Playing small point games really isn’t my forte. I actually learned to play 40k through apocalypse, I also learned that Space Marines Players are jerks and will abandon you to face off against an armored company by yourself........ Moving on.
In the near future I plan to enter into a 1500 point tournament. I’m finding Storm Ravens are hard to justify at such low points, so I’ve had to figure out a different way of playing my knights. I haven’t played at this store before and have no info on the rules for the event, so I’m just trying to build well rounded lists.
So far I’ve come up with this approach.....
Mordrak
-5 Halberd Ghosts
Big turn one disruption unit that should soak up a lot of fire. Mordrak also comes with Grand Strategy which lets me adjust my army on the fly.
2X10 Grey Knight Strike Squads
-Justicar MC Hammer
-2 Psycannon, 4 Halberds, 1 Hammer, 2 Dudes
-Psybolt
I really like strikes because they are pretty versatile. Can walk across the table, deepstrike or outflank. If not an objective game I can always give re-roll 1s to wound in both shooting and combat, which would make them a far more killy threat. I can also choose to combat squad them if I see the need, either going with equal parts or combat focused and mini Purgation squads.
2 Dreadnoughts
-Twin Twin-Autocannons, Psybolt
Mobile long range support, which can be made scoring
1 Dread Knight
-Personal Teleporter, Heavy Incinerator, Great Sword
Big Scary dude that also can put pressure turn one. Has a great anti-cheap infantry weapon and can slice through armor. Moves super fast all the time and super duper fast once per game. Great choice for grand strategy shenanigans.
6-8 kill points, 2-7 scoring units
This list has a lot of odd ways of pushing my opponent, but I fear that it will suffer to pure shooting armies that overwhelm my target priority capabilities. I could drop the noughts for another knight, but I think I need the ability to kill fast movers and cheap transports. I could drop the Knight for another strike squad or another nought, but Id lose a really good target for grand strategy options as well as a big scary dude.
Any suggestions?
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Genswick Imperial Guard Autocannon Team Conversions
Just a little bit of work today making my Genswick Autocannon teams. I utilized SM Landspeeder Assault cannons for a Gatling-gun look. I recommend, when ever working with assault cannons for anything, using a pin vice to drill out all the barrels. It will make it look so much cooler.
These will be the only non-wheeled heavy weapons, as my mortars and lascannons will be based off Ork Kannons and Zzap Guns (plus I couldn't reasonably find Empire Cannon chassis for these).
I particularly like the guy dousing water onto the barrel of one of the guns to cool it down.
These will be the only non-wheeled heavy weapons, as my mortars and lascannons will be based off Ork Kannons and Zzap Guns (plus I couldn't reasonably find Empire Cannon chassis for these).
I particularly like the guy dousing water onto the barrel of one of the guns to cool it down.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Converted Savlar Chem Dogs + Genswick Veterans and Ogryns
Well I have recently done more work on my Imperial Guard though overall production has slowed down (as actual work work consumed more time). But I do have some cool things to show you
First off, I have built some Savlar Chem Dogs to use as my Penal Legionaries for my Imperial Guard Army.
This is actually a pretty simple conversion
First of all I just used simple Cadians (mixed from heavy weapon squads and infantry squads) as the bodies and torsos. I will be adding random assortments of pouches, back packs and sacks to represent the battlefield loot acquired by the Chem dogs, but that is simple cosmetic work.
As for the heads, which give them the Chem dog feel I selected Pig Iron Productions Kolony Militia Winter Heads.
These would actually be really good for any Vahallans or Vostroyans, but since I am going to be doing a winter basing theme for my Genswick (to match my Blood Angels and Terrain), the winter heads made sense. Even the typically bare headed Chem Dogs would want something warm on their heads. Maybe I should acquire some Vahallans to put on terrain as casualties, and remove their heads and replace them with bare ones. But that is beside the point.
To do this conversion I simple took the heads and clipped off the gas filters and then drilled with a pin vice where the filters used to be.
I then took melta bombs and cut the handle away and drilled a small hole in each end. This would form the Chem Dogs Nitro-Chem Inhaler.
Once that was complete I mounted by removing the Candian collar and filling in with some Green Stuff. I then placed the Melta Bomb on back of the Cadian, as seen in one of the above pictures. It works best if one of the ridges rests on the small mounting bracket for a vox on the Cadian's back. I then took guitar string and bent it to shape to fit into each of the sockets on the face and the bomb. Really a cheap and easy way to make a very cool and characterful squad. The hardest part is getting the guitar string the right length and shape and take some practice and judgment.
