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.

4 years of grimdark - HQ showcase!

It's been quite a while since I started 40k, and I just felt like looking back to my earlier forays into the grimdark. I always knew that I wouldn't have the discipline to paint every miniature in my armies to the very best of my abilities, but that said, I would most certainly lavish a bit more love on the HQ units. This post is a collection of the minis which have led my armies to glory or defeat since I got into the hobby.

The first HQ unit I painted was this Blood Angel Captain. I bought and assembled him based more on how cool he looks as a model rather than how much pain he can dish out on the battlefield. I really hadn't played that many games at the time, mind you. The thing was, by the time I'd gotten the rest of the army to a reasonable standard, I realized how bloody useless he was compared to the Reclusiarch and Librarian, so this is one mini which has never been fielded in combat...

I got the Lemartes model and decided against ever using him as Lemartes, simply because Death Company with jump packs is ludicrously expensive. With all the Blood Angel iconography on him, though, he made an ideal Reclusiarch, and as such has led my Death Company into absurdly violent and destructive charges.

While a Reclusiarch or Chaplain truly shines when he leads the Death Company, Librarians have far greater utility, especially now in 6th edition, with access to the Divination psychic powers. Even back in 5th, the Unleash Rage power worked just as well as Prescience (at least in close combat) and my Librarians often found themselves leading Assault Terminators into battle. Now he finds himself going to war alongside my Sternguard, lending his plasma pistol to their devastating salvos.

Here's another Librarian I painted up, for the sake of WYSIWYG when I don't have the points to have him toting a plasma pistol. That staff took bloody ages...

I made a half-hearted foray into Grey Knights, once upon a time. The things that stopped me from getting into them more seriously were the Dreadknight (one of the most stupid-looking models I've ever seen, in my opinion) and the simple fact that after painting up a few Grey Knight Terminators, I couldn't really be bothered to make it happen. This guy's my take on the Brotherhood Champion. I figured one long Nemesis Force Sword didn't quite feel like it could pull off such cool abilities as Blade Shield and Sword Storm, so I snipped up some falchions and came up with this guy. I'm pretty pleased with the result, and every so often I still toy with the idea of a Grey Knight allied contingent.

A throwback from 5th edition, my Librarian with a jump pack led my Descent of Angels army. In 5th, there was much to be said for null deployment, coupled with the Blood Angels jump infantry's unparalleled reliability in Deep Striking. These days, not so much, and 6th is really not kind at all to squads of jump infantry having to get across the board the old-fashioned way, even with their jump packs. Maybe I'll cobble something together again sometime and give it a whirl...

Ah, the Crimson King... Master of the most consistent of my armies. Since I got my hands on a pair of Necron fliers, the Crimson King has rarely known defeat. Mind you, it took a few defeats in the early days of the Necron codex before I learnt how to properly wield the 20 Warriors who walk with him, the Crimson Guard. I love his pose. Body upright, strong and proud, in contrast to his hunched Warriors. One arm bearing his custom-built Warscythe, commanding his legions onward, the other clutching his precious Resurrection Orb close to him, and his head very slightly tilted back in utter contempt for his foes.

My nameless and cursed Chaos Lord onna Bike. To be sure, he has performed spectacular feats of martial prowess, killing monstrous creatures, battlesuits, Terminators, Obliterators and Leman Russes with the reckless abandon that Khornate champions are wont to display. The thing is, he has never, EVER ascended to Daemonhood. Turned into a Spawn twice and got gunned down shortly after, though. His quest continues...

Belial, Master of the Deathwing, leader of what is by far the most stressful of all my armies. Deathwing is what I field when I want to travel light and have a radically different experience of 40k. I don't know about the rest of you, but in 6th edition, this army strikes me as playing in Hard mode. The simple reason is 6th edition is the edition of the gun. As they say, everything counts in large amounts, and in this edition, I feel we're seeing more models on the board, more guns and certainly more anti-infantry firepower. Not good news for Terminators and man, it stings when every little casualty counts.

