrelevant. I made the same mistake over and over - I tried to fight my way out against the odds, and made mistakes (hindsight is great) again and again - one of which cost me a draw against the Deamons.

Out of the 4 GK armies i played the 3 I lost to where all Henchman spam in one form or another - and two of them where 80% similar:

Cotez,

4-6 units of Acolytes in Razorbacks

2 Units of Assassins in Razorbacks or Land Raider Redeemers or a Storm Raven

3-4 Psyflemen Dreadnoughts

Now someone asked in my last post why a Psyflemen Dreadnought is better than a full unit of Missile Launcher Long Fangs - well the Long fangs get 5 shots, so that's roughly 3 hits a turn, the Dreadnought gets the same but with re-rolls so you are looking at consistently 4 hits a turn. But the big difference is that on that turn you only get 1 hit the Dreadnought gets to re-roll his misses - Long Fangs don't, and this happened alot! Also the Dreadnought has fortitude so it's nigh impossible to stun lock him, and on top of that unlike the Long Fangs he is mobile. Then there is the comparable point costs:

Grey Knight Dreadnought, 2 Twin Linked Autocannons, Psybolt Ammo = 135

6 Long fangs, 5 Missile Launchers = 140

Granted the Dreadnought can die in one shot, but all the same a unit of Long Fangs can run off the table after taking only 2 wounds.

This comparison can continue though out the pair of codices, where Wolves had the upper hand (Razorback spam) Grey Knights get Fortitude, Psybolt Ammo, and Twin Linked Weaponry that becomes more effective due to the Psybolt ammo. Granted Wolves will take Las/plas-backs GK get in more Razorbacks who may only be spitting out St6 but it's Quantity, some quality and lots of reliability (Twin linked, Fortitude) vs quality that isn't twin linked.

Last year my friend Walter said about his old vanilla marine army "Who wants to waste shots at a (Heavy) Bolter(razor)backs"

Well now thanks to super cheap Henchmen and Psybolt ammo - EVERYONE!

How times have changed.

Skill > Codex 

Of course all this doesn't matter as I played like a total chump. I have had no real practice, and no practice what so ever vs Grey Knights (never mind henchman spam) and it showed, as all I have said so far is from the experience of those 3 or 4 games.

In retrospect my Rune Priest was terrible! He only stopped 3 powers all weekend and there was fortitude and hammerhand everywhere. In addition as much as I love Wolf Scouts (and I LOVE them!) I will have to dump them. A smart player can nullify their potential targets, or you get bad reserve rolls. Every game I would of rather had another unit of Grey Hunters or 2 Lone Wolves to cock block nasty units, but with Death Cult Assassins I think even Lone Wolves might of had their day in the sun cut short.

So where does leave us dying breed of Russ's sons?

Well for one I think my Dual Land Raider idea has some merits. It is working for Blood Angels but they do get a 35 point discount on theirs without taking up Heavy Support choices.  I think Long Fangs have had it - controversial I know, but like Hydras, Vendettas, and Thunder Hammer Death Stars before them people have adapted, found their achilles heel and have worked their way around them, same for the Wolf Scouts. But this is what happens when one codex or army list is saturated at a tournament or event. The more there is the quicker players adapt.  

Like Imperial Guard, Space Wolves of the "competitive future" need to mix things up. We only have a few months till (rumored) 6th edition comes out so it's back to the free for all but in these last few twilight months of 5th edition it's time to get radical, and Guard and Wolves have the tools to mix things up.

Next event for me is Open War in 17 on the 14th of April, followed by War of the Roses in May, and then Blog Wars 3 in June.

I might take the Dual Land Raider build to one of those, but for Open War I have submitted a Imperial Guard List that I will go through in a few days time.

Dual Land Raider Space Wolves - Good Idea or Pipe Dream?

On the UK scene Wolves are coming a rarity and their last "effective" build being Razorback spam has been surpassed by Blood Angels and Grey Knights - mainly GK razor/acolyte spam backed up with Psyflemen dreads who work out better than Long Fangs.

