Seek and ye shall find

So, I was really struggling to find some more Rocket Launchers for my Long Fangs as all of the bitz sites seemed to have sold out. It was getting so desperate that I was giving some serious thought to using the Rocket Launcher guys from Space Crusade. Then I came across this. Perfect.

I have a little list

(with apologies to The Mikido)

I managed to get my ticket for Open War 14 on Thursday so it's time to end all the speculation and finally decide on my list. Now I had been planning it in a bit of a vacuum. However, since the Rules Pack is now out, I need to pick a list that has a chance of winning those specific missions. Hmm, 3 Objective style missions. So, we're going to need plenty of troops. We have to get them into deployment zones so they're going to have to be mobile and they're going to have to be killy. Hmm, that almost perfectly describes my Razorwolves. Plus, with the no Special Characters rule, it almost seems like this tournament has been made for my list. This will probably get a bit long and rambling so apologies in advance...

HQ

Rune Priest, Chooser of the Slain, Living Lightning, Murderous Hurricane

So, the first thing you'll notice is just the one Priest. I think that 1750 might be a little too tight on points to squeeze in a second one but if playtesting doesn't go well I might switch it round. It seems that most Razorwolf players online take Stormcaller to give all the Razorbacks a 5+ save but I still prefer to be able to shoot Living Lightning out of the top hatch of a Rhino. Murderous Hurricane will come into its own with people trying to get into my quarters/deployment zone. I'd still quite like to take Tempest's Wrath as I'm sure there are bound to be some Blood Angel Jump Pack armies and Andy said that there were a lot of Daemons at the last Open War.

Elites

Lone Wolf, Terminator Armour, Thunder Hammer, Storm Shield

No Kill Point mission? Win. But Kill Points as secondary scoring so my opponent will have to keep this guy alive to score an extra point? Win. Which just leaves the question, "Why aren't we taking two?"

Troops

5 Grey Hunters, Plasma Gun, Rhino

5 Grey Hunters, Meltagun, Razorback, Lascannon/Twin Linked Plasma Guns

5 Grey Hunters, Meltagun, Razorback, Lascannon/Twin Linked Plasma Guns

5 Grey Hunters, Meltagun, Razorback, Lascannon/Twin Linked Plasma Guns

5 Grey Hunters, Meltagun, Razorback, Lascannon/Twin Linked Plasma Guns

5 Grey Hunters, Meltagun, Razorback, Lascannon/Twin Linked Plasma Guns

Maxed out troop choices. With all the missions being objective based it seemed like the best thing to do. I understand the reasoning behind the Las Plas turret being the best one and I think that in a truly competitive environment it probably would be. However, there are bound to be people bringing Footdar and horde Orks to this tournament. Also, since I can only shoot one weapon after moving and most of the time that will probably be the Lascannon, I'm think that a mix of Twin Linked Lascannons and Twin Linked Assalt Cannons would give me some nice duality.

Fast Attack

2 Land Speeders, Multimelta, Heavy Flamer

Quick, killy but very vulnerable, I could probably use some more.

Heavy Support

6 Long Fangs, 4 Rocket Launchers, Lascannon

6 Long Fangs, 4 Rocket Launchers, Lascaoon

I had been thinking about dropping the Lascannons and giving these guys a Razorback each but since there aren't any Dawn of War style deployments I don't really need to.

Predator, Heavy Bolter Sponsons

And then we round the list off with a bit more dakka.

Now, if you've been keeping up, you'll notice that that leave us on 1625 points. I've done this delibratly so that I can try out a few builds before the big event to see how they work together. With that in mind, I'm just going to very briefly go through some of my thought for those magical 125 points:

Drop three Meltaguns and take two more Land Speeders

Take some Wolf Scouts. Yes they're not truely optimal but with their ability to come on anywhere they could be a real boon in these three missions.

Dreadnought with Twin-Linked Autocannons

A second Lone Wolf plus a few more Grey Hunters

Razorbacks for the Long Fangs (one basic, one upgraded) just to give me even more Razorbacks

I don't think the last one is a goer but the other four all need some consideration.

So, all I've got to do now is find some bitz, finish modelling, paint the army and base it and then I'm ready. No worries.

Never get out of the boat

(with apologies to Apocalypse Now)

So, it's once again that time where I look back at yesterday's game and go through all the stupid mistakes I've made. On the down side these articles aren't getting any smaller so I'm still making lots of mistakes. On the plus side the mistakes are different each week so at least I'm learning something (I think that's probably the definition of blind optimism) Anyway, let's see what went wrong this week:

Stay in the Transport

When I put the list together I made the explicit point that "the Grey Hunters only get out of their vehicles in extreme circumstances" I think that shooting at a Captain and a Combat Squad of Tactical Marines hardly classifies as "extreme circumstances" does it? The worst thing is I was never going to cause 8 wounds with 4 Assault Cannon shots, 8 Bolter shots and a Meltagun especially since the squad was in cover. I was lucky with the combat that followed as the Captain couldn't get make it so I managed to hold him up until I could get my Rune Priest in. I should have opened fire with the Razorback and then let him try and charge it. As it worked out he wouldn't have made it into combat and then I could just have shot him again. Even if he had got in he'd have had to roll 4s to hit it and either 4s (Krak Grenades) or 6s (standard close combat attacks) just to glance it. All in all, my squad would have been more likely to survive and with another scoring unit the last couple of turns wouldn't have been quite so nail biting.

Get out of the way

I also managed to block off most of my long range shooting in the game. I was a bit unlucky on the first turn with the Drop Pod cutting off lines of sight for my Land Speeder and Razorback but I completely failed to give myself any decent fire lanes after that had happened. The plan had been to use the Typhoon to try and get side shots on the Vindicator or to use the Rune Priest in the Rhino for the same purpose. At least I managed to get some good use out of my Vindicator with it taking out a good chunk of the enemy army. However, with that constantly moving around to get past the Drop Pod it was also cutting down on firing solutions for everyone else. So, clearly the real issue was the Drop Pod. I was slightly too aggressive with it and next time I need to think a bit harder about where to drop it to gain maximum benefit. I was pretty impressed with the Dreadnought though. He might not have killed much but he did attract a lot of enemy firepower which is one of the reasons he's in the list.

So, I practically table my opponent for the loss of just a Rhino and 6 Grey Hunters and I'm still not happy. Well, of course not, you never should be while you're still making silly mistakes. When I get beat by someone who has played a better game than I have then that's fair enough. When I almost beat myself, well, then I'll keep giving myself a hard time. At least the list looks quite promising; quite killy yet quite hard to kill. I just need to play it a bit more to get used to the Drop Pod and then we'll see how it gets on once the competition starts.

Vindication

Svengril knew this area like the back of his hand. It naturally favoured close quarter fighting and to that end he had procured a Vindicator siege tank. However, as he looked across the battlefield he saw that the enemy had managed to do the same. "Pah! Tank battles are for the Imperial Guard" he snorted. His squad laughed. He plugged into the vox caster and spoke to the rest of his force, "Ignore their tank, capture the objectives and leave their captain to me - his head is mine!"

This is a 750 point battle report between my Space Wolves and Dave's Space Marines. We rolled up 5 objectives with Spearhead deployment. I won the roll off and decided to go first.

