Sidetrack: Warmachine Update

To make it a bit easier to find and refer too, I thought I would use Age's method and keep a static post and link to it.

Update: Models are based and primed. Oh, and if you notice holes in some of the bases, those are for my painting stands. They will be filled in later.

http://op40k.blogspot.com/2000/12/sidetrack-warmachine-progress-pictures.html

or you can click on the Sidetrack: Warmachine lable to the right

Thanks,
Ash

My thoughts on the new Tyranids

I'm usually slow to voice my thoughts on a new dex before I've played it (Or before it's been officially released). However, I'm always semi-curious on how my thoughts before play testing stacks up to post-play testing...so I wanted to get this out before confirmation bias reforges my memory. Here we go;

Strengths of the codex:

HQ:
Heavy VC Hive Tyrant w/ Tyrant Guard
Tervigons
Alpha Warrior

Elite:
Hive Guard
Zoanthropes
Ymgarl Genestealers

Troops:
Death Spitter Warriors
Termagaunts

Heavy:
Trygon/Mawlocs


Here is why I think the above:

Tervigons: Make 3d6 Gaunts each turn (yeah really), synapse range of 18" with Ld. 10. Grants special powers to nearby gaunts/units (Like FNP!), 6 wounds with T6...and he's cheaper than a squad of marines. Expect to see this...a lot.

Alpha Warrior: Better than a SM Captain at a cheaper cost, has access to very cheap upgrades...and can lead any unit. Gaunts with FNP, Furious Charge and this guy leading the bunch. Natural T5 too with multi-wound stat line, so piss off Power Fist. Expect to see this guy leading Gaunts near you.

Hive Guard: The answer to transports for Nids. Str. 8 Weapons that don't need line of sight and decent range....on a T6, multi-wound, cover save getting (yeah infantry class, so gaunts give them cover) chassis. Oh and BS 4. So a unit of 3 puts out 6 Str. 8 shots to pop rhinos.

Zoanthropes: I think (I'll need to do the math on this) that their Str. 10 Lance AP1 shots are better at popping tanks than melta in double dice range. Again, BS 4. Oh and they have a 3++ and can ride in pods. What Land Raider? :)

Ymgarl Genestealers: They have the rules the Lictors should have (No scatter DS, move AND assault the turn they come in. Stealers still beat face and this stealer species has 4+ saves... so this could be a fun unit...but the elite section has a lot of competition. Still a good unit.

Death Spitter Warriors: Good fire-base (A max unit will put out 27 Str. 5 shots!) and they score. They die pretty damn easy losing eternal warrior...but if they are shooting their Warriors with that kind of weaponry the rest of your monsters are safe. Put them in cover, squat and shoot.

Termagaunts: Stealers die too easy now with a 5+ and spike rifles can be decent.

Trygon: Beat stick and deep strikes. You get a turn to shoot it before it starts eating your army (that your Hive Guard just popped out of their metal boxes). He scares my marines.

Mawloc: Pops up like the Trygon then vomits a St. 6 AP2 large blast on you. Oh, he's not much weaker than the Trygon in HTH. And can reburrow to do it again. And has Hit and Run. And is the same cost as a Carnifex. Yeah really.


So there are the units that jump out at me. Honestly, I wanted to do a shooting army like Tau...but damn Nids can be shooty now! Plus, you don't have to ride around in your damn tank all game to only move your troops one shooting phase before they get beat in the head. I'm seriously (I know this will make Mike laugh) considering making a shooty Nid army....if anything just to buck the status quo of HTH Nids and stay away from Transport/Troop 40k.

Any thoughts?

Sidetrack: Warmachine

As if we didn't have a million projects going already, Age has talked me in to giving this game a try. To be perfectly honest, for some reason I had low expectations about this game. After reading the MkII rules and actually trying the game out, my opinion has changed. Warmachine has a genuine strategic depth and I would have to say that the game is more chess-like than other miniature games on the market, but more fun.

Ok, so now I’m in, but which army? Two in our small group already have Warmachine armies, one Cryx and the other, Cygnar. I wanted to field something different so that narrowed the choice between Protectorate of Menoth and Khador, well there is Hordes but I like the looks of Warjacks. Using the Privateer Press online galleries, I found that I liked the looks and color scheme of the Protectorate. That decided I placed a couple of orders and bought some stuff off of eBay. Merry Christmas to me!

So now I have these models:

Grand Scrutator Severius
Avatar of Menoth
Blessing of Vengeance
Revenger
Exemplar Bastions
Daughters of the Flame
Choir of Menoth
Hierophant
Vassal of Menoth x2
Wracks
Covenant of Menoth
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord

All are assembled and based except for the Bastions (process of), Choir and Severius. The Bastions should be based soon, but I need a five more bases to complete the rest. Then I will be ready to prime if the weather cooperates. At that point I will begin posting pictures to chart my progress.

More to come,
Ash

More photos of our armies, added some of our Chaos

Slowly adding more photos. I imagine we'll each add more of our army shots over time...

You can find our army photos to the right under 'Our Army Photos' or direct linkage to the chaos update is here;

AshAxe 40k Chaos

AgeOfEgos 40k Chaos

Slowly will be adding photos....

Eventually, I'll upload photos of our armies on here (Ash Loyalists/Chaos, my Loyalist/Chaos, etc). Unfortunately, I'm not very good with Blogger yet ;). So, here is a start

AgeOfEgos Loyalists

AshAxes Loyalists


I plan on adding this to the side bar as well so users can easily see our armies with a click. The only method I can figure out is to make a list of links to the right, which will redirect to posts that I artificially age (So they can remain static). However....if any Blogger gurus out there have any other tips I'm all ears :).

