Ogre Circus: Expanding the Troupe

Well, I managed to pick up the new Ogre army book this weekend and I have to say that I am very pleased with it. It looks like they've managed to make the majority of units much more viable and give the army the tools to really win in 8th edition.

However, with all of the lowering prices I've found that I really need to add more models to my army to get back up to 2k. Brilliant marketing move GW! Fortunately I really like the look of the new models, especially the Mournfang Cavalry and the Stonehorn/Thundertusk, though the Mournfang might need a bit of conversion work (i.e. lippizaner!) before they are fit for my army.

Anyway, I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to Fantasy lists, but here's what I've drawn up for 2k:


Slaughtermaster, Armour of Destiny, lvl 4, fencer’s blades 370
Bruiser, BSB, Runemaw, HA, Ironfist 193
Firebelly, Dispel scroll, additional hand weapon 157
3 Leadbelchers, Bellower 139
3 Leadbelchers, Bellower 139
2 Mournfang Cavalry, HA, Ironfists, Bellower 150
2 Mournfang Cavalry, HA, Ironfists, Bellower 150
10 Ogres, Ironfists, Crusher and Bellower 350
7 Ironguts, standard bearer, Dragonhide Banner, bellower 328

The command section I figure is pretty solid, and I wouldn't be too surprised if the trifecta of SM, Bruiser and FB don't become the default for Ogres at this points level. My Tyrant, while awesome, just doesn't do enough and now that I don't need to take him choosing the SM for my Lords slot is a no brainer.

Both he and the Bruiser/Firebelly will drop into the block of Ogres and form the center of the line, ready to mash up anything that comes their way. Off to the sides are the Leadbelchers and Mournfangs. The Leadbelchers pick off quick harassing units/add a bit of ranged punch while the Mournfangs go around the sides and either try to take out enemy war machines or get flank charges on the enemy.

Meanwhile the Irongut block moves to engage any heavy enemy infantry. The Dragonhide banner will let them absolutely murder people in assault, as rerolling 1s for everything plus the second turn simultaneous round thanks to the ice breath should make sure that they have an impact on the game.

Alternatively, I could replace the IGs with another Ogre block and/or swap out the Leadbelchers for a Thundertusk/pair of Cannons, or I could swap out the Mournfangs for a Stonehorn. I'll probably start with the above as it's very close to what I have in my collection currently, but I'm curious to see what regular Fantasy players think about the above list.

Thanks for reading!

Army List: Wall of Russ

On the flight home from a business trip I accidentally trapped my travel popcorn book in the overhead compartment. Not wanting to disturb the gentleman seated next to me, I decided to whip out my phone and type up a possible list that has been brewing in my head.

One of the problems that I've been having with my Guard is that they often seem fairly schizophrenic and fragile to me. AV 12 boxes carrying meltaguns is definitely a powerful strategy, but those meltaguns just never seemed to add enough to the army's overall strategy to be supremely worth it. Sure they're scoring, well armored and deadly, but they do nothing at range and get torn up when they get close.

Meanwhile my long range heavy hitters, the Vendettas, Manticores and Hydras depended on getting in first dibs on shooting so that they could take out enemy AT. Any return fire quickly shut them down either temporarily or permanently, so going second depended a lot on waiting in hard cover or starting off the board. And I HATE starting off the board. Plus in order to protect them I needed to devote additional melta squads which meant that they weren't getting in my opponent's face.

So here are the factors that are in my brain:

-resilience to first turn/long range firepower
-unified purpose for the army
-strong emphasis on utilizing the Vet squads in midfield

I'm an avid follower of The Back 40k and, despite Mr. Sandwyrm's recent success rate at NOVA I really like the way his army plays, midfield and aggressive with plenty of Russ backup.

So, with the ideas of midfield, unified purpose, and resilience to firepower in my brain, here's what I thought up at 1850:

Company Command Squad, 3 meltaguns, Astropath, Chimera
Veteran Squad, 3 meltaguns, Chimera
Veteran Squad, 3 meltaguns, Chimera
Veteran Squad, 3 meltaguns, Chimera
Veteran Squad, 3 flamers, Chimera
Veteran Squad, 3 plasmaguns, Chimera
Devil Dog, hull hvy flamer
Devil Dog, hull hvy flamer
Leman Russ Demolisher, hull hvy flamer
Leman Russ Demolisher, hull hvy flamer
Leman Russ Squadron, one Executioner and one Exterminator, both with hull hvy bolters

Yep, 4 Russes. Enough to blanket most of my line from enemy fire or at least afford them a healthy cover save, while at the same time enjoying their lovely AV 14 against ranged attacks. Long Fangs? Don't care. Vendettas? Have fun. Eldar? Hope you brought enough Bright Lances. Grey Knights? Yeah, have fun with that str 7 rending. Autocannons? Hah!

There are also no Vendettas in the list. Sure they put out a lot of firepower, but everything can see them and therefore shoot them down. Devil Dogs, on the other hand, can bookmark my Chimera line and offer them AV 12 on the sides while also grabbing cover and offering a serious threat to vehicles and infantry alike.

Tactics with the list depend on the enemy. Standard deployment is Russes up front, Chimeras behind them and Devil Dogs taking the sides. Russes are mostly there to help the army weather the first two turns of shooting. After that the Vets can be loosed on the enemy, melting enemy tanks and troops while the Russes continue to assist as needed while (hopefully) staying out of melta range.

Against drop lists deploy a small group including the CC to lure the drop troops into a trap when reserves start coming in turn 2.

Now, this isn't some perfect, win all list. It shores up one weakness of Guard (lack of resiliance) but opens up a few others. MCs are difficult to deal with at range with no Vendettas. Drop armies can cause merry hob by bringing meltas into close range right away. It also has little option in the early game beyond driving pell mell and a few 24" shots if I'm lucky.

But I think that might be worth it to not worry about the long range firepower that dominates the game again.

Let me know what you think, and thanks for reading!

Invasion Kenosha, pt 1

Hi all! This past weekend I got back into the 40k groove by checking out Invasion Kenosha, a tourney put on near my home town that was put on by fellow Warhammer blogger Equinox.

When I put together the list that I was taking I had a couple of thoughts in mind:

One, it was a 1500 pts tourney and so I couldn't bring the normal set of tools that I consider to be indispensable. So no ridiculous Heavy Support choices and certainly not the plurality of units that I'm used to in my Mech Guard lists.

Two, at least when I started originally putting my list together ForgeWorld units were set to be allowed. Because of this my list needed to be able to deal with some of the nastier Forge World options that were out there, such as Lucius Drop Pods, Land Raider Achilles and Hades Breaching Drills.

Three, I of course still wanted to go mostly mech. I likes my tanks and I have a lot of them, so being able to get my Vets out there was a given. However I wanted to try something that was more of a mixed mech army, so including some foot element in the army to help screen my tanks and overwhelm other infantry would be key.

So here's the list I put together. I'm using a lot of acronyms here, so if you're confused check out my IG vocabulary reference page.

CCS with 3 meltaguns in a Chimera, ML/HF
2 Veteran squads, 3 meltaguns in a Chimera, ML/HF
Veteran squad, 3 plasmaguns in a Chimera, ML/HF
PCS, 4 flamers in a Chimera, ML/HF
3 Infantry squads with power weapon sgts., one with a Commissar with power weapon
2 Vendettas
Hellhound with hull heavy flamer
Leman Russ Demolisher with hull heavy flamer

A couple of key points here:

- I don't like doing triple Vendettas in lists anymore. Vendettas continue to be awesome and incredibly efficient, but they are such high value targets that they are shot down almost instantly or are forced to turboboost the entire game due to shaking. I also really like the other Fast Attack choices and choosing one to throw in in their place sounded like a good plan. Plus, it's much easier to transport 2 Vs than 3.

-The infantry squads were included to help deal with what I consider to be the bane of Mech IG, drop armies. They can easily provide a 6 inch area of safe space between them and my tanks to help reduce the chance that a deep striking unit will blow something up. They also provide a nice buffer against assaulting armies, tying up big death star units until I can devote enough resources to blow them up. I wish I could have found the points for some special weapons for these squads, but at least at the time I thought that power weapons were more important.

-The Demolisher was chosen for two reasons: strength 10 and mobility. Strength 10 Ordnance gives me an out against a Land Raider Achilles (stupid immunity to melta) and can help blow up TWolf Cavalry and give nearly every unit in the game a hard time. I chose it over other Str 10 choices like the Manticore and Medusa because it's very mobile and well armored. Putting it at the forefront of my spearhead provides some protection for the rest of my AV 12 tanks or on the side to protect their AV 10.

-The Hellhound was a last minute choice. I was debating either it or a Devil Dog, and I'm still not sure if I made the right choice. On the one hand my Chimeras are all equipped with heavy flamers making it somewhat redundant. But, on the other hand, I often want to set guys that are over there on fire, and the Hellhound with its speed and long range super flamer excels at this task. Again, if I could have had more points a hull multimelta would have been a nice addition, but we do what we can do.

-Over all I was a bit worried at my lack of long range firepower. I have the Vendettas... and that's about it. Granted I feel that I made my army pretty effective in mid field, but not having more ability to reach out and touch people at 48" or more was a little worrying for me. Replacing the Hellhound with either a Devil Dog or some Heavy Weapon teams/Hydras (along with creative points reallocation) might have been enough to fix this problem, but even then I'd be a bit worried.