"Glory for the first man to die!" In an age of gene-enhanced super-soldiers, fearsome aliens and traitors in league with unspeakable horrors, there's a special kind of charm to the humble human in all his frailty. I decided I needed a right hardass to lead the army of Men to glory, and nothing was quite as fitting in my eyes as a Lord Commissar. I'd been reading a bit too much of Gaunt's Ghosts, I think. Given my general loathing of metal and resin, I used the little officer dude that came with the Baneblade kit, seeing as he had a nice big commissar-esque hat. No, I don't have a Baneblade (yet), I just picked this guy up separately off eBay.

So, that's it from me for now. Next up, a closer look at my lovely Imperial Guard army, the Red Thunder!

Out with the old...

 Bye-bye, lovely hammer and shield sergeants...

Hello... you lot. Ugh. 

It's a good thing I acquired another 2 sets of Dark Vengeance Deathwing from Ebay. I really couldn't be bothered to get another box of Deathwing just to put these in my squads...

That having been said, the lack of hammer & shield sergeants isn't that much of a deal. I find that, as long as I've got Deathwing Knights on the board and in a place to cause some pain, they're going to be the ones who take the brunt of the enemy's firepower, and as such, the other Deathwing squads can plod around and do their thing.

I'll bang together another list and hopefully, put stuff down in a batrep and see just how horribly GW has nerfed Deathwing... Until then, happy wargaming. And GW? Please stop f**king up Deathwing.... 

Deathwing woe!

DAMMIT GW!

Seriously, I thought I had a pretty good thing going with my dear old Deathwing... This is the list I'd been fielding for the past few months. It's great fun (if absurdly stressful when those squads of Terminators come teleporting in...) and has held its own against some excellent armies. Now, during a scrap against David's Ravenwing, I learnt that Deathwing Sergeants aren't allowed to take Storm Shields and Thunder Hammers!

Blast and damnation... As it is, I've got 3 lovingly crafted Sergeants with hammers and shields. Guess they're going to have to be proxies for plain old Storm Bolter and Power Sword sergeants until GW does something to rectify this lunacy...

In the meantime, there's plenty else to keep me occupied. Things like my trusty Necrons and Blood Angels. And the Black Legion, of course. So many lists to try... so little time...

On the X-Wing front, oh man, I really couldn't resist expanding my fleets. It's an awesome game, with an excellent balance of luck, skill and Star Wars coolness. If I had to name one big gripe about this game, it's that Darth Vader isn't more killy. I mean, come on! It's Vader!

How am I supposed to fit the Millenium Falcon in there, eh?

 And that's it from me. Haven't been doing batreps for a while, alas. Been kinda busy on several fronts. Anyways, here's a shot of what's on the workbench now, besides the usual pile of models to paint, of course...

Yep... Frickin' Deathwing Sgts... Coz if there's anything I hate more than a FAQ that hurts my armies, it's going to war without WYSIWYG models...

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...

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?

Deathwing Sergeants: Making the most of 5pts

Man of the Match during my last game, which earned him a paintjob.

Right, not long ago, I had another game using Deathwing, and I think I've hit upon a reasonably solid list that gets the job done. This is it:

Belial

Level 2 Librarian in Terminator armour

DW Command Squad with 2 Hammers & Shields, Cyclone Launcher, Deathwing Champion and Banner of Fortitude on one of the Hammer & Shield-bearing Terminators

7 Deathwing Knights 

5 DW Terminators with Cyclone Launcher, Chainfist and Hammers & Shields for the Sergeant and Cyclone Terminator

5 DW Terminators with Assault Cannon, Chainfist and Hammer & Shield for the Sergeant

5 DW Terminators with Plasma Cannon, Chainfist and Hammer & Shield for the Sergeant

This comes to 1,747pts, by my reckoning, and thus far it has stood surprisingly firm against lists with pretty vicious firepower. This is due to 2 things:

1. The Deathwing Knights - This is a pretty serious Deathstar unit, and with Belial, it has the pretty nasty ability of being placed exactly where it's needed. On top of that, with Storm Shields and Fortress of Shields all round, it can (and has, twice) soak up the entire opposing army's firepower for a turn and still have enough Knights to pose a serious threat. 
2. A Storm Shield for the Sergeants of the plain old Deathwing squads.

