Batrep: Chaos Marines vs Chaos Marines, 1750 pts

I decided it was time for a change of pace today. After something like 5 or 6 games in a row, fielding nothing but Deathwing, I felt the urge to put a real army on the table - something with some bite and mindless bloody violence... CHAOS!

After getting my Helldrake a few months back, I pieced together a Chaos Marine list which I felt was pretty solid and suitably balanced. The thing was, it never saw action, seeing as I was distracted by any number of other things, like my Necrons, Deathwing, a little Warmachine (alas, Warpspace, I'll miss you...) and of course, experiments with my good old Blood Angels. So, I decided today was a good day for the Black Legion and the Spikey Bikey Lord to go forth... As it turned out, I wasn't the only to think so - the first four 40k gamers who walked into the happy FLGS ALL brought Chaos Marine armies! All is not well in the Eye of Terror...

My List:
Chaos Lord on bike, with Mark of Khorne, Sigil of Corruption, Axe of Blind Fury, Gift of Mutation (Shred)
10 Chaos Marines with 2 plasmaguns, extra close combat weapons and a lightning claw and meltabombs for the champion, all in a Rhino with Dirge Caster
10 Chaos Marines with 2 meltaguns, extra close combat weapons and a lightning claw and meltabombs for the champion, all in a Rhino with Dirge Caster
10 Chaos Marines with 2 meltaguns, extra close combat weapons and a lightning claw and meltabombs for the champion, all in a Rhino with Dirge Caster
7 Bikers with Mark of Khorne, 2 meltaguns, Icon of Wrath and a lightning claw for the champion
Helldrake with Baleflamer
Forgefiend with 2 Hades Autocannons
5 Havocs with 4 Autocannons
Vindicator with Siege Shield

Note that the Lord, all the Chaos Marines and the Bikers have Veterans of the Long War. This is a nice, straightforward and aggressive list, designed to surge forward en masse and force the opponent into some tough target priority decisions.

David's World Eaters:
Kharn the Betrayer
5 Chosen with 4 meltaguns, combimelta for the champion, in a Rhino with Dirge Caster and Dozer Blade
5 Chosen with 4 meltaguns, combimelta for the champion, in a Rhino with Dirge Caster and Dozer Blade
8 Khorne Berzerkers with Veterans of the Long War and Gift of Mutation for the champion (+1 BS)
8 Khorne Berzerkers with Veterans of the Long War and Gift of Mutation for the champion (+1 W)
8 Khorne Berzerkers with Veterans of the Long War and Gift of Mutation for the champion (+1 BS, 2+ Armour)
Helldrake with Baleflamer
Chaos Predator with twin-linked lascannon and lascannon sponsons
Chaos Predator with twin-linked lascannon and lascannon sponsons
3 Obliterators with Mark of Khorne and Veterans of the Long War

It was only on seeing this army deployed on the table that I noticed a glaring oddity - 3 squads of Berzerkers, walking with Kharne... and NOTHING to help them cross No Man's Land? 6th edition has put a lot of small arms on the table... is 24 power-armoured bodies enough to get across the board and put a chainblade where it hurts?

Mission: The Scouring
Deployment: Dawn of War. I won the roll off and deployed first. Night Fighting was not active on the first turn.

Objectives clustered to one side, just how I like them. Well, in the rare event that I actually could be bothered to seize objectives, at any rate. It's been a while since I'd taken to the field with the Black Legion, but I figured with the units I had, the strategy was simple enough. The Rhinos and Bikes surge forward at full speed, under the cover of supporting fire from the Forgefiend, Havocs and Vindicator. The saturation of targets would ensure either Bikes or the Chaos Marines would get in close enough to bring some hurt, either with bolter or blades. When the Helldrake arrives, it would soften targets up some more so the boots on the ground can deal finishing blows.

Against the World Eaters, I would have to check my advance somewhat, and make sure the engagement is decided by guns, rather than up close.

Aaaaarrrgghh! Curse you, FAQ!

