Thursday, August 30, 2007

Corporealisation and other nonsensical metaphysics

Many people are complaining about the new demon rules in the upcoming chaos codex. While I definitely sympathize and will personally miss my bloodletters, making the greater and lesser demons available to chaos marine forces more neutral and generic makes sense with the fluff they have set up in the past as well as in the new book. They spend a bit more time in the new book talking about the extreme effort involved in demons corporealising from the warp into realspace, and how taxing it is on the demons to maintain themselves in their psychic ectoplasmic manifestations, etcetera, etcetera. It would appear that it is this extreme effort that genericizes and weakens them mildly. Supposedly an all-demon force book will be coming out sometime next year, and will likely differentiate the greater and lesser demons between their various loyalties. I predict that they will try to explain a demon-oriented army by locating them on actual demon planets in the Eye, and/or by making the generals more pure and powerful demonic entities that are able to stabilize themselves and their underlings enough to demonstrate their full capabilities, i.e. demons of different factions being able to exhibit their own varying individual powers. Thus will bloodthirsters and lords of change be able to fly once more, plaguebearers will spread their associated filth, and so on. Another way to set up a more stable and thus more powerful and varied demon army could be through a large, expressly devoted cult of followers creating more suitable conditions for their messiahs through ritual and sacrifice. This could serve as another highlight of the split GW has created between the rogue/pirate marine groups and those more obsessed with the warp or devoted to a particular god. So it would make sense if this demon army book included cultists (and marine sorcerers or cult troops) and was similar to the previously defined demon world army in the EoT book. Overall I think it’s not a bad direction to go in, not to mention it gives the demon and witch hunters out there more to dig into with their own specializations, both in fluff and actual gameplay.

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Mission: The Well of Tears

While exploring a long lost Eldar maiden world, your expeditionary force has stumbled upon a wraithbone ruin pulsating with ancient energies. This strange node could bring great fortune to its owners. Unfortunately another general has found the place and wants the power for themselves!

Victory points, Night Fighting (in effect the entire game)

Special Rules: Gravity Well - Any infantry or walker unit that ends its own movement phase within 18" of the center of the table rolls 4d6. Each model in the unit is immediately moved that distance directly towards the center of the table, continuing even if the move takes the unit past the center of the table. This move ignores difficult terrain but can trigger dangerous terrain tests for the usual units if they end their move in difficult terrain. If this brings the unit into contact with impassable terrain, the move ends. If this brings the unit into contact with an enemy unit, that unit may not fire in the shooting phase but immediately counts as engaged in close combat. The unit does not move any further in assault but begins the assault phase where its 4d6 move ended.

Deployment: Table quarters. No player may place a unit within 18" of the center of the table.

Primary Objective: Take and Hold - as in the BGB.

Secondary Objective: Rivals - Both players declare one of their HQ units as their general. This can be a unit of non-independent characters (e.g., tyranid warriors) only if a player does not have an independent character HQ unit. If a player's general is alive at the end of the game, and the enemy general has been removed, and the two generals were engaged in the same close combat, that player earns victory points equal to 1/4 of the point limit for the game (i.e., if it was a 2000 point game, the player would earn 500 points).

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Lego Dreads and Such


I happened upon this guy Jerac's website, which had pictures of some awesome lego models he's created based on 40k minis. For me it was like coming full circle. Check it out.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Toggog's Marauders Reorganized

From scuttlebutt and demonstration copies, I've put together a new list for Toggog and his buddies.

HQ

Demon Prince - wings, mark of khorne

Sorcerer - mark of slaanesh, bike, lash of submission, personal icon

ELITES

10 Terminators - champion with 2 lightning claws, 2 with reaper autocannons and chainfists, 1 with combiflamer and powerfist, 1 with combiplasma and power weapon, 5 with twin-linked bolters and power weapons, icon of tzeentch