I played a pair of test games with the list against some people from my FLGS. First was against a double Raider/jumper Blood Angels list and the second was against Nids. Both ended in pretty strong wins for my list, but then again both played pretty well to my strengths (dealing with small groupings of well armored units, using speed bumps effectively and burning gribblies and MCs), but neither had the sheer weight of light mech that I knew would be popular at the tourney. Still, it showed that my list could function well against some pretty good players.

We'll get into the games next post, plus some pretty pics. As always thanks for reading, and it's good to be back!

Army List: Eldar Wasp Assault Walker

Dangit... I couldn't stop myself. I went into complete army list building mode with the lovely Wasp as my target. Since I want to capitalize on those sexy legs we need to look at what the Wasp brings to the table once again.

1. Multitudes of accurate high strength shots.
Since quantity has a quality all of its own, Shuriken Cannons or Scatter Lasers doubled up on the Wasps, combined with their BS 4, will torrent down infantry and give us a good chance to affect light vehicles as well. Heavier weapons could go here, but like it's papa the War Walker the frame is simply too fragile to spend more points on. Plus, 8 Str 6 shots at 36" range is just awesome.

2. Sneaky Deployment Strategies
With Deep Strike and Jump Jets it's very easy for the Wasp to get into position for side or rear armor shots on enemy vehicles, particularly if they're going for the midfield. This plays in with our Shuriken Cannon/Scatter Laser strategy from above which I like.

3. Free up Heavy Support Slots
The biggest thing going against War Walkers was their use of a HS slot. With Wasps in Troops we can now have our cake and eat it too... and I LIKE cake.

4. Objective Contestor Extraordinaire
If these babies survive till late game a 30" assault is a GREAT way to contest troops off of an objective. Sure, they might not last terribly long against anything but GEQ but you can always hope for the Fritz classic 5th turn win if necessary, so sticking around more than a turn won't be needed.

So, given the above let's see what we can do. I have a bit of experience with Eldar as they were the army I played before I started buying my own units but definitely take the following with a hefty grain of salt as I'm no Space Elf master.

We'll start with 3 groups of 2 Wasps armed with dual Scatter Lasers, giving us 48 BS 4 Str 6 shots right from the get go.

We'll expand from there by looking at our vacant Heavy Support slots. Eldar LOVE their HS and we have four ways to go here- Wraithlords, Falcons, Fire Prisms and Nightspinners. I want to say here that I love the look of Wraithlords and love that they are immune to anything below strength 5. But the missile spam going around these days will make mincemeat of one lickety split, leaving these overcosted giants on the shelf. Maybe next codex...

Falcons are pretty cool but have consistently failed to impress me. DAVU (Dire Avenger Upgraded, i.e. small 5 man scoring unit) Falcons have their uses but I want something that will bring out the pain in our Heavy Support slot. Falcons do have quite a few shots but we could easily replace them with twice their number in Wasps and still maintain equivalent firepower.

Fire Prisms and Nightspinners both conveniently come in the same kit, but I think the Prism is going to win out here for me as we have enough high AP high strength shots from the Wasps already. The Prisms will give us pretty good anti-tank and great anti-infantry, particularly if we link the blasts for some Str 10 AP 1 or Str 6 AP 3 twin linked goodness. Having duality in a tank is always a good thing, and Lord knows we need something to take out those GK Terminators that are going to start showing up soon... We'll also throw Holo Fields and Shuriken Cannons on these babies to help us deal with One Gun Syndrome. The Holo-Fields might not be a good upgrade but I have a strange habit of trying to make sure my expensive tanks survive...

Next let's look at scoring. We may have taken up 3 Troops slots but we have nothing to score with yet. Enter the Storm Guardian. I've always like the aesthetic of Guardians and these boys seem to me to be the only Eldar troop choice worth taking, except perhaps for min sized Dire Avenger squads. Storm Guardians can at least theoretically do something given the correct support, plus they can take meltaguns fusion guns! Crappy BS 3 fusion guns, but fusion guns nonetheless. Flamers might be the better option here, but since they cost the same for some reason we'll stick with the fusion for now. Squads of 11 with a Warlock (either Enhance or Destructor, take your pick) plus a Wave Serpent with Shuriken Cannon and TWL Bright Lance sound nice, so let's fill out the other 3 troops slots with these boys.

Finally we need an HQ. Since Farseers are great we'll take one of those with Runes of Warding for psychic defense and Fortune and Doom to help our guys stay alive and our enemies become dead. We don't really need Guide because the majority of our force is BS 4 or twin linked. We'll have to take out a Storm Guardian so that he can ride in style.

This leaves us with the following:

Farseer, runes of warding, fortune, doom: 125
11 Storm Guardians, 2 fusion, warlock (125), wave serpent, TWL bright lance (135)
11 Storm Guardians, 2 fusion, warlock (125), wave serpent, TWL bright lance, shuriken cannon (145)
10 Storm Guardians, 2 fusion, warlock (117), wave serpent, TWL bright lance, shuriken cannon (145)
2 Wasp Assault Walkers, each with 2 scatter lasers (150)
2 Wasp Assault Walkers, each with 2 scatter lasers (150)
2 Wasp Assault Walkers, each with 2 scatter lasers (150)
Fire Prism, shuriken cannon, holofields (160)
Fire Prism, shuriken cannon, holofields (160)
Fire Prism, shuriken cannon, holofields (160)
Total: 1847

Having the ability to have 3 Fire Prisms alongside 6 war walkers is an impressive amount of firepower to say the least. And in this list we have every kind of firepower taken care of- big blasts and tons of high strength for hordes, anti-tank Lance and blast shots, and we even have 6 janky assault elements for late game objective grabbing/contesting and horde control. Again I'm not sure what powers to give the Warlocks, or if the fusion guns are the right buy for the Storm Guardians given their low BS. Flamers + Destructor might be better to help them succeed at their chosen mission.

Tactics are shoot, shoot, then late game objective grab/contest. You have the option of deep striking the Wasps to get the side/rear shots or you can start them on the board and Jump Jet into position.

Alternatively we can replace the Storm Guardians with min sized Dire Avengers, cutting the price of our Troops in half and freeing up 187 pts. Taking the Holo fields off of our Fire Prisms will save an additional 105 pts giving us 292 to play around with. We can put in a squad of Dragons with a Shuriken Cannon Wave Serpent for 190. We can also save another 120 pts by downgrading our Wasps' Scatter Lasers to Shuriken Cannons, giving us another 222 to play with. That's enough for another Dragon squad and to give both Dragon squads an exarch with a heavy flamer for some more duality.

This gives us the following list:

Farseer, runes of warding, fortune, doom: 125
5 Fire Dragons (80), exarch with Dragon's Breath Flamer (12), wave serpent, TWL shuriken cannon, shuriken cannon (110)
5 Fire Dragons (80), exarch with Dragon's Breath Flamer (12), wave serpent, TWL shuriken cannon, shuriken cannon (110)
5 Dire Avengers (60), wave serpent, TWL bright lance, shuriken cannon (145)
5 Dire Avengers (60), wave serpent, TWL bright lance, shuriken cannon (145)
5 Dire Avengers (60), wave serpent, TWL bright lance, shuriken cannon (145)
2 Wasp Assault Walkers, each with 2 shuriken cannons (110)
2 Wasp Assault Walkers, each with 2 shuriken cannons (110)
2 Wasp Assault Walkers, each with 2 shuriken cannons (110)
Fire Prism, shuriken cannon (125)
Fire Prism, shuriken cannon (125)
Fire Prism, shuriken cannon (125)
Total: 1849

2 more tanks than before and two much better Land Raider hunters. The Wasps should still have plenty of range to reach out and touch things at 24" and our overall Str 6 firepower hasn't decreased at all. I'm not sure which of the lists I like more- Storm Guardians just sound cooler than DAVU Wave Serpents, but I can't argue with the increased weight of tanks in the second list.

So what are your thoughts? How would you build around the elegant Wasp?

*Image property of Forge World

A Beginner's Guide to the Guard: Battleforce Tactics

For reasons to Go Guard, check out the first post in this series.

If you have decided to Go Guard the first question is "What should I buy?" If you want new in box models you can't go wrong with a few battle force boxes.

Each of these forces contains a command squad, two Infantry Squads, three Heavy Weapons Teams and a Sentinel. The command sprue is an especially awesome inclusion as it contains one of every special weapon as well as power sword and fist upgrades. You end up saving approximately $40 US as opposed to buying them individually. Some don't like the inclusion of the Sentinel but you're still saving $15 even if you don't use it, making this an amazing buy.

The Battle force box also has the curious honor of containing all of the models required for a legal list, a feat that I believe was only challenged by the old school Tyranid boxed set. Granted it's not a very good list, but if you want the minimum of effort you can squeeze out almost 500 pts from this box alone if my math is right.

