Chaos codex is here!

I picked up the new book at GW Newbury.  I have yet to study it in detail, but a few things were particularly interesting.

Obviously all the new 40K codices will be hardback now and around the £30 mark, à la Fantasy.  It is a decent quality and full-colour, but at the price maybe it should be a few more than just over 100 pages?

What is a boost for chaos player is that the marks of chaos now grant more than a single stat increase, but also give some of the new special rules in the Sixth Edition rulebook.

As far as the Troops choices go, of course there are now the cannon fodder, sorry Cultists.  However, the basic Chaos Marines now have to choose between bolter + pistol or pistol + weapon, so have to focus more on their rôle in advance.  Also, Plague / Noise Marines etc are now Elites choices, unless you take a Lord (or Sorceror for Tzeentch) with the same mark.

The Heldrake model has attracted a lot of attention at Games Day and in WD, but it is also worth noting that Havocs can now take flakk missiles too.

Still no chaos drop pods...?

Quinn has asked me to be part of the Newbury team again for a return to Warhammer World in October half-term, for a 600pts doubles tournament.  I need to decide between my Howling Griffons, Guard or the shiny new Chaos.  I have a feeling there will be a lot of Chaos armies again!

Armies on Parade - Howling Griffons

Having spent most of my hobby time over the last few weeks working on my Howling Griffons, it was finally time for the Armies on Parade Competition at GW Newbury.

As I didn't have enough of the Bretonnian transfers I had used before for the whole army, I decided to hand-paint a rough black griffon for the shoulder pads, which looked OK - at a distance anyway.  My Assault Squad therefore stayed in the case, as they had white half griffon transfers and they had also been 'ardcoated, and so were glossier than the rest of the army.

Overall I came 3rd (out of 4) in the competition.  The scenery pieces and the quartered scheme got quite a few favourable comments, as did the interactive narrative of the rising Necron and the Command Squad, but I think I had neglected the board itself.  It was a bit bare in places and needed a bit more interesting stuff going on.

Quinn is keen for people to start planning boards for next year, so I will think about that at some stage.  I also await the rules for next year's store visit to Warhammer World, to see where my Howling Griffons go next.

Griffon Scenery

I've been a bit quiet for the past couple of weeks, mainly due to Olympic fever.  I even took my son up to Old Trafford to see a couple of games.

Anyway, I have been doing some work on some pieces of scenery.  One of them is a couple of moonscape craters with various Necron bits bursting out of the ground.  The main piece though is a Griffon statue based on the Fantasy Deathclaw model and a Sanctum Imperialis.

It is still WIP, but I'm quite pleased with how it is turning out, especially the claw grasping the top corner.  In game, it would count as Imperial Statuary

Howling Griffons 1250 vs Grey Knights

My army has grown enough that I played 1250 pts against Quinn's Grey Knights last night.  It wasn't pretty and I'm starting to wonder when we will be seeing their first victory at GW.  They have done well at a couple of smaller games at the school club, but these rarely get played to conclusion, so I can't really count those wins.

I have now added an Ironclad, a Rhino and a Devastator Squad, as well as enough marines for two full Tactical Squads.  Most are virtually finished, although 6 marines and the Rhino have only had a basecoat.

We rolled The Relic mission, but to be honest I struggled to get anywhere near it and was pushed back as the GK dominated.  His Vindicare Assassin was lucky to survive a snapshot from my Missile Launcher in the Rhino, but then went on to wreck my vehicles in short order.  Quinn does not like GK Terminators at all, but his two big squads of Interceptors proved far too manoeuvrable for me to deal with, and they put out a lot of shots too.

Quinn kept failing Ld tests on psychic powers and even towards the end when I tried to tank shock one of the Interceptors units, who were behind my lines.  However, with them falling back towards their own table edge, rather than the closest edge, which was just inches away, this proved rather pointless.

I did have a little luck with a few snapshots and managed to kill one squad of Interceptors, but not enough to trouble Quinn unduly.

The army still needs work to make it even vaguely competitive at the moment, but I have had a few positive comments about how they are looking.

Howling Griffons Predator

The Predator is very nearly done.  I just need to decide two things - what colour to do the lights and what to do about unit transfers.

I didn't fancy doing a quartered scheme on a vehicle, but I'm quite pleased with the two-coloured effect.  I have now started a Rhino, and am debating whether to stick with the same colours or reverse them, with a red body and yellow doors etc.

As I now have some time off, I have also got started with an Ironclad and some Devastators, if only to give me more choice of heavy weapons.

Chariot Challenges Counter

OK, so I should have ignored the chariot and just assaulted the Overlord.  Challenges cannot be issued from a chariot, so the Mindschackle Scarabs would have targetted a random model from my unit in base contact, rather than having a choice of one.  Hammer of Wrath from the chariot could be a problem, as it gets those hits whenever it charges and it can't be locked in combat as a vehicle.

Something like an Ironclad would be good in that combat, as it could ignore the Hammer of Wrath and can't be Mindshackled, but it would probably end up getting glanced to death before it could get in a charge.

Cheeky chariot challenge combo

I took my Chaos army for an outing to GW Newbury last night.  I have now bought a winged Daemon Prince to lead them, for some Monstrous Flyer goodness.  It is still being painted and I haven't worked out how to fit him in my case yet, so I was using my Nurgle Sorceror on a bike as HQ.  I also ended up with Invisibility as my psychic power, so my unit of T6 Nurgle Bikers also got a very tasty cover save and could only be hit at WS 1 in combat.

I was playing Necrons and came up against a rather nasty combo, which ended up shutting me down.  He had two Overlords in Command Barges, which are apparently now chariots.  Anyway, I got in charges on both in separate assaults to avoid getting Hammer of Wrath from them.  I managed to wreck both chariots with krak grenades.  Each Overlord survived and was then fighting a unit and they issued challenges.  If I accepted the challenge, he then used Mindschackle Scarabs on the accepting model.  I failed all of these rolls, which meant the single model in the combat was hitting itself, but my other models were locked in combat and were unable to attack anyone, due to the challenge.  Refusing the challenge meant I was then struggling to wound him with basic troops, especially with his 2+ save.

I guess I need to read up on the new chariot rules to find a counter.  I suppose a cheap tar-pit unit to tie him up in combat would be one method.