The 1st point is obvious enough. The 2nd needs a closer look to truly appreciate.

The thing about Deathwing is Hammers & Shields are expensive. 5 Terminators with Hammers & Shields will set you back 200 pts for Vanilla Marines, 225 pts for Blood Angels, and 245 pts for Deathwing. A bit on the pricey side On top of that, Vengeance Strike is a loud and clear signal to all that Deathwing is meant to shoot stuff. 4 twin-linked krak missiles to break open a transport and a twin-linked plasma cannon to brutalize whatever pops out. Sounds good to me! Anyway, about that shield...

What I'm trying to achieve here is to get the most out of my Deathwing Terminator Squads. As such, each squad needs a little dakka, a heavy weapon to be annoying with, a chainfist in case some big horrible vehicle strays too close, and as much invulnerable saves as I can get. I can't have both the shooty death and the shields, as such, only one can carry the shield, and it has to be the Sarge. Why? Here's how my Deathwing squads deploy as they Deep Strike:

N.B. -The dude in the middle with the brown base is placed first.

Here's where the 6th ed shooting rules really shine. Since the dakka has to be resolved from the model closest to the source of shooting, the Sarge has to be on the receiving end first. Suffice it to say, this would put Sarge at risk of going down to small arms fire, a 16.7% chance for each save he's forced to make. But, he's a character, so we can just pass the wound off to the other grunts, starting from the closest to the Sarge. That would be the dude in the center of the formation above. Now each wound has about 8.3% of killing the Sarge. And of course, the squad will be deploying somewhere near the Banner of Fortitude, meaning Feel No Pain, meaning now each wound has a 5.6% chance of offing poor Sarge. And this isn't even factoring in the rolls to hit and wound. And of course, if Sarge is on the ugly end of serious AP2 fire, he takes it for the squad!

Here are a few probabilities:
Death by BS4 bolter = 1.9%
Death by BS3 lasgun = 0.9%
Death by BS4 plasmagun = 12.3% (vs 24.7% for the grunts)
Death by BS4 lascannon = 18.5% (vs 37% for the grunts)

It may not seem like much on paper, but when the squad is staring at a Lascannon Predator, a Vendetta, a fireteam of Chosen with 4 plasmaguns or a squad of Sternguard toting combi-weapons... that Storm Shield is often the difference between life and death.

So, that's one little trick to get more bang for your buck in the world of Deathwing. Next up... I don't know. More Deathwing? Or maybe a Dark Angel/Blood Angel allied list? We'll see. Until then, happy wargaming...

Really brief batrep: Deathwing vs Marines & Guard, 1750pts

Just had a game against Wong today. Man, Deathwing is really weird to get my head round. I didn't record most of the battle, but here's a brief summary.

My list:

Belial

Level 2 Librarian in Terminator armour

DW Command Squad with 2 Hammers & Shields, Cyclone Launcher, Deathwing Champion and Banner of Fortitude

7 Deathwing Knights with a Perfidious Relic of the Unforgiven

5 DW Terminators with Cyclone Launcher, Chainfist and Hammer & Shield for the Sergeant

5 DW Terminators with Assault Cannon, Chainfist and Hammer & Shield for the Sergeant

5 DW Terminators with Plasma Cannon, Chainfist and Hammer & Shield for the Sergeant

Same list I took against Ian, with less proxying, hurrah! I'd been holding back on assembling 2 more Deathwing Knights, as I wasn't sure I wanted 7. So, I figured I'd put this list on the board one more time and see how it works.