Beyond that I have another Genswick veteran squad/engineer squad, armed once more with double barreled shotguns.
As well I have constructed two Ogryns.
Their Ripper guns are auto cannons with shortened barrels. The heads are from a WHFB Ogres Iron Gut kit and the rest are from a Standard Ogre Bulls kit. I hope to give the Bone Head a more "Genswick" feel to it.
With these guys I was going for a WWI tank crew helmet look as seen here.
I think the paint job will be critical in conveying this fully, but as of now it is nearly spot on.
First off, I have built some Savlar Chem Dogs to use as my Penal Legionaries for my Imperial Guard Army.
First of all I just used simple Cadians (mixed from heavy weapon squads and infantry squads) as the bodies and torsos. I will be adding random assortments of pouches, back packs and sacks to represent the battlefield loot acquired by the Chem dogs, but that is simple cosmetic work.
As for the heads, which give them the Chem dog feel I selected Pig Iron Productions Kolony Militia Winter Heads.
To do this conversion I simple took the heads and clipped off the gas filters and then drilled with a pin vice where the filters used to be.
Beyond that I have another Genswick veteran squad/engineer squad, armed once more with double barreled shotguns.
As well I have constructed two Ogryns.
With these guys I was going for a WWI tank crew helmet look as seen here.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Unit Review: Brotherhood Champion – Discordian
The Grey Knight Champion is a very odd ball choice (probably why I like it). He comes in two flavors, one being a standard HQ choice and the other as Crowe the purifier tax. It’s very important to realize that both choices serve very different rolls which I will retouch on later in this article.
Brotherhood Champion
For a cheap price you get a Borther-Captian stat line, +1 ws, -1 bs, -2 wounds, a unique set of equipment and very unique set of special rules.
Equipment wise you’ll notice he doesn’t come in terminator armor but artificer instead, this opens up the ability for sweeping advances assuming your not babysitting other terminators. It also lets him ride in light transports, which is something no other pure grey knight HQ can do (Apparently older grey knights never leave home without their security blankets). He still keeps the standard marine HQ iron halo which combined with his nemesis force sword gives him a durable 2+ armor and 3+ inv in close combat.
Weapons wise he has an already mentioned nemesis force sword and storm bolter, the sword is special in that it always re-rolls to wound. He also comes with frag, krak and psyk-out grenades. Too bad he didn’t get the option to take other grenades; this is often why he’s passed over for other utility choices.
He has a whopping 3 upgrade choices, one of which is digital weapons which in case you’re wondering is completely useless given the nature of his sword (unless you really want that storm bolter security). The other two are brain mines and psybolt, the former can have wacky fun results and the later is kind of meh. All options are really cheap but really not too useful.
Now for his special rules, the stuff that makes these guys real champions. He gives the unit he’s attached to re-rolls to hit on the charge, this can be pretty helpful when fighting other heavy assault units because grey knight have recently lost their weapon skills. He has Hammerhand, which it pretty sweet considering that means he can cast it and so can any squad he’s attached to making them str 6 or if you want allow your squad to activate their force weapons. Those last two abilities combined can make even basic strikes pretty devastating on the charge.
Now for the two rules that make this guy much more then a standard marine chaplain. Heroic sacrifice is a goofy psychic power that basically says “kill target important model with no saves allowed”. This rule alone makes him an incredible tool in close combat especially considering how cheap he is, instead of paying a super high price to put a super close combat monster in your list your putting a 100 point insurance policy against super close combat monsters. This ability was a big deal when the codex first came out but faded away because champions see very little play on the table.
The other important rule is both a great and bad ability. The good. Instead of having a normal attack line the champion can choose between 3 stances. One that lets him gain attacks equal to the number of enemies in base contact with him, one that lets you attack a monster or independent character d3 times at I 10, and the last which lets you re-roll all your saves. The bad. He doesn’t have normal attacks so you can’t just swing away at normal dudes.
Unfortunately it’s also worth noting that unlike a chaplain the champion doesn’t have the ability to make a squad he’s joined to fearless. Something I would gladly have paid more points for if he had it built into his rules.
The ways I have been successful with this guy is to attach him to any non terminator unit. Bide your time until you able to hit an important unit super hard. Following turn have him break off from his squad and run amuck in the back field killing small squads or tanking units I don’t want to deal with (I kept a Def dread locked in combat half a game by doing this). If my opponent has a special character I can’t go toe to toe with, Ill assault him and make sure that only the champion is in base contact. The attached squad focuses on the enemy attached unit while the champion keeps the character in time out, or if he gets killed attempt to sacrifice. Low point games and getting the assault is where this guy shines.
