So long 7th edition 40k

It seems to have been a few months since my last post. Life has been busy with changing jobs again and working more weekends etc. However this is definitely an interesting time in the hobby with 8th edition just announced.

So what have I been up to since last time?

Besides watching a few battle reports on YouTube, I have made and played some Age of Sigmar with a Death army using some unbuilt Vampire Counts models I had picked up along the way. I have found it quite good fun, although I am still not used to the fantasy models (in my mind anyway) in the faux sci-fi mortal realms.

As well as playing occasional games with my Howling Griffons and Angels of the Covenant 40k armies, I also picked up the Calth boxed set, which I have made into an Alpha Legion army. I went for them partly because of their ambiguous loyalty (a bit like my DA I suppose..) and I also like their new rules in Traitor Legions. Finally Chaos have become competitive again and got some fluffy rules to match the lore.

In one particular game, which I ended up drawing against an Ultramarine army, one of my infiltrating cultist units managed to tie up a captain in combat before a second unit made a 10" charge with 2 sixes and then beat him with numbers. He then failed Ld and jumped off the board.

Speaking of Ultramarines, I have also been working on Roboute Guilleman as a LoW for my Griffons.  I am hoping to get a game with him soon, before 8th drops.

Work in progress

There were the predictable negative reactions when the new edition was first announced, but I like the way GW is now  drip-feeding information to counter some of the wilder speculation.  It does seem like they have learnt from some of the mistakes with Age of Sigmar. In particular, my Orks are looking forward to more outings when the game has been re-balanced.  I have enjoyed 7th edition on the whole, but it is not a level playing field, including the insane Ynnari soulburst thing. It will be good to see the meta shifting again.

Kill team - best GW starter box ever?

The Kill Team box is exceptionally good value and continues a recent trend, with GW releasing a boxed game containing rules and models for well below the price of buying just the models separately.  Some of the other boxes GW has released have only been around for a short time (e.g. Renegade), but they don't always announce if these are limited editions or not.  I hope this one stays around for a while.

What makes this set so good is that for once you can get squads for two solid armies, with a good range of upgrade options for both.  As well as the figures, you also get a copy of the updated Kill Team rules, which is perfect for new players just starting out their collections.  These restrict some of the more insane choices available in larger games, as it only allows a limited range of units and vehicles and the forces are capped at 200pts.  The best part for me is that it also includes a mini rulebook for the main 40K game.  I would probably recommend this to a new player over the Dark Vengeance box, as some of the DV Chaos units are not the best currently.  The DA choices are much stronger, which does not make for a balanced set.

Kill team games are also quick so are very good for younger players.  Those with longer attention spans can easily play 2 or 3 games in an evening, which is great for club leagues.

If you bought the old Kill Team rules from Black Library, you can download the update for free, which is also a welcome gesture.

Getting started - the financial cost of Space Marines (Part 3)

My planned pair of articles (Part 2 here) on this topic has morphed into a trilogy.  This final post will look at some of the detachments in the Angels of Death supplement.

As well as datasheets for the plastic Horus Heresy SM units first released in Betrayal at Calth, which can now be included in SM formations, there are a host of formation datasheets too.  Most of these first appeared in the Kauyon expansion, but it also includes the feared Skyhammer Annihilation Force. Although most of these formations show either White Scars or Raven Guard, which featured heavily in Kauyon, they are open to all SM chapters too.

In order of minimum cost, these formations come in at:

Speartip Strike -£50
Stormbringer Squadron -£53
Shadowstrike Kill Team - £56
Raptor Wing - £75
Blade wing Assault Brotherhood - £93
Hunting Force -£95
Pinion Battle Demi-Company -£105
Raven hawk Assault Group - £108
Shadow Force - £109 - unless you can find the Solaq box still
Skyhammer Orbital Force -£136
Skyhammer Annihilation Force - £151
Stormlance Battle Demi-Company -£200

Each of these formations performs differently on the battlefield and depend on you knowing how to use particular units and combinations of rules and tactics.  Their performance may not be optimal at the minimum levels.  For example, the Pinion Demi-Company works best with more than just one Scout squad to give another unit the Outflank rule.