Wong's Marine & Guard list:
Company Command Squad with Regimental Standard and Astropath
Company Command Squad with 4 meltaguns
Sly Marbo
Veteran squad with shotguns and 3 meltaguns
Platoon Command Squad with 4 Sniper rifles
4 x Infantry Squads with meltagun and autocannon in 2 squads of 20
Hellhound with hull multimelta
2 x Vendettas with heavy bolter sponsons

Lysander
10 Sternguard with 4 combiplasmas, 4 combimeltas and 2 meltaguns with a Drop Pod
5 Sniper Scouts and a missile launcher

Look at this list. Just LOOK at it! My poor Deathwing is staring down the barrels of EIGHTEEN melta weapons! Not to mention a pair of Vendettas, which are bad news for anything on the board. And holy hell, look at the guns the Sternguard are toting!

Anyway, the mission was the Scouring, I let Wong go first, and he prudently deployed the Sternguard... at the vanguard of his forces, actually, hehe... I Deathwing Assaulted the whole army in. The squad with the Assault Cannon had a mishap on the way in and went into Ongoing Reserves. This time however, I did something that I'd never consider doing in any other army. I needed something to distract Wong's guns and put a vicious threat where it would mess up any plans Wong had for gunning down my army in one turn. So I plonked the Deathwing Knights right behind his lines:

EVERY gun in that photo turned right round to pour an insane amount of gunishment into the Deathwing Knights. Amazingly enough, only 4 Knights went down! This was in no small part due to a bad salvo from the Sternguard, but hey, such is the price one pays for 8 combiweapons, eh? Oh, and Fortress of Shields, which meant the Guardsmen with their flashlights needed 6's to wound, which took a lot of the sting out of 70-something shots.

Meanwhile, Sly Marbo chucked a demo charge right into the Command Squad, killing the standard bearer, who failed his first save of the game with a roll of 1. What on earth did I pay 5 pts to give the bugger a Storm Shield for, eh? More shooty death from the Vendettas reduced the squad to just the Librarian and the Deathwing Champion.

Things did turn around, though. The remaining Deathwing Knights charged and wiped out one mass of Guardsmen. The Deathwing Champion smashed Marbo. The Librarian joined the Plasma Cannon squad to wipe out the Sternguard and lock Lysander in a vicious melee. The Assault Cannon squad came in next to Belial and would later wipe out the Company Command Squad with the regimental standard.

By around Turn 5, I had 8 models left on the board, Wong had the 2 Vendettas, the Hellhound, the Platoon Command Squad, a Scout Sergeant holed up in a building and the other 20 man combined squad of Guardsmen, who were locked in combat with Belial and 2 Terminators.

Victory point wise, I had:
First blood
Slay the Warlord + 1 VP from the Hunt
Linebreaker
About 5 VP worth of objectives within easy reach

Wong had:
3 VP within reach of his PCS,

At this point, Wong figured Belial and friends would smash the remaining Guardsmen and grab the objective, so he conceded.

Afterthoughts:
29 Terminators go in, 8 walk out. Man, that was vicious, but against that kind of firepower, I was pretty pleased with how it turned out. One thing that particularly surprised me was how well the Deathwing Knights took a turn of 45 Guardsmen, a Vendetta, a Hellhound and 10 Sternguard worth of shooty death.

Another component of the army that really shone was the Librarian. Prescience is GOLD. With an army this small, reliability in any form is worth so, so much. As for everything else, well, I daresay nary a model was wasted. Except the Banner, who got awfully unlucky, what with catching a demo charge full in the face, but them's the breaks, eh?

Well, I'm pleased with this list. It's a nail-biting roller-coaster ride compared to my other armies, but man, it is really, really satisfying to win with Deathwing! We'll see if we can't get a more detailed Deathwing batrep sometime in the future. Truth be told, the main reasons I don't record my battles with Deathwing quite as meticulously as usual are:

1. They're barely painted. Very bad form on my part.
2. Every time I put Deathwing on the board, I kind of expect to get wiped out in pretty short order. I can't tell you how chuffed I am that this isn't the case... 

