Dark Angels Hammer of Caliban - lessons learned

After my last game I was feeling very confident about my DA , but knew I would be in for a tough test against Oli a couple of days later.  He has a notoriously tricksy and mobile DE list with lots of skimmers, poison and lances.  Having tried out a Ravenwing list, I want to trial a Greenwing army myself, so went for a Demi-Company with a Hammer of Caliban, consisting of a Land Raider Redeemer and 3 Vindicators.  I had to proxy a few models from other armies and de-chaosify another part-built Vindicator I had picked up somewhere along the line.  (Don't tell the Inner Circle...)

To summarise, I did everything wrong in this game.  I managed to box in my killer formation and struggled to manoeuvre the raider and other tank through a very narrow gap.  Once I finally lined up a shot it, it scattered and failed to kill off anything.  I only managed to get off the one Apocalyptic Blast, before Oli destroyed one of the 3 vindicators, thus preventing any more apoc shots.  After this, firing 2 demolisher shots proved to be overkill on their targets, so I ended up ramming Oli's skimmers instead.

We were playing the maelstrom mission where you generate cards based on how many objectives you control.  Oli's mobility made it very hard for me to keep hold of many markers and the cards I drew were often useless.  Kill a psyker is not easy to score against pure DE, for example.  Oli on the other hand, pulled out multiples of the same objective he was holding comfortably.  Don't get me wrong.  I have always thought maelstrom is one of the best things about 7th Edition 40K, but this game got a bit frustrating.

Towards the end of the match I charged out of the Land Raider, which was on its last HP, with a tac squad, tech marine and company master at 3 separate targets.  The tac squad failed its charge and the 2 characters both whiffed in combat against a venom and a raider.  The tech marine with 4 servo-arm attacks on the charge was particularly disappointing.  Of course, these were all shot to pieces in the next turn, which left me with little more to do than perch my remaining vindicator on top of a wrecked comrade, just to get line of sight.  This actually killed a ravager, but skylined my tank nicely in the last turn.

The final score was an impressive 24-0 whitewash for Oli!

I made the mistake of putting too many units into one formation.  The formation by itself came to 740/1500, and I also put the company master and a tac squad in the land raider too.  This left my other minimal units struggling to make a scratch.  My planning before the game was to deny Oli jink saves with flamers and the apoc blast, which also ignored cover.  Whilst the Redeemer toasted the passengers of a venom very nicely, this was not enough.  I had forgotten my own guideline of 'boys before toys' I tell any new Ork players.  A squadron of vindicators would be more viable without the land raider and tech marine needed for this formation.  This  might mean I would take a CAD below 1500 points.

I am starting in a map based campaign soon, which begins at 1000 points.  I already have quite a few options of built models from which to choose, as I decide my first list for this competition.

Dark Angels vs UM 1500 pts

Having been building my Dark Angels army for most of the summer, I decided I really needed to get on with painting them and playing some games.  The wet weather has restricted the spraying and painting a bit, but I managed to play a game against Wiggy earlier.

We decided on a 1500 point game and rolled up the basic Maelstrom mission - Cleanse and Control.

Wiggy's army was a couple of units of scouts including Telion, missile devastators, a land speeder storm, a stormtalon and 3 drop pods containing 3 devastator centurions with level 2 librarian, an ironclad dreadnought and a tactical squad.

As I knew he would bring the CentStar I fielded a Ravenwing Support Squadron, as well as one each of the Ravenwing and Deathwing detachments.  I felt a bit bad using the support squadron, as Wiggy did not realise what the Interceptor rule did when I showed him the datasheet.  At the start of the game I just deployed the squadron and was happy for him to go first.  He took the bait and duly dropped in the centurions and the ironclad right by my unit, only for the plasma storm battery, multi-meltas and assault cannons to wipe out his deathstar as soon as they disembarked.  I got first blood and warlord in the first phase of his turn. That formation is a very hard counter to that particular deathstar.  It could be a very useful ally in many Imperial forces.

To be fair to Wiggy, he did not throw in the towel, but kept focusing on the maelstrom objectives to try and level up the game.  Unfortunately he never really recovered from the early setback, with the score at 9-14 in my favour when the game ended after Turn 5.

We both made some silly mistakes, like my terminators straying too close to a grav squad after they had managed to beat the Ironclad in combat.  I also allowed Sableclaw to be assaulted by two different units of scouts, which was careless and cost me Warlord.  However, this is a new army for me, which is subtly different from my Howling Griffons.  I need to get used to the DA rules, especially things like Stubborn.  Markers for jinking and having fired interceptor shots would be very handy.  I also need to practise with the central interaction between the Ravenwing and Deathwing, so the units come on at the right time in the best places. Reliable reserves is very useful, however.