Two of these boxes will give us a good starting point for the army... in fact, good enough that our first two lists will contain ONLY what is inside those boxes. We now have plenty of bodies and a couple of command squads so we can create a small foot-based force. Here's what I would go for at 500 pts:

Company Command Squad, standard, lascannon: 85
Platoon Command Squad, 4 flamers: 50
2 Infantry Squads, grenade launcher/autocannon: 130
Autocannon Heavy Weapon Squad: 75
Veteran squad, 3 grenade launchers, missile launcher: 100
Scout sentinel, autocannon: 40
Scout sentinel, autocannon, Hunter-Killer Missile: 50
Total: 500 pts.

The Co. Cmd Squad helps anchor the line by allowing your infantry to re-roll failed tests thanks to the standard and can hand out orders to make your squads shoot better. There are tons of autocannons in the list to break light armor and mow down infantry at range, and the Pl. Cmd Squad can rush in with its flamers to clear out any infantry that get too close. The vets especially contribute a large amount of firepower at any target. Finally the Scout Sentinels can outflank to get side shots on armor and contest far flung objectives. I would recommend magnetizing at least the weapons mounts so you can switch them out later. For those who want a challenge, you can magnetize the sentinel such that you can use it as either a Scout or Armored sentinel by following the directions here.

You are well situated to defend home objectives with up to 5 scoring units and can Move, Move, Move! a squad or two plus the SS to take/contest far flung objectives.

We can also move up to 750 points just by adding to this list from our current purchases. We still have 20 infantry and 2 of most of the special weapons left to play with.

Company Command Squad, standard, lascannon: 85
Platoon Command Squad, 4 flamers: 50
2 Infantry Squads, grenade launcher/autocannon: 130
Autocannon Heavy Weapon Squad: 75
Veteran squad, 2 meltaguns: 90
Veteran squad, 2 plasmaguns, Grenadiers doctrine: 130
Veteran squad, 3 grenade launchers, missile launcher: 100
Armored Sentinel, autocannon: 60
Armored Sentinel, autocannon: 60
Total: 750 pts.

I'd love to get some more melta/plasma in those vet squads but we just don't have the tools with two battleforces. Tactics are the same as before, but now we have some low AP shooting from the Melta and Plasma vets and have upgraded our Sentinels to Armored. These boys love charging into combat as few things have a chance of destroying them. Try to avoid power fists if possible, but even then they need a 4 on the penetration roll to even scratch the paint. Check here for my tactica on Armored Sentinels.

The Grenadiers doctrine might require some easy conversion work to make. A few blobs of Greenstuff on their elbows and knees should convey what you want to go for.

Alternatively if you want to keep the scout sentinels from before we could go with this setup:

Company Command Squad, standard, lascannon: 85
Platoon Command Squad, 4 flamers: 50
2 Infantry Squads, grenade launcher/autocannon: 130
Autocannon Heavy Weapon Squad: 75
Veteran squad, 3 grenade launchers, missile launcher: 100
Veteran squad, 2 meltaguns, Grenadiers doctrine: 120
Veteran squad, 2 plasmaguns, plasma pistol, Grenadiers doctrine: 140
Scout sentinel, autocannon: 40
Scout sentinel, autocannon: 40

Our melta vet squad is a bit more survivable now with a 4+ armor save and the plasma squad gets an extra shot with the sarge's plasma pistol.

Expanding from here depends on where you want to take the army. Let's see what we can do to easily take this up to 1k with a few extra purchases. Three Chimeras (1 for the PCS, 2 for the melta/plas vets) while taking out Grenadiers will cost us only 105 points. Getting a Commissar for our blob and giving the sergeants power weapons will cost another 65 bring us to 170. Our last 80 points can either go towards another Autocannon HWS or another squad for the blob. The former leaves us 5 points which is enough to upgrade the plasma pistol to a plasmagun on our vets while the latter, if we leave out an autocannon, gives us 10 which means a third meltagun on the other vets. Purcheses in this phase will run somewhere around $130.

Expanding further depends on what your preference is. If you like mechanized troops, Chimeras are amazing at only 55 pts and Vendettas are one of the most points efficient units in the game. Leman Russes love large infantry bubblewraps which you should have the tools for at this point. If you just want more infantry battleforce boxes are probably the way to go. If you need more special weapons try finding the Marine melta and plasmagun blister packs. At only $6 US for 5 guns they are a steal.

Thanks for reading, and we continue our Beginner's Guide tomorrow.

Army List: Medusae vs Psychic Hydras

First of all, thanks to the HoP are in order for placing me on the Top X once again. It seems that people like these army list posts from the amount of comments that I've received so it may have to become a regular feature. Not to fear, though, for those of you who like hobby content, it's a comin', especially if I want to have a fully painted army by Adepticon...

So. Adepticon. I need to decide on a final list relatively soon so I can actually have it completely built by the time April rolls around. Last week I posted about the various options that I was considering to replace my Battle Tanks, and I think I've narrowed it down to two configurations: two Medusas either with closed compartments or throw in an Astropath; or a Psyker Battle Squad and a pair of Hydras. I've contemplated just running a single Medusa but the ease with which one can get knocked out leads me to believe that two would be the better bet.

To answer this question let's do a list of pros and cons for each.

Picture shamefully stolen from Admiral Drax's awesome blog

Medusae Pros:
-str 10 ap 2 ordnance blasts are AWESOME, especially the part where they insta-gib Thunderwolves
-have great range
-leaves the option of an Astropath available
-great at taking down both infantry and vehicles up to and including Land Raiders and Terminators
-relatively easy to convert (thanks again Adm. Drax!)
-I already own the building blocks for one
Medusae Cons:
-fragile
-one of the Adepticon missions has a win condition of destroying the most expensive enemy unit, which would be these. Combined with fragility and bulkiness they could be a liability
-single gun syndrome

Image shamefully stolen from Sons of Sanguinius... check out Atreides' Vendetta scratchbuild too!

PBS and Hydra Pros:
-PBS has great conversion potential
-PBS deals with infantry very well while the Hydras deal with light armor and infantry to an extent
-Adds 3 Av 12 targets to the list, making up a bit for the loss of 2 Av 14 targets
-Dark Eldar are scared of both
-I own the models to make the PBS and their ride
PBS and Hydra Cons:
-Hydras can't deal with heavily armored targets
-3 more chassis take up quite a bit of room
-PBS and the Hydras will take a fair bit of conversion work to do
-PBS can be shut down by Psychic Hoods rather easily

So, given the above, which will fit better in my army? Let's see what holes I already have covered:
Anti-heavy infantry: Executioner (long range) and plasma CCS (short range)
Anti-heavy vehicle: Manticore (long range), Vet squads (short range)
Anti-light vehicle: See above, plus Vendettas Exectioner and Chimera Multilasers (long range)
Anti-Horde: Executioner, Manticore (long range), Chimeras (mid-short range), Vets [to some extent] (short range)

It looks like my anti-light vehicle resources are pretty good but I am lacking in ways of dealing with heavy infantry, hordes and heavy tanks. Both of my choices deal rather well with hordes but only one gives me the firepower necessary to crack Terminators and Land Raiders.

So... I guess if those are the criteria that I am looking at, a pair of Medusae would be the answer. I am still a bit worried about their fragility, but I think that I will be putting them in the list to try out. I'll try play testing them starting next week.

Thanks for reading this rather rambling post. Tomorrow, it's time for something completely different.

Army List: DA ThunderRazor

Man, I am stuck with Dark Angels fever right now! To maybe help me get it out of my system, or possibly convince myself to start a DA army, army lists have been jumping into my head like crazy.

The thing that got me started on this list was looking at what parts of the DA codex are costed appropriately in comparison to the 5th ed Marine books. Super cheap Typhoons already popped out to me in my last list, but what shocked me to see was that DA razorbacks are actually fairly competitively priced, the twin-linked lascannon version only costing 5 pts more than the 5th ed version. What DA get out of the deal is the chance to take a 5-man tactical squad armed with an honest-to-God meltagun or flamer instead of the combi version that Codex marines have to deal with.

So let's see what we can do with this concept as a base. A Razorback with 5 tactical marines and a flamer costs 175 points, which is the exact same cost for a Codex Marine razor squad with a combi-flamer. 6 of them will set us back 1050. We’ll build on this by adding in 3 land speeders with a multimelta and incredibly cheap and awesome Typhoon launcher for 75 a piece, setting us back another 225 and taking us to 1275.

We’ve got another… 575 to go before we hit 1850. We still need an HQ, but unfortunately most of them are not as good as the Codex Marine equivalents. The one exception is the Chaplain which is actually better than the standard chaplain thanks to possessing an additional attack for the same price. He can throw on a combi-weapon (we’ll say a Flamer) for a total of 110.

We now have 465 left. That is almost enough for two Deathwing squads with CMLs and TH/SS, just 5 points over. We can make room for them by dropping the combi-weapon from the Chaplain and use the remaining 5 points to upgrade one of our CML termies to chainfist duty.

This gives us the following:

Chaplain- 100
Deathwing squad with 5 TH/SS Terminators, 1 with CML- 235
Deathwing squad with 4 TH/SS Terminators, 1 with CML, stormbolter and chain fist- 240
6 Tactical squads with flamer and TWL Lascannon Razorback- 175*6=1050
3 squads of 1 land speeder with MM and Typhoon launcher- 75*3=225

I'd love to give the Tac squads meltaguns but a) can't find the points and b) don't want this list to instantly crumble against horde. 6 flamers and 30 tactical marines should hopefully help a bit with that at close range, while three multimeltas and the chain fist will just have to do against any Land Raiders that show up.

