Biggest Bang- IG Skimmers/Stormtrooper Company, 2000/2500

So I sat down and messed with the Imperial Guard Codex and capitalized on the Creed's Elite concept, maxing Valkyries and Storm Troopers, going for the first Biggest Bang for your Buck I have done in a while.

2000 pts
HQ- Company Command Squad- 260: Creed, Carapace Armour, 4 x Meltagun, Astropath, Officer of the Fleet
Elites- Stormtroopers- 195: 2 x Plasmagun
Elites- Stormtroopers- 185: 2 x Meltagun
Elites- Stormtroopers- 185: 2 x Meltagun
Troops- Veteran Squad- 145: Grenadiers, 3 x Plasmagun
Troops- Veteran Squad- 115: Grenadiers, 3 x Sniper Rifle
Troops- Veteran Squad- 125: Grenadiers, 3 x Flamer, 6 x Shotguns, Laspistol & Power Weapon
Fast Attack- Valkyrie Squadron (3)- 330: 1 x Rocket Pods
Fast Attack- Valkyrie Squadron (3)- 330: 1 x Rocket Pods
Fast Attack- Vendetta Squadron (1)- 130

2500 pts
Troops- Veteran Squad- 130: Grenadiers, 3 x Meltagun
Troops- Veteran Squad- 110: Grenadiers, 2 x Grenade Launcher
ADD TO VENDETTA SQUADRON- 2 x Vendetta- +260

Pts: 2000 Scoring Units: 3 KPs: 15 Model Count: 67 Infantry, 7 Skimmers
Pts: 2500 Scoring Units: 5 KPs: 19 Model Count: 87 Infantry, 9 Skimmers

So you have an Astropath and Officer of the Fleet to help you win at the reserves game, which is the name of the game with 7 to 9 Skimmers on the table. Plus Creed has his spiffy rules to aide this aspect of the game further. A good mix of special weapons should help you take on a variety of foes, and the number of Lascannon and melta's is adequate for Armour. The stormtroopers can gun through powered armour foes when they swamp them en masse, especially if they get softened up by the Valkyries. And even with the Elite nature of the Army, it still has a relatively high model count. 67-87 4+ armour saves aren't the easiest to power through. The key is to keep this army out of assault though. Hop around and shoot, mass your fire and eliminate entire enemy squads at once so you don't get assaulted and bogged down in the following turns.

How I'd run the list is in 2 distinct halves. First would be a standoff containment force. This consists of the plasma Stormtroopers, Sniper Vets and Plasma vets in the first Valkyrie Squadron. Deploy them in a line, ideally on an objective, and hold the enemy in with massed las fire and special weapons at a minimum of 12" range. Next is your assault force. This is the 2 Melta storm trooper squad and the flamer/shotgun vets. They sweep in from the side or middile in the second valkyrie squad and push horizontally through the enemy line, overwhelming them in short ranged fire fights, assaulting only when you know that you won't get bogged down or you will be assaulted anyways (might as well get the charge bonus). Try to only assault with the vets, as your storm troopers should always be shooting, that is where they excell the most. The last element in Creed in the Vendetta. While not a distinct part of either force, he lends more to the assault BUT in a very specific capacity. His squad should be hunting armour. They have the weapons for it and the vehicle for it and do not have the numbers to prosecute actions against infantry formations.

In the 2500 point list, the Melta vets should go with the assault force and the grenade vets with the standoff containment force.

Warmachine Butcher Lists- 25/50/75/100

So I recently finally recieved my Warmachine Prime Mk II rule book and forces of Khador book. I am relatively inexperienced in Warmachine and reading through and trying to learn the rules. They are relatively stream lined which is nice. What I have very little experience with in Warmachine is list building and what is competitive on the table top. I know that this game is designed with competitve play more in mind than 40k (just read page 5). So I sat down and cobbled together a set of lists based on the Butcher of Khardov tier, which is what I know I want to use. I really like the idea of a hard hitting assault force, MoW are super awesome to me, and heavy warjacks are sweet. Plus I already own the Butcher, 3 Demo Corps, a Kodiak and Juggernaut.