I have tried the Skyhammer Annihilation Force a few times. Read my review of my first game here.

Up to now, I have only spoken about Space Marines of any chapter in the generic or 'vanilla' codex. Every codex chapter  - so not Blood Angels, Space Wolves, Dark Angels, Grey Knights or the new Deathwatch - can use the same formations and Gladius Strike Force detachment in  the main codex.  Black Templars have the restriction that their Crusader squads can't be used in the Gladius, but they still have Tactical Squads for this.

Angels of Death has one detachment usable by all SM players, which is the Anvil Strike Force.  This is one for the petrol heads!  Both Core choices in the detachment are based on tanks and are the Land Raider Spearhead and the Armoured Task Force formations from the codex.  The latter is the slightly cheaper option if you take the tanks in minimum-sized units of one.  I have used this formation once with the help of a few proxies, when it beat a Tau force, although my opponent did not have any of the really scary stuff, as he only took one Riptide.  There was a lot of wrecked armour at the end of the game!  As with the other formations, the tank units get better rules with units of three, so be prepared to buy more tanks later on.

The detachments in Angels of Death all use different core and auxiliary choices chosen from either the codex or the supplement, however the rest of the detachments are restricted to one set of chapter tactics.  This means that you either need to use one of the main, 'first-founding' chapters and have painted models to match, or you declare models with your own colour scheme to be a successor chapter for whichever rules you choose.  Many players in a friendly environment are fine with you changing your chapter tactics between games, but if your models look like one named chapter, you will have to use their tactics in more formal games or tournaments.

There are Decurion-style chapter-specific detachments in Angels of Death for White Scars, Imperial Fists, Iron Hands, Salamanders and Raven Guard.  All of these use core choices starting at around the £100 mark, to which you need to add at least one auxiliary choice from about £50 upwards.  Each detachment reflects the chapter's character and fighting style, so Imperial Fists get amazingly accurate bolters, Salamanders get stronger flamers etc.

Again, which one you choose can only really be determined based on your preferred chapter and models, so make sure you try out a few different types of unit before planning any greater expense.  My ultimate plan is still to make my own chapter to ally with my Howling Griffons and Dark Angels, so I can try out some of these detachments.

Getting started with 40K - the financial cost of Space Marines (Part 2)

Following on from my first post on this topic, I would now like to discuss some of the newer formations available to Marine players, which are generally seen as being both more characterful and more competitive, as they encourage different play-styles and types of army, but also unlock particular special rules and rules combos.

Some of these formations are available in the Space Marine codex, whilst others can be found in the Angels of Death supplement, which collates and updates formations from various other earlier supplements and even a previously limited edition datasheet - the infamous Skyhammer Annihilation Force.

Remember that formations may be taken as stand-alone forces in their own right, which could be your whole army or serve as a bolt-on to another formation or army.  There are a couple of formations in the codex that start at around the £50 mark to start with (Reclusiam Command Squad, 10th Company and even the Librarius Conclave).  However, whilst these are potentially battleforged armies in their own right, they are best taken as part of a Gladius Strike Force (P112 in the codex).

This special type of detachment is commonly-known as a Decurion-style detachment, as it was first introduced in the Necron codex under that name.  Unusually, these are detachments made up of other formations of units, rather than individual units.  Typically, there is a minimum requirement of a core formation alongside one or more auxiliary formations. Command formations are also available.

For Space Marines the Battle Demi-Company is the basic core formation around which the Gladius is built.  The minimum requirement for this is a Captain or Chaplain, 3 Tactical Squads, an Assault element (Assault Squad, a choice of bikes, Landspeeders or Assault Centurions) and a Devastator element (a traditional Devastator Squad or the newer Devastator Centurions), as well as options for Dreadnought and a Command Squad.  Whilst this gives a decent selection of options already, the minimum price of this is around the £100 mark.  3x£25 Tactical Squad boxes will give you just about enough marines to field minimum-sized squads for all of these slots, if you get creative and make a Captain and your assault and devastator marines using the respectable range of weapon options available.  Purists would argue that Marines should always be fielded in squads of 10, but units of 5 are perfectly legal.  Your next purchase should then be the versatile Devastator (£28) kit, followed by either a unit of Bikes, a Landspeeder or an Assault Squad (£15-£20).  The Devastator squad is particularly useful, as it contains lots of heavy weapon choices to spread around your tactical squads. (You might want to keep an eye out for the discontinued Demi-Company box, with all the options for £135)