Deployment:

Turn 1:

Svengril gave the word and from the Strike Cruiser in orbit a Drop Pod was launched. As it slammed into the ground, the hatches blew and out stepped the Dreadnought within. He opened fire with his Assault Cannon and his Heavy Flamer at the enemy Devastator Squad but their Power Armour was a match for the incoming fire and none of them fell. Behind him the rest of the Space Wolf army moved up.

The large enemy Tactical Squad made their way into the woods while the Vindicator backed away to get a better shot. The Devastator Squad stayed where they were and prepared to return fire on the Dreadnought. In front of them the Captain led his Combat Squad forward. At the back the other Combat Squad remained protected in the ruins. Two Missile Launchers, two Plasma Cannons and a Multimelta opened fire at the Dreadnought but the sum total of their attacks was that it couldn't fire. The Vindicator opened fire at its opposite number but the shot scattered harmlessly away.

End of Turn 1:

Turn 2:

The Space Wolf Vindicator rumbled forward and leveled its Demolisher Cannon at the Devastator Squad. As the smoke cleared only one Marine was still standing. Out of the top hatch of the Rhino Svengril cast Murderous Hurricane on the Tactical Squad in the woods. The Land Speeder Typhoon also fired at the same squad but casualties were minimal.

The Space Marine Captain led his squad into the ruins while the rest of his army opened fire. The Vindicator managed to wreck the Rhino while a Multimelta shot immobilised the Dreadnought.

End of Turn 2:

Turn 3:

Svengril stepped out from behind the wreckage of his Rhino and once again cast Murderous Hurricane on the large Tactical Squad. The Space Marine Vindicator also fired at the same squad and left only one survivor. The Typhoon finished off the remaining Devastator Marine while the Dreadnought fired upon the Combat Squad in the ruins but only managed to kill one of them. At the rear of the battle, the Grey Hunter squad got out of the Razorback and opened fire on the Captain and his squad. The Razorback added its Assault Cannons to the gunfire and only the Captain and two of his squad survived.

The Space Marine Vindicator once again tried to take out the Space Wolf one but its shot scattered and managed to immobilise the Land Speeder Typhoon. The Space Marine Captain yelled a challenge at the Grey Hunters and they tried to charge through the ruins to get to them. The two Tactical Marines got into combat but the Captain tripped and couldn't reach the fight. The combat was bloody with both of the Tactical Marines killed for the loss of a Grey Hunter. The Captain then managed to pile in.

End of Turn 3:

Turn 4:

Svengril, seeing that the Grey Hunters would be in trouble against the Space Marine Captain made his way towards the combat with some haste. The Space Wolf Vindicator opened fire on the Tactical Marines in the ruins and managed to kill three of them. Meanwhile the Captain managed to cut down another Grey Hunter but the squad stayed firm.

The Sergeant of the large Tactical Squad, the last survivor, made his way to try and secure the objective that had been held by the other Tactical Squad before the Vindicator had struck. The Multimelta Marine, who was now also the last member of his squad took aim at the Dreadnought and managed to blow off the Assault Cannon. The Vindicator fired at the Space Wolf one again but this time failed to penetrate the armour of the tank. The Captain swing his Power Sword in a bloody arc and managed to kill two more Grey Hunters. The final member of the squad stayed where he was, confident that Svengril the Rune Priest would turn combat the way of the Wolves.

End of Turn 4:

Turn 5:

Everything that the Space Wolf army had in range opened fire on the two hapless Tactical Marines that remained and they were reduced to a fine dust by the bombardment. The Rune Priest charged into combat with the Space Marine Captain. The Captain managed to kill the final Grey Hunter but Svengril cut him down with his Runic Weapon, even the Captain's Iron Halo was no match for the Force Weapon.

With the Space Marines only having a Vindicator left things were looking bleak. However, the driver and the gunner knew that if they could kill the remaining Grey Hunters then neither side would be claiming any of the objectives. They opened fire but the shell hit one of the trees on the way through and the Space Wolves were all safe.

End of Turn 5:

Turn 6:

The Space Wolf Vindicator saw what its enemy counterpart was trying and so parked itself between the the Demolisher Cannon and the Grey Hunters. With nothing else to move, the Space Wolves awaited the final shots of the battle. The Space Marine Vindicator fired its final shell but the Space Wolf Vindicator was protected by the trees and remained unscratched.

End of Turn 6 1-0:

Svengril laughed as he watched the enemy Vindicator back away at full speed. The Space Wolves had triumphed and once again their domain was safe.

Shopping Trip

I had an hour to kill last night before going to the cinema so I popped into Warhammer World to pick up the Imperial Guard codex and have a beer. I wanted the IG codex to do some reading up on them before Open War in October (and also before this 750 competion that the club is having in September) It's pretty obvious that you can put together a pretty nasty list at 750 points even with the restrictions on vehicles (I'm thinking a Hydra, a Medusa and a Vendetta as base)

Anyway, I've got no real intention fo starting an IG list. However, they did have something in the store that did interest me. I've talked briefly about considering taking up Warhammer. Now, they have on display a figure form the new Island of Blood box set, namely the High Elf Griffon and it looked amazing. If the price point is reasonable and I can convince Andy to take it up I might have to get it when it comes out, especially since it contains what arre meant to be two of the better races in 8th Edition - High Elves and Skaven. It will be nice to try something else other than just 40K based games. Although, having said that I'm still waiting for Andy to teach me Blood Bowl...

Think Small, Act Big

After a win and a loss last week, it seems pretty obvious to me that I need to re-think my lists for the 750 point competion that the club is having. Now, my problem is that I'm taking my 1500-2000 point head into trying to build a much smaller list. I need to stop thinking about what works well at that level and start thinking about what would work well within the conifines of a 750 point limit.

So, first up, the Vindicator. Yes at higher points values it's not so hot since it can easily lose it's main gun to a turn of shooting. However, at 750 points there will be less units that can reliably hurt AV13. Since the rules of the competition will lead people to taking less vehicles, people will also be taking less anti-tank weaponry which should see the Vindi running riot. It also fills the need of duality since S10 can hurt vehicles and the large blast will do a lot of damage to hordes.

Secondly, the Assault Cannon. Yes the best load out for a Razorback is the Lascannon/Twin-Linked Plasma Gun Turret. But since there won't be any 2+ saves and they'll be very few vehicles I need something that can threaten light armour and infantry which is where the Assault Cannon comes in.

So, with those thoughts in mind, let's look at a list:

Rune Priest, Chooser of the Slain, Living Lightning, Murderous Hurricane

5 Grey Hunters, Plasma Gun, Rhino

5 Grey Hunters, Meltagun, Razorback, Twin Linked Assault Cannons

Dreadnought, Assault Cannon, Heavy Flamer, Drop Pod

Land Speeder Typhoon

Vindicator, Siege Shield

750 on the nose. The Dreadnought is a distraction/speed bump while I get the rest of the army into range to unleash hell. The Grey Hunters only get out of their vehicles in extreme circumstances. Okay, I'm a little bit worried about only having 10 scoring troops but if I can keep their transports in one piece it could be enough. I might struggle in a 5 objective game against an army that greatly outnumbers me but if that happens I'll just have to kill more stuff...