TROOPS

10 Khorne Berzerkers - personal icon, 2 plasma pistols, skull champion with power fist
Rhino with extra armor

9 Thousand Sons - personal icon
1 Aspiring Sorcerer - warptime
Rhino with extra armor

FAST ATTACK

4 Bikers - champion with power weapon and meltabomb, 2 meltaguns

HEAVY SUPPORT

1 Obliterator

1 Obliterator

8 Havocs - 3 missile launchers, 1 lascannon, icon of chaos glory

I've read many many complaints about the new book but I think overall that change is good. Some units got screwed but most of the simplifications are quite refreshing. Of course you want that rhino with smokes and that vindicator with a dozer blade! Shit is like stock now. But not even out of the gate Lash of Submission is already making testes shrivel in fear all over ze world. Next year's GT winning armies are being scrounged together, double lash this, triple lash that, etc etc. Whatever. I'm still going to have one in my army, because it sounds like a very useful trick and the bike sorcerer is sick and slick regardless. Ideally the thousand sons and terminators are going to create a nice 24" no-man's land that I can lash folks into from time to time and shoot em up, assaulting the leftovers with the zerks. The oblits and havocs will rain down while the demon prince chases down tanks and bowls into static shooty squads. The new icon system makes deep striking such a large terminator squad a very viable tactic. That seems like it would be a lot to deal with at once... 10 terminators with a 4+ invulnerable and spiky/fisty as hell? Time will tell.

One thing I noticed - the new "assault vehicle" rule for the land raider says you can assault when dismounting from any exit point, including the side hatches. A very small detail but I can see how it might come in handy in some limited situations. This was probably already set up in the DA and BA codices but it was the first time I heard about it.

Action Report: Space Wolves vs. Eldar 8-19-07

When word reached the Fang that a small group of Eldar pirates were ravaging farmland on the nearby titheworld Nipir, Trefain the Elder and Tor the Giant of Lors the Grim’s Great Company were dispatched to repel the invaders. The aliens were led by an enormous Avatar of Khaine, fighting side by side with an ancient Wraithlord. The few small squads of accompanying infantry were further supported by a fire prism tank. Though our heroes were briefly given pause by the appearance of such powerful entities and armor leading what appeared to be a small reconnaissance force, they nevertheless relished the chance for battle and quickly boarded their transports. Trefain and Baldur the Marked led a pack of Blood Claws and attack bikes towards the enemy’s right flank. Emerging from their speeding rhino in the midst of a thick fog of dreamsmoke, they cut through an entire squad of Dire Avengers with impunity. Then the Avatar joined the fight, immediately launching a flurry of blows at the aged Rune Priest. Several times the creature’s awesome flaming blade was deflected by Trefain’s antiquated force shield, but eventually the demon’s speed was too much and the old wolf suffered a grievous wound and fell. The rest of the pack fought on to the death, nearly bringing down their gigantic foe, but in the end the mighty Avatar strode away alone. On the other side of the battle, Tor the Giant and Hurki’s Grey Hunters descended into the midst of the enemy’s left. Emerging from his drop pod, Tor purged nearly an entire squad of aspect warriors with shot and flame, when a delicate eldar grav craft appeared suddenly behind him and disabled him with a single powerful shot. Hurki and his pack lasted longer, their plasma and bolter fire completely wiping out a unit of harlequins prancing their way through a nearby forest. When the towering wraithlord jumped into their midst, the most experienced grey hunters struck back hard with their powerfists. The pack was close to victory when the indomitable spirit inside the wraith construct surged one last time and wiped them out. A bitter defeat for the Space Wolves!

Saturday, August 11, 2007

Battle Report: Witch Hunters vs. Chaos 8-11-07

Bully vs. c2 - 2000 points - Cleanse


I changed my 2000 point list from last weekend's Thor's tournament to switch out the armored fist squads' autocannons with lascannons, and removing the infantry command squad's lascannon to include two meltaguns and a plasma gun. I planned on driving them around in the back of the immolator to hop out and deliver some low AP fire. c2 ran her usual chaos army.

Turn 1


Witch Hunters: For the first time, my inquisitor's liber heresius failed to work and c2 was able to pick sides. I rolled to get first turn, however, and tried to get my money's worth working on the only squad I could see: the havocs. I used "word in your ear" to move the chaos heavy weapons out of cover and opened fire on them with the leman russ, sentinel, and infantry squads. Five of them went down. The seraphim, immolator, infantry command squad, and one of the chimeras moved up on the chaos flank.

Chaos: The berzerkers roll blood frenzy and go screaming through the ruined church toward the immolator. The demon prince moves into the ruins along with the obliterators. They try to shoot the seraphim with heavy bolters but fail to kill any. The havocs blow up the immolator's heavy flamer turret.

