So, I had a couple of games of 7th...

Note: This post has been sitting in my draft folder for a few weeks now. I've had quite a few more games of 7th ed since I first started this post, but not much has changed regarding how I feel about 7th, so I'm putting this up anyway. 

This weekend I caught up on some serious 40k-ing. Got in my first game of 7th, fielding Deathwing against Adi's Tau, then another game using 30 Blood Angel Tactical marines against Wong's Grey Knights. First impressions? Let's try and be organized about this...

Blood Angel Tacticals SUCK 
Had to get that out of the way. They are more expensive and in every possible way inferior to their counterparts from other chapters. And the one thing that makes them uniquely Blood Angels (i.e. the Red Thirst) only makes them worse at being Tactical Marines. Fearless means no going to ground. Furious Charge means having to choose between the bolter and their hardly adequate close combat prowess.

Pictured: Fail on two legs

So, here I sit, with 3 lovely squads of Tactical marines, relegated to shelf garrison duty. Or maybe I just suck at using them. Whatever the case may be, I'm going back to my good old Assault Marines and their magnificent Razorbacks. If anyone reading this has a clever way to use Blood Angel Tacticals, do tell, coz I'm certainly curious to see how they work...

The Psychic Phase
The source of much mixed feelings thus far, and this has greatly changed the way my Blood Angels operate. In 6th ed, one of the pillars of a decent Blood Angel list was that 100 pt Librarian who'd be puttering about and enhancing his comrades with Prescience. In this edition, 1 Librarian, even an Epistolary is no guarantee of pulling off Prescience reliably. In 6th, 2 Epistolaries equated to 4 powers being cast with great reliability. In 7th, you'll be lucky to get off 2, and that's assuming your opponent can't do much about it. If your opponent has an overwhelmingly greater number of Warp Charges, then your Librarians are pretty much useless, as all your powers get squelched by your psychically superior foe.

Obviously a better psyker than mine

I've mixed feelings about this. On one hand, it's an interesting new mechanic, and yay, Prescience is no longer an auto-include. On the other hand... well, I suppose it's going to take a while for psychically weak armies to find their sweet spot, in terms of how much to invest in psychic powers and which discipline serves them best. And, of course, this means a resurgence in the power of seriously psychic armies, notably Grey Knights, Daemons, and perhaps a little Eldar.

Tactical Objectives
Honestly? I don't like them. For years, I've been pretty used to the idea of putting your army on the board with a clear mission in mind long before the first dice is rolled. Now, I put stuff on the board, and I know where the objectives are but I don't know whether they'll reward me. In fact, until I draw my first hand of objective cards, I have NO idea what I'm playing for. There are a few ways to react to this:

1. Just roll with it. It helps if you have an army that can respond quickly to the changing objectives. 
2. Ignore it, and focus on killing your opponent's army. Coz if he's dead, he can't score, right?
3. Don't play it, and just stick with the Eternal War missions. 

Personally... I'm kinda inclined towards 2 and 3. Mainly because it feels a bit silly when you put a couple of hours into the game only to essentially have it decided by luck of the draw. It's a little more random than I like, I think.

What do?
Well, first off, it's pretty clear that I can't rely on psykers as much anymore. Also, vehicles are back in a big way, thanks to the buffing of the vehicle damage chart and the nerfing of the Smash USR.  So... what does this realistically mean for my armies?

1. Blood Angels - Well, on one hand, I can't rely on my Librarian for Prescience anymore. On the other hand, packing close combat death in a Land Raider is back in fashion, so I think my Chaplain/Reclusiarch may see some action, together with my new Land Raider Crusader...
2. Deathwing - Yay! Null deployment is on! This edition is excellent for Deathwing, so no changes here.
3. Necrons - No Psykers, so no real difference. Haven't seen action yet, though...
4. Astra Militarum - My atheist army of men. Again, I place no faith in Psykers here, and play a large volume of vehicles. This army quite likely has gotten stronger with this edition, so no need to change anything.
5. Chaos Space Marines - Another army without a Psyker. But you know what? I've a Daemon Prince that just might be tempted to start turning to Malefic Daemonology... 