Ryan

My Scars List for Adepticon Take 2

Well, after a few games now I've altered my list a bit and it's feeling more optimized. I was concerned with light armor, as I didn't want my Heresy Bikes/Thunder Cav being fed light vehicles then spammed with plasma cannons or what have you once they were piled up. So...las cannons were in order! I have melta to cover the heavies but felt I needed something to reach out for light armor. Devs/Long Fangs are out, as that goes against my theme of Scars (all mounted). So what about utility Preds, with a single twin-linked las? Fits the Scars fluff of no side sponsons on their Preds, keeps them pretty cost efficient and gives me some range light AT;



Wolf Lord
--Heresy Bike (Counts as ThunderCav)
--Storm Shield
--Wolf Claw
--Runic Armor
--Warrior Born

Wolf Guard Pack
--One with combi-melta and Thunder Hammer
--One with combi-melta and Thunder Hammer
--One with combi-melta


Grey Hunter/Scars Tac Squad (Wolf Guard with combi/Thunder hammer goes here)
--9 strong with melta
--Rhino

Grey Hunter/Scars Tac Squad (Wolf Guard with combi/Thunder hammer goes here)
--9 strong with melta
--Rhino

Grey Hunter/Scars Tac Squad (Wolf Guard with combi melta goes here)
--5 strong with melta
--Rhino

Heresy Bike Squad (Thunder Cav counts as) 5 strong
--1 storm shield with melta bombs
--1 storm shield
--1 Thunder Hammer
--1 with melta bombs
--1 with nothing extra

Heresy Bike Squad (Thunder Cav counts as) 5 strong
--1 storm shield with melta bombs
--1 storm shield
--1 Thunder Hammer
--1 with melta bombs
--1 with nothing extra

1 Predator with twin-linked las cannon
1 Predator with twin-linked las cannon
1 Predator with twin-linked las cannon



Plan is preds open up light armor for my Heresy Bike Squads to eat whatever is inside. By the way, many thanks to Blackmoor for talking me into spending some points these guys in the form of shields/unique war-gear. Five T5, unique allocation, two wound models with 3++s....yeah they are a brick.

I have a sac melta squad in the form of the 5 man tac squad with Wolf Guard. 2 melta shots from the rhino port and if I lose them, it's only 130ish points. The Heresy bikes move up behind the smoke popping rhinos. That leaves me 20 marines with two Thunder Hammers as backup to 10 counts as Thunder Cav. It's seemed pretty solid in play test so far, guess we'll see again this weekend.

Only thing I'm concerned about is my Wolf Lord. It's going to be a counts as Khan Primarch...so obviously I want him to be a barney....but he's weighing in at 250 points! The games I've played with him he's absolutely tore up...but still 250 points! :)

Thoughts?

So how to arm my Grey Hunter Squads....musings on the new Space Wolf Codex

Well, as you can see from the below posts I'm slowly constructing a list for my Scars based on the new Wolf dex. While I think I've got a nice Cav list down, I'm still debating on my Grey Hunter squads. Basically, I want to add a Power Fist to my squad (As Ash has finally convinced me that you need a PF) but I'm not thrilled with a one attack Power Fist. With most things needing 4's to hit with your Power Fist, one attack just doesn't cut it.

So, for those unfamiliar with Space Wolves, the new dex allows you to attach a Wolf Guard leader (Elite choice) to each Grey Hunter squad if you wish, which has benefits as I'll list below....and downsides. If a Grey Hunter squad numbers 10 then you get a free second special....but if you attach a Grey Hunter to a squad of 10 you obviously can't jump in a rhino! So there's the rub if you want to mech up----2nd free special or Wolf Guard Leader? Same basic math first;

Grey Hunter:
Base cost 15 points
Power Fist 25 points
Total 40 points for a Grey Hunter with a Power Fist

Wolf Guard:
Base cost 18 points
Power Fist 20 points
Total 38 points for a Wolf Guard with a Power Fist

So you can see, that due to their cheaper Power Fist the Wolf Guard are actually cheaper than a nilla Grey Hunter. What how do the other benefits/drawbacks play out for Wolf Guard?

Pros:
9 Leadership compared to the GH 8. This allows counter-attack to go off more routinely and obviously helps with pinning/rally tests.
2 Attacks instead of 1. This means if someone charges you they'll be getting 3 Power Fists to their face.
2 points cheaper

Cons:
Giving up 2nd special weapon from the GH squad.


Now, considering the proliferation of mech armies that 2nd melta is pretty required in certain situations. So, I'm considering a compromise...taking a Wolf Guard with Power Fist and combi-melta. This only allows a one time shot with the 2nd melta which means I'll need to be conservative with when I use it. This also raises his cost slightly (43 points now compared to the GH 40) but I think his other benefits are worth those three points. Counter-Attack is pretty reliable at Ld 8 but it's really solid at Ld 9 (84ish% of the time will go off). There seems to be more and more pinning too in 5th, likely due to the multiple tests...so I grab what Ld I can. I also get 2 PF attacks base instead of 1, which on average equates to at least 1 hit.

So, in summary I'm going to run the Wolf Guard Leader in each squad with PF/Combi-Melta for now. Another option I muse over is saying to hell with a one shot combi....and taking two Fists! This would give me 4 PF attacks if I charge or get charged...and 3 base! In my normal Celestial Lion foot army, I do this with Terminator Wolf Guard leaders (They are actually cheaper than a dual PF power armor Wolf Guard, go figure). This army is Scars though, so born in the saddle, everyone gets a ride, etc...so no go there. Thoughts?

Adepticon 2010

Since Age posted his list I thought I would do the same. I plan on using my Chaos Marines and the only restriction I am going to use is......no lash! That's right, I'm going to leave arguably the best piece of war-gear in the codex on the bench. So with that, here's is my first draft:

1850 Pts - Chaos Marines Roster - Adepticon List 2010

HQ: Abaddon the Despoiler @ 275 pts

5 Khorne Berzerkers @ 105 pts

Chaos Land Raider @ 250 pts Daemonic Possession; Combi-melta

HQ: Daemon Prince @ 200 pts Wings; Mark of Tzeentch; Bolt of Change; Warptime

7 Plague Marines @ 284 pts Personal Icon; Meltagun x2;
1 Plague Champion with Power Fist
1 Rhino

7 Thousand Sons @ 286 pts
1 Aspiring Sorcerer with Bolt of Change and Meltabombs
1 Rhino

3 Obliterators @ 225 pts

3Obliterators @ 225 pts

Total Roster Cost: 1850

This is the list I will begin play-testing. Thousand Sons are a unit I want so much to like, but I have a sneaking suspicion I will be trading them out for another unit of Plague Marines. This list is also a departure for me because of how few troops I have. It doesn't seem right but I want to get out of my safety zone a bit.