In response most Blood Angels players have gone towards a dual land raider build backed up razorbacks or assault squads in rhinos. But people forget the main strengths of the SW codex, grey hunters, flexibility, that we have very, very, few bad match ups and the fact they still have access to regular vanilla Marine units as well as our own unique units or twists. But yet no one has tried this with SW so here's my first try at such a thing with wolves:


HQ:
Rune Priest = 100 (or Wolf Priest/Lord/Battle Leader but nowadays psychic defence is a must IMO)

Elites:
Wolf Guard:
4x Power fist + combi melta
5x Terminator Armour + 5 combi plasma, 3 power weapons, 1 wolf claw, 1 chain fist = 382

Troops:

8 Grey Hunters, Melta Gun, Wolf Banner = 135
Rhino = 35

8 Grey Hunters, Melta Gun, Wolf Banner = 135
Rhino = 35

8 Grey Hunters, Melta Gun, Wolf Banner = 135
Rhino = 35

10 Grey Hunters, 2 Melta Guns, Plasma Pistol, Wolf Banner, Power weapon, Mark of the Wulfen = 210

Heavy Support:
Land Raider, Extra Armour = 265 (or dedicated transport for the Wolf Guard)
(Terminator WG here)

Land Raider Redeemer, Extra Armour, Multi Melta = 265
(10 man GH unit, +1 Wolf Guard and Rune priest here)

1732

Now it's only a idea at the time, but like the similar BA build GK shooting becomes harder as they lack melta, AP1, or natural St9+ at range in their more traditional builds.

The maxed out 10 man unit of Grey Hunters with the priest (or character of your choice) and a power fist wolf guard can do terrible damage on the charge or counter charge and like all GH units their shooting is not to be sniffed at as they can unleash 3 melta shots, 1 plasma, and what ever psychic powers you like (Jaws, Living lightning, Murderous hurricane, fury of the wolf spirits is you want more ap2 shots) as well as rapid fire bolters or bolt pistols depending on your choice of target and if you are willing to take a charge or not (ie vs Blood Angels or GK with their grenades).

Then there are the terminators who with 10 rapid fire combi plasma shots followed up with power weapons (thanks relentless) can make a mess of even large GK units (except paladins IMO) or Mephiston!

So what do you think a good idea? Something Different? Or better of doing it as Blood Angels?

Why Tempest's Wrath rocks!

The selection of Space Wolf Psychic powers are some what varied but normally all you see on the table top is Jaws of the World Wolf, and Living Lightning. Occasionally you might see Murderous Hurricane - normally if the Wolf player is using two Rune Priests.

But with the advent of Blood Angels, Dark Eldar, Grey Knights, Necrons and now oddly other builds designed to combat mainly Grey Knights the Sons of Russ are left behind in the speed department. So how does Tempest's Wrath combat this?

Well lets look at it's effect:

Space Wolf Codex Page 37:

Tempest's Wrath
The Rune Priest brings the rage of the storm to a roaring climax, frost-fingered wind spirits whipping those who intrude upon their domain out of the skies and smashing them upon the stony ground. (fluff)

Used at the beginning of the rune Priest's turn. Until the beginning of the Rune Priest's next turn, all enemy skimmers, Jet Bikes, jump infantry and units deploying by Deep Strike that finish their move within 24" of the Rune Priest treat all terrain, even clear terrain, as both difficult and dangerous.

So that's a lot of potential threats effected - Jump Pack Blood Angels, Drop Pod Marines, All kinds of skimmers, old School Seer Council Jet Bike rocks, Vendettas, Storm Ravens, 80% of the Necron Codex etc.

Verses skimmers it's only a 1 in 6 chance to get immobilised but against a skimmer heavy army like Dark Eldar make them roll enough dice and bad things will happen. This can make the enemy think twice about moving flat out with his transports as he risks losing the transport and the unit inside!

Against DoA Blood Angels/Jump Infantry this can be devastating, not only will 1 in 6 marines drop dead from the sky, even in the assault phase they are rolling for difficult and dangerous terrain, so will Blood Angel Librarians and Mephiston with Wings activated. In addition to the dangerous terrain tests your opponent has to roll for each individual model so he has to roll for the Sergeant, special weapons etc, and even if the only casualty is the Sergeant with a power weapon/fist that's enough to turn a combat into your favour.

Against Jet Bikes it can devastating as any unit with the Turbo Boost USR can only do so if they do not start, end, or at any point go through difficult terrain. So for example against the Jet Bike Seer Council of Doom you have just brought yourself an extra turn or 2 of shooting at them and denied them their cover save of 3+!

But more than anything else it's a psychological weapon, if your opponent starts to thing about what ifs and maybes then it's going to make your life a lot easier.

GT Army List Time

Well it's nearly that time of year again - the UK Indy 40k Grand Tournament. The whole reason why just over a year ago I started blogging to get my Space Wolves finished.