Meta-wise, however, it's worth noting that at my FLGS, the players with more mature armies with larger collections (like myself) are moving on from 1,750 pts to 1,850 pts. No biggie. Fortifications for everybody!

FAQs are here!

The FAQs are up, and the world of 40k is shaken most mightily. Of particular note is that ALL the 5th ed codices (Grey Knights, Blood Angels, Space Wolves) and the Orks have lost their codex specific psychic powers in favour of the new 7th ed powers.

It is also worth noting that the little summary card that comes with the Psychic Power Cards was in fact meant to indicate what powers could possibly be taken in a faction, but is NOT a blanket statement determining what is available to all psykers within that faction.For example, Chaos Marine players rejoiced on seeing Divination get a tick in its happy little box. However, that just refers to such things as the Hamadrya or the Banestar of Mammon. Alas, the Master of the Corvidae, Ahriman, STILL has no access to Divination. Shame on you, GW...

Here's what's going on with the other factions I play:

Blood Angels
Fine, no more Sanguine Sword and what-have-you. I can live with that. And I can definitely live with the fact that upgrading a Librarian to a Epistolary is now 25 pts, rather than the insanely priced 50 pts. Also, the Furioso Librarian is a level 2 psyker, which makes more sense.

On the downside, Blood Angels still have the most absurdly expensive Land Speeder Typhoons, at 90 pts compared to the rest of the Imperium's 75 pts. Also, there appears to be some kind of typo - Blood Angel Razorbacks, Rhinos, Vindicators, Whirlwinds and Predators have all lost Fast. Since there was no accompanying revision to the points costs of these vehicles, I think it's safe to assume that these vehicles did NOT, in fact, lose Fast, it's just that whoever prepared the document was either too lazy, too ignorant, too careless or too feckless to noticed he omitted one of the Blood Angel's defining characteristics.

Astra Militarum
Nothing much. The Primaris Psyker and Wyrdvane Psykers now add Daemonology to their repertoirs.

Chaos Space Marines
The Heldrake has lost it's ridiculous bendy gun, and now fires like it bloody well should - as a hull-mounted weapon, to the front. The Spell Familiar didn't change, so I'm guessing one gets to reroll a failed attempt to cast a psychic power.

Dark Angels
Psykers add Daemonology to their repertoirs. This FAQ still doesn't address the question of whether Deathwing Terminator Sergeants can switch out their weapons for thunder hammer and storm shield. And Blades of Caliban are still the most absurdly useless weapon in the book, coz who the hell needs an AP3 Unwieldly weapon, eh?

Necrons
Canoptek Spyders have had their Gloom Prism updated - it gives +2 to Deny the Witch in a 3" bubble. Also, if Deathmarks choose an Independent Character as a target, they wound any unit the IC joins on a 2+ as well. Nice! Other than that, nothing new that I can see.

Grey Knights
Saved the best for last. Since these guys have lost their codex powers, they've ALL been replaced with the new versions from Sanctic Daemonology. Pretty much everything with Hammerhand now has the new, improved Hammerhand AND Banishment. The Purifiers (including Crowe) have Cleansing Flame as well. All the vehicles which had Fortitude now have Banishment and Sanctuary. Grandmasters and Brother Captains now roll for their powers, with access to Sanctic Daemonology, Divination, Pyromancy, Telekinesis and Telepathy.

The Aegis now means rerolling 1's on Deny the Witch attempts. Reinforced Aegis means the unit can reroll any failed Deny the Witch attempts.

Doom, doom, doooooom!!

7th is here, 7th is here! Sooo... I succumbed most pathetically to temptation and had to get myself a copy of the new rulebook:

The bowl is for keeping track of Warp Charge dice. We love Daiso. We note the old objective dice are still of use in the new edition.

Out with the old, in with the new! I've been studying the new book religiously and I'm liking what I see. Anyway, straight to business. Here are some of the more interesting changes I've noted:

Yay for 7th ed Psychic Powers!