I was obviously pleased with killing his key unit early doors, but I don't expect to get away with that trick too often.  I was also happy with smaller things like the Power Lance on one of the Ravenwing Sergeants, which is a weapon I have not really seen used before.  Strangely, I have never used a Typhoon Launcher before either, but I think I will definitely include more of these with my Guardians of the Covenant.

Starting a new marine army

A quick update on my latest project.

I was planning on building a homebrew chapter with the new SM codex. However, that changed when the Dark Angels book was released shortly after the Space Marines rules were updated. Their Grim Resolve rule makes them really useful as a defensive allied force, especially with a demi-company. I also like the interaction between Deathwing and Ravenwing. My having a Dark Vengeance box, including the limited Interrogator-Chaplain all still on sprues in the box persuaded me to start a DA force instead. Maybe one day I will do my own chapter.

As you can probably tell from the photo, I already have enough models for a demi-company and a Ravenwing formation. I have also used the leadbelcher spray I had for the basecoat. I really like the Guardians of the Covenant colour scheme and the red robes will tie in nicely with my Howling Griffons.  A Mechanicus force, or maybe even an Imperial Knight, would also complement this scheme well.

Space Marines 7th edition codex first impressions

My Howling Griffons have only had limited attention lately, what with my Orks running rampage, but a new SM codex will definitely change that.

Last Saturday I couldn't resist the Ultramarines Limited Edition when it went up for pre-order, so I have been waiting patiently for it all week.  I had also tried to resist trawling the rumour sites for spoilers and was generally successful.  (The rumour I had heard about Devastators getting Slow and Purposeful turns out to be wrong now anyway.)  This morning I went straight to GW to pick up my order and it is lovely.  Limited Editions have seemed to me a bit of a luxury before, and of course it is, but the package is very impressive.  Mine is 41/450, so I got a top 100 prime number!  (I can be a bit OCD about these things.)  The full page artwork is very good, although the figures for the different colour schemes seem odd.

Anyway, enough of my indulgences.  What about the rules?

There have been some tweaks to Chapter Tactics.  Any SM army now has wider access to the old Ultramarines doctrines via formation rules, although UM get the widest use of these still.  Devastator doctrine has removed Relentless for Devastator squads, which was one of my favourite rules.  Salamanders now get 4+ FNP against flamer weapons instead of re-rolls to wound, although there is some debate online about Skorchas with this.  Oh, and Dreadnoughts get Chapter Tactics too now and can be fielded in units of up to 3 of the same type.  Those seem to be the main changes with Chapter Tactics.

The biggest change, by far, is the introduction of the Gladius Strike Force as an alternative to the traditional CAD.  This is similar to the chart we first saw with the Necron Decurion.  The core of this is a Demi-Company, with a Captain or Chaplain, 3 Tactical Squads, an Assault element and a Devastator element.  There is also an option for a unit of Dreads and a Command Squad.  Crucially, the whole Demi-Company gets Objective Secured and can use the Tactical Doctrine.  With 2 Demi-Companies (aka a full Battle Company) all the squads in it get free Rhinos, Razorbacks or Drop Pods, although they pay for any upgrades.  All with Obj Sec.  Wow!  I can see that being exploited by some.

As with the Decurion, the other Formations in the book can be combined to add to the Demi-Company.  I already have a Storm Wing Formation, which is now in the codex, and enough units for a 1st Company Task Force, so have more than the minimum for the Gladius.  The Strike Force Command option is interesting, as a Chaplain or a Captain can then take either a Command Squad or Honour Guard (both of which are now Elite choices).   Some formations previously seen in Apocalypse are now included in the standard rules.  One example is the Librarius Conclave of 3-5 Librarians, who can then have one model harnessing Warp Charge on a 2+.  The balance here is that they must be within 12" to unlock this, which a canny opponent will exploit.  Apart from Land Raiders, the other Heavy Support vehicles now come in squadrons of 1-3, as do Thunderfire Cannons and they all get benefits for having 3 of each on the table.

The trend of making dedicated transports separate Fast Attack choices continues, so SW and BA now have more competition in the Drop Pod rental market.  I had also expected the shenanigans of changing Bikes into Troops to end, as had happened with Ork Warbikes and BA Assault Squads, but the SM version has even improved.  Previously a Captain or Chapter Master needed to be on a bike to unlock this, but now any IC in the Detachment on a bike allows this, so this is a real buff, especially for Scars players.  This includes a Techmarine, who is a cross between the old Techmarine and Master of the Forge for a compromise cost of 65 points as a full HQ choice with 2 wounds.  In the previous book a Chapter Master, Captain and Terminator Captain were all separate entries, but they have now been consolidated under the Captain entry as upgrades.  Again, there has also been a lot of discussion about whether a Chapter Master then still counts as a Captain for the formations.  I would say he does.