Guilty Pleasures

Coming back home from a day out in Birmingham, the Top Gun soundtrack shuffled to the top of my iPod playlist. Now; I know it’s VERY “80’s” and even though singing along to the songs (yes, I know all the words) makes me cringe because of how cheesy the lyrics are, but there’s just something about hearing those songs which brings back the over-excited 12 year old in me running, round the room “at Mach 2 with my hair on fire”! At that age I was oblivious to the homo-erotic subtext and all I cared about was how cool everyone was and the fantastically filmed dog-fights. Just as an aside if they were to make Top Gun in the 00’s how much of that film would be CGI and how much would it take away from the thrill of the movie … But I digress, and I am going to link this back to 40k in a minute, it’s tenuous but I really wanted to confess to a limited internet audience that I love Top Gun and most of the Soundtrack (Lead me On? Really?).

Anyway, guilty pleasures. I also love the Space Marine Codex. Sure, Blood Angels have done it faster and Space Wolves have just plain done it better for less, but what still makes the Space Marine Codex first, in my mind, over both of those ‘dexes is the Special Characters. Depending on who I pick I get a completely different flavour to my list-build and subsequent play-style, and these are game changing differences. Running a list with Khan in it I can’t resist taking a Raider-load of Combat Blade equipped Scouts with him to make the most of Furious Charge and Hit and Run, but I could also take Assault Termies to allow them to Outflank in their Land Raider, very nasty and not something you can do with anyone else. Pedro is great too because you can get away with loading up on Elite Sternguard units that are actually good at killing stuff and not have to worry too much about taking the bare minimum of troops, his aura also gives any units in range some much needed close assault punch! The list goes on but each Character allows you to do something unique with you list and this really appeals to me.

The Open War team have, unfortunately, decided to ban special or unique characters from their next tournament. Now I’m not against this, and I think that it will level the playing field in some respects but, for me, this means that I will not be fielding a Vanilla Space Marine army in this tournament. I just cannot write a list that I like without a special character in it, it seems to take away everything that appeals to me in a Space Marine list. I’ve written a few lists to see if I can get to something I like the look of but the HQ section always leaves me feeling cold. Librarians with Null Zone and GoI are no doubt useful, a Captain with a Relic Blade is a cost effective close combat monster and taking Dreads as Heavy Support choices with a Master of the Forge is fun. But none of them pack the same level of unpredictable excitement as stuffing 10 Sternguard and Lysander into a Drop Pod for a 1^st turn Alpha Strike of Doom - could be doom for you or your opponent, in a dice game you can never tell!

So to keep things fun for me I think I’m going to go ahead with an Ork list for this Open War, although I’ve got a Blood Angels list on the back burner just in case I can’t tear myself away from the guys in Power Armour!! For your consideration, here’s the list I’m currently contemplating (and painting):

HQ: Warboss Muttmasha
Power Klaw, Cybork Body; Warbike

HQ: Big Mek Shokkolla
Kustom Force Field

Elite: Lootas
6 Lootas

Elite: Lootas
6 Lootas

Troops: Nob Bikers
1 Painboy
1 Nob: Shoota/Skorcha Kombi-weapon
1 Nob: Power Klaw
1 Nob: Big Choppa
1 Nob: Waaagh! Banner, Power Klaw
1 Nob: Bosspole
1 Nob

Troops: Straycatcha's Boyz
19 Boyz: Choppa & Slugga
1 Boyz Nob: Bosspole, Power Klaw

Troops: Chokechain's Boyz
18 Boyz: Choppa & Slugga
1 Boyz Nob: Bosspole, Power Klaw

Troops: Boyz
29 Boyz: Shootas, Big Shoota x3
1 Boyz Nob: Bosspole, Power Klaw

Heavy Support: Battlewagon
Deff Rolla; Red Paint Job; Big Shoota

Heavy Support: Battlewagon
Deff Rolla; Red Paint Job; Big Shoota

Heavy Support: Killer Kans
3 Killer Kans: Grotzooka x3

In lieu of an over-costed Special Character I’m going with an over costed killer unit (Nob Bikers). Potentially a seriously dangerous unit but also a huge point sink that could be vaporised by a suitably placed S8+ template. I think the randomness of this game is what really appeals to me so when that one “super unit” actually does what it’s supposed to rather than flubbing the crucial dice rolls it makes it all worth-while. In a tournament this may mean that I only win (or do well) in one game but I will enjoy that game so much more because my hair-brained scheme paid off, so the other games won’t really matter. To me that’s what makes this game fun.

Why is it?

That when I hear the phrase "Plastic Juggers of Khorne", I immediately think of Thunderwolf conversions...

Ignorance is Bliss

So, we played a couple of 750 points games on Thursday. Now, before I found out that there were certain restrictions on the lists I put together the following:

HQ

Rune Priest, Chooser of the Slain, Living Lightning, Tempest's Wrath

Troops

5 Grey Hunters, Plasma Gun, Rhino

5 Grey Hunters, Meltagun, Razorback, Lascannon/Twin Linked Plasma Gun

5 Grey Hunters, Razorback, Lascannon/Twin Linked Plasma Gun

Heavy Support

6 Long Fangs, 5 Rocket Launchers, Razorback, Lascannon/Twin Linked Plasma Gun

Again it suffers from being a cut down version of my bigger lists and it might have suffered just as badly against Andy's horde but I think as far as optimisation goes you can't do much better than this at 750...

First Refusal

Well, not only did I get beat, I got tabled by Andy's horde of Orks. Technically, I should have won since I killed more Orks than he killed Space Marines but for some reason the rules don't work like that. So, where did it all go wrong?

List

All I really did was try and cut my usual list down to 750 points which meant that I didn't really have anything that could kill that many Orks. I need to find some duality in my shooting, possibly Assault Cannons as they can reliably kill infantry and have a reasonable chance against AV11 and AV12. I also missed out by not having either Jaws of the World Wolf or Murderous Hurricane as psychic powers as they both could have done a number on Orks.

Mission

Missing out on a full turn of shooting from my Long Fangs and Predator really didn't help. Also the fact that I couldn't infiltrate my Wolf Scouts and use them as a speed bump meant that I couldn't slow down the green tide for a turn.

Deployment

This is the one that really cost me. In a normal game, with as much firepower as I normally put out, stretching out my army isn't that much of a problem. In this sort of situation I should have played more of a refused flank style to minimise the number of Orks who could get into action at any one time. I should have deployed in my right hand corner and tried to destroy the Orks piecemeal as they tripped over each other.

Luck

Okay, clutching at straws now! Andy rolled brilliantly for his move through cover and his run rolls all game which definitely cost me a turn of shooting. He also rolled impressivly for his cover and armour saves and his mob which destroyed my Predator passed a moral check just before they did so on the narrowest of margins.

Andy's Tactics

Credit where credit is due. Andy did a really good job at keeping his Boyz 2" apart so that I could Frag them at distance. He also managed to pull off a very good Multi-Assault with his big mob and then used them very cleverly to cover two objectives. All in all he had an army that he knew I couldn't stop without a good slice of luck and he used it perfectly to claim a well deserved vistory.

Addicted to Lists

Ah sod it! Since we're only practising tonight, why not have a different list for each game? This will be based on yesterday's list but with a couple of minor tweaks...