I'll keep you posted.

Ash

Adepticon List...maybe

So I'll be going, along with Ash to Adepticon this year. Last year we participated in the Team Tournament (As Team Opposing Forces, go figure). This year we're not doing the team tournament again but instead will be competing in the 40k Championships and Combat Patrol. Last year we used Combat Patrol as an ice breaker for Adepticon (Our first trip) and it proved great fun. Strange enough, out of a pool of 90 or so players and only three games....we ended up paying each other :). So, we naturally tied...considering we practiced our lists against each other this wasn't a tremendous shocker. Still, it was good fun.

Anyways, I plan on doing a heresy era army this year and will likely use the Wolves dex. I really think the Wolf dex captures the way Marines are meant to be played...and vanilla Marines are just plain boring after using this dex. I think I'm going the Scars route for my heresy army, with Custodes allies (Grey Knights)..... but will be doing mixed mech. I could do all bikes but reading up on the Scars, I learned they actually use all mech (Mounted only)....not really all bikes. So, Dreads and Long Fangs are out and everything needs a ride. Here is my first trial list;


The Great Khan
--Wolf Lord with Wolf Claw (Scimitar)
--Thunder-Wolf Mount (Heresy Jetbike)
--Runic Armor
--Warrior Born

5 Grey Knights
--Incinerator
--Brother Captain has Hood

10 White Scars (Grey Hunters)
--Melta
--Melta
--One model with dual chain swords (Mark of Wulfen)
--One model with Power Fist
--Mounted in Rhino

10 White Scars (Grey Hunters)
--Melta
--Melta
--One model with dual chain swords (Mark of Wulfen)
--One model with Power Fist
--Mounted in Rhino

10 White Scars (Grey Hunters)
--Melta
--Melta
--One model with Power Fist
--Mounted in Rhino

7 Relic Heresy Jet bikes (Wulfen Cav)
--One Thunder Hammer
--One Storm Shield
--One Melta Bomb

Custodes Land Raider
--EA
--Smoke Launchers


So, 1848. Plan is pretty simple, advance Rhinos/Land Raider with Khans Heresy Jet-Bike squad trailing. On the next turn, I can split into three combat blocks (Khan----Custodes Term----Jet-Bike/ThunderWulf squad) or stay into two mass blocks. So two hammers, followed up by 30 Marines with counter-attack/meltas and power fists.

I have some psychic defense with the Ld. 10 Super Hood ™. I should be able to handle hordes fairly well and have two hammers for elite HTH units. Only thing that concerns me is a Chimera congo line, as my firepower is midfield. Then again, I don't care if I lose against IG quickly...as I find them rather boring to play against ;). I guess I'll have more time to get another drink if I face that list.

My Celestial Lions Relic Bike Squad *Counts as Thunderwolf Cav*

Well, I've seen several posts concerning the new SW Thunderwolf Cav and considering I'm building my Lions around that dex.....and Thunderwolf Cav are so good, time to use something as a counts as. First, I can't get behind Astartes riding animals. I'm not knocking anyone that does it, I simply can't get on board. I even toyed around with the idea of doing Lion riding Astartes for my Celestial Lions....but I knew the He-Man jokes would be incoming! So, I decided I would use Relic Bikes as my counts as (Graciously converted by AshAxe). Initially, these were going to be used for another purpose and still will be...but that project is quite a bit out and I had to use the designs! So, here is my explanation;

Celestial Lion Relic Pride

The Celestial Lion Relic Pride rides extremely rare and sought after jet-bikes from the Heresy era. They are only called up in the most dire of circumstances by the Lion Chapter Master and one of these instances was during the Chaos Siege of the Lions Fortress Hive City. During this long campaign the Relic Pride was extremely battered and many of the rare bikes were damaged and lost but many believe it was their stalking counter-attacks that saved the city. Wave after wave of Chaos were turned back by their sudden swooping attacks and their deeds are still told to aspiring Astartes to this day.

The Bikes are rather unique in their operation and require a great deal of training to operate. The riders of these rare bikes have so honed their skills, the bike is basically an extension of their body thus they receive 4 base attacks. They are armed with a Lion Claw, which normally ignores armor saves but due to the awkward nature of operating the bike while attacking, only confers rending to the rider. Unlike conventional bikes, the Relic bikes require some time to attain speed but are devastating once they attain momentum and rather hardy to damage. Thus, the Relic bikes only move 6 inches in the movement phase but may fleet an additional 6 inches. In addition, the Relic bikes get a full 12 inch assault!

Fluff aside, the Lion Relic Pride follows all of the rules of Thunder-Wolf Cavalry.




So, instead of finding wolves or other animals to ride...I think it would be fun to think of technological counts as for Thunder-Wolf Cavalry as well. Considering how good this unit will be on the table-top, I'm sure we'll see some pretty unique counts-as coming from the net soon.