Pros: Super Tank, Anti-character, Cheap compared to other Grey Knight options, Has great potential in buffing a single squad on the table
Cons: No normal attack method, Zero army wide bonuses, Not cheap compared to Inquisitors who can get grenades, Can’t get grenades
Crowe
Has all the rules of the dudes mentioned above, but with some slight modifications. To start off he’s 50% more expensive, which is still pretty cheap. He in fact decided to be a douche and use some super demon sword instead of nemesis force sword, a demon sword that doesn’t actually do anything but hinder him. He loses the ability to have a 3+ inv in close combat and a force weapon, to gain a non power weapon and the ability to give units assaulting him re-rolls to charge and furious charge. I repeat the enemy unit charging him! Wacky right? Did I mention he is in fact not an independent character?
So here’s where he makes up for that. He has +1 Ws, In and Wound. He is the bestest swordsman whoever lived, he has the innate ability to rend on a 4+. So basically instead of having a normal power weapon he has a power weapon that always wounds on a 4+ and generally hates vehicles. He also has the added psychic power Purifying flame, this combined with the champion stance to re-roll saves makes him a super flame blasting tank, that has the potential to generate more attacks then any other single character. This can be very surprising. His last special rule makes purifiers troops. Min or max squads of these guys will make a very power force.
Pros: SUPER Tank Horde KILLER, Anti-character, Cheap compared to other Grey Knight options, Purifier as troops, Makes the most use out of Champion stances
Cons: No normal attack method, Not Independent character, Make people charging him better, have to find a way to get him places or stuck having him wait for people to come to him
The Skinny
If you for some odd reason have an open HQ slot in Grey Knight army (not easy considering the competition) I suggest giving the generic Champion a try. He adds a very unique set of utility options most people don’t expect and adds a lot of potential in making games interesting in variously different ways.
Brotherhood Champion
For a cheap price you get a Borther-Captian stat line, +1 ws, -1 bs, -2 wounds, a unique set of equipment and very unique set of special rules.
Equipment wise you’ll notice he doesn’t come in terminator armor but artificer instead, this opens up the ability for sweeping advances assuming your not babysitting other terminators. It also lets him ride in light transports, which is something no other pure grey knight HQ can do (Apparently older grey knights never leave home without their security blankets). He still keeps the standard marine HQ iron halo which combined with his nemesis force sword gives him a durable 2+ armor and 3+ inv in close combat.
Weapons wise he has an already mentioned nemesis force sword and storm bolter, the sword is special in that it always re-rolls to wound. He also comes with frag, krak and psyk-out grenades. Too bad he didn’t get the option to take other grenades; this is often why he’s passed over for other utility choices.
He has a whopping 3 upgrade choices, one of which is digital weapons which in case you’re wondering is completely useless given the nature of his sword (unless you really want that storm bolter security). The other two are brain mines and psybolt, the former can have wacky fun results and the later is kind of meh. All options are really cheap but really not too useful.
Now for his special rules, the stuff that makes these guys real champions. He gives the unit he’s attached to re-rolls to hit on the charge, this can be pretty helpful when fighting other heavy assault units because grey knight have recently lost their weapon skills. He has Hammerhand, which it pretty sweet considering that means he can cast it and so can any squad he’s attached to making them str 6 or if you want allow your squad to activate their force weapons. Those last two abilities combined can make even basic strikes pretty devastating on the charge.
Now for the two rules that make this guy much more then a standard marine chaplain. Heroic sacrifice is a goofy psychic power that basically says “kill target important model with no saves allowed”. This rule alone makes him an incredible tool in close combat especially considering how cheap he is, instead of paying a super high price to put a super close combat monster in your list your putting a 100 point insurance policy against super close combat monsters. This ability was a big deal when the codex first came out but faded away because champions see very little play on the table.
The other important rule is both a great and bad ability. The good. Instead of having a normal attack line the champion can choose between 3 stances. One that lets him gain attacks equal to the number of enemies in base contact with him, one that lets you attack a monster or independent character d3 times at I 10, and the last which lets you re-roll all your saves. The bad. He doesn’t have normal attacks so you can’t just swing away at normal dudes.
Unfortunately it’s also worth noting that unlike a chaplain the champion doesn’t have the ability to make a squad he’s joined to fearless. Something I would gladly have paid more points for if he had it built into his rules.