HQ

Rune Priest, Chooser of the Slain, Living Lightning, Tempest's Wrath

Troops

6 Grey Hunters, Plasma Gun, Rhino

6 Grey Hunters, Meltagun, Razorback, Lascannon/Twin Linked Plasma Guns

Elites

Dreadnought, Twin Linked Autocannons, Twin Linked Autocannons

Some improved dakka over the first list.

Fast Attack

Land Speeder Typhoon

More Rockets. It's like Guy Fawkes day round here.

Heavy Support

5 Long Fangs, 4 Rocket Launchers

745. What can I do with 5 points? Not a great deal I think. Still, this feels a bit better than the first list although I would be slightly worried about any AV14 front armoured vehicles. The Dread is a better dakka platform than the Pred and I have the advantage of two more Grey Hunters so they should be more survivable if they have to get out of their transports for any reason. Writing this list made me realise that the Wolf Scouts had an important task of late game objective contesting which I don't really have in this list but we'll try them both and see how we get on.

Little by Little

Graham had come up with a nice idea for this week - instead of the four of us pairing off for a 1500/1750 point game, we're going to try a couple of 750 point games. There are a couple of restrictions (the one about only one type of vehicle makes my Razorbacks sad).

HQ

Rune Priest, Chooser of the Slain, Living Lightning, Tempest's Wrath

I've taken Tempest's Wrath as a nod to the 1750 point list I'm preparing for Open War.

Troops

5 Grey Hunters, Plasma Gun, Rhino

5 Grey Hunters, Meltagun, Razorback, Lascannon/Twin-Linked Plasma Guns

So, minimum troops. I would have had a second Razorback squad but with the limit on vehicles, I'm not taking a squad on foot - this is 5th edition!

Elites

5 Wolf Scouts, Meltagun

These guys can go Behind Enemy Lines (where the foot knocked off the table size means that being in the wrong place isn't quite so bad) or they can hide in some terrain and try and mug someone.

Fast Attack

Land Speeder, Multimelta, Heavy Flamer

Okay, so no Land Raiders or Monoliths but that doesn't mean no Battlewagons or Leman Russes so we're going to need something to deal with AV14. Plus the Heavy Flamer will be the bane of any Scouts.

Heavy Support

5 Long Fangs, 4 Rocket Launchers

4 Rocket Launcers will hopefully be enough to take out any enemy vehicles especially with spilt fire and Frag Missiles will be invalueable against foot hordes (which there are bound to be some of because of the vehicle restrictions)

Predator, Heavy Bolter Sponsons, Storm Bolter

And then some dakka to round things off.

It's not quite optimised and will probably change before the tournament starts but it feels like the basis of a good list. The only things I'm not sure on are the Pred and the Scouts but we'll see how they go.

Know Your Rules

Combat Squads

Not my mistake this time but something that I did miss. In my recent game against David, he combat squadded his Tactical Squad as they got out of a wrecked Rhino. Now, I'd seen Andy combat squad out of a Drop Pod before so I assumed that this was okay. However, there it is on page 51 of the Space Marine codex, your decide if you're combat squadding when you deploy. A simple mistake and one that had no bearing on the battle. In fact the only reason I looked it up was because I'd been thinking about the game for some posts and remembered that he asked if he had to take a pinning test for each combat squad (I said yes and he passed them both). From a tactical point of view I'm not really sure why he wanted to combat squad at that point anyway. Still, this is incredibly minor and I've only really posted it to point out that I feel like I'm still learning rules all of the time lol.

Actually, point of order - when the Space Wolves got their first WD army list back in 1992, they were actually the first Space Marines that were allowed to Combat Squad. In fact all of the wargear options for Grey Hunters and Blood Claws were selected and paid for in terms of a five man combat squad even though the pack was 10 strong. Of course these days, the Space Wolves don't need combat squadding anymore so that's my reasoning for not being totally up to speed.

Army Rankings

Recently, it seems that every 40K blog worth its salt has had an article ranking the top armies in Warhammer 40,000 today. Well, I own a hat and I'm happy to throw it into the ring:

1) Razorwolves

MSU in Razorbacks, it's mobile and shooty plus they have Counter Attack if you are foolish enough to try and charge them.

2) Loganwing

Logan Grimnar, scoring Wolf Guard and lots of Cyclone Missile Launchers, what more could you want?

3) Thunderwolves ho!

Lost of S5 T5 W2 goodness. If there were models available it would probably be higher up.

4) Bjorn/Njal Tag Team

One for higher points games but Bjorn should see you get first turn and then Njal's powers make things very nasty for your opponent.

So, there we go the top 4 armies in 40K. Huh? There are other codices? When did they come out?

Into the eye of the storm

No game this week as I'm off to the Latitude festival. However, Andy has sent me a link to this so I thought I'd see if I can come up with an army list before I go...


HQ


Rune Priest, Chooser of the Slain, Saga of the Beastslayer, Living Lightning, Murderous Hurricane


So, just the one Priest in this list. I think it's definitely the right for 1500 points and I'm starting to think it may even be right for 1750 but we'll see. With regards to his Saga, it seemed like the best thing I could get with 10 points especially since it will help put wounds on those pesky Monstrous Creatures when using Living Lightning.


Elites


Lone Wolf, Terminator Armour, Thunder Hammer, Storm Shield


You don't really want to kill him but you can't ignore him and he's only 85 points - bargain.

Dreadnought, Assault Cannon

This guy is coverage for my Long Fangs in case anyone gets any ideas about Drop Podding near them. If that doesn't happen he can merrily march into midfield providing some close support.

Troops


5 Grey Hunters, Meltagun, Razorback, Lascannon/Twin Linked Plasma Guns


5 Grey Hunters, Meltagun, Razorback, Lascannon/Twin Linked Plasma Guns


5 Grey Hunters, Meltagun, Razorback, Lascannon/Twin Linked Plasma Guns


5 Grey Hunters, Meltagun, Razorback, Lascannon/Twin Linked Plasma Guns

5 Grey Hunters, Plasma Gun, Rhino


Objective holders and all round killy guys. You know them by now.


Fast Attack


2 Land Speeders, Multimelta, Heavy Flamer


Anti AV14 just for the guy who brings twin Land Raiders. Actually Andy played against a guy at Maelstrom who did bring twin Raiders at 1500 points but he was a Grey Knights player so we let him off.


Heavy Support


6 Long Fangs, 4 Rocket Launchers, Lascannon

More long range shooting.

6 Long Fangs, 4 Rocket Launchers, Lascannon

And some more.


So, there we go. Is it spammy? I guess that it is. Is it boring? Well, again I guess you could argue that it is. However, it's a damn-near optimised list and would kick some serious arse at a tournament. So, all we need to do now is complete our team. Hmm, where can we get a big black guy who's scared of flying and a crazy pilot? I love it when a plan comes together...