Cheers,
Ryan

Chaos vs. the Celestial Lions (With new Space Wolf Codex test)

Well, Mike and I decided to give the new Space Wolf dex another whirl this past weekend. It was his Chaos vs. my Celestial Lions (Counts as SW). I ran a different list this time around and made a few elite units of Wolfguard with my counts-as Logan. Mike ran his typical Chaos list, with a few variants thrown in (One of these variants played a major role!). Our army lists;

My Army:

HQ

Logan

Rune priest

Elite

Two Lone Wolves, both equipped with Storm Shield, Chainfist and Terminator Armor

Troops

8 Wolf Guard in rhino with 4 combi-meltas and a power fist.

9 Wolf Guard Terminators with Storm Bolter/Storm Shields (A few with dual power fists). One assault cannon.

10 Grey Hunters with Banner, melta-gun, flamer and one model with the Mark of Wulfen in Rhino

Fast Attack

2 Land Speeders with MM/Heavy Flamer

2 Land Speeders with MM/Heavy Flamer

Heavy Support

4 Las Cannon Long Fangs, 1 Heavy Bolter Long Fang

Predator with Autocannon and Heavy Bolters

Idea was to plant Logan in Long Fangs, giving them Tank Hunters or Relentless as needed, pop armor with the Land Speeders/Long Fangs and gobble whatever was inside.

Mike’s Army:

HQ

Daemon Prince of Tzeentch with Wings, Warptime and Gift of Chaos

Daemon Prince of Slaanesh with Wings and Lash

Greater Daemon

Troops

9 Zerks, one with power fist, Rhino

10 Plague Marines, melta-gun x 2, rhino

10 Plague Marines, flamer, melta-gun, power fist, rhino

6 Noise Marines, Blast Master

Heavy Support

3 Oblits

3 Oblits

We decided to play a non-standard mission this week and tried one of the 40K Fight Club’s missions; Recover and Reclaim. This mission had a primary, secondary and tertiary as follows;

Primary: Each time a model ends its move in a piece of terrain, roll a d6. On a 5-6 that is the ‘objective’ terrain for the game. Normal rules to control at end.

Secondary: Recover a captured model in the enemy deployment zone

Tertiary: Kill points for vehicles/monstrous creatures only

I won the roll off and decided to setup and go first. I normally think ‘going second is the new going first’ but given that I had the ability to move my Fangs if necessary and wanted a chance to pop pre-smoke armor…I opted for 1^st turn. I setup in a solid line across the board with the quickest elements of my army on the flanks in case I needed to redeploy and my ‘power units’ in the middle of the board.

Mike blew my theory of popping armor all to hell by opting to setup almost all of his army in reserve. The only units setup where 3 Obliterators, a Plague Marine Rhino with Champion carrying Greater Daemon and a unit of Noise Marines behind his bastion. Our setups;

Celestial Lions Turn 1:

After Mike failed to seize, I began my first turn. On my right flank, I advanced my GH Rhino along with the 4 speeders. On the left flank, my Wolf Guard Rhino advanced along with my two Lone Wolves. My shooting phase was rather disappointing, as my 4 Land Speeders only managed to kill 1 of the Obliterators while my Predator wounded another. Logan gave my Fangs relentless to gain LOS to the Nurgle Rhino but fared little better and only immobilized the lone Nurgle Rhino.

Chaos Turn 1:

Mike advanced the two Obliterators and blew one of the closest speeders up. The Plague Marines piled out of the immobilized rhino and advanced, blowing up another speeder. The immobilized Nurgle Rhino glanced another speeder, removing its ability to shoot. As a side note, Mike’s Chaos Rhinos must spend the afterlife (Or undead life) practicing shooting speeders…because their ability to rhino/bolter a speeder is uncanny. Mike played aggressive here and instead of hiding in the bastion, advanced the Noise Marines around it to unleash a flurry of shots on my Fangs. Dice didn’t favor the aggressiveness however and he failed to wound a single Fang.

Celestial Lions Turn 2:

I advanced my GH rhino, popping the hatch and killing a couple of Plague Marines. My Wolf Guard Terminators advanced on the hill, downing another from their assault cannon. Logan gave the Fangs relentless again and walked over to gain LOS to the remaining Oblits, finishing them. One of my Lone Wolves was in assault phase and grabbed the noise marines, killing 3. They passed their fearless.

Chaos Turn 2:

Mike had some good reserve rolls, gaining his Zerks, the Tzeentch Daemon Prince, his Greater Daemon and Plague Marines. This left his Oblits and Slaanesh Prince in reserve. The Tzeentch Prince moved onto the board and promptly turned my Lone Wolf, who was trying to redeem his unit and himself in battle……into a farking spawn. Well, there goes restoring honor eh? Your battle brothers die, you try to make up for it…then get turned into a pile of goo that begins beating on your other battle brothers. It's GRIMDARK! Anyways, this saved his Noise Marines (Which was big for the blastmaster guy later). The Plague Marines on foot advanced and blew up my Grey Hunter Rhino, killing a marine. At the end of movement…the bastion turned up to the main objective.

Celestial Lions Turn 3:

Well that sucked. My Lone Wolf was now a blob beating on my Wolf Guard Rhino and there was a lot of power on the board. I was hoping for bad reserve rolls….but alas no hope. In addition, Mike had all his power next to the bastion objective, not good. Logan gave the Fangs relentless again and between their shooting with the Predator, downed the Prince! This put me back in the game, even though I had lost a Lone Wolf to the damn bird. My other Lone Wolf failed his terrain test and gave the Noise Marines another round of shooting. I went ahead and assaulted the foot Plague Marines, to save myself attacks in his following turn. We tied combat thanks to Mike’s incredibad rolling.

Chaos Turn 3:

Mike’s Plague Marines on my left flank got out of their Rhino and advanced on my Wolf Guard Rhino. His other group of Oblits showed and icon’d off the Zerk Rhino, huddling the bastion. Between the Plague Marines and Oblits he managed to blow my Wolf Guard Rhino, which opened them to assault. The Blast Master Noise Marine nailed my fangs, killing two and wounding Logan (He took one for the team). The Greater Daemon assaulted my WG…and I managed to fail 4 Storm Shield saves. In return I did 3 wounds and my Wolf Guard Terms stuck. The Plague Marines and the once Lone Wolf/now Spawn assaulted my Wolf Guard/Lone Wolf. This combat actually went well for me, as my Lone Wolf killed 3 of the Plague Marines before dying in glory…and my Wolf guard killed the spawn while losing 3 of their number Mike lost yet another Plague Marine to fearless saves.