Turn 2


Witch Hunters: The berzerkers were exposed so I tried to pour fire into them while I could. The leman russ, the nearest chimera and several infantry squad lascannons shoot up the squad, killing five of eight. The exorcist pulls out around the other chimera and puts four blessed missiles into the obliterators, inflicting two instant deaths, wiping them out. The immolator moves further up the flank, staying in between the havocs and the seraphim. The callidus assassin arrives, kills two khorne bikers with the neural shredder, whiffs in close combat, but survives another turn.

Chaos: The demon prince jumps from the church ruins to a nearby wall. The terminators deep strike in and open fire on the seraphim, killing four. The havocs wreck the nearby chimera. The possessed jump in with the bikers and kill the callidus.

Turn 3


Witch Hunters: The seraphim jump into the terminators, flaming them up good, but they fail their divine guidance faith test and only one is killed in the shooting phase. The busted immolator moves up and the infantry command squad tries in vain to wound the demon prince. The sister and infantry squads move back to avoid being charged. The exorcist manages to pick off the berzerker aspiring champion with six rockets. In close combat, the seraphim use three different faith points to kill three terminators, only losing one of their own. The chaos terminators fail their leadership and are wiped out by a sweeping advance.

Chaos: The bloodletters arrive only to scatter off the table! The demon prince bounds over the immolator to take revenge on the seraphim. The surviving havocs and berzerkers pull back into the church ruins. Four of them are killed quite handily and the last breaks and retreats towards my table edge.

Turn 4


Witch Hunters: The command squad and sentinel try to shoot up the demon prince again but can't inflict any damage. The exorcist and leman russ burst forward to get close to the chaos-held quarters. The last seraphim continues her retreat towards my table edge.

Chaos: The demon prince lays waste to the command squad and regroups behind the wrecked chimera.

Turn 5


Witch Hunters: The last seraphim flies off the table. The exorcist and leman russ drive full bore into the chaos home quarter, and the immolator races away to avoid the demon prince. The rear-most infantry squad moves over into the adjacent quarter.

Chaos: The rhino drives out from behind the church to cover the possessed and bikes from the exorcist, shooting its smoke launchers. The demon prince moves closer to the retreating immolator.

Turn 6


Witch Hunters: The leman russ drives far into the chaos quarter to avoid the demon prince's charge. The immolator tries to turtle up, backing into a nearby wall and leaving its best armor to the outside. The exorcist destroys the rhino regardless of the smokescreen. The sentinel moves into the adjacent quarter.

Chaos: All the hiding chaos elements burn out into the open to secure quarters at the last minute. The demon prince brings down the immolator with several swings of his mighty axe of khorne. The havocs in the corner of the ruins destroys the sentinel.

Some good rolling on my part and bad rolling on c2's part left Witch Hunters with a solid victory - but just barely! She maneuvered well to overcome some early setbacks and severely reduce my margin of victory. I've found that boldness rarely pays off with the fragile witch hunters and tried to keep myself from getting too greedy.

Monday, August 6, 2007

Task Force Quaesus, Ultramarines

The following was written by Frank J., a.k.a. Capt. Tyranus, as background for his Ultramarines army for the citywide tournament. I just wanted to post it because it's awesome, especially for Austinites...

Upon the Great Sundering, Captain Sicarius had his men relocate from Mjolnir to the newly founded forge world of KrigSmie in order to establish a new base of operations. Reinforced with the heavier firepower needed to meet the challenges of the new reality within the Travis subsector, Task Force Tachyon beame Task Force Quaesus.

With the founding of KrigSmie, instability around Travis grew as Mjolnir attempted to maintain its preeminent position in the subsector, Wyrmshaven tried to reassert its previous dominance, and KrigSmie encroached into both of their territories. The initial skirmishes quickly escalated as each planet called on supporters and allies in an effort to establish dominance over its rivals. The time for all-out battle to establish the dominant power in the subsector is now at hand.

In response to ancient debts, the Ultramarines have entered into a formal alliance with the upstart Fabricators who now control KrigSmie. Captain Sicarius will lead the men of the 2nd into battle with the coalition that will face off against the enemies of the Tech Adepts.

Conscious of the importance of this mission, the Ultramarines have granted Sicarius the use of Epistolary Ptolemaius of the Chapter's Librarium. This mighty warrior will be accompanied by a bodyguard of picked men from the 9th who have sworn to die in his defense. As usual, the Captain has also attached a sizeable group of neophytes approaching elevation into the ranks of battle brethren into his force.

Appropriately reinforced, Sicarius and the men of Quaesus are now ready to smite their foes with fire and blade.

Death to the Enemies of Ultramar!