Mission:Possible

This is yet another article about how important it is to have an overall plan and stick to it. It's also about the importance of not losing sight of the mission. I'm going to talk about another very specific occasion from my game last Thursday but the principles can be applied anywhere. So, my Long Fang pack had a choice of three targets:

a) A Command Squad who would definitely be shooting my Long Fangs and then possibly charging the turn afterwards.

b) The remains of an Assault Squad who would definitely be charging my Long Fangs next turn.

c) The remains of a Tactical Squad camped on an objective who would get cover since I'd have to shoot through the Command Squad.

a) right? Surely you kill the enemy's killiest unit.
b) right? Surely you don't want to get your heavy support cut down in combat.

Well, I went with c) and here's why: you're playing the mission. Remember it doesn't matter if you lose all the killy elements of your army as long as you have one more troop on an objective compared to your enemy.

Okay so lets change the scenario slightly - what if it was Annihilation rather than an objective mission? Okay so this is where the example loses some of its generality. With Leadership 9 and Counter Attack I would fancy 5 Long Fangs to take out 2 Assault Marines. If it was a standard Devastator squad, then I'd probably take out the Assault Squad as it would represent the easiest kill point. Otherwise, I'd still go for the Tactical Squad as the Command Squad would probably require two turns of shooting to kill it and it would be doubtful if I'd get that.

Lady Luck

I had an incident recently where I was trying to dislodge the remains of a Tactical Squad from an Objective. They were out in the open and I fired at them with 4 Boltguns and a Plasma Gun all within rapid fire range. So, that's 10 shots against three guys. My first roll is lucky, I only miss with one Bolter. Now, see if you can guess how many wounds I caused? If you guessed 0, you just won a cookie.

I'm going to mathammer this is two ways. Firstly, the whole event of shooting and then secondly what should happen with 9 hits.

Bolter Wounds = P(Hit) x P(Wound) x Number of shots
= 2/3 x 1/2 x8
= 8/3 (just under three wounds)

Plasma Gun Wounds = P(Hit) x P(Wound) x Number of shots
= 2/3 x 5/6 x 2
= 10/9 (just over one wound)

The Plasma Gun wound and a Boltgun wound would go on one guy and then the other two would take a 3+ save each. Since we've rounded in our favour for the wounds, lets be kind and say they both survive. Still, mathammer kills one more than I managed to.

Let's see what should have happened after I rolled 9 hits:

Bolter Wounds = P(Wound) x Number of hits
= 1/2 x 7
= 7/2 (3 and a half wounds)

Plasma Gun Wounds = P(Wound) x Number of hits
= 5/6 x 2
= 10/6 (just under 2)

Lets call it 2 AP2 wounds and 3 Ap5 for the sake of simplicity. One guy gets both AP2 wounds and the other two guys have three 3+ saves to make between them failing one. So, two dead.

Hmm, maybe my dice are just cursed.

Bloody Vikings!

In my research for this topic title I reminded myself of an old comedy sketch which, I had forgotten, contained a large amount of Vikings (and an old woman) in a Café – this revelation took me somewhere I never expected to go but I think it’s worth sharing because I think it solves one of the great mysteries of 40k. Now you’ll have to bear with me here because I’m going to take a few sideways steps, remember we started off with a bunch of Vikings in a Café, Gav frequently refers to his Space Wolves as Space Vikings and, indeed the fluff and feel of the army fully supports this so I think we can all agree that there is a strong link between Space Wolves and Vikings. Further to this we all know that GW enjoy slipping Monty Python references into their games, for example the Holy Hand Grenade of Antiok (Codex: Black Templars), this gives us a link between GW and Monty Python. Well my hat’s off to GW for this reference, it’s as subtle as it is clever, but if you remember at the start of this post I mentioned an old comedy sketch featuring a chorus of Vikings in a Café with an old woman, said sketch was written and performed by the aforementioned Monty Python crew so it is now clear to me why no self-respecting Space Wolf fluff-junkie would ever leave home without being laden down with an inordinate amount of SPAM, lovely SPAM, wonderful SPAM; SPAM – SPAM – SPAM – SPAM! From now on Space Wolves shall be referred to (by me) as “those bloody Vikings”!

In the spirit of spam, I have tried to write a spammy Blood Angel List that I might enjoy playing, so here it is, let me know what you think:

Librarian – 100
Unleash Rage, Shield of Sanguinius

Librarian – 125
Bike, Blood Lance, Sanguine Sword

Sanguinary Priests – 100
(2)

Assault Squad – 165
(5) Meltagun; Razoback Twin Linked Assault Cannon

Assault Squad – 180
(5) Meltagun, Lighting Claw; Razoback Twin Linked Assault Cannon

Assault Squad – 170
(5) Lighting Claw; Razoback Twin Linked Assault Cannon

Assault Squad – 155
(5) Razoback Twin Linked Lascannon

Land Speeder Typhoon - 180
(2) Heavy Bolter, Typhoon Missile Launcher

Baal Predator – 115
Twin Linked Assault Cannon

Attack Bikes – 100
(2) Multi Meltas

Rifleman Dreadnought - 120
2x Twin Linked Autocannon

Rifleman Dreadnought - 120
2x Twin Linked Autocannon

Rifleman Dreadnought - 120
2x Twin Linked Autocannon

Total - 1750

Basically you have a strong backfield of long range fire power in the Rifleman Dreads, the Land Speeder Typhoons and the Lascannon Razorback. In the midfield you have three Assault Cannon toting Razorbacks with the Sanguinary Priests and the basic Librarian who give them a bit of a cover save and a more bite in assault. Then up front you have the Attack Bikes, with the bike mounted Librarian and the (scouting) Baal Predator which can both threaten heavy armour early in the game.

Although this list goes against my propensity for featuring massively tooled up units I think it could be pretty successful, it satisfies my need to have some form of anti-AV14 suicide unit, the core of the troops are flexible and can shoot and assault, at least, reasonably well, I’ve got my beloved Typhoons and Rifleman Dread in there and all in all I think it would be a fun list to play


-- Andy, posting on the go.

I've seen the future man, it's murder

(with apologies to Leonard Cohen)

So, we're well into July now and Open War 14 in October is starting to cast its shadow. Since I've got loads of painting to do (and probably some modelling as well), I thought it's about time I settle on my final list and start planning what I need to put together and paint...

HQ

Rune Priest, Chooser of the Slain, Living Lightning, Murderous Hurricane

The main man, the head honcho, the guy I almost never leave home without.

Rune Priest, Chooser of the Slain, Living Lightning, Tempest's Wrath

What's twice as good as a Rune Priest? Two Rune Priests! Normally this guy gets Jaws of the World Wolf but I figure over a tournament Tempest's Wrath will be more useful, especially with all of those pesky Blood Angels around. Now, at the minute I only have one Rune Priest. I'm debating whether to use the old Power Armoured Njal as the second one or whether to make on from scratch. Once I've decided on a suitable Runic Weapon, I'll probably go with the later.

Troops

5 Grey Hunters, Plasma Gun, Rhino

5 Grey Hunters, Plasma Gun, Rhino

The Priests go with these squads, driving along, merrily casting Living Lightning out of the top hatch. As a bonus, since the Tyranid FAQ, Shadow in the Warp will no longer effect the Rune Priests as long as they are safe in their Rhinos.