This year I was planning to use Blood Angels but time and money is against me but this is what I wanted to use:

HQ:
Librarian = 100


Troops:
Assault Squad, no jump packs, power weapon, melta gun = 125
Dedicated Land Raider Redeemer (-35), Searchlight, extra armour, multi melta = 231


Assault Squad, no jump packs, power weapon, melta gun = 125
Dedicated Land Raider (-35), Searchlight, extra armour, multi melta = 231

5 Scouts, Camo Cloaks = 90

Fast attack:
Baal Predator, Assault Cannon, Heavy Bolters, Searchlight = 146

Baal Predator, Assault Cannon, Heavy Bolters, Searchlight = 146

Baal Predator, Assault Cannon, Heavy Bolters, Searchlight = 146

Heavy Support:
Predator, Autocannon, Lascannons, Searchlight = 136

Predator, Autocannon, Lascannons, Searchlight = 136

Predator, Autocannon, Lascannons, Searchlight = 136

Total: 1748

I have all these models but I just haven't enough time to build the Land Raiders, magnetise them, and then paint the lot. I have the predators build and fully magnetised with all options.

So alas I have gone back to old reliable - my Space Wolves, but they have changed since my last post about them. I have squeezed much more out of the points and considering what's hot at the moment (Necrons and Grey Knights), and boosted how I like to play them - a sort of aggressive counter attack.

HQ:
Rune Priest, Jaws, Tempests Wrath = 100

Elites:
5 Wolf guard, 3x Power fist + combi meltas, 2x Combi meltas = 175

5 Wolf Scouts, melta gun =85

5 Wolf Scouts, melta gun =85

Troops:
8 Grey Hunters, Wolf Banner, Melta Gun = 135
Rhino =35

8 Grey Hunters, Wolf Banner, Melta Gun = 135
Rhino =35

8 Grey Hunters, Wolf Banner, Melta Gun = 135
Rhino =35

5 Grey Hunters, Flamer = 75

5 Grey Hunters, Flamer = 75


Heavy Support:
6 Long Fangs, 5 Missile Launchers = 140
Razorback, Lascannon, Twin Linked Plasma Guns = 75

6 Long Fangs, 5 Missile Launchers = 140
Razorback, Lascannon, Twin Linked Plasma Guns = 75

6 Long Fangs, 5 Missile Launchers = 140
Razorback, Lascannon, Twin Linked Plasma Guns = 75

Total: 1750

Basically I have dumped Mark of The Wulfen (which saddens me), and the Land Speeders to get a second 5 man Grey Hunter squad and upgrade the Bolter-back to las/plas and bring in two more las/plas razorbacks which belong to the Long fangs for Dawn of War purposes but will get hijacked by the 2 5 man squads. Also as Space Wolves we get free searchlights and acute senses which are going to be vital vs Necrons.

I have been really enjoyed using Tempest's Wrath on my Rune Priest I think its highly underrated and I think that's due to people still thinking about using shooting powers such as Jaws, Living lightning and Murderous Hurricane, but with Grey Knights, Necrons and Dark Eldar on the scene now I think Tempests Wrath is going to be really useful. In fact I think that's a blog post for another day!

Caledonian Uprising Report - At last...

So I took my foot slogging IG to the Caledonian Uprising and as a quick reminder here is my army list:

HQ
Company Command Squad, Regimental Banner, Lord Castellan Creed= 155
Company Command Squad, Regimental Banner = 65

Elites
5 Storm Troopers, 2 Melta Guns = 105
5 Storm Troopers, 2 Melta Guns = 105
5 Storm Troopers, 2 Melta Guns = 105

Troops
Platoon 1:
Platoon Command Squad, 2 Melta Guns = 50
Infantry Squad, Autocannon, Plasma Gun = 75
Infantry Squad, Autocannon, Plasma Gun = 75
Infantry Squad, Autocannon, Plasma Gun, Commissar = 110

Platoon 2:
Platoon Command Squad, 2 Melta Guns = 50
Infantry Squad, Lascannon, Plasma Gun = 85
Infantry Squad, Lascannon, Plasma Gun = 85
Infantry Squad, Lascannon, Plasma Gun, Commissar = 120

Platoon 3:
Platoon Command Squad, 2 Melta Guns = 50
Infantry Squad, Lascannon, Plasma Gun = 85
Infantry Squad, Lascannon, Plasma Gun = 85
Infantry Squad, Lascannon, Plasma Gun, Commissar = 120

Platoon 4:
Platoon Command Squad, 2 Melta Guns = 50
Infantry Squad, Missile Launcher, Plasma Gun = 80
Infantry Squad, Missile Launcher, Plasma Gun = 80
Infantry Squad, Missile Launcher, Plasma Gun, Commissar = 115

1850

Game 1: Dawn of War. Kill Points primary, Multiple Objectives secondary.

