Space Wolves: What it means for Blood Angels 2010

Well, SW has been out for a few weeks now and I have had a chance to look over the rules some what.

First things I noticed: Berserk Charge, Counter Attack

Well, yes, Space Wolves are supposed to be a brutal army. But Blood Angels live for Close Combat. So, we should see some enhancements for combat coming our way.

Wait, you say, Blood Angels have assault squad troops, elites, and HQ, that should be good enough. Well I say NO. Why? 5th edition is a game of Mechanized forces. I love Jump Troops, but in 5th it is much harder to assault infantry with them. Why? Well they are in a transport and if I assault the transport, they then get the assault on me after they pile out.

Now how this relates to Space Wolves is that all their units have counter attack, and all iterations of Blood Claws have Berserk Charge, giving them typically 4 attacks on the charge and 3 when charged, which is more than my assault troops, who get 3 offensively and 2 defensively. Yes, the Blood Claws are WS/BS 3 but lets number crunch. Our opponent will be one of the most common scoring units in the game right now: Nurgle Plague Marines. WS 4 T 5 I3 3+ Armour Saves.

Lets make the Squads.
So SW first
150 pts for 10 models, though they can get to 15, so lets do that, bringing us to 225 pts.
Now for special weapons. I can get my first flamer for free, melta for 5 or a plasma gun for 10. Since this is 5th ed, I'm taking the melta gun. Since I have 15 guys I get to take my second one for free. Brings us to 230 pts. I'll do one Blood Claw with a Power Weapon and Plasma Pistol, so we are now at 260.
Now if I stuck with 10 models, I would buy a transport. Rhino with Extra Armour. I'd loose the second melta gun, but still be effective. That route costs 245.

Blood Angels Assault Squad
250 pts for 10 models (allready 100 pts more, though 30 buy a Death Company Marine). So 10 Blood Claws in a Transport with Upgrades is already cheaper.
Now to upgrade my squad. Well, since I can't take melta-weapons or two special weapons, I'll take what I can. 3 Plasma Pistols and a Power Weapon. 310 pts now. A melta-bomb so I can handle vehicles like the Blood Claws. 315.

Now to do a break down (rounding up 2+ rolls to a 100% sucess rate for all cases)
15 Man Blood Claws Assault a 10 man Squad of Plague Marines.
Shooting:
2 meltas- 1 Hit, 1 Wound beats armour and allows no Feel No Pain
1 Plasma pistol- Hits 1/2 the time, 1 wound, beats armour, 1/2 casualties
12 Bolt Pistols- 6 Hit, 2 wounds, so they suffer a casualty 1/3 of the time
So lets call that 2 dead from shooting, rounding up.

On the Assault:
1 Power weapon, hits 1/2 the time, wounds 1/3rd the time. So 4 attacks, 2 hit, lets say 1 wound. 1 Casualty.
The other attacks have the same statistics to hit and wound. There are 54 attacks. 27 Hit, 9 wound, 6 save, 1.5 Feels No Pain. 1.5 Casualty.
2.5 dead from Assault. 4.5 Total Down.

10 Man
Shooting. Melta causes a casualty 1/2 the time. Plasma 1/2 of the time. 8 bolts pistols, 4 hit, lets say 1 wound (6 got 2). 1/6 of the time a casualty is taken. So lets call it 2 dead from Shooting.

Assault: Same probabilities. 1 Wound from Power Weapon. 35 Normal Attacks. 18 Hit. 6 wound. 4 save. 1 Feels no Pain. 1 Casualty.

3 Dead Total

Blood Angels:
Shooting
3 Plasma Pistols. 2 Hit. 2 Wound. 2 Casualty.
7 Bolt Pistols. Lets say 5 hit to keep with my rounding up I have been doing. 2 wounds. 1/3 of the time a Casualty will be taken.
Lets call that 2 Casualty from shooting.

Assault
Power Weapon. 4 attacks. 2 Hit. Lets say 1 wound and 1 casualty.
27 Normal Attacks. 14 Hit. Lets say 5 wound. 4 Saves. 1/2 Casualty.
1.5 Casualties
3.5 Total.

Now I know that is rough math, but I did round up everytime giving the roller the Benefit of the doubt.

The thing is the 10 man assault squad lost hands down to the 15 man Blood Claws, and barely eeked out over the 10 man. Plus they were 70 points MORE, for only .5 more casualties. And against lesser troops, like Guard, I'd do far worse in comparisson since I'd just be way under on the number of attacks. The difference between WS 3 and 4 is insignificant when attacking. It does make it easier when getting hit back, but both units are T4 and power armoured, so it won't be that much worse for the Blood Claws. And the Rhino transported blood claws are better protected from shooting. They will almost always go into assault with 10 men. My BA assault squads almost never do.