5 Grey Hunters, Meltagun, Razorback, Lascannon/Twin Linked Plasma Gun Turret

5 Grey Hunters, Meltagun, Razorback, Lascannon/Twin Linked Plasma Gun Turret

5 Grey Hunters, Meltagun, Razorback, Lascannon/Twin Linked Plasma Gun Turret

5 Grey Hunters, Meltagun, Razorback, Lascannon/Twin Linked Plasma Gun Turret

Is it spamming or is it redundancy? It's probably a bit of both but these 4 squads cost only 155 points each and are killy AND scoring (hmm, maybe Andy has a point about the codex being broken). The Lascannon/Plasma Gun turret is by far the best option since after a weapon destroyed result you've still got a gun. From a modelling point of view, I have a grand total of 0 Lascannon/Plasma Gun turrets. I also only have two guys with Meltaguns but that is less of an issue since I have loads lying around. The turrets are a bit more of a problem but GW still have the Land Raider Terminus Ultra conversion kit available and with a couple of Plasma Pistols from the Space Wolf sprue, I think I can come up with something.

Fast Attack

2 Land Speeders, Multimelta, Heavy Flamer

I've found that I have more success with these when they're in a squadron so for now they are going together.

Heavy Support

6 Long Fangs, 4 Rocket Launchers, Lascannon

6 Long Fangs, 4 Rocket Launchers, Lascannon

More long range fire power, just what the doctor ordered. I'm two Rocket Launchers short for these guys as well so I need to start trawling the bitz sites this week.

Okay, so this is where the cop-out happens. I'm still 220 points short of the 1750 limit and to be honest I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to fill it at the minute. I'd quite like Razorbacks for the Long Fangs to mitigate against Dawn of War missions and I'd quite like some Scouts and either a Lone Wolf or a Dreadnought. Do I really need 6 scoring units? Will I be that guy and fill my Elite slots with 3-man Wolf Guard squads in yet more Razorbacks? Probably not lol. And what about a couple of Land Speeder Typhoons?

From a To Do List point of view, the key next steps are to make a second Rune Priest, get a couple more Rocket Launchers and convert a couple of Razorback turrets. Then we'll see where we are.

Foiled by the man

Meetings this morning meant I couldn't get to a phone before 11.45 and, sadly the Throne of Skulls event was sold out before 11 this morning. I'll have to arrange my schedule more carefully when the Spring tournament rolls around!


-- Andy, posting on the go.

Throne of Skulls

Hopefully by the time you read this I will be in possession of a ticket for the 2010 Autumn Throne of Skulls GT. This is a 2 day, 5 round tournament held at Warhammer World in November. The major difference between this and most of the other tournaments I have attended this year and, indeed, our regular Thursday night games, is that it's 1500 points. I've been giving this some thought and no small amount of list juggling and I've come up with the following. It's early days of course but currently this feels a good fit to me.

Codex: Blood Angels

HQ

Librarian
Blood Lance and Unleash Rage

Great utility HQ, useful powers and a hood for psychic defense. At 1500 points the killer HQs like Mephiston and, errr Mephiston are out of the question really. The list is not about having a "Death Star" unit so that kind of HQ would be out of sync.

Honour Guard
(5) 4x Meltagun; Drop Pod

4 Meltaguns with feel no pain in a drop pod, farewell Sternguard as my anti-AV14 alpha strike! I can also add the Librarian here too if I fancy suiciding him.

Troops

Assault Squad
(5) Sgt w. Lightning Claw; Razorback w. TL Assault Cannon

Assault Squad
(5) Sgt w. Lightning Claw; Razorback w. TL Assault Cannon

These two squads ride forward to take the middle ground and offer support to the alpha strike units as quickly as possible. The Librarian will most likely ride in one of these Razorbacks to give the best coverage for his hood.

Tactical Squad
(10) Meltagun, Missile Launcher, Sgt w. Power Fist; Drop Pod

These guys are held in reserve in their pod for some tactical deployment later on in the game, either objective grabbing or something similar ... yep, you guessed it, I just think it's handy to have a scoring unit in reserves that can deploy pretty much anywhere, but I don't have a specific strategy around it!

Death Company
(5) Power Fist, Infernus Pistol, Power Sword; Rhino

Not a scoring unit but a very nasty assault squad (particularly when combined with a Chaplain - see later). It's very important that these guys get the charge so I think they'll probably be best used as a counter charge unit rather than having them race in to support the alpha-strikers. They'll advance behind the razorbacks to try and stop anyone getting a shot at their Rhino, once the Death Company are out in the open on foot they are pretty easy to slow down and distract.

Death Company Dreadnought
Blood Talons; Drop Pod

The second part of the alpha strike, a threat to both armour (meltagun) and troops (Blood Talons) and something which will have to be dealt with. It will take the heat off the troops advancing and with a bit of luck it might make it to turn 2 and do some serious damage. Worth a gamble on this point as it can be truely nasty if they get into assault.

Elite

Sanguinary Priest

He rides in one of the Razorbacks to provide some durability to my scoring units should their transports get popped.

Chaplain

Turns the Death Company into absolute monsters on the charge and will join them in their Rhino.

Fast Attack

Baal Predator
TL Assault Cannons, Dozer Blade

The crucial support to my drop pod alpha strike, a scout move followed by a 12" move means he can be in range to support the drop pods on turn 1. The addition of another AV13 target to the mix also helps thin out the potential firepower on the rest of my guys. Depending on the situation I could also outflank it but that would depend on the situation (probably useful in a kill point mission)

So the general plan for this list is to advance the scoring troops behind a fairly offensive drop pod strike supported by the Baal. Their Razorback will provide supporting fire and the Death Company act as a deterrent to any nasty assault threat. The Tactical Squad are a utility scoring unit which help to keep me flexible.

What do you think?

Wound Allocation 101 - Wraparound Wounds

This came up on Thursday in my game against David but it also happened in a game I had ages ago against Graham's Eldar. The example I'm going to give is a real world example and it probably doesn't seem that useful but, remember, you only need one guy to control an objective.

The last two Space Marines in a squad get shot at by a Land Speeder Typhoon. They take two wounds from Krak Missiles and two wounds from Heavy Bolter fire.

When this happened to David, he went to pick up both models as the unit had suffered two AP3. However, the rules state that with four wounds to allocate to two models, each model must take two wounds but you get to decide which wounds to allocate. So, the solution is simple, allocate the two AP3 wounds to one guy. Yes, he's now dead twice over but you get to take two saves against the remaining guy.

As it turned out, he failed on of his saves and also died but with a bit more luck he would have survived and he would have been claiming an objective at the bottom of turn 5.

Of course if we look at this from the other side of things, it means that it's entirely possible to cause "too many" wounds to a squad. This is one of the reasons I like MSU, you're putting out less regular shots so there's less chance of your special shots wrapping around. Plus if you're shot back, the wounds wrap around quicker than with a big unit.

True

I'm not normally a frequent visitor to Blood of Kittens, but this post really spoke to me, especially the part about running out of ideas for your blog. When I first started this, I kind of assumed that battle reports would be quick and easy to write and that I'd always have loads of ideas for new missions and for stuff that needed mathammering but it's not quite worked out like that. I had a few day in France with work at the beginning of June and I've struggled a bit to get back into regular blogging. Plus, as I've mentioned, I've lost a bit of my passion for painting so I can't even post regular updates about that.