Let’s take this concept to 2k as well. Dropping a tactical squad would give us 330 points, more enough to get a third CML Deathwing squad. We lose a lascannon but gain a rock hard unit with 2 missile shots- worth it in my opinion. We can use the remaining 95 pts to upgrade the Chaplain to Belial with TH/SS and give one of our Deathwing squads the Deathwing Standard (+1 attack), an Apothecary (FNP) and an assault cannon. And finally we can make one of our non-rock Deathwing squads into a troop choice as Belial allows Deathwing to be both elites and troops.

Belial with TH/SS- 130
2 Deathwing squads with 5 TH/SS Terminators, each with 1 CML- 235*2=470 (one of which is a troop choice)
Deathwing squad with 2 TH/SS Terminators, 1 TH/SS Apothecary, 1 TH/SS standard bearer and 1 assault cannon/power fist terminator- 270
5 Tactical squads with flamer and TWL Lascannon Razorback- 175*5=875
3 squads of 1 land speeder with MM and Typhoon launcher- 75*3=225

I'd love to squeeze in another assault cannon but I'd hate to take 10 points off of anything. Tactics are DW assault with the Apothecary's squad and another DW squad (your choice of troop or no troop) with Belial attached while blasting apart anything you can reach... which is everything. The other DW squad teleports in or walks on the board later to either contest or hold objectives, depending if it's a Troop choice or not.

With just a few changes to the FAQ suddenly Dark Angels are an army that has actual benefits over the other Marine codexes. I'll be back to determine some more cool tricks that this old dog has, but for now I wouldn't want my Guard army to feel lonely before Adepticon...

*Image above property of Games-Workshop

Army List: FLOURISH THE DEATHWING!

So, as everyone must have heard by now, the Dark Angels and Black Templars finally got their contracts with the Adeptus Mechanicus renewed and their shiny new shipments of 5th ed thunder hammers, storm shields and cyclone missile launchers have just arrived.

The Deathwing, of course, probably benefited the most from this change, as now they can run around with scoring, 2+/3++ thunder hammer wielding maniacs! This fact, along with the news that apparently the Dark Angels terminators can get greedy and wield TH/SS alongside their Cyclone Missile Launcher (CML) (Thanks DaveHowitzer for cluing me onto this!) immediately put me into list building mode.

From my perusal of the Dark Angels Codex it seems like there are a few key parts to a Deathwing list: Belial, Terminators, and Heavy Anti-Armor weapons.

Let's make an 1850 list as that's the most popular points limit in my area. I want my Deathwing to foot it as 2+/3++ is pretty darn reliable and buying expensive Land Raiders that die as soon as they get near the enemy is not exactly my idea of a good time.

We'll start with the man himself. Belial costs 130, so we'll add him in with the TH/SS load out as somebody forgot to give the master of the Deathwing a frikkin' Iron Halo and I hear invulnerable saves are the shiznit right now.

Next, an assortment of scoring hammernators. A squad with CML costs 235, so we'll take 6 of those. Since we're taking Belial one lucky squad can be upgraded with an Apothecary. Since the Dark Angels' medicae facilities ALSO got visited by the friendly neighborhood FAQ fairy he now grants FNP to his squad, making them, for all intents and purposes, INVINCIBLE. Finally 25 points buys us the Deathwing Standard which adds +1 attack to the unit carrying it.

Lessee... 130+235*6+30+25=1595, leaving us with 255 points to spend. Terminators hate Null Zone so a Librarian is unfortunately a necessary buy. He may only be leadership 9 and get pretty underwhelming powers but a full-board psychic hood is still pretty good. 150 points buys us a Libby with a combi-melta and Terminator armor, the latter so that he can join the teleport party and employ the former.

So, now that we have all of our Terminators in a row we need to talk about the elephant in the room, heavy anti-tank. While CMLs are nice at cracking tanks when it comes to Land Raiders and even Predators they don't do so hot. And, unfortunately, the Dark Angels aren't exactly spoiled for exciting ways to get melta in their list. Our options include:
-Ravenwing Attack Squadrons (scouting bikers)
-Ravenwing Support Squadrons (land speeders)
-Dreadnoughts
-Assault Cannon Terminators

Let's talk about the last option for a minute. Upgrading a Terminator to carry an Assault cannon costs 10 points more than for a CML but grants the possibility of Rending its way through 2+ saves and Land Raiders. Unfortunately it also comes at the cost of halved range and no TH/SS as it needs to replace a stormbolter. It still has the powerfist and plenty of buddies to take wounds but it is something to consider.

We currently have 105 points to play with, which means that we need to drop something. Dropping the Banner would get us enough for two speeders or three bikes with a meltagun or a Dreadnought with a multimelta. I'm not liking those options so let's try dropping a Terminator squad instead, bumping us up to 340 pts. Now we can afford:

3 land speeders with Multimelta/Typhoon launcher, 1 land speeder with Multimelta/Heavy Flamer, switch two CMLs to Assault Cannons/Chain Fists, two CML termies switch to Chain Fists
Two Ravenwing Attack Squads each with 3 bikers and a MM Attack Bike

The choice between these two is a tough one. The Land Speeders bring incredibly cheap Typhoon launchers and 4 melta shots at 3 targets, plus the option of Heavy Flamers for anti-infantry. The bikes are easier to hide and can offer great first strike potential thanks to their teleport homers. Just drop some termies off for side shots and next turn assaults and then try to smash tanks while staying alive. In the end I think the cheap Typhoons will win me over but for more accurate Deathwing assaults the bikes might be the better option.

So- what do we have?
Belial with TH/SS
Librarian in Terminator Armor with combi-melta
1*5 Deathwing Terminators with TH/SS and 1 CML
2*4 Deathwing Terminators with TH/SS, 1 with CML, stormbolter and chain fist
1*5 Deathwing Terminators with TH/SS and the Deathwing banner, Apothecary, 1 Terminator with Assault Cannon/Chain Fist
1*4 Deathwing Terminators with TH/SS, 1 Terminator with Assault Cannon/Chain Fist
2 Ravenwing Support Squadrons with 1 Typhoon/MM speeder
Ravenwing Support Squadron with 1 Hvy Flamer/MM speeder and 1 Typhoon/MM speeder

10 CML/Typhoon shots at 5 different targets, 8 Assault cannon shots at 2 different targets, 4 MM shots at 3 different targets, 2 heavy flamers plus a single-shot meltagun.

For taking the list to 2k I'd go for something like this:

Belial with TH/SS
Librarian in Terminator Armor with combi-melta
1*5 Deathwing Terminators with TH/SS, CML
2*4 Deathwing Terminators with TH/SS, 1 with CML, stormbolter and chain fist
4 Deathwing Terminators with TH/SS (one is the Apothecary, one has banner), 1 Terminator with Chain Fist and Assault Cannon
4 Deathwing Terminators with TH/SS, 1 Terminator with Chain Fist and Assault Cannon- 280
3*2 Land Speeders, 3 with MM/HF and 3 with MM/Typhoon (one of each per squad)

Tactics with the list are simple. Got first turn? Deploy 2 squads, Assault with 3 squads (2 assault cannon squads, 1 chain fist/CML squad) making sure that Belial goes with the non-banner and the Libby with the Banner (both of which enter first turn). Have speeders run around and melt/missile things while trying to stay hidden.

Alternatively we could strip the "ablative" MM/HF speeders, take out the non-Assault Cannon squad chain fists and throw in a 6th CML Deathwing squad, but I think this makes our speeders a little bit too fragile.

Not sure if it's the most competitive list, but what do you all think about the list? Good, bad, almost there? Any way, this looks like a very fun list to run and is definitely VERY different from my current force. Who knows- maybe Defending Humanity will start flourishing the Deathwing soon...

*All images are owned by Games-Workshop

Army List: The Battle Tank Dilemma

Now that I've gotten a few games under my belt against some stiff competition with the list I think it's time for a few changes. Overall it's humming pretty well, but especially after last night's game (coming soon to a blog near you!) it's time for a change.

The main underperformers in the list are the Russ twins. Anybody who knows me knows I love me some str 8 AP 3 large blasts, but I'm not sure I need two of them. While very efficient FOC slot-wise, 300 points for the pair is just a bit too much for something that is still very much up to luck to see if it will do any damage or not. Plus they take up quite a bit of real estate as they need to stick together.

On the other hand, they provide a good deal of protection to the rest of my force. Few things can reliably deal with AV 14 at range so placing them as LOS blockers to my other tanks is often crucial to success. Plus, when they hit, they kill marines like nobody's business.

But if I am determined to replace the Queens of the battlefield, what would I use to fill the void? Let's look at some options:

1. Astropath

My list, like many IGuard lists likes going first. Some of my heaviest hitters are rather fragile with only AV 12 standing between them and total annihilation. Being able to play the reserve game if I go 2nd would be a great ability to have. The more reliable outflank could also potentially come in handy to help the Vendettas show up where they need to. The trouble with him is fitting him in, as a lot of the potential options cost exactly or very close to the price of a Russ, and I have little that I would want to take out from the rest of my list to afford him.