Your next decision is which auxiliary formation to go for as the minimum for a Gladius.  In order of  basic cost, these are roughly:
10th Company (£45)
1st Company (£75)
Suppression Force (£90)
Armoured Task Force (£105 if you convert a Techmarine from a Rhino gunner)
Stormwing (£116)
Anti-Air Defence Force (£120 or cheaper if you convert a Rhino with a spare weapon)
Centurion Siegebreaker Cohort (£133)
Land raider Spearhead (£135)
Strike Force Ultra (£253)

Each of this choices will change the flavour of your army and should give you some fun games with a good variety of units.

The first benefit of a Demi-Company is that each unit in it gains Objective Secured, which is very useful in objective-based games.  The doctrines are also handy in the right situation, but you do need to remember to call them at the correct time.  Where the Gladius becomes really powerful and a headache for your opponent is with two Demi-Companies, when you can then take basic Dedicated Transports at no extra points-cost, all of which also have Objective Secured.  The cost in hard currency of this is potentially even scarier.  First off, you clearly need to spend double your initial outlay to get two Demi-Companies.  The transports then cost £22.50 (Rhino or Drop Pod) or £25 (Razorback) each and you could potentially get up to 14 of these.

I had intended to go into some of the formations in Angels of Death here, but I think that is best left for another post.

Getting started with 40k - the financial cost of Space Marines (Part 1)

In Part 1 of 2 I will run through a couple of options to consider if either you or your child are curious about Warhammer 40k and you don't know where to start.  The prices are GBP, but I'm sure you can convert if needed.

I have always had an interest in getting new players into the hobby.  Having run a school club for a number of years, parents have often asked me how much it costs to get started with a basic army.  Some have even asked how much a good army costs.  I have always been open with them that this is not the cheapest hobby ever.  It is also well-known that GW is a model company, which exists primarily to sell models.  I also always add that the hobby compares well in terms of cost against the more prevalent games consoles, whilst also promoting more creativity, problem-solving and social skills.

First off, a few bits of advice.  To start with, don't get carried away too soon.  I have seen parents enthusiastically buy boxes and boxes of models, only for the little one to get bored before they finish their first squad and it all ends up gathering dust.  The hobby is not for everyone and requires patience to build, paint and then play every model.  Secondly, book an intro session at your local gaming store, where they can hopefully make their first model and start learning how to play.  If they like it then, you will need to take them back a few times to learn more and more rules.  (This never ends.)  Ideally, take one of their friends along, so they learn together and have someone to play against.

How much you spend on glue and paint is up to you.  GW will try to sell you their own hobby supplies, but there are cheaper options available for brushes, plastic glue and so on, especially if you plan on doing this all at home.  A decent set of clippers is a good idea, with the right supervision of course.  Halfords and Wilko do decent spray primers for a fraction of GW prices, but 4 pots of GW paints for just over £10 is a good start.  Leadbelcher metallic paint for the guns, a skin colour for any bare heads, another colour for the armour depending on your chosen chapter and then a colour for the base - I like Zandri Dust.

The Dark Vengeance box is an excellent entry point for the game itself.  £65 for a handy rulebook, 2 armies to split with the friend and some other gaming tools (including dice) is very good value.  The main limitation is that you may not be interested in Dark Angels or Chaos as forces.  Whilst DA are at least mid-tier in terms of competitiveness, Chaos is currently desperately in need of an update - hopefully soon.  One possible option is to combine the two forces into a Fallen army, representing former DA who have succumbed to the lure of Chaos.