As the BOK post says it's important to have a plan for your blog and maybe I've strayed a bit from my intentions. So, I wanted to show the progression of my skills as a player and list builder by critiquing the stupid things that I do in games. I wanted to post some thoughts about rules that I sometimes either forget or misread. I also wanted to look at cold hard mathematics as a way of choosing targets and I wanted a painting log as I prepared for my first tournament. So, it's time to get back on track...

Clubbing Baby Seals

I feel so bad. As soon as I saw David's army list for this game I knew there was only going to be one outcome. Two 10-man Tactical Squads, a shooty Terminator Squad, Multimelta Dreadnought and a Power Sword wielding Captain. Someone definitely own Assault on Black Reach. Stelek often talks about Battleforce armies and this definitely felt like one of those even with the addition of 10 Assault Marines, a Command Squad, a Devastator Squad and a Rhino. Still you can only use what you have. Anyway, as per my previous after action reports, I want to go through yet more silly mistakes I made...


Suicide Dreadnought


At the minute he's far too suicide-y. Yes, I know that he'll die but I need to make it harder for my opponent to kill him. I really need more practise with exactly where to Drop Pod him and where to position him so that the Drop Pod will afford him some cover (or the enemy will have to move to shoot him and if they're doing that they're not moving towards the rest of my army)

Land Speeders

I'm still being far too aggressive with these guys. Even with a 4+ save from going flat out they can still be brought down by regular weapons fire. If they were being shot down by S8 or S9 weapons I could live with it since that would mean that said weapons wouldn't be firing at my Razorbacks. The Speeders are always going to attract a lot of firepower because they are so dangerous, I just need to make that work more to my advantage.

Looking at the other side of the table, I would have placed a combat squad of Tactical Marines with a Heavy Weapon on the objective in the ruin (we talked about this very point after the game, specifically how good a place it was for the objective and how crazy it was not to have claimed it from the off) The squad would have had a permanent cover save from any heavy weaponry I fired and I would probably have had to go over there and fight them off. I would have then placed another 5 man combat squad in the Rhino on the other objective in that table quarter. I would have backed this squad up with the Dreadnought and used the Assault Squad as a full 10 man unit speed bump. On the other flank, I'd have had a full 10 man Tactical Squad on the objective with the Command Squad screening them. That means that you're holding three objectives from pretty much turn 1 and I would have had to go and try and force him off at least one. It puts you more in control of the game and that is always a good thing.

Red Morning Light

"Nearly dawn," he thought, "the best time for war." Who was he kidding, he was a warrior in the Space Wolves, the 6th Legion, the Emperor's chosen and all times were a good time for war. Especially for battles like this. Space Marines were trying to set up a listening post to spy on Fenris. Well, there was no way that the Great Wolf would allow that. He had sent a strike force to fight off the enemy troops and destroy their equipment.

This is a 1500 point battle with 5 objectives and dawn of war deployment between my Space Wolves and David's Space Marines. He won the roll off and decided to go first. FYI, the 5th objective marker is in the corner of the ruin in the Space Marine deployment zone and isn't visible on any of the photos but it is there!

The Space Wolves hung back, like a hunting dog on a leash ready to be set upon their foes. Through the gloaming they could just about make out the outline of a Rhino in the distance and through the trees they could hear other troops moving about. So, the Marines had beaten them to the listening post. "Well, let's see how badly they want to keep it..."

Deployment:

Turn 1:

On the far side of the battlefield the Space Marines took up their positions, all slightly concerned by the fact that there were no enemy troops anywhere to be seen. Was this a trap? Their questions were soon answered as a Drop Pod landed in the middle of their lines and out strode a Dreadnought. With practised aim he fired upon the enemy Rhino but only succeeded in blowing off its Hunter Killer Missile. Behind him the rest of the Space Wolf army advanced, foregoing shooting in an attempt to reach their foes quicker.

End of Turn 1:

Turn 2:

The two Assault Squads lept forward ready to engage the Space Wolves. The Terminators moved up slowly behind them while on the other flank one of the Combat Squads of Tactical Marines prepared to capture the nearby objective. From the Rhino a Krak Missile ended the battle of the Dreadnought much to the relief of the rest of the squad inside. To their right the Dreadnought tried to fire at the Predator but his shot missed. The Devastator Squad was more accurate and managed to blow the Assault Cannons off one of the Razorbacks. The Combat Squad on the hill fired at the Long Fangs in the distance and managed to take out the Squad Leader. Meanwhile the Command Squad managed to bring down one of the fast moving Land Speeders.

The Space Wolf retaliation was swift and deadly. The Long Fangs wiped out the Tactical Squad that had shot at them while the Predator took out the enemy Dreadnought. Further firepower took out an Assault Marine, a member of the Command Squad and put a wound on the Space Marine Captain himself. The Fenrisian wolf pack attacked the other Assault Squad and managed to take out three of the jump packers. However they lost four wolves in return and were cut down as they tried to flee.

End of Turn 2:

Turn 3:

Once again the Space Marine shooting proved accurate if not completely deadly as a Razorback was Stunned and the 2nd Land Speeder was exploded. In Assault the 5 man Assault Squad charged the Lone Wolf and even though he managed to slay two of them he was brought down. The other squad found themselves just out of range of a charge into the Long Fangs and stood in the open hoping that the end would be quick.

However, the Long Fangs ignored the threat. They had been killing in the Emperor's long enough to be able to leave such a juicy target in preference of a more important one. They fired at the Tactical Squad that was making its way towards the nearest objective but only managed to cause a single wound. The other Tactical Squad took fire from the Predator and decided that discretion was the better part of valour and made a tactical retreat. The Rune Priest cast Murderous Hurricane on the Terminator Squad who managed to hold on in the teeth of the storm. The Assault Squad who had felled the Lone Wolf found themselves under fire and as the dust cleared only one of them remained.

End of Turn 3:

Turn 4:

The Tactical Squad recovered from the shock of their losses and rallied. In front of them the Terminators decided that trying to move in the Hurricane was far too dangerous and so stayed where they were. The Devastator Squad again fired on the Heavy Bolter Razorback but couldn't see through the smoke and all of their shots either missed or bounced harmlessly off the hull. The 2 man Assault Squad charged the Long Fangs but easily cut down for no loss by the wily old Space Wolves. The other Assault Marine tried to reach the relative safety of the ruins but misjudged his landing. Meanwhile the Command Squad managed to blow the Storm Bolter off the nearby Rhino.

The Predator took out another Tactical Marine while shear volume of fire took our three Terminators. The Long Fangs managed to take out another three Tactical Marines on their flank. Apart from the Lascannon Razorback at the rear of the field the rest of the army moved into position ready to capture another objective.

End of Turn 4:

Turn 5:

The Command Squad opened fire with their pistols at the Long Fangs but only killed a single heavy weapons trooper. The Meltagun armed Tactical Marine managed to prevent the Rhino from shooting while the Devastators blew the Heavy Bolters off the Razorback and immobilised it. However, these were futile victories as they could feel the Space Wolf noose tightening.

With just 3 Tactical Marines now sat on objectives the Space Wolves opened fire with everything that they had at them. The Long Fangs eradicated the last member of one squad while the other two Marines received fire from 10 Grey Hunters, a Rune Priest, a Land Speeder Typhoon and a Lascannon Razorback.