2. Psyker Battle Squad

I've tried resisting this particular piece of Camembert for a while but it has me hooked on several levels. First it can provide another high strength, potentially low AP blast, thereby replacing the Russ with little difference. Second, the Weaken Resolve power would, as in many Guard armies, help me knock squads easily off the table with only a minimum of casualties. I can already see TH/SS termies running for their lives because some scrawny little dudes wrapped in chains went BOOGA BOOGA... Third, the conversion opportunities are pretty fantastic.Since I've envisioned my force with a bit of a radical Inquisitorial bent these charming folks would blend right in. Not to mention my ideas on how to integrate playing cards into their design...

3. Close Combat Upgrades

I can't tell you the number of times that a power fist or even a sword would have turned the tide just enough. This isn't a really high priority, but a pfist on a vet squad or my CCS could have helped against even lone marines rushing in and slaughtering the entire squad. Again, like the Astropath, the problem is finding room for upgrades, especially since these can be seen as even lower priority.

4. MOAR MELTA!

Couple of ways we could go with this. With some upgrades we can sneak a couple of extra meltaguns onto my Vets as points filler. They do all right with just two meltaguns but three's just better. I could also spring for something like a suicide melta-Stormtrooper squad, or even afford another Chimera vet squad. I'm not sure how I like this version; if anything my list needs more long range shooting and melta's preferred enemies already fear the Manticore. Still, adding another Vet squad would give me another mobile scoring unit which is always useful.

These options so far have only dealt with giving up one Russ... the option remains to give up both, freeing up another 150 pts and a Heavy Support slot. With this, we have the following options:

1. Manticore

Manticores are awesome. I think I might miss the AP 3 of the blast but two Manticores is a truly impressive amount of firepower. I'd probably choose this option if I wanted more antitank, as nothing cracks a Land Raider at 300 paces like str 10 rockets of doom. Plus, PRETTY.

2. Hydras

Hydras would provide a fair bit of light anti-tank at range. Plus, as the photo above attests, fellow blogger and hero to Guard generals everywhere (despite his nautical title) Drax has a pretty cool way to convert them up, saving me money and helping me scratch that DIY itch that I wrestle with. I would probably spring for two as one just doesn't seem like enough. As my girlfriend mentioned, "Can you ever have too many Hydras? They're like potato chips." Special dear... special.

So let's look at a few possible combinations to replace one or both Russ.

• Psyker Battle Squad with 4 additional members, Chimera, and take a melta from my triple melta squad: 150 pts
• Veteran squad with 2 meltaguns, flamer, Chimera: 150 pts
• Three additional meltaguns, one to each vet squad, 5 stormtroopers with two meltaguns, Astropath: 150 pts
• Manticore plus one of the above options, plus take out 10 pts somewhere: 300 pts
• 2 Hydras, plus one of the 150 pt options: 300 pts 
• Just keep the Russ!

So those are the options that I can think of for 150 and 300-odd points... which one do you favor, or have I forgotten something?

Ogre Circus: Ogre Star!

I think we might be transitioning to this later time for posting- getting the posts ready by noon just ain't happening nowadays.

Earlier I talked about my thoughts for the 1500 part of my Fantasy escalation league. Here's the list that I ended up with:

Tyrant, Sword of Battle, Heavy Armor, Wyrdstone Necklace, Iron Curse Icon

Butcher, Talisman of Preservation
Bruiser *, BSB, Runemaw, Hvy Armor, Look Out Gnoblar, Cathayan Longsword

9 Bulls, Ironfists, Bellower
6 Ironguts, Standard Bearer
20 Gnoblars

Scraplauncher

*The FAQ has errataed that the BSB can have standard upgrades, just no other magical items.

Basically the heroes and Tyrant joined with the 9 bulls to form an Ogre deathstar. I know, I know, deathstars were last edition, but it seemed like the best plan at this points level and with the models I had. Plus it is fairly magic proof thanks to the Runemaw and nearby Gnoblar squads.

I only got to get one game in on Sunday and it was against O&G. He had a large mob of Night Goblins, a mob of Black Orcs (I think), some Arrer Boyz, a pump wagon and a rock lobba. We rolled up Battle for the Pass and went at it.

 The game was mostly one of me charging and him running away. My Scrappie was on fire, smashing orcs and goblins to pieces. His rock lobba was more unlucky, killing one whole Ogre Bull over the course of the game before mishapping into a self destruct. After about 4 turns of maneuvering I finally got my chance to smash into his block of night gobbies, mowing them down over two turns. The only unit I lost were the 20 gnoblars, which was equal points to the pumpwagon that he lost to his own fanatic.

So, a very lucky game for me, but it showed off some of the strengths and weaknesses of my army.

• The deathstar was unassailable, having regeneration and magic protection up for most of the game. 
• The scrappie was golden, doing plenty of damage over the course of the game while hanging out in the back end of the table.
• Gnoblars were worthless in combat, but great for shunting enemy spells and serving as charge bait
• On the flip side, my deathstar was fairly easy to bait and flee. If the terrain had been a bit more forgiving I could have gotten my Ironguts into melee as well, but as it was my Ogrestar wandered around unsupported.

For expanding to 2k I'd like to have two hard hitting blocks of Ogre Bulls. That, plus a few blocks of gnoblars and the Ironguts backed by a pair of Scrappies should lead to a good, balanced force.

Thanks for reading, and see you tomorrow.

Ogre Circus: 1500 List Thoughts

Apologies for the late post today- I have a certification test coming up for work tomorrow and have been sillily (is that a real word?) preparing for that rather than working on my toy monsters. So, in lieu of any hobby update I thought I would type up the list that I am hoping to run on Sunday for the 1500 phase of the escalation league.

Escalation League, Round 3: The List

Round 3 of the Escalation League is upon me, so I've worked up what I think is my final list. As I mentioned, the 3 Valkyries was a little back breaking so, despite my having gotten re-addicted to fast durable transports I have stripped out the Valkyrie and added some other stars to my list.

Instead of merely listing my... well, list, I'll go over my choices for each part. My goal for this list in comparison with my 750 was to increase overall durability. The Air Cav, while fast and very killy, required lucky rolls to pull off a victory and could easily be taken out of commission in one turn of good anti-tank shooting.

+++++++++++++++++++++++

Company Command Squad, 3 meltaguns, carapace armor, power fist, meltabombs

This squad is designed to take out heavy armor or monstrous creatures. They'll be riding in a Vendetta and, if I get first turn, will try to alpha strike to eliminate a deadly target right off the bat. They will try for targets that they can at least try to best in CC or ones that will go up like tinder in front of the meltaguns. A particular one that I want to pit them against are Long Fangs, as a combination of Fire On My Target! and the powerfist should cream those Missile Launcher toting jerks.

A question I was wrestling with was whether or not to include an Astropath. In the end I decided that I would not be using reserves as much with this list, so the extra 30 pts went into beefing up the kill potential of the squad and the list.

Psyker Primaris, Vet Squad with Grenade Launchers, Autocannon, Chimera with HB/ML

I just love the Psyker too much to take him out right now. This unit will be light anti-tank and anti-infantry by pouring out a good number of shots at range and a truly punishing amount of fire at close quarters, all from the safety of front armor 12. I debated upgrading the Autocannon to a Missile Launcher, but decided that two shots would be better than the one better shot over all.

2 Vendettas with standard armament

I decided to take out the Valkyrie as the Vendettas are just too good to remove. A vet squad with flamers will hide out in one to perform counter charge while the command squad will be in the other, hopefully to use it as a 1st turn strike platform or as another anti-tank option when it gets shaken.

Taking out the Heavy Bolter sponsons was a measure I took to ensure that the list didn't completely collapse when I lost a Vendetta. It's still a serious setback, but not nearly as back breaking as it was with my 750 list.

Leman Russ Eradicator, Heavy Bolter

This is the decision that I have been struggling on all week, and one that I am still not sure on. It was either this or the standard Battle Tank with a Lascannon. The Eradicator has a Str 6 AP 4 cover ignoring large blast, great for taking out horde armies, while the Battle Tank has a Str 8 AP 3 large blast, great for taking out Marines and ID-ing Tyranid Warriors. In the end I decided that the Eradicator was the better of my choices as it grants dramatically increased effectiveness against the majority of my opponents. While it is not nearly as good vs Marines it will still wound them on 2s, so hopefully that will be good enough. We'll see if my choice proves fruitful.

The Heavy Bolter was chosen to go along with the range of the Eradicator Nova Cannon, and the fact that I don't want this thing anywhere NEAR close combat.

Veteran Squad with meltaguns, Chimera with ML and HF

To round out the list, some heavy anti-tank and a nice metal box to get them there. I voted these boys in the Chimera instead of the Command Squad because they can shoot at (relatively) maximum effectiveness from inside the Box while the CCS needs to get out to use orders on itself.

+++++++++++++++++++++++

So, that's the list. Battles will begin happening on Saturday, but I may try to do some testing of the list tonight.

Escalation League, Round 2: Thoughts on Air Cav

The second round of our Escalation League at Universe Games in Minneapolis has started, so here's my 750 list:

Psyker Primaris
Veteran Squad, 3 Grenade Launchers
Veteran Squad, 3 Flamers
Veteran Squad, 3 Meltaguns
Vendetta with Heavy Bolters, 3 twin linked lascannons
Vendetta with Heavy Bolters, 3 twin linked lascannons
Valkyrie with Multiple Rocket Pods and Multilaser

This list is very killy. If the Vendettas are not dealt with early in the game they will take down every vehicle within sight and then turn their fury on the poor bloody infantry. The Valkyrie hasn't really knocked my socks off quite yet but can serve as a fast, expendable transport for meltagunners to get close to their target, as well as give me much needed insurance against hordes.