Alternatively many players are quite happy to paint the DA models as whatever Marine chapter they like.  However, this does depend on the player's level of OCD, as some can't cope with anything but the 'official' colour schemes.  This will help determine which codex to get next.  This will take the overall spend to £100.

The codex gives a more detailed description of the full range of units available to the army and is essential for writing army lists and understanding how the army plays.  As stated above, I would avoid Chaos for now and go for either DA or so-called 'vanilla' Space Marines.  

 

If you avoid DV and grab a mini 7th Edition rulebook on eBay for around £20 (don't get the hefty £50 hardbacks), you could instead spend £40 on a Tactical Squad and a Commander for a legal, playable army of 2x5-man squads and a leader.  This is the traditional 1 HQ and 2 Troops choices for a Combined Arms Detachment (CAD).  However, I would suggest the Start Collecting! Space Marines box for £50, which also gives you a Venerable Dreadnought (normally £28) for an extra tenner.  The box also contains a formation data sheet, which means it is also a legal army in its own right.  Or you could include the Dread in your CAD too.

GW has introduced the 'Unbound' option to players, which basically means you can use whichever units you have in your army.  This seems specifically designed to help new players with a more limited selection of random figures to be able to play.  However, many of the formations and detachments available tend to have much better rules for a similar price.

In Part 2 I will look at how much it costs to start fielding some of the more competitive formations now available to Marine players.

Skyhammer Annihilation Force - first play vs Necrons

Now that the Angels of Death supplement has been released, the previously-limited edition Skyhammer Annihilation Force formation will be fielded a lot more. (That is once GW prints more copies...)

I played a 1500 pts campaign game vs Tim's Necron Decurion with extra Wraiths and Destroyers this week.  Having not touched my Howling Griffons for a while, I thought this would be a good chance to use my grav devastators.  As it happened, I only have 6, so took 2 multi-meltas as well.  My primary detachment was supposed to be DA, so I took a couple of Attack Squadrons, with one of the Ravening sergeants as warlord.

The game was maelstrom, starting with 6 cards then decreasing.  Deployment was short edges.

I set up first and Tim failed to seize.  I knew that this was where the formation needed to do its stuff, so also called Ultramarine devastator doctrines, which would allow me to re-roll hits, as well as having grav-amps to re-roll wounds.  I decided to combat squad all the dev and assault squads to mitigate any bad scatter and force Tim to prioritise targets more.  My own priority was his Canoptek Spyders, as I knew they were key to keeping his wraiths alive.  I dropped the jump marines in first (losing one to terrain) as I knew the drop pods are better at squeezing between units.  My units came down in pretty good positions, but with the narrow table width, I would be in range of lots of his guns next turn.  As it was, I did manage to kill both Spyders with graviton, but we only later realised a genuine mistake with reanimation. The Spyders can only activate this in their movement phase, so don't get it if their opponent goes first.  Tim still took his RP rolls, but rather than re-winding a whole turn, which had already taken a long time, we just continued the game.  This meant however, that I was not able to limit the overwatch against my assault marines as much as I had wanted, so for example only one made it into combat vs the Overlord's unit of Warriors.  My plan had been to tie up more warriors in combat and so stop them shooting.  I did rack up an early lead in VPs, including first blood, but then of course the retribution was brutal and my army quickly started to suffer.

Fast-forwarding to the result, we had to call the game due to time at the end of Turn 3.  We were then both tied on 6 VPs each, so settled on a draw.  However, I only had 4 units left, with just one or two models in each.  Tim's army was still about two-thirds intact.

The Skyhammer Annihilation Force certainly makes an impact, but in a 1500 pt game, it was about 70% of my whole army.  Even with the RP issue, I did not make enough of a dent to take the pressure of the rest of my list.  However, it was a very eventful game with plenty of tactical options, with many units 'up close and personal'.

I definitely intend to give it another go in a future game.  Any tips on strategy would be appreciated.

EDIT: Tim's deployment was also excellent (my word not his), as his units did a very good job of bubble-wrapping each other, leaving me no space to drop in between. My choices were either at the back of the board or right in front of his gun line. I went for the latter.
Thanks for the reminder Tim.