Celestial Lions Turn 4:

Logan once again gave relentless to the Fangs, which moved back on the hill and killed 2 of the 3 Oblits left and wounded the 3^rd. My speeders managed to down two of the 3 remaining Noise Marines (blast master still there!). My Wolf Guard Terms finished the Greater Daemon this turn and consolidated towards the left flank bastion. My Wolf Guard in the middle traded blows with the Plague Marines, each losing a couple. My Grey Hunters on the right flank did well this turn, with my Mark of Wulfen Hunter putting out 6 attacks and downing 3 Plague Marines! Odd to win combat with Marines against Plague Marines…

Chaos Turn 4:

Mike’s Super Rhinos ™ continued their speeder death toll and downed another of my Speeders (Immobilization so it settled on the hill). His Slaanesh Prince came on this turn and lashed my Wolf Guard back 4 inches (This would be a crucial 4 inches though!). The damn Noise Marine Blast Master managed to kill another Long Fang this turn as well. The Zerks finally got out of their rhino and proceeded to roll 1,234 dice and tore my Wolf Guard in half.

Celestial Lions Turn 5:

Well, I figured time to focus fire on the remaining troops Mike had. I doubted my Wolf Guard Terminators would last so I could at least take away the main objective from him as well. Some very poor rolling this turn though, as between two speeders, my Long Fangs and a Predator I only managed to kill 4 Zerks and a Noise Marine. In addition, my remaining Wolf Guard Terminators failed their terrain roll (By an inch!) and didn’t assault the Plague Marines. Again, that lash from the prior turn proved costly. On the bright side, my Grey Hunters finished the Plague Marines on the right flank and consolidated towards the left.

Chaos Turn 5:

Mike really tore up this turn and lashed my Wolf Guard into the Prince, the Plague Marines and remaining Zerks, killing all. Mike had removed all of my troops now, except the squad way down at the south of the table. Grabbing the bastion looked pretty grim (As did the game overall!). The remaining Oblit killed another Long Fang to add insult to injury.

Celestial Lions Turn 6:

Well, my RunePriest failed his second Perils this turn and his head exploded. So my turn began with the proverbial ‘bang’. I split Logan from the Fangs this turn and charged the remaining Zerks, killing them all. The Fangs and remaining speeders failed to inflict a single wound on the remaining Plague Marines (Which had a damn melta gun in it). Logan only had two wounds and was in the open, not good. The Grey Hunter group moved up and bolter’d the Prince, along with the Predator inflicting a single wound.

Chaos Turn 6:

The Oblit fired at Logan this turn….hit…..rolled a 1 to wound! The Plague Marines begin falling back to the bastion and pumped a melta shot into Logan, along with some bolter wounds. Some tense rolling but Logan managed to make it out with one last wound. Slaanesh went after the remaining Grey Hunters and killed a few. They tried to run but were caught, suffered another wound.

Celestial Lions and Chaos Last Turn:

I’ll combine our turns on this one, as Logan finished the Plague Marines and the Prince finished the Grey Hunter squad. Not a troop for either side left on the field. I had Logan with one wound, a Predator and 2 Long Fang las cannons. Mike had a Slaanesh Prince with two wounds, an Oblit with a wound and 2 Rhinos.

End Result:

Primary: Nobody claimed

Secondary: Nobody claimed

Tertiary: 4-2 Chaos

Chaos win!

My Thoughts (Celestial Lions):

Well, another real bloodbath. I really like the way the new marine dex plays. Can get in their face to rapid fire and not flinch so badly when counter-charged. Mark of the Wulfen definitely seems worth it after 3 games now and the squad banner gave me boost in combat as well. I’m not so keen on the Wolf Guard Terminators though, albeit I saved all my storm shield saves. Dual fists put out the hurt but I think burying them in 18 point power armor Wolf Guard units or perhaps lending them to foot Grey Hunters is the way to go. I’ll experiment with that this weekend.

They definitely don’t mech as well as Vanilla Marines. My Vulkan lists feel more powerful when played but are MUCH more boring compared to this dex. Sit in a rhino and melta marines are only fun for a few games….

I don’t know if the Long Fang + Logan combo is worth it. Yeah they put out the hurt this game but for their cost….they should! Oh well, it was a blast of a game even though I lost. Real nail biter with a lot of dice being tossed…kind of the reason we play the game….

Mike's Thoughts (Chaos):

That, was a really fun game. I really like facing off against the new Space Wolves codex. If I feel the need to field my Castellans again, I may play them as Space Wolves for the same reason I liked Chaos over Vanilla Marines; the ability to mix it up in close combat. Space Wolves can really dish out the pain.

From the beginning of this game, I felt as though I was back-pedaling. My initial plan was to load the left flank and take out the speeders as quickly as possible. First turn went well enough for me with what I had on the table. The objective popping early changed my plans and my units on the left were on their own. I reinforced the objective and towards the end I felt the momentum shift in my favor but only slightly. The primary objective did really come down to weather I could take out Logan in my shooting phase to allow my last unit of PM's to run to the objective. Alas, that wasn't to be and so my last turn I went after the tertiary objective.

About my Force:

I don't know if I like the Greater Demon over a Champion with a powerfist. I had to start a unit of Plague marines on the table to make sure I had a vessel on the table in case I got him on turn 2 which was the case. I also really missed that powerfist in that plague marine squad as that unit didn't have the punch it usually has and led to their demise. But the Greater Demon did do admirably tying up Ryan's terminators for a couple of turns, buying me some much needed time, and thinning down the squad. Jury is still out as I need to play a few more games with him before passing judgement.

Gift of Chaos. Could be over-the-top powerful but I like Bolt of Change for the ability to pop a transport then assault with my Daemon Prince, which I have actually even done with land raiders on a couple of occasions. Still, worth playing around with some more.