Here is what I have

25 pts
Orsus Zoktavia, the Butcher of Khardov (+6)
Juggernaut- 7
Kodiak- 8
MoW Demolition Corps (3)- 6
MoW Shock Troopers (5)-9 (-1 for Tier 1 of Butcher)
Wardog (1)

50 pts (add to the 25)
Widowmakers- 4
MoW Drakhun- 4 (w/out Dismount) (I love this model! Favourite one in the entire game range)
MoW Kovnik- 3
Destroyer- 9 (goes with the Kovnik)
Berserker- 6

75 pts (add to the 50)
Decimator- 9
Berserker- 6
Marauder- 7
Add Dismount to Drakhun- +1
Widowmaker Marksman- 2

100 pts (add to the 75)
Devastator- 9
MoW Bombardier (5)- 11
Add 2 to Demo Corps- +3
MoW Kovnik- 3
Remove Dismount from Drakhun- -1

So how is this? Too many Warjacks? I think that is the most likely thing, though I picked up 2 kovniks to hopefully help that. And they are just SO COOL! Any better suggestions? Design elements to consider? Better 'jack choices? I am really open to input here.

Solar Pulse Rant – Discordian

Alright so usually I’m pretty slack on rules unless it’s a tournament. 40k is a pretty dense game and has been released in several editions. So I’ll correct someone if they are about to do something wrong and I’d like to think my opponents on average will do the same. 40k is an hour+ game guys chill out and have fun and make some friends.


Buuuuuttttt……… If one more Necron player puts on one of those shitty ass grins and interrupts me when I’m about to start my shooting phase saying “SOLAR PULSE” like some kind of tekkan fighting move, I’m going to pick up their book and shove it somewhere in inappropriate.

It happens every freaking time. If you’re going to rely on a piece of war gear to define how your army operates, READ THE RULE.
“The solar pulse can be used at the start of any turn…..”

Solar pulse is awesome don’t get me wrong, but it at least lets the victim move knowing it’s in effect. *("Gothmog" Editor- Note as per the rule book ANY TURN is the start of any player turn, where as the issue discordian is facing is opponents attempting to utilize it at the start of his shooting phase, in the middle of his turn, after his movement. By then the Necron player has missed their chance.)

Someone even tried to pull this on me in a tournament. It was my second turn in a dawn of war mission and I looked at the guy and said I was starting my turn. He said okay, and I said it again louder. Then I started my turn. Come shooting phase he tried to pop the pulse and I said read the rule dude. Two other Necron players, really popular where I live right now, chirped up and were like “yeah in any shooting phase bro”. Seriously in a tournament setting three people didn’t know better…. well maybe the bro part was added.

Since then it’s happened with two other players. One was 13, I let that one get away with it because I was TEACHING him the game.

I don’t have a problem with people making honest mistakes. But if you’re going to purposely buy something to accomplish a goal. READ A BOOK.

The Fluff of 6th Edition 2012- What I'd Like To See

I want to discuss a topic that hasn't really come up much, the evolving fluff of the Warhammer 40,000 universe. We've come along way from third edition when the stories were clearly all Imperial all the time. It was Guard crushing this and Space Marines kicking butt that. The Marcharian Crusade is the quintissential fluff event, and expansion of 1000 worlds, and the Heresy barely mentioned, Chaos was nothing more than an insidious menace (the concept of the "Long War" seemingly non-existant) and Abaddon beaten back in the Gothic War, Orks a beast to be eradicated and Tyranids a new threat to be dealt with. Then 4th edition came along and everything seemed a little more evenly matched. Tyranids were something to fear and took great sacrifices to beat, orks a Galactic Plauge, Necrons rising from the dark deep to strike unexpectantly, Chaos the main challenge to the rule of man as a constant threat and destabilizing factor, especailly with the 13th Black Crusade being a tactical draw but a strategic victory for chaos, and Tau a rising threat claiming unsuspecting worlds on man's ungaurded flank.

The the present age, 5th edition. It is the start of the Dark Times, the Imperium is stretched thinner than ever and beset on all side. In 5th edition the motto "There is only war" is embodied best. Even in game terms with expansions such as apocalypse support this. The Astronomican is weak and the days grow darker. The stage is set for an apocalypctic event. Even the BL books lead to this, with the Iron Warriors vs Ultramarines plots and Night Lords and Word Bearers series. 6th edition should be this event.

Mankind should be pushed to the brink, near what they were in the days of the Heresy and the time of Vandire. There should be great defeats and losses, with shinning beacons of heroism, sacrifice and defiance.

To me there are a few things that can do this in game and fluff

1- Primarchs- Well not loyal ones, but rather Daemon Primarchs for Apocalypse. This would also help reinvigorate Apocalypse I feel, as many people don't play it too much any more. They already did Angron some years ago in a WD (I have it someplace and need to find it). With the Horus Books growing in popularity, who wouldn't want to play with these veritable titans.