Dark Angels and Imperial Knight vs Nids 1400pts

My Guardians of the Covenant played a 1400 point game vs Luke's Nids this week.

As well as my Knight Warden, I wanted to field my new Dark Talon, so I went for a mixed Ravenwing and Deathwing list, instead of the usual Demi-Company etc.

We drew the maelstrom mission where both players can score any numbered objectives drawn.

Luke has the obligatory flying tyrant with a hive crone. His only other synapse was a unit of zoanthropes, but he did have a toxicrene and a tyrannofex, as well as hormagants and gargoyles.

In the end I wasted the Dark Talon trying to ground the tyrant with the hurricane bolters, but it kept passing any tests it had to make before regenerating any wounds. Of course my talon then get shot down before I got to try the stasis bomb or rift cannon. Next time then..

My other main hope for killing stuff was the Knight. It did manage to remove the toxicrene, but the Luke quickly whittled down its hull points before the Hive Crone performed a spectacular kamikaze dive to remove the last hull point. The explosion, which finished off the Crone and a whole unit of my terminators, was survived by a surprised-looking gargoyle.

I still managed to keep racking up points, including most of Luke's cards. In the end I won 14-9, but was closed to being tabled, with my warlord terminator librarian on one wound and a Techmarine both cowering in a ruin when the game ended to my relief Turn 6. Luke's tyrant, zoanthropes, hormagants and tyrannofex were still virtually unscathed.

I love close, eventful games like that. Thanks Luke!

40k Knight Warden with Dark Angels.

It has been a while since I posted anything, for which I apologise.  Life has been busy, with starting a new job, a longer commute and a much-needed break in the States.  I have still been playing most Mondays at Club in a couple of campaigns and have managed to get models built, despite my traditional winter hiatus in modelling with the dark nights putting my shed largely out of action.

I treated myself to an Imperial Knight when I got the new job in October and recently pushed myself to get it tabletop ready. It is still WiP, but some transfers and finishing off the base should do the job.

I was worried about the Knight costing me VPs, but in a 1275pt campaign game last week he only lost 1HP as my opponent focused on the maelstrom mission rather than my super-heavy. In the end however my mobile Ravenwing were able to immobilise his Ironclad and score more points.  The Knight then rolled up his Ultramarines down my right flank and ended up destroying his Land Raider in combat. I was a little disappointed there was then no other unit in range to throw it at with the Thunderstrike gauntlet. I did feel a little bad using the Knight, as my opponent hadn't played one before, but I did expect it to die sooner.

I did suggest to him afterwards that he definitely needs more melta and grav in his army.

Next up I will continue work on my Guardians of the Covenant, but am also looking forward to getting the updated Ghaz book, so I can field my Orks again, now in a decurion.

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!

Ork finalists and Christmas goodies

My Orks made it to the final of our Tale of Gamers, where they were on the back foot from the start against Henry's White Scars list with added FW Sicaran. Once the Centurions had whittled down my Stormboyz, the Battlewagon was immobilised and I lost the Trukk things got even harder.  I almost managed to claim the D3+3 maelstrom VP card for controlling every objective, but those dev cents actually won combat against my depleted burnas and meks and consolidated onto the last objective I needed.  It was game over from then on, with the final score 9-19.

My horde got a good number of reinforcements under the Christmas tree, including 30 Boyz, 5 Warbikers and 5 more Stormboyz - one box from Tim in the store as past of Matt's gift box idea.  The highlight however was a Morkanaut from an anonymous donor!  (I have a good idea who it was though.)  I was very happy with that haul, as I'm normally lucky to get one box.

I started building the Stormboyz from my daughter, so I was able to field 'Da Vulcha Skwad' from the Ghaz supplement in a doubles game yesterday.  We rolled for random pairings and my partner was George with his drop pod marines against Nick's guard and Oli's DE raiders.  My Trukk got immobilised first turn, which meant my Warboss and Nobz had to footslog across the board.  However, all of our reserves came in on time with minimal scatter, so our opponents were pretty much forced back into their corner.  They also had terrible luck with their reserve rolls, with the Valkyrie and Scions not arriving until turn 3, when the Scions mishapped and we got to place them in the corner.  Also, the Raider with 4 flamer weapons (I forget the name of the unit) on board stayed away until turn 4.