I played a couple of games today, but neglected to do battle reports of them. Just a brief overview of each of them may give you a glimpse as to the reasons why I didn't record them:

Game 1 against Dark Eldar, Annihilation. He has mostly raider spam with two taloses stuck in there. He deploys, I reserve. My Vendettas come on early, destroy two raiders while my grenade launcher squad with Psyker annihilate his grotesques. His shooting knocks a lascannon off of one of my Vendettas. My Valkyrie comes on, and my shooting kills two more raiders, a Talos, a squad of Warriors and all but eliminates another squad of warriors. He concedes at 6-0 on turn 3.

Game 2 was against Space Wolves. Annihilation. Still mostly foot, with 1 rhino and 1 dreadnought with twin linked lascannon. He goes first, I reserve everything. His rhino comes on turn 2. My Vendettas come on turn 2 but fail to kill the rhino (as I was stupidly trying to hide one of them from missile launcher fire). His dread comes on, blows up a Vendetta and kills the squad inside. Valkyrie comes on, I immobilize the dread, he blows up another Vendetta and the squad inside (with the Psyker!) breaks, failing 3 consecutive leadership tests to rally before running off the board. I eventually kill the Dread, but concede at 5-1.

Game 3 was against Eldar. Annihilation. Dawn of War. He goes second and we both reserve everything. My Valkyrie and Vendetta turboboost on. His falcon, guardian squad and double EML war walker come on but some how fail to scratch my birds. My planes return fire and explode the Falcon and War Walker. His Serpent comes on, yet still I hang untouched in the sky. Second Vendetta comes on, wrecks the Serpent. I spend the rest of the game calmly shooting up the Guardians.

I really hope that these games are not harbingers of what's to come, but I think they will be. Everything comes down to just a few dice rolls- if someone can manage to break my birds, I lose. If I can get even a few shots off before that happens I win. If my shots don't connect, I lose. If they fail to scratch my modest armor, I win.

There's no real need for extensive tactics in this list- if I go first, I deploy, scout up and kill everything. If I go second and there's no where to hide, I reserve, come on and attempt to kill everything.

Maybe it will be different in an objective game, but at least right now the Air Cav list just doesn't seem fun. It's all about how much damage I can cause before return fire strikes me, and praying to God that if they do break my armor they don't roll a 4+.

There is no back up plan if things go south and I don't have to adapt to the opponent's strategy- the Valkyrie is too limited to target anything but infantry and the odd light tank while the Vendettas simply target whatever is a threat to them and are good enough that I don't have to worry for long. It's either too late or time for a victory dance at that point.

I realize I've probably said the same thing over and over again, but I wanted to make sure that my point got across. It's a good list and has tons of killy power against all lists, but just isn't fun.

Hopefully next round will be a bit more fun, but for now I have some very anticlimactic and swingy battle to fight. If anyone has some advice as to how to make the Air Cav more entertaining, I would love to hear the advice. The strains of "Ride of the Valkyries" are fun, but simply flipping a coin to see if I dominate or am crushed just isn't my style.

Making Do With Less, part 1: Hello Guard!

Today’s post is the first of a series that I’m going to write about making do with less with the Imperial Guard. For those of you who don’t know me (about all but 2.5 of you I would say), I work for Americorps in Minneapolis and therefore have an incredibly small budget. Thanks to a combination of cheap rent, communal housing and poor judgment (who needs to save money anyway?) I can manage to scrape together enough money to purchase Warhammer models every once in a blue moon. Now, because of this, my selection of models is fairly limited, especially given that I play Imperial Guard (a choice that many would call “bone-‘eaded” for a person on a tight budget… sooo many models….). To date I have purchased the following:

1 Old Cadian Battleforce
1 New Cadian Battleforce
1 New Catachan Battleforce (because making vets is fun!)
1 Poorly Planned but Eminently Worth It E-bay Purchase (the highlights of which are a LRBT, two armored sentinels, a metal commissar, a few flamers, voxen and grenade launchers, and plenty of guardsmen)
2 Chimeras
2 Meltagun packs and 2 Plasma gun packs (because they are so much cheaper than buying the assault weapons sprues)
1 Kasrkin box (because they were pretty)
The 40k peripherals (paint, dice, codex, etc.)

So, this leaves me in the following situation: I have plenty of infantry (unless I want to go conscripts, in which case I’m in trouble), a fair few heavy weapons and enough special weapons to make my squads WYSIWYG eventually. The real problem here is the vehicles; right now I have:

2 LRBTs
4 Sentinels (two of which are stuck in AS mode and 2 that have yet to be assembled)
2 Chimeras

This means that I have very little heavy support and even fewer transportation options, making my army much less maneuverable than I would like. I can fix these problems with proxying, but my main source for proxies is moving to Georgia at the end of June, so I need to start thinking about the future today.

I'll begin with tackling the maneuverability issue. Especially for any of my squads that have short ranged special weapons (like melta guns or plasma for rapid fire) this is a key issue. So I scoured the IG codex for some options that would enable me to use my infantry to get me closer to the enemy. Here's what I found:

• What gets my boys close to the enemy quickly, allows them to move faster around the board, grants them protection from harm, has a heavy bolter that can be fired while moving 6", AND only costs 55 points? If you answered Sgt. Harker, you are correct! Infiltrate, Move Through Cover, Stealth and a relentless heavy bolter make him a prime candidate to lead one of my vet squads into the jaws of the enemy. Same duties as a chimera, same price... except on my wallet. A WIP of me kitbashing him will appear at some point.
• Stormtroopers can act as melta/plasma gun delivery vehicles. Granted I tried this one before and didn't like it, but the ability to deep strike/outflank/infiltrate and take out a troublesome vehicle is one that I literally can't afford to ignore right now. A minimum sized squad with 2 meltaguns costs only 105 points, 50 points less than my triple melta mounted vet squads (say THAT 5 times fast). I might not recommend this option to anyone else as STs are expensive points and money-wise, but I have the models so I'll go for it. And since I have 10 models I might be able to make two squads out of them with some deft snipping (though the Sarge will be a problem...)
• Al'Rahem grants a platoon the ability to outflank, placing it right in front of the enemy/on an objective. Combined with special weapon squads armed with meltaguns/demo charges, plus Al'Rahem's "Bring it down!" order and some special weapon packing bodyguards, should enable me to take out anything I need to. Once again, should be simple enough to kitbash an appropriate figure, especially with the incredibly awesome Command Squad sprues to help me.
• Marbo can just pop up wherever he feels like and kill something dead, then go on being a nuisance/contesting objectives for the rest of the game. He's also really easy to kitbash. What's not to like?

As far as heavy support, I have fewer exciting options. Heavy weapon squads can bring the rain, but at least for now I am going to rely on special weapons spam to win the day. I have 12 melta and plasma guns and 2 heavy flamers (thank you command sprues!) as well as a surefire way to make demo charges, of which I can probably crank out 3 or 4 more.
Stay tuned for more segments of this over the coming days, and comments and criticisms are always welcome.

Hank Stahl's CCCC Squad of Doom: 1500

As mentioned previously, I'm going with the second favorite choice on the poll, Iron-Hand Straken's CC Squad of Doom, for my next list.

Stahl's Command (1500)

HQ (400)
Company Command Squad
Feldmarshal Hank "Dead Man's Hand" Stahl (counts as Straken)
2 bodyguards
4 vets with regimental standard, meltagun, grenade launcher and flamer
Officer of the Fleet
Carapace Armor
Priest w/ Eviscerator

Company Command Squad
Regimental standard
Heavy Bolter
Officer of the Fleet

Elites (100)
5 Stormtroopers with 2 meltaguns

Troops (685)
Platoon Command Squad
Heavy Bolter
2 grenade launchers

Infantry squad with plasma gun * 4
Commissar

Lascannon HWS * 2

Vet squad with 3 melta guns in a chimera (multilaser, hvy flamer)

Fast Attack (270)
2 Armored Sentinels with Plasma Cannons
2 Armored Sentinels with Autocannons

Strategy

The overall strategy is very simple: get Stahl's command squad into CC range and let 'er rip. The vets in the main command squad all have different loadouts so that I can play fun wound allocation games if necessary, and all are assault oriented. The combination of Stahl/Straken and the chainfisting priest should prove interesting and deadly. The carapace armor is to make sure that enough veterans survive to ensure that Stahl/Straken has enough ablative wounds left to take down big baddies like hive tyrants while staying out of trouble.

The four infantry squads will play defense for the CC squad, making sure that it always has cover, and the squads will also make sure that each other has cover. I will do this by splitting squads 3:1, with the one lone squad masking enough of the other 3 squads to achieve cover saves while hopefully getting some in return. The plasma guns combined with BID from the command squad should put the hurt on any MCs or squads that come too close, helping pave the way for Stahl to take down the really nasty squads.