Well, the new 7th ed Psychic powers have leaked. I won't bother with detailing how the new Psychic Phase works - there are plenty of posts up on the net which do just that. Truth be told, I'm rather chuffed at how it's looking and here's why. In 6th ed, everybody wanted a piece of Prescience. Most of the time, it could be cast with a 1 in 12 chance of failure (assuming Ld10, 1 in 6 at Ld 9), which is practically as reliable as it gets, and it's a pretty massive force multiplier, regardless of what army you play. And since it was a blessing, there was nothing the opponent could do to stop it. Now, take a look:

Not sure if you can see it, but that's Warp Charge 2. Coupled with the fact that now, everybody (but Orks, Nids and Necrons) have access to Divination, this is pretty big. Now, from the previous 1 in 12 chance of failure (about 8%), we have, depending on the number of Warp Charge expended:

1 dice - No way.
2 dice - 75% chance to fail.
3 dice - 50% chance to fail.
4 dice - 31% chance to fail.
5 dice - 19% chance to fail.
6 dice - 11% chance to fail.

Even throwing triple the bare minimum number of dice required, we can't match the reliability of 6th ed Prescience. Now that's assuming you even managed to generate that many Warp Charges to throw at Prescience in the first place. If you're plodding about with a single level 1 psyker, you're not going to come up with 5 dice all that often. And we haven't included Perils of the Warp in our calculation. Or indeed the efforts of enemy psykers to nullify your spellcasting efforts. Good luck to you if you're fighting Grey Knights or Eldar...

And this is AWESOME! I love how this mechanic both eliminates Prescience as an auto-include power and makes all the other powers suddenly a lot more viable. Now having 3 Primaris Psykers with your Astra Militarum does not necessarily mean all 3 will be tasked with casting Prescience. Also, I love how it makes pure Grey Knight armies the psychic nuclear weapons they were meant to be. Time to dust off some pretty old models, I think...

Three things about the new edition...

Time to dust this guy off? 

We've all seen the rumours bouncing around the net and the tantalizing nuggets from White Dwarf #16. There's 3 things about the upcoming edition in particular that interest me (in combination with the Unbound armies):

1. Psykers - Each Psyker generates warp charge equal to their level, you say? Sooo, in theory, I could have a 1,750 pt Unbound army comprising 20 Solodins and 3 Grey Knight Librarians, giving me 26 dice to roll in my Psychic Phase?
2. Snap fire - Last I heard, this is just -2 to BS. This is a massive boost to BS4 armies, and funnily enough, makes the Vindicare Assassin a pretty fearsome anti-aircraft weapon. That said, it certainly feels suitably fluffy. There was something extremely odd about, say, a Chapter Master being reduced to the competency of a grot when getting charged. 
3. New vehicle damage table - YES! I love my vehicles and if they get tougher in this edition, so much the better! Also, I'm really glad I haven't chopped up any minis with meltaguns and swapped them out for plasmaguns...

So, yeah, 3 little things that have me pretty excited about the new edition. I'm really hoping this makes Grey Knights and Blood Angels shine a little more - I'm kinda in the mood to put them on the table soon... 

Impressions of the Astra Militarum

So I've been getting in a few games with the new Astra Militarum using this list:

Company command with bolt pistol for the commander, grenade launcher, lascannon and officer of the fleet in a Chimera
Tank commander in a Leman Russ Exterminator with heavy bolter sponsons and a Leman Russ Battletank
Veteran squad with 3 plasmaguns and krak grenades in a Chimera
Veteran squad with 3 meltaguns and krak grenades in a Chimera
Veteran squad with 2 sniper rifles and autocannon
Veteran squad with grenade launcher and autocannon
2 Vendetta gunships
Leman Russ Battletank
Leman Russ Demolisher

All squads have a voxcaster and carapace armour.

I tried a version of this list with Kurov's Aquila on the company commander but found was just too costly and made the company commander a very enticing target. I'd agonized at length over whether to put the company command in a Chimera and advance with the armoured fist veterans, or in a bunker to help direct fire. In the end I figured the Chimera would be best, and it hasn't disappointed. What *has* disappointed is the Officer of the Fleet who, in 3 games, has maintained a perfect record of NEVER passing his leadership roll on turn 2. Quite vexing. Suffice it to say, when things get hot for the command squad, it's the officer's raggedy ass that first up for bullet catching duty.