Who needs a 6x4 board anyway?

We threw everything into assault with the Talos / Cronos / Haemonculus formation, starting with a Chapter Master and Tac Squad, backed up by the Warboss and Nobz, the last few Stormboyz and Warbikers and killed the engines in combat for the first time ever.

The game ended with us holding all the objectives.  Drop pod marines seem to complement orks very well.  Although they are Come the Apocalypse allies, we ignored the allies matrix for both sides in this game.  I had been considering some Tyranid allies for my ork army, as that was always in their fluff, but I may work out my own list using an allied SM detachment in a drop pod or two to keep the opponent busy while the greenskins move up the board.  I have plenty of Howling Griffons already and wouldn't need to worry about the restrictions on deployment.

I wonder if I would be accused of abusing the allies rules...?

All of the Orks

Waagh Zogsmasha has reached the end of GW Newbury's Tale of Gamers.  There are now just some final games to play to decide the winner.

At over 100 figures at 1500 pts it certainly has the highest model count of any of the armies.  If you have never tried Orks, well you should give them a go.  I just love picking up handfuls of dice when they get into combat. It is a fun army and I find them a competitive force too.

Final Orks for Tale of Gamers

Last month threw up a bit of a surprise for me with the Tale of Gamers painting challenge.  I was aiming to enter my new bubble-chukka on a scenic oval base (from a flyer).  However, the base was stuck in the shop and took a bit longer than expected to finish, so I was behind on painting the artillery piece come judging day.  As a result I decided to put in my Warboss from month one instead, which won by one vote!

For the final instalment of the competition I decided I needed a bit more anti-tank beyond the 2 Meks with killsaws I added last month.  I am now nearly finished with 10 Tankbustas to do this job.  Boss Zagstruk makes up my last 65 points.  He gives me another character in my Stormboyz, and has the potential to remove a character with his hammer of wrath attacks.

The final challenge was to either enter Armies on Parade with the army, or enter it for a separate best painted army competition this weekend.  As I didn't have time to paint any more scenery, I have opted for the latter.  Having seen many of the entries from a number of stores this year, which seemed to be simply an army plonked on a realm of battle board, I might as well have done the same.  The lack of a national competition at Games Day this year seems to have discouraged many people from putting in much effort on terrain pieces.

I played a game with the full 1500 point army yesterday against Taff's Salamanders /  Grey Knight alliance.  This was another fun but very close affair, with the relic changing hands a couple of times, as neither of us could get away with it, although I lost it at the end of the game.  The deciding factor was his seemingly immortal biker captain, which spent most of the game on his last wound, but just would not die.  At one point I  allocated all my attacks from 13 boyz against him, but rolled just one 6 to wound, which of course he saved!  My tankbustas had a good game though, by killing the Dreadknight sat on the relic with their meltabombs.  That also got me first blood, which ended up being my only VP.

After the competition has finished I have a few more Nobz and Gretchin from Stormclaw to make, as well as 6 Killakans.  At some point I shall probably get another unit of Stormboyz, so I can field the formation from the Ghaz supplement with Zagstrukk.  1500 points is as many as I normally play anyway, but out would be good to get to 1850 or 2000, if only to give me more choice of units, instead of every greenskin I have.

Orks have taken over.

This blog may have been quiet lately, but my Ork army has been growing steadily and I played quite a few games with them over the summer holidays, which have all been great entertainment. There have been quite a few welcome convincing wins, which makes a bit of a change for me. With most current armies geared for shooting, my speedy horde has to get across the board quickly and hit hard, which it has done quite well so far.

Since my last update I have finished the Lootas and added a unit of Gretchin along with a couple of Nobs, including a power klaw and Waagh banner.  For my birthday in August I was given a Mek Gun, so next up is a Bubble Chukka and a unit of Burnas with a couple of killsaw-armed Meks.