Courage and Honour!

The Purging of Tartaron - Witch Hunters 2500

HQ

Cannoness – blessed weapon, cloak of St. Aspira, jump pack, frag grenades

ELITES

Inquisitor – liber heresius, hammer of the witches
Retinue – 3 heavy bolter servitors, 1 acolyte with carapace armor, 2 chirurgeons

Eversor Assassin

9 Sisters Repentia with Mistress
Priest – power weapon, laspistol

TROOPS

10 Sisters of Battle – storm bolter, meltagun, imagifer
Veteran Sister Superior – book of St. Lucius

10 Sisters of Battle – storm bolter, meltagun, imagifer
Veteran Sister Superior – book of St. Lucius

Infantry Platoon
Command Squad – Junior Officer with bolter, 2 plasma guns, lascannon team
Infantry Squad 1 – plasma gun, lascannon team
Infantry Squad 2 – plasma gun, lascannon team

Armored Fist Squad – plasma gun, lascannon team
Chimera – extra armor, smoke launchers

Armored Fist Squad – plasma gun, lascannon team
Chimera – extra armor, smoke launchers

FAST ATTACK

10 Seraphim – 2 twin hand flamers
Veteran Sister Superior – plasma pistol, eviscerator, book of St. Lucius

1 Sentinel – lascannon

HEAVY SUPPORT

Exorcist – extra armor, dozer blade

10 Retributors – 4 heavy bolters, imagifer
Veteran Sister Superior – book of St. Lucius

Leman Russ – sponson heavy bolters, hull heavy bolter, pintle heavy stubber, extra armor, rough terrain modification

Whereas I regard the 2500 Wolves army (see previous post) as probably fun but questionably effective, I look over this list and I think to myself: fucking hooray for Witch Hunters! 105 infantry, 5 vehicles, 6 faith points, TONS of heavy bolter fire (21 shots at BS4, 15 at BS3!), assault, counter-assault, anti-infantry, anti-tank, anti-psyker, and a good chance of picking my table edge to boot. Obviously the most questionable unit is the repentia squad, but I already possess and like the models, and thrown in with the eversor and seraphim they enhance an enemy’s dilemma of shoot my refused flank vs. shoot my gun line. Any 2500 point game on a 4’ x 6’ board is guaranteed to be a blood bath, but as long as my guns can deploy in cover, it will be a real bitch to get past my assault wing to dig them out.

Sunday, August 5, 2007

The Saga of Lors the Grim - Space Wolves 2500

This represents one of the armies I might take to the store championship tournament in September. It's an expanded version of my 2000 point list, with a powerful firebase, some good assault units, and drop pod plasma death. I'm going to have to do some heavy playtesting with this list, though, because it feels overpriced and small when I think about what other folks will be tucking into that extra 500 points... still, I think it might hold its own with some careful playing.

HQ

Venerable Dreadnought - assault cannon, heavy flamer/DCCW, extra armor
Drop Pod

Wolf Guard Battle Leader - power weapon, bolt pistol, frag grenades, wolf pelt

Wolf Priest - power weapon, plasma pistol, frag grenades, healing potions and balms, iron wolf amulet, wolf helm of russ, wolf pelt
4 Wolf Guard Bodyguard - terminator armor, 2 assault cannons, 2 bolter-plasma guns, 3 power weapons, 1 power fist
Drop Pod

Rune Priest - power weapon, runic staff, wolf pelt, chooser of the slain

ELITES

4 Wolf Scouts - 2 power weapons, 1 meltagun, frag grenades

TROOPS

9 Grey Hunters - 2 powerfists, 1 plasma gun, 1 plasma pistol, wolf totem
Wolf Guard Leader - power weapon, plasma pistol, wolf pelt
Drop Pod

7 Grey Hunters - 2 powerfists, 1 plasma gun, 1 plasma pistol
Wolf Guard Leader - powerfist, bolter, wolf pelt
Rhino - extra armor, smoke launchers

8 Blood Claws - 1 flamer, 1 powerfist, 1 power weapon, frag grenades
Wolf Guard Leader - bolt pistol, power weapon, frag grenades, wolf pelt