The armored sentinels will also be performing screening duty, gunning down anything in their way and distracting large mobs of infantry from assaulting my squishy guardsmen or my hard hitting CC squad (it wants to hit hard, not be stuck in combat with a lesser squad for too many turns.) The plasma cannons will be awesome at taking out mobs of heavy infantry while the autocannons will throw out some shots early and be the first to charge into combat.

In the rear field we have the two lascannon HWS with the secondary company command squad and the platoon command squad. Both are armed with heavy bolters and grenade launchers to take out outflanking genestealers and will throw themselves in harm's way to buy the HWS an extra turn. BID will be less effective thanks to the ld 7 of the HWS, but it should result in some solid kills. The mounted melta squad will move to one of the flanks and try to take down anything in its path.

Finally, I will be experimenting with stormtroopers with this list. They are only a squad of 5 to conserve on points and make sure that I don't use them for anything other than their one purpose, which is melta gun delivery team. Normally I will try to deep strike or outflank them so that I can take out one really nasty thing before they die. They might also help out the melta vets in taking out an MC in one turn if necessary. I don't expect much of them, but I do expect them to take out at least their points worth before they are annihilated.

I'm trying out a lot of new stuff with this list: Straken, stormtroopers, non-mortar HWS, but I believe that in contrast to my previous list this one forms a cohesive whole, with each component working to help the others. Any comments or criticisms are of course always welcome.

Major Bluff's Outflanking, Palm Reading Circus

Step right up ladies and gentlemen, step right up!

SEE the amazing Major Grace Bluff and her outflanking minions!

SWOON at Sergeant Harker's stealthy, silenced heavy bolter!

STARE at the amazing predictive and destructive psychic potential of the PRIMARIS and his BATTLE SQUAD

SCREAM as you lie dying on the ground!


So, I decided to throw a list together that showcases the two most highly sought after units on my poll: Capt. Al'Rahem (in my army: Major Grace Bluff) and the psykers. First off, these two don't work especially well together. The psykers have a hard time outflanking outside of a valkyrie (which I think would not be sporting of me to proxy, seeing how freaking large they are and their weird base), but at least they have the range to get the job done.

Here's the list as it stands right now:
HQ (285)
Company Command Squad
Chimera with multilaser, hvy bolter
Astropath
4 plasma guns
Carapace armor
Psyker Primaris (with squad B)

Elites (180)
Psyker Battle Squad with 5 additional psykers
Chimera with multilaser, heavy bolter, extra armor

Troops (730)

Platoon Command
Mjr. Grace Bluff (counts as Cpt. Al’Rahem)
3 Melta
1 Hvy Flamer
Chimera with multilaser turret, hull hvy flamer

Squads A-C
Flamer
Mortar
Commissar (attached to squad A)
Ministorum Priest w/ shotgun (attached to squad C)
Power weapons for the sergeants and commissar
Melta bombs for the sergeants

Vet Squad
Gunnery Sergeant Harker
3 melta guns
Chimera with turret multilaser, hull heavy flamer

Fast Attack (300)
Scout Sentinel with lascannon x2
Scout Sentinel with lascannon x2
Scout Sentinel with lascannon x2


So, my general strategy (if fighting alone) will be to start with everything in reserve. Then, using the astropath's awesome reserve rolling, try to bring my army in as quickly as possible. Mjr. Bluff will lead the charge into the enemy's flank, using BID on her own squad as well as Harker's and Like the Wind/FRFSRF on the melee infantry blob. The blob will try to take an objective and hold it while the rest of the army plays melty defense. The sentinels will start taking down tanks/MCs ASAP and serve as general distractions to my other troops. Meanwhile the command squad and psyker battle squad will come on down from my lines, plasma gunning and psykering anything in their path. The extra armor on the psyker chimera should come in handy, helping them to constantly move even if shot at. Since both of their powers have 36" range I should be able to get off either large blasts or leadership reduction in the first round they come in.

The infantry squad should be either completely amazing or a complete dud. 30 guardsmen charging with commissar and priest back up should do quite a bit of damage, especially when we factor in the attached Primaris (2d6 str 6 assault shots and 4 force weapon attacks), the four power weapons and the three flamers. The mortars are included in these squads so that a) I can get tons of people within 2" of their 30 mm base on the charge and b) give me some long range fire support for low cost. I may upgrade these to autocannons/heavy bolters before the battle is met instead of the melta bombs, but I like having some tank deterrence in my back lines. Alternatively I could use the points to give the priest an eviscerator, but I think that would make him too high of a priority target. Still, would be nice to have more carnifex protection...

The Primaris is going to be an interesting figure in the blob. His bolts will help on the offense and his force weapon will help bring down ICs and MCs. His other ability, nightshroud, should help protect the blob from return fire once it's on the objective, especially if I am facing low leadership units like Tau fire warriors.

The chimeras for the outflanking team members have heavy flamers to help roast infantry out of cover and pave the way for my close combat mob. The one on the vet chimera is especially useful as Harker has his relentless heavy bolter to add to the long range shoot 'em up.

One of the major things that I'm worried about with this list is resilience. I no longer have the AV14 monstrosities, and a lot of my guardsmen will die on the assault. Hopefully I have enough bodies to make it through the fight and more than enough anti-tank/MC to kill the more problematic units. Another problem is if the game is annihilation. Currently I have 14 KP at 1500 pts, and while none of it is supremely squishy from the outset it could be a problem. I might switch around the sentinel squads into two squads of 3 to help alleviate this problem a bit, as I don't want to take out either the priest or the primaris.

Well, the only way to see if this works is to try it out. At the very least it will be a very different army from the one that I've been fielding lately. Battle report and musings will be up some time tomorrow. Wish me luck!

1500 Mixed Company

So here is a prototype of my 1500 list; it's mostly an expansion upon the concepts in my 1000 point list combined with some of the lessons I learned from my 2k game. List first, tactics/choice defense second.

Company Command Squad
-Regimental Standard
-3 Plasma Guns
-Master of the Fleet
-Carapace Armor
-melta bombs
Total: 165

Troops (770)

Infantry Platoon (460)

Platoon Command Squad
-3 flamers, 1 heavy flamer
Chimera (Hvy flamer turret, hvy bolter hull)

Infantry Squad
-autocannon
-grenade launcher
-Commissar
Infantry Squad
-autocannon
-grenade launcher
Infantry Squad
-autocannon
-grenade launcher

Mortar HWS
Mortar HWS

Vet Squad
-3 melta guns
-Chimera w/ turret multilaser and hull hvy bolter

Vet Squad
-3 melta guns
-Chimera w/ turret multilaser and hull hvy bolter

Fast Attack (215)

Spearhead Sentinel (aka Stompy Jr.)
-Plasmacannon
Spearhead Sentinel
-Lascannon
Spearhead Sentinel
-Lascannon

Heavy Support (340)
Leman Russ w/ 3 HB (aka the Poorly Planned Purchase)
Leman Russ w/ 3 HB

The named units are the ones that have proven themselves worthy of honorifica in battle.

So, general strategy:
HQ stands around giving out orders to my infantry clump and taking lethal potshots at anything that strays to close. The rerollable leadership should keep the line steady and the officer of the fleet will harry enemy reserves. In the endgame (if they are still alive) they move out to conduct search and destroy missions against tough targets like terminators. The HQ is expendable in the end game- as long as they keep the BID and FRFSRF in the early to mid game and have taken some baddies with them, they have done their duty.

PCS at first stays home and does counter charge/ speed bump duty. With the chimera they should be able to create a wall of at least 10" around which the enemy will either have to move or assault through flamery death. This is the main reason I went for the turret heavy flamer, as then the chimera can stretch out the long way and still roast enemy troops. If the PCS survives it will run out and try to claim an objective or go snipe hunting.

My big troop blob comes out in either a single or two clumps. This way I can choose multiple targets for BID fire, with the larger clump holding on to the commissar to ensure that the orders get through. Deployment will be inside cover if possible. When the going gets tough, the squishy guard FRFSRF and try to kill as many xenos as possible.

The vet squads careen out of the gate and go hunting for enemy vehicles/MCs while supporting fire from the rest of the army distracts the enemy. If they survive to late game they go out objective/tough target hunting depending on the mission.

Sentinels hang back around the firebase for the early game firing lascannon potshots at vehicles and MCs; Stompy Jr, He Who Held the Tyranids at Bay, will try out his new plasma cannon against M and TEQs/ MCs and light vehicles. When assaulters get too close the sentinels will perform tarpit duty, hopefully slowing the enemy down enough to squeak by for the win. If this doesn't happen, they will wander out to contest enemy objectives, specializing in assaulting to pull units off of objectives. I will have to watch out for hidden power fists, but pretty much anything else will be locked in combat forever.

And finally the LRBTs stay still and nuke the crap out of anything that walks that they can see, preferred targets being those that have 3+ or 4+ saves. They will also try to shield the squishy infantry which are hopefully on top of an objective.

Changes I might make are switching around Stompy Jr.'s weaponry to a heavy flamer/lascannon; upgrading the LRBTs to lascannon turret; and screwing around with the choices that I have made for my CCS. I wish I could get a power fist into my troop blob, as right now if an MC or dreadnought attacks I'm toast, but apparently that isn't an option in this codex. I might try to sneak some in the vet/platoon command/company command squads to mitigate this unfortunate circumstance if it becomes too prevalent. Heck, maybe a priest would be a welcome addition (albeit an extra kill point).