And that's it from me. Til next time, happy wargaming...

Further adventures of Deathwing

A nice wallpaper for my phone to match the army... 

So, I tried out this list against Ian's Emperor's Children army:

Belial

Level 2 Librarian in Terminator armour

DW Command Squad with 2 Hammers & Shields, Cyclone Launcher, Deathwing Champion and Banner of Fortitude

7 Deathwing Knights with Perfidious Relic of the Unforgiven

5 DW Terminators with Cyclone Launcher, Chainfist and Hammer & Shield for the Sergeant

5 DW Terminators with Assault Cannon, Chainfist and Hammer & Shield for the Sergeant

5 DW Terminators with Plasma Cannon, Chainfist and Hammer & Shield for the Sergeant

This list goes with a completely different strategy from what I usually go with. All my previous armies, the Blood Angels, the Necrons and the Black Legion, were all brutally aggressive and subtle as baseball bats. All three are reliant on massive coordinated alpha strikes to smash the fight out of the enemy in one crushing blow. Deathwing requires a different approach. Here's an overview of how this army functions:

Back line: The DW Command Squad and the DW squad with the Cyclone Launcher are rearmost, and serve to pummel any tasty targets with their Cyclone Launchers. The Librarian will be with the Command Squad, casting Prescience on whichever squad I feel needs it. The Command Squad's most important role is to hang back and give as much of the army as possible Feel No Pain. 

Middle line: The DW Squads with the Assault Cannon and Plasma Cannon march just ahead of the Cyclone-armed squads, picking at targets best suited for their tender mercies. For example, the plasma cannon can be used for roasting the contents of a transport freshly cracked open by the Cyclone Launchers, and the Assault Cannon with Prescience on it can, in a pinch, be used to maul Flyers that get too close. 

Vanguard: Belial goes with the Deathwing Knights  because it's quite crucial that this unit forms the shield of the army. Ideally, this unit is about 12" away from the Command Squad, directly between the Command Squad and the bulk of the enemy forces, so the Banner of Fortitude can give them Feel No Pain, and the Knights can react to attacks on either flank. 2 FNP saves by the Deathwing Knights pretty much pays for the Banner. What makes this unit doubly effective as a shield, besides the Storm Shields, is the threat posed by their Maces of Absolution, especially if the Librarian chooses to give this squad Prescience. On the charge, this squad is swinging with 18 S10 AP2 attacks at initiative. That kind of killing power will smash damn near anything into jam. On top of that, if anything survives that, 2+ armour and 3+ invulnerable saves mean the Knights can quite likely stick around to keep pummeling whatever's left.

Deployment: The whole army is to Deathwing Assault in on Turn 1, preferably going second, as the foe's attempt to move for objectives will quite likely result in a gap to exploit. With 5 squads of Deep Striking Terminators, it's pretty likely that not everything will quite go as planned, so it helps to take whatever steps one can to minimize the impact of the dice screwing you over. First to deploy should be the Command Squad. The Banner of Fortitude is a vital component of this army, so it's crucial that one settles on its position ASAP. This squad comes in about 3-4 feet away from enemy lines, to put that Cyclone Launcher to good use. The other Deathwing Terminator squads then Deep Strike in, always making sure to keep close enough to the Command Squad to benefit from the Banner of Fortitude. Last to deploy should be the Deathwing Knights. This should be placed to receive or thwart a charge from the foe, seeing as it's the most durable unit and the most lethal in close combat (for a turn, at least).

So how did it fare? Not so bad actually. The strategy is a far cry from my usual in-your-face methods. The thing is the long range firepower is actually quite surprising, thanks to the first-turn twin-linked nastiness. On top of that, the Split Fire rule proved to be invaluable, making sure the right guns are directed at the right targets as much as possible. VERY important in a list with so few models on the table. Anyway, it was a kill point game, and I won, 2-1. The first kill went to me in Turn FOUR. Terminators were hell for Ian to kill, even with 2 Lascannon Predators, thanks to my lovely Sergeants (more about that in another post). On my part, once on the board, it was hard for me to inflict any real ranged killing power that could follow through and take the kill point. Since I'd started quite far from Ian's lines, no close combat happened, as Ian's close combat elements (Raptors and Bikers) were trying to get round my Knights.