The new Veteran squads are simply awesome! Where else are you going to get 10 men with BS4 and a 4+ armour save for 75 pts? Since 5th edition I've always rolled with at least 1 squad of vets with plasmaguns and another with meltaguns, both in Chimeras and they have never disappointed. In this edition, they've gotten even more lethal, thanks to the new orders, most notably the one which confers the Ignores Cover USR.

The tank commander is another piece of pure win for the AM. In the past, the only way to get BS 4 on a tank was Pask. Now with the new tank commander, I can have my BS 4 Exterminator and split fire to make the best use of my guns. That having been said though...

Hammer of the Emperor!

So, the Astra Militarum codex has arrived at my FLGS of choice, and it is magnificent.

Pictured: A regiment I'll never play, but I have this rather nice pin, so that's something. 

Well, it certainly seems that way, after such silliness as the most half-assed excuses for codices in GW's long history. Seriously, what the hell were they thinking with Codex: Legion of the Damned? And I must confess to feeling like a bit of a sucker for buying the infamous 1-model codex. But enough griping about the past, let's look at the glorious Astra Militarum!

This is just a quick post on first impressions, mind you. It'll be a few weeks before I test out my Guard sufficiently to make a more conclusive judgement on the efficacy of the new AM.

Yay?

Just saw this on Bell of Lost Souls and am feeling kind of ambiguous about it. On one hand, yay! Blood Angels! Given the quality of the starter set plastics, I absolutely welcome it! And Orks! Ooooh, is that the 6th army on the horizon?

Anyway, on the other hand... if the rumour that it's essentially a compilation of 6th ed's Big Black Rulebook , Stronghold Assault and Escalation... I have to confess, I'd feel a bit cheated, having already invested in all of these separate rulebooks... But you know what? I'm not fussed. What I'm really waiting for now is Imperial Guard! Or whatever the hell GW's decided to call them now... Please, oh, please don't let anything in my present collection be rendered hopelessly obsolete...

What 2014 holds for the 5 armies...

Happy New Year, everyone! I've just been browsing through my lists and I am pleased. It took years to build them up and, for the most part, they do look rather nice on the battlefield. So, here's an army-by-army look at what mischief I've planned for this year:

Blood Angels

 No plans for major expansion. More experimentation. One notes that Tau and Eldar are getting popular around here, so I'd like to see what I can cobble together to bring the pointy-ears and the blue commies some pain. Just last weekend I saw Fear of the Dark used to devastating effect on the Tau - much hilarity ensued. Ideas I've got milling about in my head:

• Massive mechanized spam involving a Land Raider, 3 Razorbacks, 2 Predators and 2 Baal Preds. 
• Tactical Squads. At least 3, fighting as Astartes were meant to fight - with bolters.  

Other than that, if the rumours are true, the Blood Angels might see a new codex this year... New models needed: None.

Deathwing

Haven't put these guys on the board in bloody ages. I really need to finish painting them. Or at the very least finish the Deathwing Knights. There's a list I've been meaning to try out, pairing them with Grey Knights, so I'd like to get that done at some point. New models needed: 2 Terminator Librarians, 3 Grey Knight Terminators.

Chaos Space Marines

I just finished reading Ahriman - Exile and man, I really want to field him! But, Rubricae are stupidly expensive to field and I really don't want to invest in 3 squads of Rubricae knowing that they'll just let me down on the field.

A more practical variant I'm looking to field will require some more melta and plasma. That is, a true Black Legion list using Chosen as Troops.

New models needed: 4 CSM with plasmaguns, 2 with meltaguns. Maybe a Sorcerer on a bike.


Necrons

No major plans, but I'd like to get my hands on a Transcendent C'tan. ~800 pts in one dinky little miniature that flies about wielding obscene amounts of firepower. Hell, yes...

New models needed: Transcendent C'tan, preferably without the Tesseract Vault/Obelisk, because they're absolute rubbish.