2- Abaddon gets past Cadia/Expansion of the 13th Black Crusade- This can even be supported with something not seen for a while- a summer campaign. Whether it gets to Terra or not is up to GW, but if you tie in some of the Blood Angel fluff surrounding Dante, this has a lot of potential.

3- Bring back another C'Tan- The outsider or void dragon would really mix things up and mess up humanity something good. The Void Dragon would be particularly good to coincide with a in game release of Codex: Ad Mech and open up the possibility for even more Apocalypse shenanigans

4- Eldrad Ulthuan is still alive- This guy is present at the darkest moment every time. If he comes back, we know something big is going to happen. Plus, this is a great tie in with number 3. Some Deceiver, Nightbringer and Harlequin goodness alongside in the fluff would be most excellent.

5- Another hive fleet- alot of potential here, for obvious reasons. You could though pit them against the Tau more and make a Imperium, Tau, Eldar trifecta of good. Same concepts can be applied to Ork Waaghs.

6- Just general mayhem. It is not longer the precusor of the end times. IT IS THE END TIMES. And some summer campaigns can really push this along. And then as 6th edition dies off, 7th edition can be a time of renewal again. Man can beat back the darkness and expand with crusades like Marcharius once again.

SO who else wants to see the galaxy burn? Hey, and 2012 is the PERFECT YEAR for world ending calamities to begin.

Meet Joe - Discordian

So I recently entered into a 40k 1500 tourney. 1500 points isn’t a normal point level I play so I wanted mix things up and do something little different. I settled on a list with Mordrak and full ghost buddies, two 5 man strikes with psycannons, two psyrifleman dreads, a 10 man interceptor with psybolts and cannons, and one teleporting Dreadknight.

I don’t normally play foot Grey Knights, but it seemed to on paper be able to play towards the objectives of the 3 game I had to play.

One problem....... I didn’t own a Dread Knight…… Also the model looks super dumb with the stupid baby carried Grey Knight strapped to the front.

Super Dumb

But I decided I wanted to give it a try and see what I could do in a week. I ordered the model on a Friday and it arrived on Tuesday, 4 days before the tournament. So I knew it wasn’t going to be painted in time but at least I’d have some time to convert.

Meet Joe

Guess where the cockpit came from?

The round things on the back are the turret housings

from the aegis defense line kit

I used a combination of tubes and Multi-Melta barrels to fill in the

the gap behind the cockpit

I decided to prime him because I can't stand to look at a grey grey knights.

I ended up placing 3rd in a swiss scoring system. Every game had kill points and two other random objective missions all equally scored.
My first opponent was Necrons and he won the role to go first. It was Dawn of war with 6 objectives where 1 randomly disappears on either side turn 3. He won the role and made me go first. This made me realize I was going to have trouble on my hands because my army is weirdly designed to not like that, especially when there’s nothing on the table to react to. I forced a draw on all of the objective missions but he pulled ahead by one kill point at the end of turn 5 where the game ended. I can only take solace in the fact that if it had gone on one more turn I would have gotten three more kill points. But it was a great game and we had a lot of fun playing each other. Best moment,

“I’m starting my turn” me
“Okay” opponent
“Let me START my turn then” me
“You don’t have to raise your voice man” opponent
5 mins later “You where trying to tell me to use the solar flare weren’t you” opponent
“Yep” me

The second game was against Drop pod/DOA blood angels with a single Dev squad. I said I was sorry, got first turn, got warp quake up, killed the Dev squad turn one from combined shooting, waited for his army to show up, and ended up tabling him. His army looked beautiful, but it was a really bad match up for him and it really showed. Best moment was when Dante and his body guard dropped in and tried to Melta my Dread Knight, Joe survived with one wound and proceeded to jump like a big scaredy cat 30” away.

I need to get a actual camera if I want to keep posting pictures.

My last game was against triple battle wagon rollers with a one full squad of lootas. Again thankfully I got first turn. He didn’t really deploy right and I took advantage of it (I did tell him what Mordrak did by the way). I was able to kill the lootas by turn 2 with Mordrak and by spreading out my units was able to pick off all three wagons. The game ended on turn 6 when I was able to storm bolter his last squad into dust. I wasn’t able to score on the second mission because my forces where so spread out, but I was able to get the other 2. Best moment, Mordrak taking a death roller to the face after killing all the lootas.
I didn’t get to play the two guys ahead of me, so either I was lucky or they were.

Here are two of the other armies.

Dead Company

Draigo and toys