Anyway, enough talk. This army needs to go to WAR! In the meantime, more pictures of the mustering...

Moar Hammer & Shield Sergeants!

Deathwing Knights!

Belial's slooowly getting his paintjob...

MOAR stompy bone-white badasses... 

... and their bases...

First Impresssions of Deathwing

I got in my first game using Deathwing during the weekend against Peter's Chaos Marines. Not surprisingly, I got mauled and wiped off the board on Turn 5. I won't go into the details of the battle just yet, but here's a couple of things I learnt:

Good ideas:

1. Terminator Librarian with Divination powers is an excellent way to augment the killing power of Deathwing. There are few enough Terminators on the board as it is, and a little Prescience goes a long way towards making every swing of a power fist or, better yet, a smiting mace of Absolution count.
2. Deathwing Knights are excellent, and getting a charge in with them is one of very few things that can wipe out a squad of 3 Nurgle Obliterators with no losses. On top of that, the sheer intimidation value of a squad of Terminators with Storm Shields which can quite likely instakill anything they charge is inestimable. 
3. If you're not using a Land Raider to take the fight to the enemy, a Banner of Fortitude is well worth the points. After 2 Feel No Pain saves, it'll have made its points back. Also, keeping it with a Command Squad in the back line will keep the foe pressured to choose his targets very carefully between it and the squads of Terminators stomping in his direction. 

Bad ideas:

1. I tried kitting out a 7 man Terminator squad with a Heavy Flamer, then using Belial to Deep Strike in flawlessly to deliver a burst of deadly accurate toasty death. No good. The kind of thing that will suffer horribly from that kind of abuse is simply not worth the exposing a large squad of Terminators for. Better to carry a more lethal gun, like a plasma cannon or assault cannon, start from mid-range and advance steadily. 
2. Combat squads are a bad idea, simply because you CAN'T. Something to remember as I reassemble a new list... 

All in all, Deathwing is proving to be a very interesting challenge. I've another list drawn up, and I'm most keen to continue developing my skills in the ancient art of Deathwing.

In other news, painting is happening, slowly and steadily. Here's some pics of progress thus far...

Almost there... 

I'm rather pleased with the banner, seeing as this is probably the first banner of any kind I've painted. 

An ancient piece of near-forgotten lore: The original tale of the Deathwing Banner... 

A New Beginning!

It's always an exciting thing to start a new army, and this is no different! Behold, the first steps to Deathwing!

Of course, it's always a good idea to have a plan, and here's my plan for Deathwing:

1) Put together a 1750 pt army of nothing but Deathwing and maybe a supporting character, say, a Librarian or a Chaplain.

2) Upon establishing the first 1750 pts, further expansion will comprise only of adding units that further the efficacy of Deathwing, i.e. Ravenwing for more accurate deep strike. This may not even be necessary, as I've always got my other Angels to fall back on, eh?

So anyways, here's my idea for a Deathwing list:

Belial
DWing Command Squad with Plasma cannon, DWing Champion and Standard of Fortitude
5 DWing Knights
10 DWing Terminators w 2 Chainfists, 4 Hammers & Shields, Plasma Cannon and Assault Cannon
10 DWing Terminators w 2 Chainfists, 4 Hammers & Shields, Plasma Cannon and Heavy Flamer

The strategy is simple enough. Start with nothing on the board, Deathwing Assault in, cause as much damage as possible in one round of shooting, try not to die, then get in and beat face with fist and hammer and whatever else is handy. Simple, yes?

I've a couple of other plans I'm mulling over, but whatever the case may be, Belial and the DWing Command Squad are at the centre of it. Lotsa proxy playtesting in the months ahead...