Imperial Guard

I'll be first to confess that, barring Deathwing, this has been the most difficult of my armies to learn to use. That said, they're also the most fun. The Hellhammer has certainly gone a long way to making the Red Thunder the most interesting army I've put on the board for a long time. That said, I'm still learning how to keep the Hellhammer alive.

I've been poring over the Stronghold Assault book for quite a bit, and after some thought, I've decided against using fortifications. It's not that I think they're crap or anything; I just favour attack over defense.

In other news, a new Codex looms for the Guard, so here's hoping the Leman Russ will get a buff of some sort, because as it stands, they're not easy to keep alive in this edition. Also, I'm looking forward to seeing what changes will be made to the Stormtroopers. They're awesome as they are, I think, but at their current points cost, they're awful. Also, plastic Stormtroopers! Verily, I'm excited about the new codex, and Red Thunder is quite likely going to be the major investment of 2014.

New models needed: Unknown, but I'm guessing I'll want 2 boxes of these fabled plastic Stormtroopers and a Chimera.


New armies?
NO. Despite how cool I find the Tau (specifically, the Broadside), I will NOT succumb to the temptation. There will be NO new armies for 2014. At the very most, if I get bored enough (not bloody likely) I might change doctrine and start learning to fight defensively, i.e. with fortifications, but for the moment, my thing is attack, attack, ATTACK! And I don't see much cause to change that just yet. Here's looking forward to another of pure, unreasoning, and rather nicely-painted tabletop violence.

On the workbench...

So, 6th edition 40k is in full swing at my FLGS, and trends have come and gone, only for the next thing to come marching over the horizon. Some of my armies have coped with change well; others, not so. So here's a quick round up of the armies and what's going on with them...

Seriously, Forge World, WTF?

First, look at this:

That's Forge World's lovely Javelin Attack Speeder. Now, look at this and explain to me if there any point whatsoever to taking a Land Speeder Typhoon. Seriously, only the Dark Angels can match it for pts cost, and even then the Javelin has the armour of a Rhino, AND it's Cyclone missile launcher is twin-linked.

To reiterate:
1. It's 15 pts cheaper than a Land Speeder Typhoon (except for cheapass Dark Angels).
2. It has more armour.
3. Its main weapon is twin-linked.

This is quite possibly the best use of 75 pts possible for a Space Marine player, and guess what? It's available at Forge World for the paltry sum of GBP55. Yes, that's right, 50 pence shy of THREE TIMES the price of a Land Speeder. You know what, Forge Word can go f**k themselves...

中華人民共和國萬歲!

There are bad days...

... and then there's today.

I know what my FTO list is like. It has weaknesses, to be sure, and that's a LOT of eggs to put in 2 baskets, albeit AV12 baskets with more firepower than most main battle tanks of the 41st millenium. I've fielded it many times before, and long since learnt what kind of opposition to expect. You know what I didn't expect? To get tabled on Turn 2 because BOTH Stormravens failed to arrived. TWO games in a row. Followed by a third game of failing EVERY reserve roll there was to fail. Imagine going 7 turns of 40k, at 1,750pts, with a 1,285pt handicap.

I did not have a good day.

The Crimson King marches... differently....

This weekend I decided to field the Crimson King a little differently. I started off with a minor deviation from my usual list, i.e. the list I'd been using for several months, ever since I got my grubby paws on the Doom Scythes.

So I threw in this guy:

I don't usually use named characters, but I figured it would be cool if the Crimson Guard were in some way actually different from the rest of the herd. So, I made some room to add this guy to the Crimson Guard. For those who don't know about Illuminor Szeras, he can upgrade one unit of Warriors or Immortals to have either +1 BS, +1 T or +1 S, determined randomly before the game begins. As an added bonus, Illuminor Szeras brings an eldritch lance and a gaze of flame to the blob, making it that much more versatile and difficult to charge.