FAST ATTACK

2 Attack Bikes - heavy bolters

HEAVY SUPPORT

4 Long Fangs - 2 lascannons, 2 missile launchers
Pack Leader - bolter, CCW

Land Raider - smoke launchers

Vindicator - power of the machine spirit, smoke launchers

There's a few tricks involved with this list. The venerable dred lets me reroll to go first, increasing the odds quite a bit that I'll get at least an initial jump towards my foe. The chooser of the slain flits about ahead of the rune priest and lets me negate infiltration for enemy units on a 4+, not to mention giving him +1 attack (that's 7 power weapon attacks if he gets to use the pelt!). Use of the runic staff (psychic hood) is impossible if he's inside a vehicle, but for only 10 points it will probably redeem its cost at least once after he's disembarked. As always, the wolf scouts will come from... behind, ideally to jump a static squad in cover with frags and power weapon attacks. If none are available, a meltagun and a few bolt pistols could at least shake up a vehicle. The dred will look to start at the front line, wade through a center piece of terrain (if there is one), and jump out the other side, unloading his assault cannon and heavy flamer before assaulting. I can decide at the last minute which characters I want escorting which squads (rhino'd grey hunters or blood claws, possibly in the land raider). Most likely the rune priest will run with the grey hunters, and the battle leader will ride with the blood claws in the land raider. I'm going to have to buy a power-armored rune priest, and ditch his plasma pistol for a, um, staff-looking thing. Oh, and I need to dig up something to serve as a chooser of the slain. Everyone should group together so that storm caller can be given to the more assault-oriented blood claws, even if they're entangled in dead Land Raider (perish the thought). Toss in a drop pod delivering terminators and the wolf priest's helm of russ and that might make for an uber assault on someone's front lines (if I survive to make it that far). I think the healing balms will go well with a terminator retinue, preventing plasma suicides and other missed saves.

Blarg, its just so small.

Saturday, August 4, 2007

Tournament: Thor's Hammer 8-4-07

This was my first time playing a standard monthly tourney at Thor's, but I was familiar with the boards from the citywide matches. I had two and a half great games with the Tartaron Witch Hunters list and came in second out of 9 people. I had actually won best army right off the bat just for having the only fully painted army!

Game 1 - Daemonhunters - Recon


Matt had a terminator HQ, an inquisitor with several gun servitors, a vindicare assassin, four squads of Grey Knights, two heavy weapon dreadnoughts, and an annoying orbital bombardment. My liber heresius worked on its first go round (Rommel, you magnificent bastard! I read your book!) and I picked my side, but they were fairly even terrain-wise (the desert board). Half of the grey knights advanced slowly while the other half parked in cover and rained down psycannon fire. Their shooting, along with that lance strike targetting the oasis where my infantry platoon was stationed, did a small amount of damage, and the immolator was immobilized early by the inquisitor's retinue as well. In the end, the callidus' arrival and some great exorcist and lascannon shooting (destroyed both dreds) turned the tide. The seraphim wiped up behind the callidus and jumped into his deployment to grab recon points. His terminators deep struck close to my lines but time was called before they could move in and do the same. The hammer of the witches never dealt any wounds to his inquisitor. I just noticed a rules mistake I made - if ordnance scatters behind a hill, out of LOS, any folks underneath the template do get cover saves for the intervening terrain. That was my bad. I don't think it mattered in the end, as the victims in question weren't brought below 50% scoring and they were too far away for their storm bolters for nearly the whole game. Witch Hunters won, solid victory.

Game 2 - Tau - Seek and Destroy


This was the half-a-game. I didn't grab a picture because my opponent quit early and it slipped my mind. David brought two hammerheads, one sky ray, several squads of fire warriors with devilfish transports, pathfinders with a devilfish, two squads of two battle suits, a squad of six stealth suits, two squads of gun drones, and two HQ battle suits. I was a little nervous at first, since we drew the cityboard and he had so much anti-tank, but by the end of the first turn I felt pretty confident. He went first and moved his grav tanks en masse towards one of my two guard/sister groups. He laid down some serious markerlights on one of the infantry squad and used the tanks to light it up, wiping it out. Stealth suits, Fire warriors, battlesuits, and a railhead all shot at the seraphim and the chimera, but only three ladies were killed and one chimera was shaken. The smoke cleared and I still had plenty of guns left. I stunned one tank, shook another, and knocked down both squads of battlesuits with guardsmen and the exorcist. The seraphim jumped forward and opened fire, sending the stealth suits fleeing for their table edge, but not far enough to avoid the subsequent charge; they failed their morale test and were wiped out. The seraphim were left in a great position to run rampant among the tau infantry line only a block away. At this point he wanted to call the game, feeling a bit tired after a long night shift. Bummer! Witch Hunters won, victorious slaughter.