Overall, my list(s) really lacks shooting. With only three shooting units total, I tend to rely on close combat heavily. I don't want to add another unit of Oblits as that is kind of bland, effective, but bland. I do have a Vindicator but my success with it has been almost nill except versus Tyranids. I may have to try out a Defiler now......

Thanks for the Report and game,

Mike

As an aside, if anyone has an opinion of how better for us to present the reports (narrative style vs. story-style, pictures, etc) feel free to share in the comments. Thanks for reading.

Ryan

Space Wolves! (Or in my case, Celestial Lions)

Well, I played a game versus Ash this weekend with the new Space Wolves Codex rules (As in the title, I ran my Celestial Lions). We played 2k/each with his standard Chaos Force versus my first list with the pups and it's really a shame we didn't photograph/report it. Very close game with alot of models getting removed, one of those games that reminds you why you play. Anyways, I thought I would share my thoughts on the new dex with a mini-review.

First, fluff/theme/fun factor. This is a great codex for all of the before mentioned. I can see many different builds coming out of the dex with some terrific modeling opportunity all around. Beast armies, pod armies, mech armies, custom Wolf Lords, etc.....it's all in there. Truly a variety of options.

As to the units, until I play more with the dex I'll simply write about what I tried and my experience with those specific units. No theory hammer, this is my reactions to how they performed. Also, I played pod Wolves....so keep in mind the weakness of pod vs. mech. My list(s)

Stormcaller

Wolf Guard w/ 5 Combi-Meltas + 4 dual wolf claws
Lone Wolf
Vanilla Dread w/ Asscannon

GH x 10 w/ flamer/melta, one Mark of Wulfen
GH x 10 w/ flamer/melta, one Mark of Wulfen
GH x 8 w/ melta, one Powerfist

2 Speeders w/ MM/Heavy Flamer
2 Speeders w/ MM/Heavy Flamer

6 Long Fangs w/ Heavy Bolter x 3, MM x 2

All in pods


My thoughts;

StormCaller Special; A bucket of points (270!)...and I lost him. First, I lost a wound to Perils (When you sling two powers each turn, it's bound to happen) and second was to close combat (This was partly my fault in being two aggressive). Still, the guy only has 2 wounds ...so while I think he'll be pretty standard in most Wolf lists...I'm not in complete awe yet. If you do take him, make him a beacon for his passive power...and not much else. Two wounds isn't much to protect a 270 pt investment. Again however, I think he'll be in most 2k+ lists.

Logan; I'm actually quite pleased with Logan. Although he too costs a bucket of points, he gives so much to the army there is strong argument for taking him. Wolf Guard as troops, fairly tough (only 3 wounds though!)...but he performed well in my game. He also grants a vet skill to the unit he's with, so I'm musing about Long Fangs with relentless. Still, only 2k+...as he's not the force multiplier Vulkan is. You can actually make a meaner beatstick from a Vanilla Wolf Lord too....

WolfGuard: Rock solid. 18 pt 2 attacks with 5 pt combis? Yeah, I'll take 10. I ran a melta combi unit with 4 wolf claws buried...and they were my MVPs. Took a unit of Plague Marines + a unit of Zerks and were only finished by a Tzeentch Prince. They'll be a permanent place in my force. However, they can eat points quickly....Thunder/Shield terms are out unless that's all you want to play with. Maybe a couple in the unit...but still a major point sink. Definitely worth musing over and taking.

Lone Wolf: AWESOME! This guy cleaned up in both games I took him. Charge from a unit of Zerks? Still there. Charge from Plague marines? Still there. Next game vs. Tau...unit of crisis unloading on him? Still there. He is an absolute rock and I'll be taking two for my other elites. Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield= 2+ save, 3+ inv, 4+ FNP w/ two wounds, rerolls against MC. All for much less than a Dread. Plus the modeling opportunity.....

Grey Hunters: They were hyped and I think that while they won't live up to the hype...they are solid. Still can't hang with elites/cult troops but they don't simply fold like vanilla marines. After playing them, I think there is no middle ground on these guys. Either go big with Mark of Wulfen, Power-Fist + 2 specials or go small with 5 and a melta. Regardless, they performed solid (much more so than vanilla marines). Counter-Attack isn't a given with Ld 8 but went off reliably enough to plan around....

Land Speeders: Just like vanilla speeders, MM/Heavy Flamer. They still rock.

Long Fangs: Tried them twice and was underwhelmed each time. No wounds to soak up shots, so the first time you allocate you are either risking heavies or your split fire sarg. Keep in mind, I played a pod list....so this may not be completely fair to the Fangs. Given that, this doesn't reduce the wound issue. The 85 point Predator still looks good to me...


Quick summary thoughts; They play like I envision marines should. Pod in, throw some specials around, stand up in hand to hand. This is a much more exciting list/codex than Vulkan/sit in a rhino and melta marines...so I'm pretty hyped. As I stated earlier, this is a quick review...so after a couple more weekends of playing them I'll throw up a more worthy review. Till then.

Ryan

Planet-Strike Take 2! Marines v. Chaos Space Marines

Well, Mike and I decided to give Planet Strike another whirl this last weekend over the city fight table. This time around, I was defending with my Celestial Lions and he was attacking with his gorgeous Chaos Space Marine army. We talked over the board and decided to play COD with the caveat of ignoring dangerous terrain tests for the board. We really wanted to play in an urban setting….yet obviously an entire army deep striking into dangerous terrain tests all game would be slightly unfair. So, we threw the terrain tests out and built the table.