That trial run went rather well, so I fiddled around with the list some more, ending up with something significantly different to the old phalanx. Here's what it looks like:

Overlord with Mindshackle Scarabs, Warscythe, Sempiternal Weave, Phase Shifter and Resurrection Orb
Illuminor Szeras
A Royal Court of 4 Harbingers of Destruction, one with a solar pulse
20 Warriors (the Crimson Guard) and a Ghost Ark with a Harbinger of Eternity, Chronometron
10 Immortals with tesla carbines, led by Lord with Mindshackle Scarabs, Warscythe and Resurrection Orb
9 Warriors
Night Scythe
Night Scythe
Annihilation Barge
Annihilation Barge
6 Canoptek Wraiths, 2 with Whip Coils

The Crimson King, of course, marches with the Crimson Guard and Szeras. Directly behind them is the Ghost Ark, with the Royal Court inside taking pot shots at whatever needs the attentions of 4 eldritch lances. The Night Scythes are there mainly to take out aerial threats and deposit the Immortals and the Warriors where they can be most disruptive. Once that mission is complete, they can just fly about brutalizing whatever they can reach with their tesla destructors. Coupled with the Annihilation Barges, that's a lot of S7 shooting that will pretty much wipe the board clean of light vehicles and severely threaten light to medium infantry.

I just tested this list today, and I'd say it definitely gets the job done. The thing about Necrons is that 6 Wraiths are absolutely excellent at disrupting any plans your opponent may have. With their ability to pretty much ignore terrain and deep strike, nothing short of a flyer is safe, and anything they can't kill is going to have a lousy time extricating itself out of combat with them.

I like this list. It's a refreshing change from my old phalanx-style list, and I daresay it's time to start kitbashing some new Crypteks and a Szeras...

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...

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...

An Experiment with Angels: Deathwing + Stormraven full of rage

Right, seeing as I'd gotten comfortable with Deathwing, having tested out a solid list against some solid opponents, I decided to mix it up a little. This post is a record of an experiment that should never be repeated. Here's what I tried out:

Dark Angels
Belial
7 Deathwing Knights
5 Deathwing Terminators Plasma Cannon, Chainfist and Hammer & Shield for the Sarge
5 Deathwing Terminators Cyclone Launcher, Chainfist and Hammer & Shield for the Sarge

Blood Angels
Reclusiarch
Furioso Dreadnought with Frag Cannon and Heavy Flamer
9 Death Company with 2 Infernus pistols and 2 power axes
Stormraven with hurricane bolters

Nothing complicated, really; just freed up points from my Deathwing list to fit one Stormraven chock full of lethality. The Raven with Death Company and Furioso is a key component of my Blood Angel list and had proven marvellously lethal in such lists, so I figured I put the two together and see how that works.

The idea is that Deathwing comes in on Turn One, with the Deathwing Knights soaking up the grief and the other 2 squads hurt stuff with their guns. Then, hopefully, the Stormraven swoops in on Turn 2, guns blazing, and unloads the brutality of the Death Company and the Furioso. In my experience, that generally hits so hard, the opponent will have trouble dealing with whatever comes next, in this case, the squads of horrible stompy Terminators.

Theory sounds good, yes? Well, I gave it a test drive today. Here are its weaknesses:

1. Insufficient target saturation. Turn 1, it's just the Deathwing on the table. With full Deathwing, enemy firepower was split between the Knights and the Command Squad, the both of them being the deadliest threats, the Knights because of their whupass, the Command Squad because of the Banner of Fortitude. With just the Knights on the table, they took the full brunt of the enemy firepower, and a little bad luck on my part really stings. And when turn 2 rolls by, the Stormraven then becomes the single most tasty target. 
2. All the eggs in one flying basket. Putting the Death Company, Reclusiarch and the Furioso is a HUGE risk. If that thing goes down the turn it comes in, that's potentially 725 pts killed, with the Death Company never even seeing the face of the enemy. In my test game, the Raven did indeed go down, with only 4 Death Company surviving the crash. 

That having been said, the Terminators surprised me by really picking up the slack, with the Knight Master going on to wipe out a squad of Chaos Marines and a Predator. Didn't win, but 2 things were clear:

1. If the Stormraven had survived, its contents would easily have wreaked enough havoc to win me the game. The point is moot, however. The Raven went down, and I daresay most armies have easily enough gunishment to take down a lone Raven, even without dedicated anti-aircraft weaponry. 
2. Pure Deathwing or pure Blood Angels would have gotten the job done better. Deathwing because they'd have the staying power. Blood Angels because of the sheer violence they can inflict, which could be enough to silence enough enemy guns to let the Stormravens get to work. 