Some of the points costs have been reduced a bit for some of the less popular options.  For example Assault Terminators with LCs are a PF cheaper as a unit, but to upgrade them to the TH/SS combo comes out at the old total.  Generally, special weapon options in a number of units are cheaper.  In particular Vanguard Veterans, whose Heroic Intervention rule has changed again, now re-rolling charges and ignoring disordered charges.  This makes them much more attractive, so should move more kits.  The new Assault Squad is the same price, so the Vanguards may appear even better value too.

Right now I have bought one box of the new Devastator kits and will get another to add options for a full squad of grav cannons and another multi-melta squad to my Howling Griffons 9th (Devastator) Company (it is a shame that is not a formation in standard 40K...).  I like the new legs and will just use the new larger bases and ignore the different sizes on the rest of the squads.  I am not that OCD.  At least you can just about make 6 figures with the new dev box, if you steal a spare back torso from an Assault Squad box and find another base.

After that I intend to start the homebrew chapter I have wanted to do for a while, so I can swap chapter tactics more easily.  I will just need to decide on a name and colour scheme, although there is some inspiration in the Successor Chapters booklet I got today with the Limited Edition.

These are interesting times for SM players again.  I don't think they will reach Eldar levels of power - perceived or otherwise - but the new codex has done a good job of updating the iconic army of 40K for 7th Edition.  I hope there will be even more variety in the range of SM armies players actually use, and not just the variations on White Scars and Iron Hands we have seen a lot lately.

For Mancora and the Emperor!

Green Tide vs 6th ed Eldar

This blog has now reached 10k views. I wonder how many of them are mine? (No I don't want to mess around with Blogger audience stats tyvm..)

On Monday night I played a 1500 pt game for Oli's new league.  My list is a Green Tide with a CAD of painboy, 2 units of grots, 2 lots of warbikes and a single killa kan.

Oli had not allowed the new Eldar codex for some reason (?), so this match was against 3 pre-nerf wave serpents, an old Wraithknight, a spiritseer, 2 sets of Wraithguard,  a crimson hunter, 10 dire avengers and 10 guardians.

We were playing a hybrid Emperor's Will / mini - maelstrom scenario.  I had almost forgotten how long my horde takes to unpack, so Tom got a drink while I deployed.

Deployment

My Orks went first but the first couple of turns were the slowest advance ever.  I kept rolling ones and twos for running and got snake eyes twice in a row when trying to charge.  I also took a bit of a beating from the serpents and the Wraithknight. With Tom focusing on my green tide and my trying to run, it took until the end of turn 3 before we had First Blood when Tom exploded my kan with his flyer.  By that point I almost called it, as I had lost well over 50 boyz.  Without FNP it would have been a lot more.  As I had had to sweep round scenery, the blob had been spilt in three with casualties in front of the buildings and it looked like I would have to spend my movement just getting back in coherency rather than running forward.

The plan is usually to aim for a Turn 2 charge, but in this game it took until Turn 4!  The tide was turning, as they say.  I finally managed a multi-charge, needing a 6 on an 'Ere we go reroll to make it through terrain. Perhaps the dice gods were not so harsh after all?  The ladz predictably chewed through the guardians and even the wraithguard, but fortunately one of the latter survived to keep the remaining boyz locked in combat for Tom's next round of shooting, before they mopped up in his assault phase.

My boyz and bikes finished off the rest of his infantry over the next couple of turns, whilst the serpents zipped across to my board edge to keep out of the way, but shooting one of my grot units off of an objective at the end.  I ignored the flyer and the WK.

The Eldar are pushed back

In the end neither of us got the 4pt Emperor's Will objectives, but I won the 3 pts in this scenario for achieving most maelstrom objectives.  We both got 2 secondaries,  so I won 5-2 with a bit of luck.  I had expected to lose some of the chaff, but most of the nobz in the tide made it into combat.

I had added the bikes and kan to the list to help me grab objectives, as the tide can only hold one.  However, with the tide advancing Tom got pushed back, so he was restricted in getting objectives too.  Even when he leapfrogged with his wave serpents, my grots still had Objective Secured.  This meant he couldn't snatch a 4 pt objective at the end.

New GW Crusade case - aka I have too many Orks!

It has been a while since my last post, but I thought I would give my thoughts on the new GW cases.