The ways I have been successful with this guy is to attach him to any non terminator unit. Bide your time until you able to hit an important unit super hard. Following turn have him break off from his squad and run amuck in the back field killing small squads or tanking units I don’t want to deal with (I kept a Def dread locked in combat half a game by doing this). If my opponent has a special character I can’t go toe to toe with, Ill assault him and make sure that only the champion is in base contact. The attached squad focuses on the enemy attached unit while the champion keeps the character in time out, or if he gets killed attempt to sacrifice. Low point games and getting the assault is where this guy shines.
Pros: Super Tank, Anti-character, Cheap compared to other Grey Knight options, Has great potential in buffing a single squad on the table
Cons: No normal attack method, Zero army wide bonuses, Not cheap compared to Inquisitors who can get grenades, Can’t get grenades
Crowe
Has all the rules of the dudes mentioned above, but with some slight modifications. To start off he’s 50% more expensive, which is still pretty cheap. He in fact decided to be a douche and use some super demon sword instead of nemesis force sword, a demon sword that doesn’t actually do anything but hinder him. He loses the ability to have a 3+ inv in close combat and a force weapon, to gain a non power weapon and the ability to give units assaulting him re-rolls to charge and furious charge. I repeat the enemy unit charging him! Wacky right? Did I mention he is in fact not an independent character?
So here’s where he makes up for that. He has +1 Ws, In and Wound. He is the bestest swordsman whoever lived, he has the innate ability to rend on a 4+. So basically instead of having a normal power weapon he has a power weapon that always wounds on a 4+ and generally hates vehicles. He also has the added psychic power Purifying flame, this combined with the champion stance to re-roll saves makes him a super flame blasting tank, that has the potential to generate more attacks then any other single character. This can be very surprising. His last special rule makes purifiers troops. Min or max squads of these guys will make a very power force.
Pros: SUPER Tank Horde KILLER, Anti-character, Cheap compared to other Grey Knight options, Purifier as troops, Makes the most use out of Champion stances
Cons: No normal attack method, Not Independent character, Make people charging him better, have to find a way to get him places or stuck having him wait for people to come to him
The Skinny
If you for some odd reason have an open HQ slot in Grey Knight army (not easy considering the competition) I suggest giving the generic Champion a try. He adds a very unique set of utility options most people don’t expect and adds a lot of potential in making games interesting in variously different ways.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
6th Edition? - Discordian
So it’s real….
No it’s not……..
Maybe it is………
So for the last week everyone and their geek mothers have been going back and forth on whether or not the leaked 6th edition codex is real.
I’m honestly not sure myself. When I first caught wind of it I spent a few hours reading through it and then the next day applying what I read to the armies I played. It was a fun distracting exercise if I do say so myself. It wasn’t full blown list building more like a simple review and application. Here is what I came up with.
Tau:
Let’s start with Tau my first army.
Rail weapons do what now? Shot through everything in a line. Yeah if that’s true it might be a reason to start playing Sniper drones and pathfinder devastator teams again.
Cover more on the 5+ side. Sweet now I can put rail rifles back into my pathfinder squads. And since Tau armies are going to be shooting lines that at worst scatters, who needs Bs bumps.
Pinning now as -1 modifiers for every wound after the first. So what you’re saying is carbines might have a reason to exist…. and maybe I shouldn’t swap out to many marker lights.
Skimmers now ignore terrain period. Tau vehicles being slow meant that you had to kind of go in straight lines to get where you needed so sometimes I’d throw on sensor splines, but this would mean I really would never have to care. PLUS Necron asshat list won’t suck.
The document has burst cannons as Assault 4. This would help make it a possible choice for my suits and make warfish one shot better. This also almost makes Stealth suits priced correctly…. almost.
Eldar:
So power weapons get a parry save. The problem is they have to be normal power weapons with no other effects, which all elder power weapons have because they are usually strapped to a STR 3 space elfs. Off the top of my head this rule will help two units Mr. Cry of the Wind and …..BANSHEES. HOLY SHIT MY BANSHEES.
Eldar tanks and jet bikes will be harder to hit the faster they move because of the whole evasion system. Most people already hate Eldar Holofields this will just make it so much worse.
Also all elder tanks can be a plane if they want to.
Warlock squad upgrades can try to cancel out psychic powers. This doesn’t change my list because I already use them. But it makes my bike squads more then just a mobile heavy flamer.
Witch Blades are not str 7 and have a goofy ability to reroll inv saves. Not a power weapon, no longer always wound on 2+, and lost str 9 versus armor. Do not want.
Grey Knights:
Almost every unit in this book now has way to nullify psychic powers, almost a nail in the coffin of me not taking librarians anymore.