Opponent: Josh Roberts, Cortez Henchman and Razorback spam with 20 Purifiers and 4 Psy-bolt Dreads.

I played like a total muppet, some misjudged distances and his Purifiers were into me. He rightly picked on my 5 man command squads with his Razorbacks and Dreadnoughts and started to rack up the kill points fast.

I got 2 points out of it and wasn't tabled! But my stormtroopers making a suicide pact was pretty funny. A educational loss.

2-18 loss
Josh came 4th Overall

Game 2: Table Quaters,
Primary Objective: Table quarters
Secondary: bore draw

Opponent: Mark Furniss Chaos marines. 3 land raider chaos full of berserkers and Kharn and the customary unit of Plague Marines to sit at home!

I some how managed to win this one. But one of his land raiders with dozer blades getting immobilised turn 1 kind of helped.

I just bubble wrapped up in my corner and fed the berserkers 1 unit at a time and whittle them down with mass gun fire until none where left. I bobbled up the missile launcher platoon to take a table quater as well.

15-5 win
Mark came 71st overall

Game 3: Pitch battle set up but diagonal.
Primary objective: 4 objectives (2 in each deployment zone).
Secondary: Head hunter - kill points but HQ and Elite units count as 2 kp each.

Opponent: Chris Swaine - Blood Angels, Double Land Raider Redeemers. 5 Assault Terminators and 5 assault marines with a Priest in the land raiders. 3 Auto-las predators and 2 assault squads in Razorbacks. Oh and Meph...

I played Chris at Blog Wars 2 in December and lost, but thanks to 10 plucky outflanking Guardsmen (CREEDDD!!) I managed to snatch a large win this time around thanks to some appalling luck of Chris's part which included FnP terminators being killed by lasguns and guardsmen in assault!!

19-1 win
Chris came 77th overall

Game 4: Dawn of War, but the middle line goes from corner to corner.
Primary objective: Seize Ground 5 objectives
Secondary: Kill points

Opponent Harry Allen - Leafblower IG, playing one of the best painted nominations is always a joy. Harry spent the whole game pounding my army but I blobbed up due to the Sanctioned Psyker squad and kept going to ground and using "Get back in the fight" to shoot in my turn while hiding in cover.

I just sneaked a 11-9 'win'
Harry came 15th overall

Game 5: Some kind of crazy L shape set up that goes up to 24" in and 36" across but 12" deep.
Primary Objective: Hold the middle of the board
Secondary: Bore Draw.

Opponent: Graeme Simpson, Grey Knights, same as Josh's army but with a Land Raider Reedemer holding 8 Assassins, a libby and Cotez.

Que a action replay of my game vs Josh, but this time my melta guns went on strike after flawlessly killing 5 out of 5 land raiders so far. It was the prefect game type for his army vs mine as I had to stop the Land Raider full of Assassins and the 20 Purifiers before I could even think about holding the middle of the board, but I couldn't.

Luck came back to haunt me in this one.

1-19 loss                                                             
                                                                                      Graeme came 27th Overall.

Game 6: Pitch Battle
Primary: Kill Points
Secondary: 3 objectives spaced out along the centre line

Opponent: John Jasinski, Necrons. The Traveller and a Lord both in Command barges, 2 Tryarch Walkers, C'Tan, a mini Scarab farm, 8 Immortals, 2x5 Warriors and 3 Lance Crypteks and 2 Shroud Crypteks.

At one point I thought my Stormtroopers where going to win me the game, but I started to pass/fail leadership tests at the wrong moment! The mini scarab farm was educational to play and took a real toll on my blobs but since we where both far down the ladder we both made a game of it. I got my arse kicked but it was my first game vs the new Necrons. Guardsmen on the charge can kill Scarabs with Furious charge on them via Creed or Straken, but can easily get bogged down fast.

17-3 loss.
John came 32nd overall



So 3 wins and 3 losses, and came 66th out of 110 so mid table obscurity strikes again.

I think I can walk away happy with that especially with only 2 practises game with the lists, and I would play any of my opponents again in a heartbeat. I quite liked the scoring system as it always gave you something to go for no matter how bad things where.