Verdict: I don't like this list. That crash killed 615 pts in one fell swoop, and that was no thanks to a lucky salvo from some Chosen with plasmaguns. The amount of points I'm allowing to be potentially killed in one shot is just unreasonable. Emperor forbid I should face Fuegan manning an Icarus lascannon or a battery of Sabre platforms. As such, this list is SCRAP.

So, the question remains... Who can pair up with Deathwing?

Fun idea: DAEMONS!

Just got a peek at the new Daemons codex and was fairly surprised at the direction it's taken. Lesser daemons are *cheap* as hell and one can put together some pretty awesome horde armies with it. I have to admit, I was a little disappointed with Khorne's entries, seeing as it looks kind of hard to bring hordes of Bloodletters to bear without taking some pretty nasty casualties. Just imagine what a decent dakka army would do to their measly T3 hides! Tzeentch, however, struck me as interesting. Take this unit:

20 Pink Horrors led by a Level 3 Herald of Tzeentch with an Exalted Reward and Exalted Locus of Conjuration

Assume, of course, that the Herald has Prescience. That's 4D6 twin-linked S6 AP4 shots, 3D6 from the Herald (who had spent 1 charge on Prescience) and 4D6 from the Horrors. Which scores, deep strikes and, with that Exalted Reward (read: Portalglyph), churns out small gangs of scoring daemons at random. All for the tidy sum of 330 pts. I think I might have a project for when I'm done with Deathwing...

Love those new jacks!

Still some way to go...

Couldn't resist getting a quick game in with my lovely new Spriggan and Devastator, even though they were just sprayed black. I threw together this happy list:

The Butcher
Wardog
Berserker
Kodiak
Juggernaut
Spriggan
Devastator

That's right, a Butcher his big horrible dog and 5 big stompy jacks. I found it to be quite a fun mix. The general strategy was simple:

1. Receive the enemy's charge on the big tough Devastator, with the hard hitters, i.e. the Juggernaut and Spriggan keeping close behind in the second wave. 
2. If the Devastator survives, great! Push right on ahead, popping the Butcher's feat and using Full Throttle and some carefully placed focus to kill every big killy thing within reach. 
3. If not, even better! That generally means the enemy has expended quite a lot of resources to take down the Devastator, and there's LOTS of big things to kill nearby! 

Well, it worked against Lexiss' Skorne, and I know from experience his list hits absurdly hard. Noting the fate of my poor Devastator, I now know a Bronzeback with a little support can smash pretty much ANYTHING in a single charge.

Anyway, I'm exceedingly pleased with these 2 jacks. On the table, they are magnificent and with the current range of jacks and casters at my disposal, there's plenty of scope for a huge variety of armies and strategies. I'll probably post an army list or two later. For the moment, stay tuned, this weekend, the Necrons march once more...

Even briefer Batrep: Blood Angels vs Chaos Marines, 1750 pts

Truth be told, I didn't plan to record this, but the way this game played out came as quite a surprise to me: I was obliterated! By Turn 5! Most interesting, seeing as I was using my trusty Blood Angels who had been wreaking havoc and having my opponents struggle to even stay on the board for at least the last 5 or so games in a row. Since I hadn't planned to record this, I'm just jotting down the lists and the salient points of the scrap.

My 2 Khador Armies: pButcher and pSorscha, 35 pts

This is just a quick post detailing the 2 army lists which I've been using with reasonable success. Now, I'm no tournament champion and I'm not in any way claiming these armies will maul everything they come up against. What I will say, however, is that these armies have evolved over several games at the FLGS where I get my weekly Warmahordes fix and, to date, they've performed well enough to have a good fighting chance against pretty much any army I've encountered. These armies are pretty straightforward in their strategies, with relatively little in the way of diabolical shenanigans and as such, lend themselves very well to introducing the art of Warmachine to newbies.