Justicar with MC Swords and maybe Falchions will have a 5+ save. Groovy.
Master crafted groups of weapons reroll as a group, so paladins will be more of a pain in the ass.
Wound allocations were you have to move wounds around at the end of the phase will kind of make up for this.
Deep strike assaulting makes Grey Knights stupid because your entire army can take advantage of this, Especially Mordrak and Callidus. The only downside is I’m fairly sure you’ll loss tons to defensive fire as your opponent lights you up in your turn.
Fortitude might take a hit because of how the new damage chart works.
Landraiders will come standard with a -1 on the chart. This might change my mind about using Ravens…..Oh wait never mind Ravens be planes now with locater beacons. Think about what that means to deepstriking.
Ravens be Planes, enough said.
Im not sure how I like it. Seems like someone went way out of their way to make the most annoying choose your own adventure rule book. Also the Stratagimic system makes list building not as important becasue you can tailor your game to fight your opponet.
It seems like a very complete rule system so it might be worth taking a read if you get the chance, just don’t waste too much time. It still might be a hoax and even if it is real it’s rather rough and super full of spelling errors. Like even more then in my posts.
So what do you think?
No it’s not……..
Maybe it is………
So for the last week everyone and their geek mothers have been going back and forth on whether or not the leaked 6th edition codex is real.
I’m honestly not sure myself. When I first caught wind of it I spent a few hours reading through it and then the next day applying what I read to the armies I played. It was a fun distracting exercise if I do say so myself. It wasn’t full blown list building more like a simple review and application. Here is what I came up with.
Tau:
Let’s start with Tau my first army.
Rail weapons do what now? Shot through everything in a line. Yeah if that’s true it might be a reason to start playing Sniper drones and pathfinder devastator teams again.
Cover more on the 5+ side. Sweet now I can put rail rifles back into my pathfinder squads. And since Tau armies are going to be shooting lines that at worst scatters, who needs Bs bumps.
Pinning now as -1 modifiers for every wound after the first. So what you’re saying is carbines might have a reason to exist…. and maybe I shouldn’t swap out to many marker lights.
Skimmers now ignore terrain period. Tau vehicles being slow meant that you had to kind of go in straight lines to get where you needed so sometimes I’d throw on sensor splines, but this would mean I really would never have to care. PLUS Necron asshat list won’t suck.
The document has burst cannons as Assault 4. This would help make it a possible choice for my suits and make warfish one shot better. This also almost makes Stealth suits priced correctly…. almost.
Eldar:
So power weapons get a parry save. The problem is they have to be normal power weapons with no other effects, which all elder power weapons have because they are usually strapped to a STR 3 space elfs. Off the top of my head this rule will help two units Mr. Cry of the Wind and …..BANSHEES. HOLY SHIT MY BANSHEES.
Eldar tanks and jet bikes will be harder to hit the faster they move because of the whole evasion system. Most people already hate Eldar Holofields this will just make it so much worse.
Also all elder tanks can be a plane if they want to.
Warlock squad upgrades can try to cancel out psychic powers. This doesn’t change my list because I already use them. But it makes my bike squads more then just a mobile heavy flamer.
Witch Blades are not str 7 and have a goofy ability to reroll inv saves. Not a power weapon, no longer always wound on 2+, and lost str 9 versus armor. Do not want.
Grey Knights:
Almost every unit in this book now has way to nullify psychic powers, almost a nail in the coffin of me not taking librarians anymore.
Justicar with MC Swords and maybe Falchions will have a 5+ save. Groovy.
Master crafted groups of weapons reroll as a group, so paladins will be more of a pain in the ass.
Wound allocations were you have to move wounds around at the end of the phase will kind of make up for this.
Deep strike assaulting makes Grey Knights stupid because your entire army can take advantage of this, Especially Mordrak and Callidus. The only downside is I’m fairly sure you’ll loss tons to defensive fire as your opponent lights you up in your turn.
Fortitude might take a hit because of how the new damage chart works.
Landraiders will come standard with a -1 on the chart. This might change my mind about using Ravens…..Oh wait never mind Ravens be planes now with locater beacons. Think about what that means to deepstriking.
Ravens be Planes, enough said.
Im not sure how I like it. Seems like someone went way out of their way to make the most annoying choose your own adventure rule book. Also the Stratagimic system makes list building not as important becasue you can tailor your game to fight your opponet.
It seems like a very complete rule system so it might be worth taking a read if you get the chance, just don’t waste too much time. It still might be a hoax and even if it is real it’s rather rough and super full of spelling errors. Like even more then in my posts.
So what do you think?
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