Game 3 - Eldar - Cleanse


I had a great time playing against J again, this time fielding his wife's eldar army, slightly modified to his own specifications. The most noticeable change was a second fire prism - I don't know what he got rid of to fit it in because otherwise it seemed like nearly the exact same army. This was a very tough match (on the cityboard again!) and J played with skill, but I really made some stupid errors that caught up with me in the end and denied me a win. First and foremost (I cringe when I think of this), I deployed and charged my Callidus assassin into a squad of pathfinders in cover. In my zeal to include a vehicle along with the squad in her neural shredder template, I totally brainfarted and forgot she did not have frag grenades. Did I mention the fire prism had already just been shaken? Honestly, she had no business charging a target in cover in the first goddamn place. Total amateur hour; I should have gone straight for the dark reapers that were standing exposed in front of the other fire prism, recovering from being shaken on the previous turn. When she totally whiffed with her CC attacks, all it took was a couple of failed 4+ saves and *doink* there goes 120 points, sacrificed to kill one silly pathfinder. Garr! The exorcist also bunked right at the end, failing to inflict 4 simple wounds on a squad of banshees, banshees for chrissakes, and he was able to contest that adjacent quarter. Losing the leman russ to a prism shot in the butt wasn't too fun either. His rear armor was something like five inches in cover, and of course I failed the obscured roll, *boom*, adios. I did finally manage to destroy both of the fire prisms' main weapons. At the last minute, I charged forward with the seraphim to repel the dark reapers that had creeped into the other adjacent quarter. The alien scum were purged by the righteous firey breath of the emperor! Alas, their death screams attracted the attention of the dread phoenix lord Maugan Ra who had just taken off around the corner on the last turn. He wheeled in place, sprinting back to the battle, and leapt to pounce on the angelic seraphim, his giant powerblade swinging with dealth... but suddenly, the end of the round was called. Maugy stopped short, slung the maugetar around his back and popped open a beer. Time to mack on some ladies... All quarters were contested and the game ended in a draw.

That left that bye bastard Kingsley in first place (shakes fist), myself in second, and J in third. Great games, and I learned a lot more about the hybrid guard/hereticus army. For todays games the construction was pretty solid, fairly mobile with a nice thick firebase that can stick together or spread out and slog down the approaching enemy, ideally from hard cover. The callidus I covered already (jeez). The exorcist, when not playing anti-tank, just cannot be counted on to serve a properly filling meal of infantry death just by itself. It needs the heavy bolters of the russ or guard infantry heavy weapons to clean up the mess it leaves behind. Those dozer blades came in handy in each game and were well worth the points. Plasma guns are still a (fun) death sentence for imperial guard. The seraphim are awesome! I think I was just careless with them in the past. Those divine guidanced flame pistols are total ass in a can. Whoosh! The immolator was the one letdown this tourney; I never once got to shoot the flame turret as it was immobilized early in two games and didn't have time to play a role in the other. A squad of retributors or, more likely, an upgraded inquisitor (LR, HotW, psychic hood) with a gun servitor retinue would be more useful. I guess it was good for soaking up fire, considering how much everyone loved to shoot at it. As for the venue, Thor's was really laid back and supportive, and it was a great day overall.

Thursday, August 2, 2007

Notes on Teh Purging

Some thoughts on the Purging of Tartaron Witch Hunters list...

The army really consists of two modules that can separate or stay turtled together, depending on the situation. The main battle line includes the imperial guard infantry and heavy weapons, sister squads, lascannon sentinel, Leman Russ, and exorcist. The mobile elements consist of the two armored fist squads (or at least their chimeras), seraphim, immolator, and the callidus assassin.

All the battles I’ve played against space marines lately included a librarian with fury of the ancients. Especially vulnerable in their massed low T and Ld formations, my guardsmen continue to be randomly picked on and pinned with impunity. Mixing a few sisters squads into their ranks will hopefully grant me more opportunities to nip that in the bud, as any psychic power that includes sororitas units in its effects is immediately nullified on a 5+. It’s something at least. Against troops assaulting the gun line, the guard will hopefully serve as a tar pit with their leadership backed up (or not) by nearby books of St. Lucius. The girls will have time to either move back out of assault range and prepare to fire on stranded foes, or charge in themselves.