Blood Angels deserve to get Furious Charge back. Or at least something like this Berserk Charge or maybe base 2 attacks. Something to make us Assaulty again.

More on what Space Wolves mean for Blood Angels tomorrow.

And I will try and have God Machine up this weekend.

Evolution of a List: SM 2500 pts (Salamanders):

Here is the previous 2k list

Salamander 2500 pt list


HQ: Forgefather Vulkan He’stan: 190
Troops: Tactical Squad (10): 235- Sergeant, bp & chainsword; Melta Gun; Lascannon; Rhino, Extra Armour
Troops: Tactical Squad (10): 240- Sergeant, bp & chainsword, teleport homer; Melta Gun; Multi-Melta; Rhino, Extra Armour
Troops: Tactical Squad (10): 225- Sergeant, bp & chainsword; Melta Gun; Multi-Melta; Rhino, Extra Armour
Troops: Scout Squad (5): 100- 4 x BP & CCW; Teleport Homer; Heavy Bolter w/ Hellfire Rounds
Fast Attack: Land Speeder Storm: 60- Heavy Flamer
Elites Stern Guard Veteran Squad (5): 225- 2 x Melta Gun; Razorback, Twin Linked Assault Cannon, Extra Armour
Heavy Support: Whirlwind: 85
Fast Attack: Vanguard Assault Squad (10): 730- Jump Packs; 8 x Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield; 2 x Lightning Claw and Storm Sheild
Fast Attack: Land Speeder Squadron (3): 210- 3 x Heavy Flamers, 3 x Multi-Meltas
Elites: Terminator Assault Squad (5): 200- Thunder Hammers and Storm Shields

Pts: 2500 Scoring Units: 4-7 KPs: 11, 19 (3, 2, 1 system Old ‘ard Boyz)

Evolution:
Assault Troops become heavy infantry/armour hunters
Land Speeder storm provides fast transport for a scoring unit

Tactics:
Much the same as the 2000 pt list.
The Vanguard are super hard hitting assualt troops now, with 8 Thunderhammers and 2 LC. All have storm sheilds. Check out the Power Unit: Vanguard Assualt Squad Hammer and Anvil load out for details on them.

The land speeder storm can swoop scouts in at the last moment onto an objective, or get them to an assualt where they can tip the balance.

God Machine Delay/Adeptus Titanicus

Hey. I was swamped with school work last week so have been delayed. I am working on typing it up, so it will be coming to you soon.

I did get a play test in and I will say that the Space Hulk tiles are the perfect size for terrain. I am modifying the game slightly off that play test.

So to satisfy my readers I did find this: Adeptus Titanicus Rules

Those are the original rules from GW. Check them out.

Jaws of the World Wolf

AAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!
(That is a Rant Alert for those of you who didn't know)
POLL RELATED POST

Read the rule here.

I imagine it would look something like this. Probably would be just a big wolf head eating things. Close enough. Game footage courtesy of Too Human. Good Game IMHO. Worth trying out. And maybe it will give you non SW players the sense of devastation that the SW players now get from their Runepriests.

I thought they were phasing out "Remove from game" because it was "too confusing" and conflicted with "Instant Death". Same reasons why they won't FAQ any MEQ (Marine Equivalent) list.

Well, Nidzilla is a dead list. At least Nids are up for a new codex soon. Sorry Nurgle. And necrons. And Tau.

Tau, Hammerheads are your only heavy support choice now for a tourney. Broadsides are too vulnerable. If I land one runepriest behind your lines, broadsides are toast. At least there is a reason to take Oshova again, being as he is an MC. Or does he just attack as one, I forget. Any ways, Battlesuits are a worse choice now for competitive play.

C'Tan are even freaking vulnerable. I agree they are a little too powerful, but they are Star Gods and should have some sort of immunity to a Human's Psychic power. Same with Greater Daemons.

What were they thinking:
Hmm, you can take 4 HQ choices (2 per slot) and deep strike the whole army.
Hmm, lets give this power of remove from game to Runepriests. Shooting Psychic power.
So now you can deepstrike 4 behind and army and let loose.
This will eat armies up. Quite literally.

It wouldn't be as bad if Inv saves could protect you, but no. Niether does Eternal Warrior. And being an MC doesn't help that much.
And why don't cover saves help? They do against Mind War. Which is an Eldar power. Eldar are SUPPOSSED to be better at this sort of thing. This is exactly what happened last time an SM codex came out after Eldar. For some reason the in-game psychic army does not match the fluff psychic army. At least they have some runes to try
One good thing I see is that normal dreads are a little more competitive now, as they can't be eaten (But a Carnifex easily can. How does that make sense?).