Battle will be commencing on Saturday hopefully, so I'll keep tinkering with it until then. Check back soon to see some pics of how my army is being all gussied up for war. Comments and criticisms of the list/ tactics are of course always welcome and encouraged.

2k Surprise!

Yesterday and today I focused on getting another 11 troopers ready for battle… which is happening tonight! For tonight’s battle I plan on using pretty much the same list as last time, only making a few alterations. First, I plan to switch the Master of Ordnance to an Astropath and drop the camo cloaks on my Command Squad to upgrade one sentinel to a Spearhead sentinel. I will be using this sentinel in a counter-assault role in addition to its normal tankhunting functions. This may result in me being vulnerable for one more kill point, but if I have to go against outflanking genestealers or over anxious bikes I think I will be glad for it. Another possible switch would be dropping the advisor completely, as well as the company command mortar squad to pay for a chimera for my PCS. This would add more maneuverability to my list and greatly help in capturing objectives as few troops can stand 5 templates. I may still opt to do this depending on if I am partnered with Caleb’s Tau once again.

Tactics will likely remain the same- bunch up my infantry squads in cover (possibly into two different squads, one of 20 and one of 10 depending on mission, as I can issue two BID per turn with my command squad) and keep my command squad nearby to give out orders. I may place one squad inside a bunker, as the orders system only proscribes vehicles, not buildings. The Russ will stay in anti-infantry, the mortars will rain from the sky, and the sentinels will either outflank or stand and fight depending on who the opponent is and whether I go first or second. Melta vet squad will try to take out the most dangerous tank before dying, and I will remember to pop smoke on it this time! I guess the most dangerous thing that I can think of to this army is a deep striking dreadnought with a heavy flamer- in the last game it would have taken out pretty much all of my infantry in one round, and I will try to prepare for that this time, just in case. I got pretty lucky last time that nobody really focused on my army- we’ll see if my opponents have learned to prioritize the correct targets this time.

More after the battle commences!

*battle commences*


Well, apparently I’m doing 2k points this time! Woohoo!
The new list, with use of Daemonhunters:

Grey Knight Hero w/psycannon bolts (155)
-5 terminators (230)

Company Command Squad
-Regimental Standard
-Vox Caster
-Lascannon
-Master of the Fleet
-Astropath
-Camo Cloaks
Total: 170

Infantry Platoon (total: 670)
Platoon Command Squad
-4 flamers
Chimera (Hvy flamer turret, hvy bolter hull)
Total: 105

Infantry Squad
-autocannon
-grenade launcher
-Commissar
-Vox
Infantry Squad
-autocannon
-grenade launcher
Infantry Squad
-autocannon
Total: 230

Mortar HWS
Mortar HWS

Vet Squad
-3 melta guns
-Chimera w/ turret multilaser and hull hvy bolter
-Demolitions doctrine
Total: 18 5

Vet Squad
-3 melta guns
-Chimera w/ turret multilaser and hull hvy bolter
Total: 155

Fast Attack (210)

Spearhead Sentinel
-Lascannon
Spearhead Sentinel
-Lascannon

Heavy Support
Leman Russ w/ 3 HB (aka the Poorly Planned Purchase)
Leman Russ w/ 3 HB
Leman Russ w/ 3 HB

Sorry, I don’t have lists for the opponents. To the best of my ability, the opponents had:
Flying Hive Tyrant
2 Carnifexes (one with lots of twin linked short range weapons, the other with long range fire power)
1 squad of warriors with various ranged weapons
1 midsized squad of hormogaunts
1 large squad of termagaunts
2 squads of outflanking genestealers (11 each)

Chapter Master on bike
Lots of marines on bikes, with attack bikes armed with multimeltas squeezed in
1 rhino with a tac squad armed with a lascannon and a flamer


Mission: Objectives (5) Deployment: Corners. From the outset, things looked very grim. The very assault heavy forces were all primed to charge and had first turn, and my infantry castle wasn’t even standing on an objective thanks to my poorly planned placement and enemy choice of deployment zone. I did at least have the piece of mind to place my tanks in a wall around my squishy infantry and have my command squad do a conga line to prevent genestealers from outflanking into the middle of my army. See pics of the battle over at my picasa album here.

1st round: Emperor protects! The orbital bombardment, lascannon, venom cannon and barbed strangle all failed to hurt any of my troops, even when targeted on my mortar team thanks to a very welcome 1 to wound roll. Russell kept his termagaunts back on their home objective, forgetting that lurking nids can’t hold objectives.
My return fire was deadly, at least to the Tyranids. Moving my melta vets up in their chimeras I unleashed hell on the winged hive tyrant. Fire from my leftmost LRBT and sentinel took the sniperfex (long ranged Carnifex) down to one wound. The other two LRBTs were a bit less useful, killing a few bikes and putting some wounds on the tyrant and the other fex. Unfortunately I had placed my autocannons in a poor position, so the only real target that they had was the sniperfex, only managing to make one wound. Mortars failed to do anything unfortunately.

The rest of the turns get a little fuzzy, as I was convinced that I would lose and had so many moves to make that I didn’t bother updating the batrep. Plus my computer freezing up added to the chaos. In general, the assault continued on my forces. A squad of stealers outflanked on turn 2, destroying an LRBT and annihilating the spearhead sentinel that I sent to occupy them. Stupid rending… The bikes crashed into my lines but were slowed down by the barbed wire and my outer tank wall. I managed to eliminate the flyrant with melta shots on the second turn, but my castle was crumbling thanks to the genestealers. Fortunately the Grey Knight Terminators deep struck in on the second turn, but almost immediately 3 of them fell to enemy fire. They still managed to carry out their mission, the grand master downing a carnifex and the marine chapter master with two blows of his mighty force weapon. I also managed to roast all of the hormagaunts with my mobile flamer PCS, but it seemed like too little too late.

It was around this time (about 3rd turn or so) that I remembered what the mission was objectives. I began gunning my mobile veteran melta squad out to one of the objectives, not even stopping to shoot. Another chimera that had lost its passengers gunned out to contest other objectives and be a general nuisance. My flamery death chimera combined with charging Grey Knights actually made a marauding biker squad flee off the map, greatly relieving the pressure on my lines, which were already dealing with a disastrous bike and genestealer infestation.

The rest of the game was a scramble to get troops on objectives. The tac squad ran to an objective close to their immobilized rhino, but my two remaining terminators drove them off of it with practiced ease. The second squad of genestealers came in, killed my mortar squads, and proceeded to run for an objective while being shot in the back by my block of guardsmen. My remaining sentinel earned his points by holding up the genestealers and the warriors in close combat on top of an objective for a marathon 4 turns, using his front armor 12 as an extreme advantage. In the end, I had my melta vets on an objective while the opponents failed to claim any. If we had gone to a 7th turn I don’t think that I would have survived, as the termagaunts were back in synapse range and able to take/contest an objective. But the Emperor once again looked down upon his humble Guardsman with favor and granted us victory.

After Action Report: I won this battle mostly due to the bad playing of my opponents. If they had simply chosen to sit on their objectives rather than charging in at me, I definitely would have lost. I wasn’t very mobile, and if I tried to move my infantry castle to seize I would be cut down in short order. It was only by presenting a juicy target and the general mindset of a) assaulting armies and b) 40k in general that I was able to pull the victory off. I probably would have made the same mistakes, and indeed completely screwed up all aspects of the deployment phase as it was (poor terrain choices, put the infantry in the center instead of on the outside to protect the tanks [though this I might disagree on… what do you think?], and exceedingly poor placement of objectives).

Orders were once again very important- BID and FRFSRF were both used to great effect over the course of the game, and Move! Move! Move! was used at least once to get my PCS onto an objective. Mortars were very much less successful this time, but for the cheap cost and the memories of last game I am definitely keeping them. The flamery death PCS and the armored sentinels worked out very well as counter charge units- one roasts everything to death easily, and the other just locks units up in close combat forever (unless the enemy gets insanely lucky and rolls 3 6s in a row… stupid rending…). As long as the enemy doesn’t have strength greater than 5, the armored sentinel just sits there and tarpits. The LRBTs were less useful due to poor dice rolling, but the chimeras proved themselves over and over again. Having a few mobile troops to go out and claim objectives in a fast, armored shell while the enemy was busy munching on my (accidentally) sacrificial guard was key to victory.

Next time I would probably forgo the terminators in favor of something else that was cheaper. Having the force weapon really helped me win- the carnifex and the chapter master proved that- but I feel that I could have spent 300 or so points in a better fashion, as a few 1s rolled and a few power weapon attacks took down far too many of them. Maybe an outflanking flamer/melta platoon led by Al’Rahem, or even a psyche battle squad and a callidus (or is it culexus?) assassin for AP 2 wound on 2+ flamer from out of nowhere. Or even normal grey knights as troops or a teleport attack (I just like the look of them, and they fit with the fluff that I’m working on for my Guard). Or even just kitting my troops up better for assault by throwing some power swords/fists in there, and maybe switching camo cloaks for carapace armor on my command squad.

And question just in general for those who read this humble blog: should I have used my guardsmen to shield the tanks, or was my plan ok at least in that respect? And can you spot any other mistakes that I made, given the extremely fuzzy nature of this report?