We decided on five total objectives with three being bastions, one home-made bunker, and one home-made comm center. This allowed for some generous stratagem selection and our choices were as follows;

Chaos Space Marine Stratagems

Dawn Assault
Heavy Duty Drop
Sustained Assault

Celestial Lions Stratagems

Power Generator—Large north building
Ammunition Store—Large north building
Void Shield—Northern bastion
Machine Spirit—Northern bastion

Celestial Lions--Marines
Counts as Calgar
Two groups of Assault Terminators 6 strong
Venerable Dread with MM, Heavy Flamer
Three tactical Squads with MM, Flamer
Three Speeders with MM, Heavy Flamer
Plasma Devastator Squad
Dakka Predator

Chaos Space Marines
Slaanesh Daemon Prince
Nurgle Daemon Prince
Tzeentch Daemon Prince
Two groups of Plague Marines 9 strong in rhinos with powerfists
One group of Zerks 8 strong in rhino with powerfist
Two groups of Oblits 3 strong, one group of Oblits two strong

Here are some overviews of the table;

I decided to put some items in reserve as defender in hopes I would have a counter-punch after Mike’s initial punch. So I placed my Assault Terminators (both groups), two Speeders, a Predator and a Rhino in reserve. With my reserves settled, Mike launched his firestorm (he received a generous 7 templates)…but my luck won out and the templates managed to shake a bastion and blow off a weapon. Overall, could have been much worse!

Chaos Turn 1

Speaking of worse, Mike’s turn began with a bang (That bang continued all game long!). We often joke while choosing DS locations “Go big or go home” and he went big…and it paid dividends. He chose to deep strike his Slaanesh Prince on the 2^nd level of my building housing the Plasma Devs. A scatter in any direction would have likely meant mishap…and he rolled a hit! The Slaanesh proceeded to probe/eat/defile four of plasma devs in the assault phase as well and they stuck. There went 250+ points…

Mike continued his ‘Go big or go home’ deep strike strategy with his Heavy Drop Stratagem. He chose a Plague Marine group in Rhino as his Heavy Drop and managed to land them right between my two defended obstacles on the bottom floor of my building. This essentially meant they were shooting my tactical squad in the back with no cover now. Nice! Only the Sarg and a regular bolter marine lived.

Two Obliterators walked on in the southern part of the city and launched a melta fusillade at that bastion which exploded, killing two of the marines inside. Luckily, I was out of assault range in the wreckage! Ironically, the east bastion which had the most power next to it (A Tzeentch Prince and three Obliterators!) survived both shooting and assault, albeit the marines inside were shook and could not shoot next turn.

Marine Turn 1

Well, things already looked bad. My plasma devs were basically dead and I already lost a bastion. My reserve rolls were rather unkind as well, as I only received one of my Terminator Assault squads and one speeder. I used my locator beacon from the Sarg in the eastern bastion and brought my Terminator Assault Squad in led by my counts as Calgar. This unit eventually charged the Tzeentch Prince, Nurgle Rhino and Khorne Rhino in the assault phase. The Prince fell but they didn’t even scratch the rhinos! Not good…

In the southern portion of the city, my luck did turn a bit. My speeder fired its MM and Heavy Flamer on the two oblits, causing three wounds. Mike was nice enough to roll three 1s! This was one good piece of luck in my turn. During the assault phase, the Slaanesh prince finished off my Devs…which essentially meant he was free to roam on Mike’s turn again. So much for luck.

Chaos Turn 2

The rest of Mike’s army showed this turn. A Nurgle Prince moved on to the southern bastion ruins where the dead obliterators lay to engage the remaining marines. Emperor and friends attracted a lot of attention this turn…two groups of Obliterators, a squad of Plague Marines; a squad of Khorne Berzerkers surrounded my Assault Terms. After the shooting cleared, only 3 Assault Terms + counts as Calgar remained. After the assault of the Zerks, Obliterators and Plague Marines even big daddy Calgar died, taking 3 Obliterators with him.

In the west, the Slaanesh prince continued his rampage and destroyed my western bastion, failing to kill any of the 5 marines inside. Mike fired at the two remaining Lions in the large building, killing one. I chose to auto-fail my morale test to escape assault and fell back 9 inches. This lone marine actually did something late game.

I’ll use the deaths of my terminators as a good example though of Mike’s play. Many players will do some rough math in their head and throw the required number of troops at an enemy unit, ending up disappointed when a few bad rolls throws off their game. Here was a perfect example of Mike using overwhelming numbers to ensure no dice rolls would prevent the unit from being wiped. Even after all the Zerk, Plague marine attacks….it still came down to Oblit power fists to finish this squad, when mathematically the Zerks and Plague Marines should have done the job.

Marine Turn 2

Night fight unfortunately remained but at least everything, barring my reserve rhino showed this turn. I brought two speeders on to the board centering on the Slaanesh Prince. My Venerable Dread also advanced on the Prince. My Dakka Predator also moved on this turn but night fight foiled any shooting. Between shooting from my marines, two speeders and a Venerable Dread I only did two wounds on the Slaanesh Prince. Not good!

I chose to continue my delaying action in the eastern portion, again bringing my Assault Terms down next to that bastion. A group of obliterators (His last group) and three plague marines died in the ensuing melee. Unfortunately, the Zerks chain axes started revving up…as they would be in assault shortly. In the south, my speeder moved away slightly to remain in night fight range, dealing a wound to the Nurgle Prince. I charged my Venerable Dread into the Slaanesh Prince (Desperate!), hoping he would survive this round to save my marines nearby…and after losing two arms and failing to wound the Slaanesh Prince..he still stood.

Chaos Turn 3

Mike sent his Zerks into my Assault Terms and wiped the unit (The Zerks just tore up this game!). The Nurgle Prince cast warp time and managed to immobilize my southern speeder. The Slaanesh Prince finished off the Dread, which would leave him open to the Dakka Pred and marines next turn. In the west, the Plague Marines that had been brought in via Heavy Drop moved up and blew a speeder out of the sky. Mike was dismantling my army in each sector of the city and it was quickly turning into a rout…

Marines Turn 3

Hmm, Mike had pretty much taken my army apart. After I rallied my remaining marine in the big building, I decided my only hope was that the east bastion would hold against the Zerks and Plague Marines, finish off the Slaanesh Prince and Nurgle Prince, grab the building objective and attempt a tie. So, my Dakka Pred, five marines and a speeder unloaded on the two wound remaining Slaanesh Prince….doing a single wound! So much for those plans…to be fair though, Mike has some rather abysmal rolling earlier…so karma was coming around I suppose. The Nurgle Prince finished off my immobilized speeder (Which failed to wound it during shooting) and started eyeing my bunker bastion in the middle of the city. Night fight remained.