My Ork army from last year's Tale of Gamers has continued to expand beyond the single case I started with.  Including my son's old AOBR figures, I was carrying around two cases plus the Stormclaw box of unmade sprues and clippers etc.  A double case seemed the logical next step, and then GW released its new box range.  Whilst the smallest one would be very useful for storage at club, I opted for the Crusade version, which is advertised at holding 400 figures.

This morning I finally got the chance to transfer my models and it was a squeeze! Apart from my Morkanaut and Stompa (!) I got all of my own figures in and even squeezed in some of the boy's models.  However, the lid needed to be closed carefully.  See the pictures at the bottom.

The Stormboyz and any models with banners or bosspoles need to be laid down to fit and I had to turn one tray upside down to go over the vehicles.  I like the idea of the zig-zag foam, which is very flexible.  However, it is not as easy to count the models as with the old trays, where you knew exactly how many figures were in a row.  Smaller models like Gretchin or even magnetised weapon arms etc will also 'float about' a bit more, now that they are not so contained.  I think it could take longer to unpack, which could be an issue if bidding for set up time in Apoc games.  My Orks have always taken a long time to pack away after games, and I don't see that improving soon.

The case itself seems to be made with thinner plastic than the old ones and the clips are certainly smaller.  Whether they are more durable than on my last case, one of which broke off, remains to be seen.

I can also imagine that if you have a lot of the old metal figures then it could get quite heavy too.  The strap seems to be the same as before and the handle is solid enough.

Overall, I was a little disappointed I could not fit more in, but it will certainly be more convenient than carrying two cases all the time.  As for the unloading and repacking time, I suppose that will improve as I get used to it.

Bottom layer

Second layer

Third layer

Fourth layer (top)

40K New Years Doubles League

My Howling Griffons are getting a bit of attention again just now with a doubles league I am running at Newbury Gaming Club.  We had one doubles game with my Orks before Christmas which was good fun so I put the idea of a league forward and twelve players were up for my suggestion.

We drew random pairs and my partner turned out to be Paul, who also has Ork and Marine armies. He is a better convertor and painter though! He was keen to use his marines so I thought I would use mine again too.

The other army combos are Iron Hands + Tyranids, Tau + Dark Eldar, Dark Eldar + Guard, Tau + Guard and BA + Eldar.

Paul decided on his 1000pt list first, using Salamanders tactics.

Captain- artificer armour, plasma pistol, power fist, storm shield, digital weapons
Ironclad Dreadnought
3 Assault Centurions- omniscope, meltaguns
5 scouts- heavy bolter, 4 snipers
10 tacticals- heavy bolter, flamer
Stormraven- extra armour, TL lascannons, TL multimelta

I also went with an Ironclad and flyers in my list:

Chapter Master - bike, artificer, Teeth of Terra
5 Bikes - Vet Sgt PF, 2 meltaguns
Tac Squad +5 - Vet sgt, combi-melta, meltagun, multimelta, meltabombs
2 Stormtalons - Skyhammer
Ironclad - 2HKs, Ironclad assault launchers, drop pod

I have previously only ever taken a Captain,  but the Chapter Master proved his worth in the first game when his Orbital Bombardment took out George's Sicaran and a Rhino. My Ironclad came down on our right flank to block Nick's Broodlord and Genestealers from threatening our objective.  This did tie up my dread for most of the game, but Paul's Ironclad,  Captain and Assault Centurions also arrived in the Stormraven on that flank and ground down the rest of the Nids. In Turn 5 we were pretty much tied on points, but luckily we went on to Turn 6 and grabbed their objective from Luke's Tervigon for a solid 9-1 victory.

In our second match we were up against Steve's Tau and Nick's Guard. (sorry Astra Militarum. ..) I managed to drop the Ironclad behind a tank this time, which immobilised Nick's command Chimera Turn 1 before wrecking it Turn 2 and then charging the survivors.  Orbital Bombardment had given us First Blood again but then my bikes let me down a bit. First off the Sergeant with Power Fist hit Nick's Leman Russ 3 times in combat, which was fine until I rolled three ones for damage! The Chapter Master split off to charge the Broadside to stop it shooting, only to lose combat on the next turn and ride off. Luckily my Ironclad was on hand to mop up. Despite the shame of this we still managed to keep the relic for a 7-1 win.

Both games were really enjoyable against sporting opponents.  I hope that they had fun too.  The league certainly seems to have generated a fair amount of excitement and discussion, which makes it all worthwhile.

Next up for us are Wiggy's BA and Tom's Eldar. Tom has 3 Wave Serpents and a Wraithknight   Wiggy's Death Company will also be fun!