Basic Butchery

 This is the first list I can say I got proficient with, and the one that has won me the most victories. Quite conveniently, I've a batrep showing this list in action.

The general strategy is pretty much the same in all engagements. Close in carefully, with the Winter Guard taking the fore and Drakhun, Manhunter and Widowmakers on the flanks. The jacks form the 2nd wave, advancing close by the Butcher and his dog. Then push forward using the feat and a flurry of CRAs from the Winter Guard as the main punch. If possible, use the Drakhun or Manhunter to get a good charge in, because rolling 5 dice to damage is just awesome. I find that, under the influence of the feat, the Winter Guard are best used firing their CRAs in pairs; 5 or 6 shots of POW 14 + 3d6 damage is often quite enough to deal crippling damage to a heavy warjack or warbeast. And if the opponent decided to lead with his light, high-DEF infantry, just switch to grapeshot, let Kovnik Joe boost the attack rolls and watch as everything within 8" of the mighty Winter Guard just disintegrates in killer shrapnel.

An alternative strategy to use against a more aggressive opponent would be to use the Winter Guard as a cushion to catch the opponent's charge, then countercharge with the feat, Full Throttle and 2 very angry jacks. Taking the enemy's charge on the Winter Guard isn't as painful as it sounds. Put Iron Flesh and Bob n' Weave on the Guard, you've got 15 DEF 17 infantry as your screen. With Kovnik Joe, they're Tough, too! As for the countercharge, with the Butcher's feat and Full Throttle, that's boosted attack and damage rolls and charges for the meagre price of 3 Focus, with not a single one placed on the jacks themselves.

Whichever of the two strategies are used, both converge towards the same endgame. The Butcher has no interesting spells to execute flashy maneuvres or assassination runs from hitherto unforeseen angles. After popping the feat, the objective is simply to kill everything within reach. Against most competent players, this will result in the two armies being depleted to just a few models, and this is pretty much where the Butcher shines. With his excellent armour (and DEF, with Iron Flesh) and tremendous melee power, there are very few single models in Warmahordes that can stand up to a one-on-one fight with the Butcher. 

 Red Gunishment

This is a list geared towards ranged assassination. If, like me, you're wont to checking points totals, you will find this list comes to 37 pts. Note, however, that this is pSorscha's Tier 1 list, which allows me to pick up Kovnik Joe for free.

As usual, the Winter Guard form the screen. The Widowmakers will loiter around a flank, picking off targets of opportunity and generally being a nuisance. Following closely behind the Winter Guard are the Destroyers and Sorscha. At the rear, the Mortar Crews. The initial stages, while closing with the enemy, are spent pounding anything that gets within range with the many guns at my disposal. Of course, these guns aren't anywhere as precise as those of say, Cygnar or Scyrah. So, the trick is to keep Sorscha close to the front lines, moving forward, firing her Tempest and hopefully knocking something down for the Destroyers and mortars to brutalize, then darting back with Wind Rush. Alternatively, feed the Destroyers some Focus to deal some heavy hits. All this is simply a build-up to the good-bit: Sorscha darts forward, pops her feat, freezes the enemy caster, then the Destroyers and Mortar Crew go to work. If the enemy caster has some models crowded round to block line of sight, just feat anyway and whack something nearby with Tempest.

Thanks to Wind Rush and Boundless Charge, it can be surprisingly difficult for an opposing caster to escape Sorscha's feat. And of course, anyone wielding this list would do well to remember that Sorscha herself has a pretty decent weapon with Reach. If guns are not an option, Sorscha can zip up to 19" away to deal a killing blow to the more fragile breed of caster.

And that's the way my two Khadoran armies roll. I'm pretty pleased with how they've turned out. A strong core of Winter Guard and Widowmakers, and I've 2 armies with dramatically different strategies from one another, which is rather awesome, because I do get bored pretty quickly. My only regret with these 2 lists is that only after I'd acquired them, Privateer Press released this. I have to say, they look excellent, and now I find myself tempted to try putting together Supreme Kommandant Irusk's list with 2 Winter Guard Deathstars....