The Lootas have added some dakka to the army and initially did very well by taking out a Fire Prism on their first ever turn.  They have not done quite so well since then, but opponents always seem to be wary of their potential for carnage.

Getting to shout 'WAAAAGH!' is one of the perks of the army. Unfortunately our GW manager is ex-Army and has politely asked me not to make unexpected loud noises in the shop. Shame!

With my force now reaching 1250 points, there will only be another 250 points until the last part of our Tale of Gamers is declared.  I have enjoyed the competition a lot so far and I am very pleased to have a new army, which is completely different from my Howling Griffons.  I would definitely recommend this type of event to all sorts of gamers, whether in a store or amongst a gaming group.

Orks vs Orks

My summer project for this year is my new Ork army for GW Newbury's Tale of Gamers.  We are now at the end of the third month and our forces have reached 750 pts.  I am just putting the finishing touches to my latest units, adding 10 stormboyz, 15 slugga boyz and a trukk to my force.

This week I have played 2 great games against other Ork players.

For the first one Wiggy wanted to play 1500 points.  Luckily, I found my son's old Black Reach army from when he briefly got into the hobby a few years back. He had more figures than I thought! In fact there was enough for me to field the Warband formation and another Horde detachment. This allowed me to give a weirdboy a try, as I could fit in more HQs.

We rolled Big Guns with 2 objectives each, so my Battlewagon would be worth 1 VP.  Wiggy had a Gorkanaut and a unit of Lootas.

During deployment I put most of my army on the right flank opposite his two Units of Boyz on Trukks, with 3 units of Gretchin as a meatshield across the whole front and the rest of my Boyz and my Wierdboy spread out behind.

Wiggy went first and it was an eventful turn for the psykers.  His weirdboy rolled Perils straight off and his Lootas then shot up my weirdboy's unit and they promptly ran off the board for first blood (note to self- make sure you get bosspoles!)  So much for testing the psyker...  My battlewagon was also immobilised before it could do much.

On my first turn the right flank started a sequence of charge and counter-charge, as Wiggy had put a Trukk in range. My bikes were sent fleeing (again no bosspole..) but the combined charge of Nobz and Boyz was too much for his Boyz.

During Turn 2 he advanced his Gorkanaut and disembarked the Burnas inside to threaten my right flank. Instead of the obvious charge with my Nobz I called what I hoped was my first Waagh of the game then sacrificed a unit of gretchin to soak up the wall of death from the burnas before the stormboyz overwhelmed them with 52 attacks.  I then charged my Warboss and his Nobz into the Gorkanaut with support from another unit of Boyz with my only Power Klaw. This was enough to kill the big walker and score me a VP, however the combat and resultant explosion saw the end of the Warboss too. A VP conceded too and no more Waaghs. However I knew my only way of dealing with armour was in combat I had little choice.

With our most threatening units gone the rest of the game became a war of attrition, although his big unit of shootas with weirdboy and warboss were still a worry.

Moving all the boyz around certainly takes longer than with marines, but I am sure I will speed up. In the end we just had time to get to the end of turn 5. A couple of my units were down to 2 models, but there were too many targets for Wiggy to finish them off. As I had the last turn I was able to use my last biker and my fast trukk to contest both of his objectives whilst I still held mine. The final score was 7-3 to me, but the result may well have been different if the game had continued.

The second game was a quick 800 pts played on the 4'x4' board at GW Newbury. I took my core force and swapped in 2 power klaws in my nobz unit. I played against Nick, who was mainly using shootas as well as more lootas.  With the smaller board, more of my army was in range of his guns, so he won 8-3. The craziest moment came when my 20 boys failed a 5" charge into woods against his lone warboss before killing him with sluggas on the next turn.

So what have been the lessons from these games?

1. Gretchin are great nuisance units for soaking up overwatch, clinging onto objectives, distraction etc.

2. I probably need more power klaws and certainly need more dakka! Ranged anti-armour would also help. Lootas are next on my list.

3. The warband formation is no good if the warboss dies in the first wave. Maybe get another warboss to hang back and call the Waaghs?

4. Orks are fun!