I’m experimenting a little bit with the inquisitor’s loadout. I used to run him around with a guard squad packing an inferno pistol, but he rarely ever got a shot off. Now his liber heresius will grant me a 72% chance of table edge choice, 25% chance of rolling off as normal, and a 2% chance of losing the choice before the battle begins. Part of the benefit is being able to pick an ideal side for my own army, but mostly I’m interested in being able to dictate my opponents’ deployment. That combined with the callidus’ “word in your ear” ability could add some valuable confusion to the match. Ideally he’ll also be hammering the witches every turn, (lightly) harassing eldar seers and warlocks, tyranid synapse creatures, any and all Tzeentch devotees, and librarians. For 25 points I could upgrade him to an inquisitor lord, but the power would only be around 5% more effective and I’d also have to give him a small retinue. I’ll probably wait to get my heavy bolter servitor and chirurgeon retinue going before I do that.

The combat abilities of the callidus assassin are a nice little bonus to her “word in your ear” ability. After she emerges, her neural shredder template should try to touch vehicles as well as any troops she wants to assault. It will always shake a vehicle if not stun. In addition to her little poison blades gimmick, she also has a “jump back” move that lets her attempt to disengage from close combat, but in all practicality it's only a 50% chance to get out of consolidation range and requires her to survive 2 rounds of combat, which can sometimes be difficult with only a 4+ save.

The seraphim are twitchy. They can move fast, deal a significant amount of shooting damage, and hold their own in close combat (with help from faith points), but I’ve also seen them fall out of the sky like motherfuckin duck hunt. They can provide a nice little backup for the streaking chimeras and immolator, grabbing cover where they can, jumping out to lay down divine guidanced flame templates, draw charges or (preferably) sweeping advances, then use hit and run to move out and leave the enemy stranded. Between krak grenades and the superior's plasma pistol and eviscerator, they should be able to handle a light vehicle or two. If the birds stay close to the main coop, I need to remember that they add +1 to Ld of all sisters within 6”.

My cannoness also requires some care. She should start the battle in heavy cover, out of LOS if possible, and definitely kept separate from the seraphim to allow them to use hit and run as well as to make acts like the passion or spirit of the martyr easier for them to activate. I think she’s best kept near the main gun line as counterassault.

The infantry, sentinel, and exorcist give me some good anti-tank, which is probably the hereticus' greatest weakness. The Russ is primarily anti-infantry. After enjoying the upgrade so much in my last tournament, I added a dozer blade to the Exorcist and Leman Russ, allowing them to start out of sight, move into terrain to shoot, and be obscured to return fire. They'll likely stay with the main gun line as well.

Interestingly, the GW Armies of the Imperium software suggests that it’s illegal for the inquisitor to not be equipped with at least one weapon, but I can’t find any supporting rule for that. It just says he may be given anything from the armory. It's fuckin lame that he doesn't come with a laspistol/ccw automatically. It also has reduced point costs for inducted guard infantry command squad heavy and special weapons (?), and the heavy stubber is not available for an upgrade to the Leman Russ. I’m going to assume these are all program errors until I can find rules to the contrary.

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Jumping on the Gravwagon

I've had a small secret store of old metal eldar figs for some time, including Baharroth painted up in my own particular... idiom. After witnessing the power and grace of McEldar firsthand, I figured I'd draft my own variation on the theme. It's a dream list that makes the most of the figs I already own and incorporates Avengers and 4 of those skeevy little tanks. Given the fact that I'm still way behind on my bug painting, maybe it could be done by next spring. I need to cut it down by 16 points but I haven't decided where yet.

HQ

Baharroth

ELITES

8 Striking Scorpions
Exarch - scorpion's claw, shadowstrike

TROOPS

10 Dire Avengers
Exarch - twin shuriken catapults, bladestorm, defend
Wave Serpent - twin-linked scatter laser, shuriken cannon, spirit stones

10 Dire Avengers
Exarch - twin shuriken catapults, bladestorm, defend
Wave Serpent - twin-linked scatter laser, shuriken cannon, spirit stones

FAST ATTACK

10 Swooping Hawks
Exarch - sunrifle, skyleap, intercept

8 Warp Spiders
Exarch - twin death spinners, powerblades, surprise assault, withdraw

HEAVY SUPPORT

Fire Prism - shuriken cannon, spirit stones, holofield, vectored engines

Fire Prism - shuriken cannon, spirit stones, holofield, vectored engines

4 Dark Reapers
Exarch - fast shot