On a 4x6 board, with indirect fire, you can preety much hit anything you want with it's 24" range if you fall someplace near the middle with your Deep Strike.

Characters, DPs, Greater Deamons, MCs and expensive bodyguards beware. The World Wolf is hungry.

I did a little test on this last night. Just everytime I saw a room mate, I rolled a dice. Needless to say I killed my entire room rather fast (assuming they are humans with I3). I then did it for the Patriots vs Bills. Athletes have I4. Sorry, but I ate Tom Brady.

And we all know how dice work. Either you roll tons of 6's or 1's at once. So you know you'll go to a game and say "This won't be that bad" and then you will roll 6 for EVERY I TEST. I know it can happen. I rolled somewhere around 35% 6's and 15% 5's last night for a necromunda game. That means 1/3rd of the possible outcomes covered 1/2 of what I did (more impressive is 1/6 covering 1/3rd). And the 6's were on too wounds and wound results. The worst possible outcomes. I destroyed a Redemtionist gang by the hand of fate.

This will happen alot with World Wolf. Don't lie to yourself. You know you have dice superstitions. And this is just asking to cement them.

I know this post is kinda scatterbrained. I just am not happy. And I slept 2 hours. Then worked out. So yeah.

POLL ATTACK TO THE RIGHT -->

My earlier SW rant here.

Next post will probably have something on Bjorn and his objective giving. Heads up, its a rant.

Do you think Jaws of the World Wolf is too powerful?

Yes. Please Rant harder about it. 20 (45%)
Yes. Nom Nom Nom 11 (25%)
Eh. Can go either way 10 (22%)
No. It is balanced 2 (4%)
No. Space Wolves are sissy girls 1 (2%)

Musings on Necromunda

Well, after playing many games of Necromunda, and over a week's Hiatus as I worked out the kinks in God Machine (coming later this week), I thought I'd do a post on it.


Enforcers

Lessons I have learned
1. Shooting is King. Shooting gangs beat close combat gangs. It is just that since ever hit pins a guy, Close Combat gangs move slowly. And while pinned, they can be shot again. And then if there is no one near them to help a ganger recover from pinning, they stand up at the end of the turn just to get shot at again.

2. Techno skills rule. Any time you roll a 2 or 12 for an advancement, take a Techno skill. Inventor, Armourer, and Medic are all great. Weaponsmith isn't bad. Specialist is nice as you can get more special weapons. Fixer is the only eh one, but if you have a gambling den, you want it.

3. The more gangers, the better. Why? Remember shooting is king. Well yeah. The more guys you have, the more concentrated your fire is and the less concentrated your opponent's is. Simple really. You have better chances of taking guys down and out when you have more fire pooring onto them.

4. Don't play as enforcers. Yeah. Thats right. My own gang. You see, I thought the rule where if I am doubled in EXP I get 10 guys would help. The problem is since I always only have the 5 man patrol team, I always am the underdog, meaning I get crazy EXP bonuses for loosing even. I don't know if I will ever get to feild all 10 (unless guys start dying). Now also look at 1 and 3. Same things apply here. I took four guys with suppression sheilds and power mauls, so usually I have 2 in each patrol team. I thought S5 weapons with a 2+ save would be nice. The problem is that since I only have 5 guys on the table and only 3 with shooting typically (though inventor has earned me some extra guns finally), I get super blasted. And that 2+ save can't portect me against 10 hits with a -1 modifier to my armour. Eventually I always fail. Usually pretty fast. I have this happy talent for rolling one under what I need on armour saves.
One for one, all my guys are better. They have great equipment. All of them have over 70 EXP, 4 of them over 100. I have been lucky on skill and stat rolls. Invented 3 things, two of which were usefull (Power Sword and Needle Pistol). The thing is being outnumbered sucks. I need to roll +1 W more often.
At least I have no serious injuries due to medical (other than emnities and impressive scars). That is a godsend.

5. Hit and run is the best for the Attacker. Easiest mission and highest rewards. 3 of my 4 victories have been in hit and run. It is just easy for the Attacker to win, ESPECIALLY Enforcers. This is the one scenario that I thrive in. On a 3+ I have the whole patrol team, and in the first 2-4 Turns I am typically not out numbered. Scrag and Blitz are the best of these. Either you destroy the Water Still fast with high impact or sustained fire shots (or both), or you charge your target in scrag 2nd turn (if he is on the feild).