As ever from a Tim King event (TM) it was great fun and ran really well, and my round 5 Opponent Graeme Simpson actually got picked for the Scottish ETC team as a result of his performance at this tournament so well done to him!


Now back to magnetising 6 Predator Tanks!

Underdog, Scalper, or Clubbed Seal?

So this weekend it's the Caledonian Uprising and the draw for the fist round was made a few weeks ago and I have been drawn against the UK Number 1 and England ETC Captain Josh Roberts.

Yeah....

hey you at the back there stop digging that shallow grave! I'm not dead yet!

So having had too long to think (yes I get that bored at work), listening to podcasts, and having a ponder at the mission pack here's my thoughts on what or what not to do but first what I can gather what josh's Grey Knights are packing:

 

 

Inquisitor Coteaz

 

10 Purifiers. 4 Psycannons, 3 Halberds, 2 Daemon Hammers, Knight of the Flame with Halberd

Razorback, Twin-linked Assault Cannon, Psybolt Ammunition

10 Purifiers. 4 Psycannons, 3 Halberds, 2 Daemon Hammers, Knight of the Flame with Halberd

Razorback, Twin-linked Assault Cannon, Psybolt Ammunition

Venerable Dreadnought, 2 Twin-linked Autocannons, Psybolt Ammunition

Henchmen Warband: 5 Death Cult Assassins

Razorback, Twin-linked Heavy Bolters,  Psybolt Ammunition, Search Light.

Henchmen Warband: 5 Death Cult Assassins

Razorback, Twin-linked Heavy Bolters,  Psybolt Ammunition, Search Light.

Henchmen Warband: 3 Warrior Acolytes

Razorback, Twin-linked Heavy Bolters,  Psybolt Ammunition.

Henchmen Warband: 3 Warrior Acolytes

Inquisitorial Chimera, Multi-laser, Heavy Flamer, Search Light

Henchmen Warband: 3 Warrior Acolytes

Dreadnought, 2 Twin-linked Autocannons, Psybolt Ammunition

Dreadnought, 2 Twin-linked Autocannons, Psybolt Ammunition
Dreadnought, 2 Twin-linked Autocannons, Psybolt Ammunition 

 

Give or take a few points or a slight change in transports.

 

 

Hell of a lot of dakka to take of care of a horde of foot slogging Guard but the mission is Dawn of War with a corner to corner line splitting the board, Primary mission is 5 objectives (8 points), Secondary Kill Points (4 points) and another 8 - 0 points based on the victory points diffrence.

But on the up side the recent batch of FaQ's for most of the 40k armies does mean that I can deploy 2 whole platoons in Dawn of War! But the big question is do I blob up or not as at first glance it seems like a 5 objectives and dawn of war mission but 14 of the 20 games points are to do with killing stuff so I could forget about the objectives and try just to blow stuff up.

If I blob up all it takes is just 1 unit of purifiers to make combat and I'm shafted due to cleansing flame, but I could try to match the MSU style by playing the platoons as normal, or have a couple of 20 man blobs with a few 10 man units as bubble wrap/chaff to get in the way.

If he wins the roll of to deploy and forces me to deploy first I will just shove 1 unit forwards to keep him back, but if I deploy second I can see where he goes before I deploy my full strength.

As for target priority it's Purifiers, Purifiers, Purifiers! And then the razorbacks, not fussed about the Dreadnoughts unless they try to make combat with me. I aim to use the Strom Troopers as disruption - hopefully they can bag a razorback and take out the acolytes inside if it goes boom. As for the assassins they charge a unit, kill it and then die to lasfire - happy days, but I think they will skulk around and mop up units or sit on objectives.

 

I reckon that the purifiers will combat squad and hijack other transports and try to rush me with 4 units in effect, most of the time purifiers will go into a shoot fight and mop up in assault but with so many bodies they cannot win a shooting fight so have to make combat IMO.

The problem (hopefully) for the GK will be that I can knock out razorbacks quickly and his work is left to the Purifiers who could be left isolated if I play for kills, but playing for kills is risky as the game points for the objectives is 8 for a win or 4 for a draw, but kill points is 4 or 2, and a variable scale on victory points so it's a hard choice to make because if I set up purely not to take objectives I could lose big as I'm set in one way but if I go for objectives I could be diluting my fire power.

I will have to wait and see how I feel is the best way to play it - plus this is only game 1 in a 6 game tournament so it's no good obsessing over this one too much. If I lose badly I should hopefully get a easy game in round 2.

 

Time will tell!

Oh and hi to Ben :p