Belial, by ~lobaud on Deviantart

Well, there are new FAQs on the GW site, and my Deathwing has been struck a blow! Well, kind of. Here's the offending piece of text:


Q: Do units deploying via the Deathwing Assault special rule count
toward the limit of units you are allowed to keep in Reserves at the
start of a battle? (p44)
A: Yes.

Alas, no more null deployment for me, I'm going to have to start with stuff on the board... Still, given what my list is like, that means Belial, the Librarian, the Deathwing Knights and one more squad can Deathwing Assault in, while the others on the board need either Cyclones or plasma cannons to hurl long-range dakka as they advance. The difference is the possibility of having to endure a turn of enemy fire on Turn One. Not too much of a nasty change, I suppose, but I'll just have to get a game or 2 with Deathwing in...

Seduced by the Dark Side!

I found myself standing in Border's the other day, staring at a shelf very well-stocked with Fantasy Flight's X-Wing miniatures game.

I saw a couple of games in progress, saw a few battle reports, read the rulebook, and figured: Why not? I loved the X-Wing flight sim games as a kid. So, after a quick calculation, I realized that there's a lot of mileage to be gotten out of pretty few models. In fact, for not even half the cost of that Tau army I've been mulling over, I can get the X-Wing Core set and 6 more fighters (which makes a 100pt squadron for the Empire and Rebels). That's about MYR600 or so saved, not to mention some insane amount of time and effort in assembling and painting, which, truth be told, is better spent on finishing off the paintjobs of my existing armies.

At the time of writing, I have 4 solild 40k armies: Blood Angels, Necrons, Chaos Marines and Deathwing. On top of that, I've allied contingents of Imperial Guard and Grey Knights. I do NOT need another army. What I could use, however, is a nice, quick game with a low model count and a nice, intuitive mechanic that captures the cut and thrust of dogfighting in the Star Wars universe.

So, I've thus far had 2 games of X-Wing at 60pts, playing once each as Empire and Rebels, and I have to say, I'm hooked. By this time next week, I should have 2 TIE Fighters, a TIE Interceptor and a TIE Advanced for the Imperials; and 2 X-Wings and a Y-Wing for the Rebels.

I am pleased, and I totally recommend this game for anyone who wants a good, engaging Star Wars game that's quick to pick up and quick to play. Is it more fun than 40k? Not even close. But if you've got about 45 mins to an hour and, like me, you get no pleasure out of games of 40k of less than 1,750 pts, then I can think of few things better than X-Wing.

Addendum: By the way, f*** the Tau. My interest in acquiring new armies for 40k is hereby at an end. Unless, of course, I drop an existing army and make room in my life for another. Not bloody likely...

F*** Riptide, gimme my Strike Freedom!

Seriously, how the hell can the Riptide even compare?

Okay, so I got my scruffy paws on a copy of the Tau codex, and I have to say, I'm interested. As with any army that captures my interest, it's a style of warfare radically different compared to my current armies, and on top of that, like my lovely Crimson Guard, they ally with damn near everyone in the grimdark future, barring the forever alone Nids, of course.

So, after poring through the codex for the past few days, here's my idea for 1750pts of Tau:

• Commander with plasma rifle, 2 missile pods, drone controller and 2 marker drones
• 2 Body Guards, each with plasma rifle, 2 missile pods, a marker drones and a shield drone
• 3 Crisis suits, 2 with twin-linked plasma rifles and a fusion blaster, 1 with plasma rifle, a fusion blaster and a drone controller, accompanied by 2 marker drones and 4 gun drones
• 3 Crisis suits, 2 with twin-linked plasma rifles and a fusion blaster, 1 with plasma rifle, a fusion blaster and a drone controller, accompanied by 2 marker drones and 4 gun drones
• 8 Firewarriors, including Shas'ui with markerlight and target lock
• 8 Firewarriors, including Shas'ui with markerlight and target lock
• 8 Firewarriors, including Shas'ui with markerlight and target lock
• 2 Broadsides with twin-linked high yield missile pods, twin-linked smart missile system; one with a drone controller, the other with a target lock, accompanied by 4 missile drones
• 2 Broadsides with twin-linked high yield missile pods, twin-linked smart missile system; one with a drone controller, the other with a target lock, accompanied by 4 missile drones
• 2 Broadsides with twin-linked high yield missile pods, twin-linked smart missile system, both with velocity tracker accompanied by 4 missile drones

1,747 pts in total.