End of Turn 5:

The dice actually decreed that we would play another turn but with only one scoring unit left David very graciously admitted defeat.

The Space Wolves cheered as they watched the remains of the Space Marine force retreat. They could easily have followed them and cut them down to a man but letting them live served a greater purpose. The Space Marine Captain would have to file a report and that report would have to advise against ever entering Space Wolf space again. And if they didn't believe what he had written then he had the scars to prove just how foolish an idea it was.

Fear of the New

Tomorrow, I'm playing against a guy that I have never played against and I'm in a bit of a conundrum as to what kind of army to put together. We're playing at 1500 points and he plays Space Marines. I don't want to put together too strong a list in case he's either new or more of a fluffy gamer. Similarly I don't want too weak a list in case he turns up with a Vulkan or a tricked out Biker list. Okay, let's stick with the basis of most of my lists and then add some different elements into it:

Rune Priest, Chooser of the Slain, Living Lightning, Murderous Hurricane


5 Grey Hunters, Plasma Gun, Rhino


5 Grey Hunters, Meltagun, Razorback


5 Grey Hunters, Meltagun, Razorback, Twin Linked Assault Cannons


5 Grey Hunters, Razorback, Twin Linked Lascannons


Lone Wolf, Terminator Armour, Thunder Hammer, Storm Shield

2 Land Speeders, Multimelta, Heavy Flamer


6 Long Fangs, 4 Rocket Launchers, Lascannon, Rhino


So, this is the basis of most of my lists. After a complete fail on my part two weeks ago with the Long Fangs, I've brought them back in and given them some transport. This means I can deploy them out of the transport in a good position or keep them in the Rhino in case of Dawn of War so they can speed forward to grab a decent spot.

Now onto some different stuff:

Dreadnought, Multimelta, Drop Pod

Suicide Dread, he's here to target some AV14 and then probably get killed. If he stays alive he'll cause some havoc though. He didn't do very well last week but I'll try and drop him better this week.

Predator, Lascannon Sponsons

Some more mobile firepower.

10 Fenrisian Wolves

I talked about these guys a few weeks ago and then only used them once. Well, it's time to bring them back in. If there are any nasty Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield Terminators these guys can hopefully pin them down for a turn before dying and leaving the Termies out in the open to get shot to death.

Land Speeder Typhoon

Andy has very kindly agreed to lend me one of these little beauties. More S8 at range means more dead transports and that's always a good thing.

Well, it's a strong list but not an optimal one. Hopefully, it will win but also make a good game of it too.

Podcasts

For as long as I've been back into playing 40k I've been listening to some of the many Podcasts that are out there in the extended 40k community. Here's some information on the ones I like to listen to.

40K Radio : Currently off the air due to a long saga which I won't go into here. However, I hear that one of the sponsors, Battlefoam, is going to be buying the show, watch this space! This was the daddy of the 40k Podcasting scene, the older shows were great but it lost it's way somewhat in the most recent 10 shows or so. It's all still well worth a listen if you can find any of the old shows on iTunes or Podcast Alley. Typically the show would contain a "this week in gaming" section, codex overview, tactics and hobby tips along with beer fueled humor, interviews and contests.

The 11th Company : This is my favourite podcast at the moment, it's presented by a great panel of knowledgeable and experienced 40k players and is frequently insightful and genuinely interesting. Typically they focus on strategy and tactics and have regular interviews with players from all over the world. They are also doing a fortnightly codex countdown ranking the strength of the codices from weakest to strongest.

I think the thing which really makes this podcast stand out from the crowd is the professional way in which it is presented and the way that they truly appreciate the impact of a local meta-game on how we listeners relate to their experiences. You have to listen to an episode or two to appreciate this; when I first listened to it I, and quite a few other listeners, just could not believe that they did not rate Predators or Landspeeders. However because they broadcast and eloquently justified their position in relation how how their game is played locally it has really opened up my eyes to the fact that there a real differences in the way 40K is played both nationally and internationally.

A very worthwhile way to spend your time!

World's End Radio : This is an Australian Podcast and it covers all of the Games Workshop games, including Blood Bowl and other specialist games. Luke and JJ, the hosts, are very entertaining and the podcast is always interesting and stays focused. They frequently record at tournaments and interview the players and tournament winners. Their insights into the Australian tournament scene, with particular reference to how the composition system works over there, are very interesting and they've also done some good hobby features that are worth a listen.

40K Warcasting : I would say this is one of the more easy listening podcasts, the mood is light, the show is split into three or four distinct sections and the hosts, Kelly and Shrek, stay focused on the topic in hand. It makes for a very enjoyable and entertaining listen, it's not the most informative of the podcasts but you won't mind.

Dice Like Thunder : A purely 40k focused podcast with probably the coolest name of our group and certainly one of the better ones to listen to. The presentation is generally good, though the conversation can, and does, board the off-topic train at regular intervals which will probably lead to you getting confused occasionally. It also makes the podcast a lot longer than is strictly necessary but as I have a relatively long commute I really don't mind that!

I think the hosts could be seen as somewhat polarizing, I know I've sat there listening to their conversations thinking that they really don't know what they are talking about which is a concern when they pitch themselves as competent tournament-style players. However, my recently acquired appreciation of local meta-games has allowed me to mellow on these issues a bit, and while they do get some things wrong, it's only very occasionally. Frankly we all get things wrong from time-to-time but most of us are fortunate enough not to do it on the record!

Again this is worth a listen but if you're easily offended or highly opinionated you may want to skip it. I should also mention that they have a very good website and forum with a number of home-brew rules developments to bring the older codexes up to date.

Imperial Vox Cast : I find this to be very similar to Dice Like Thunder (DLT) but again, thanks to the differences in their local play-styles it comes at similar topics from a different enough angles to make it a worthy addition to your podcast library. I think that these guys are slightly less opinionated than the DLT crew but really there's not a lot in it, the production quality is fair and the show, while broken up into two or three sections, frequently loses it's structure which can make the discussions hard to follow. Generally though I pick up something interesting from every episode I listen to and the hosts keep the show entertaining so you don't mind the frequent tangents!

The D6 Generation : Not a 40k podcast, they refer to themselves as a general gaming podcast, but, in my opinion, one of the finest podcasts out there full stop. The hosts, Russ, Rafe and Craig are really entertaining and very knowledgeable, they each have their own editorial segments, they review a game (usually a board game) every episode, there are guest sections and typically do a section or two on something relating to gaming in general like technology for example.

A really good podcast and very entertaining with occasional references to 40k!

There are some new kids on the 40k block which I'm going to check out soon, if you want to go take look you can find out more about them at the links below:

The Gamer's Lounge
Tabletop Hooligans
The Independent Characters

Slow Progress

Well, after last week's lethargy, I actually got up off my backside and did a bit of painting today. It was only some base coating on a couple of Razorbacks but it's better than nothing. I think I felt a bit inspired by the fact I'd tried something a bit different with my army list last week, so maybe part of it was that I was stuck in a bit of a rut. Hopefully though this will be more like me getting into a groove. I've still got a couple of Rhinos/Razorbacks to base coat so I'll try and get them sorted this week. Ooh, that's not far off being one of those painting pledges that other, more reputable blogs use.