Chaos Turn 4

Mike sent melta shots and powerfist attacks from both his Zerks and Plague Marines..and the bastion held! This was rather improbable but I was hoping that luck would hold. In the middle of the city however, the Nurgle Prince tore the bunker apart and exposed the five marines inside. The Slaanesh prince killed the marines of the bastion wreckage (This Prince had a Rambo kill counter going by now..sheesh). At least Mike rolled poorly for his consolidation and the Dakka Pred would get another salvo at him! He advanced the Heavy Drop Plague Marines up and blew off the MM from my Speeder as well. I was getting down to a handful of models…

Marine Turn 4

I continued moving my lone marine up the big building towards the objective. My Dakka Pred finally finished the Slaanesh Prince…after he ate 1/3 of my army. My remaining marines in the middle bastion rubble managed to wound the Nurgle Prince again (He was down to 1 wound). I turbo’d my speeder off to the south, hoping to claim the furthest bastion rubble. Night fight remained. Few models make for fast turns!

Chaos Turn 5

The Plague Marines managed to melta the west bastion (oops) and both the Zerks/Plague Marines made their difficult terrain rolls for assault. The Plague Marines were essentially unneeded however, as the Zerks Slap Chopped ™ my marines into coleslaw. The Nurgle Prince rampaged into my remaining marines in the bowels of the city, again rolling a poor consolidation. Mike now held the east bastion, the west bastion and the middle bastion. I held the big building objective.

Marine Turn 5

I turbo’d my speeder again towards the southern bastion and swung my Dakka Pred around to fire on the Nurgle Prince (Failing to finish off its last wound). I moved deeper in the building around the objective to remove any visibility on my lone marine. Fast turn!

Chaos/Marine Turns 6/7

I’m going to consolidate the last two turns, as little happened. Mike’s Nurgle Prince ripped apart my Dakka Pred and I moved my Speeder into contact with southern bastion. My lone marine held in the building and Mike consolidated on the other objectives...Night Fight persisted until the very end.

Game end

Mike/Chaos Objectives: 3

Ryan/Marine Objectives: 2

Looks close right? Except when you do this =):

Ryan/Marine remaining army: ONE marine and ONE speeder with a weapon blown off

Mike/Chaos remaining army: Nurgle Prince, three rhinos, 16 or so Plague Marines, 6 Zerks

Marine Player Summary:

What a spanking. Two models left at the end of the game (and one was damaged!). Mike had a lot of power left at game’s end too….well I can see now throwing both of my Assault Terminator groups into the east was a mistake. My thoughts were, if I could bottleneck/hold a bulk of his power down in that sector I would have a chance to separate/kill the rest of his army. I was also hoping that by removing his Oblit groups early he would have difficulty blowing my Bastions (Which he did not!). I sent a lot of points down in that sector…and the Zerks just chewed everything up. It was also my first time trying Calgar out…and I wasn’t that impressed. His invulnerable save just doesn’t cut it and if I were to run non-Vulkan marines, I think Lysander would be my next choice. Mike has some smart play this game as well, by not splitting any of his force and focusing on my Assault Terms in overwhelming numbers. Back to the drawing board on defending with marines…..

Chaos Marine Player Summary:

Well, things went well for me this game, maybe too well. Assaulting after deepstiking is really powerful especially with units like Daemon Princes. Ryan put some thought into his deployment. He knew which three Bastions he would try to keep and set up a defense line and placed units to provide covering fire. After some luck with scatter rolls, I was behind and in his defensive position. After turn one, I had the advantage and pretty much kept it.
Great right? Well no, it isn’t. When I think of Planet Strike, I picture epic fights along the lines of the opening battle of “Saving Private Ryan,” but being able to circumvent defenses kind of defeats this. Not to mention how easy it is for Monstrous Creatures/melta-bombs to blow up Bastions in close combat. Plus it seems in our games it is better to not occupy them at all, unless you like your shooting units to do nothing but die.

As the attacker, I think that it should be really hard to take a defended position and I want to be able to take my strongest units to accomplish it. Sure I could change my tactics and handicap myself by unit selection but then it loses its epic nature and appeal. So with that in mind we made some changes.

Overall Planet-Strike Impressions:

Man defending is tough! In both games now, whoever was the defender just got ran off the board. We talked over our views on the issues and made a short list;

1. Bastions simply die in one turn to assault/deep strike melta

2. Competitive board construction and army design would not lend itself to thematic 40k (Men behind walls and in bunkers). Competitive Planet-Strike would likely be all reserve defenders..and we don't want that.

3. Bastion auto-guns are weak and inconsequential.

Based off those issues, we made the following changes;

1. One bastion has an 8 inch NO Deep-Strike bubble.

2. Bastions need a 4+ in HTH to hit due to the withering fire pouring from them--If the player scores an immobilized result during the shooting phase, then the enemy auto hits in HTH for ONE turn only.

3. Add a 2 point stratagem to add a further 8 inch NO Deep-Strike bubble to a further bastion.

4. Defender may deny the attacker two drop zone board edges, the defender may choose from the remaining two.

5. All bastions are BS 3.

We tried this out as well and the defending marines actually won. The game felt much more thematic and enjoyable, with the result being up in the air until the last couple of turns. Bastions mattered and the board looked like something from the fluff. Now, keep in mind the above rules are customized for how we play and our army selection. For example, a defending marine player could very well put everything in reserve via drop pod and be very competitive in normal Planet-Strike rules. Add the above changes and he would likely dominate. So salt/pepper to taste with how your group plays. Thanks for reading!

Ryan