So, here's are some salient points about this list:

1. No Pathfinders. The idea is to maintain a steady stream of markerlights using the Firewarrior Shas'uis and marker drones with the Crisis suits. The Commander is loaded to keep his distance and dump a bunch of super-accurate markerlights on targets deserving of serious pain. 
2. Hunting down serious armour is a task for the Crisis suits, who are there to drop in and crack open stuff. 9" melta range makes dropping straight in a lot safer, and more so since they can back off thanks to the handy jet packs.
3. Anti-air is handled by one team of Broadsides, unleashing the equivalent of 8 twin-linked autocannon shots on whatever poor sucker comes within range. Against AV12, that's good odds of bringing down a Vendetta or Stormraven. Against AV11, the 8 shots of twin-linked SMS can come into play, pretty much guaranteeing a kill. 
4. NO railguns. Kinda funny, now that I look at it, but seriously, 65 pts for a S8 shot. Granted, its AP 1, but compared to 4 S7 shots? No, thanks. In teams of 2, the Broadsides are dumping 8 S7 shots, 8 S5 shots, all twin-linked, for 130 pts. Max out on drones, that's 4 ablative wounds that chuck out another 8 S7 shots.  Against AV13, one salvo with a little markerlight help will quite likely crush a vehicle through weight of glancing hits. 
5. LOADS of drones. 24 Firewarriors, 9 Crisis Suits, 6 Broadsides and 30 (!) drones. Those drones form a shield of ablative wounds for the precious battlesuits and provide a nice boost in firepower. 

I'm thinking I could perhaps ditch one team of Crisis Suits for some Fast Attack choices, say a team of Pathfinders and some Piranhas. I like the idea of using Piranhas to move up, drop a squadron of drones, then move flat out to harass a flank. Or maybe just replace said Crisis Suit team with a mighty Riptide...

Anyway, this is all just pie in the sky for now. I've yet to test out my Deathwing & Grey Knight army. Maybe I'll try proxying this list at some point. For the moment, I'm going to have to resist temptation...

Blood for the Blood Angels!

After a long, long time gathering dust while the Black Legion, the Crimson King and Deathwing went to war, the Blood Angels came out to play! A simple list, with a strategy I've used to brutal effect before.

My FTO list:

Reclusiarch with Infernus pistol and melta bombs
Furioso Dreadnought with frag cannon and heavy flamer
7 Sternguard Veterans with 4 combimeltas, 2 combi plasmas and a heavy flamer
7 Death Company with 2 Infernus pistols and 2 power axes
Death Company Dreadnought with Blood Talons
Predator with lascannon sponsons and searchlight
2 Stormravens with twin-linked multimelta, twin-linked assault cannon and hurricane bolters
Baal Predator with heavy bolter sponsons and searchlight
2 Land Speeder Typhoons (separate)

1747 points total.

This is the latest evolution of the FTO list, with all the fat cut out, designed to gain victory through overwhelming violence. For those who haven't been following the progress of my Blood Angels, FTO stands for F*** the Objectives. Yes, of course I realize there aren't any scoring units. This list is designed to achieve victory through overkill. Here's how it works...

The Baal Predator, Predator and 2 Typhoons are there to be on the board in Turn 1 and hopefully use their firepower to hurt any anti-aircraft weaponry the opponent may have. Turn 2, the Stormravens come in, hopefully, and use their firepower to further neuter the enemy's ability to shoot down the Ravens. This is important, because when they come in, they're going to be in a position to let their cargoes unleash hell in Turn 3. If both Ravens survive, the ensuing violence in Turn 3 will usually cause enough violence to knock the fight out of the enemy.

I got 2 games in with this list this weekend. Read on for brief summaries of the battles: