United We Stand

Painting Funk?

2011-12-23T14:14:00.000-08:00

Hey guys I got quite the problem. I have been trying to paint my Ultramarines but theres so much to paint and only so much time. Im on a two week break thankfully but what the main struggle is is just making painting fun again. Ive already accepted the fact that I may never win a Golden Demon in my lifetime. I like the idea of actually having a nicely painted army to play with on the table, complete with nice terrain provided by our hardworking GW manager Yvonne. But I just want a painted army that I accept and although it may never be perfect like how the marines on the box look like, I still have come up with something relatively nice. I do not have any pictures up but I do have the color scheme in my head.

The basecoat is Regal Blue

The wash over the armor is Badab Black

The shoulder pads are Shining gold ( the trim )

The highlight on the armor is Ultramarines Blue

The eyes are Red Gore with Blazing Orange and Blood Red for highlights

The trim on the base is Space Wolves Grey, the top part has a Chaos Black basecoat, Adeptus Grey dry brush, Fortress Grey dry brush, and a Skull White dry brush.

The boltgun is Chaos Black and Boltgun Metal

Purity Seals have Scab Red on the dot and Bleached Bone for the parchment.

As you can see my paint pallette seems overworked but hey I like the way the color scheme is going and Im going for consistency with my army. No more funky colored Predators, Rhinos, and what not. I have finally found something that works for my taste. But what I do do for school days is paint at LEAST ten minutes a day on one particular unit. However I do want to paint them faster. I have basecoated much of my army already but Im still working on the more minor details. I don't know if I can finish after my two week break is over but I'll do what I can. Then I got my Tau army to paint and that will be a challenge. I also got one box of Fire Warriors too so the more Troops choices the better. Although I could use some more anti tank in for my Tau collection. Maybe I'll get some of those Hammerhead Cannons on my two Devilfish. But I'll have to proxy that and playtest before I spend.
But anyways my question to you guys is how exactly do you finish painting your armies?
Do you do a specific schedule? Thoughts?

New Mix and Matched Space Marine List @ 2000p points

2011-11-20T10:58:00.000-08:00

Hey guys I'm back with a new list in the making. This one is very different from all the other lists and it is more of a fun list made by Stelek. So here goes...

HQ

Captain- Relic Blade; Bike

Elites

Dreadnought- Twin linked autocannons

Dreadnought- Twin linked autocannons

Sternguard- 10x man squad; 8x Combi Meltas; Rhino

Troops

Tactical Squad- Mulimelta; Meltagun; Rhino

Tactical Squad- Multimelta; Meltagun; Rhino

Bike Squad- 2x flamers; Attack Bike Multimelta

Bike Squad- 2x flamers; Attack Bike Multimelta

Fast Attack

Attack Bikes; 2x man; Heavy Bolters

Attack Bikes; 2x man; Heavy Bolters

Attack Bikes; 2x man, Heavy Bolters

Heavy Support

Devastator Squad- 4x Missile Launchers; Rhino

Devastator Squad; 4x Missile Launchers; Rhino

Devastator Squad; 4x Missile Launchers; Rhino

So Sternguard take a Dev Rhino

Tac Squads combat squad and multimelta half goes in rhino

attack bikes stay in reserve, unless im going first.

Captain goes to a bike squad

bikers zoom behind rhinos but can zoom around more. Anything av 12 and below gets a melta shot at 24 inches. AV 13 and 14 are not shot at with the melta. The bikers can attack isolated squads, or mop up a weak squad.

Dreads shoot at infantry and silence Razorbacks and the like.

Let me know your thoughts, but remember this is more of a fun list not a competitive one.

Ultramarines vs. Eldar Rematch 2000 points

2011-08-04T20:14:00.000-07:00

Alright guys so here it is...my rematch with my friend Nigel. Again I lose but hey! I pulled off some new tricks and managed to kill a lot more stuff then last time. Overall I think I did learn from last time. The problem for me I'd say is squeezing all my units on the table edge. I think the table may have been a little too cluttered but hey thats just me. I wanted to go for a balanced table for us to use but I'll let y'all be the judge of that. I think deployment could've been a little better. Predators should've been somewhere around the middle. Rhinos on both sides. Speeders get cover behind buildings as usual. But what about the Dreads? Well they obviously aren't very threatening at range but hey they do help when the Wave Serpents get closer so I can open those transports up with the Predators. I wasn't able to unleash their firepower because Nigel attempted to roll up my flank again but it wasn't the same as last time. I think if I deployed the Speeders better I would've been able to pop those transports at range. What do you guys think?

Space Marine Predator Tactica!

2011-07-17T17:47:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! I'm back again with more space marine tactics! Alright now after a couple of games playing Predators I have learned several valuable tips or ideas I should say and should be considered if you want to field them, or are playing them on the battlefield.

Upgrades:

Okay so you have four different combinations when it comes to fielding Predators.

You have what I call the Dakka Predator with an Autocannon, and Heavy Bolter Side Sponsons at 85 points. Great for anti infantry duty and dirt cheap too.

You have the triple Lascannon Predator (annihilator or destructor?) which is very pricey for 165 points. It is three powerful S9 hits on AV 10-13 though, but it doesn't fit my playstyle (I have 14 Multimeltas). But hey if you like Lascannons why not?

You have the AutoLas Predator (Autocannon turret and 2 Lascannon Sponsons). This one is cheaper at 120 points so it is the secondhand Predator. But hey it can take out your monstrous creatures and tanks though.

Then there is the Vanilla Predator where you get the best of both worlds. It's got a Twin Linked Lascannon and Heavy Bolter Sponsons. You can take out tanks but its limited to one shot that is guaranteed to hit. Then you have the infantry slaying capability. It doesn't have a dedication to anti infantry or anti tank. It clocks out at 130 points so it's not too bad but it is unusual and you probably won't see it on the gaming tables. Unless Predators get machine spirit (probably not) and shoot a lascannon at say a Rhino and the Heavy Bolters on a Tactical Squad. Otherwise you probably won't see it at all.

Then you can get a Storm Bolter and an HK Missile too since they are 10 points each. Just adding on those extra shots can be nice since the Predator is a static tank and you want it shooting as many shots as it can. But hey you don't have to but most people may just stick with the HK Missile on Predators. Although, they never hit for me and when they do, they fail but I think that's just me.

And this is the most important rule too. Field AV 13 tanks in triplets. Whatever variant you play, spam it. That's why I have 3 Dakka Predators. So if one gets shaken or destroyed, I still have two more that can pump out a lot of shots and that's what counts. No crazy mediocre stunts and take 1 Vindicator, 1 Whirlwind, and 1 Predator for Heavy Support. If you want Predators, take 3. It just doesn't make much since to just take one, unless it's just a small point game and you wanna play one just to see how you like it.

Tactics: Okay so now we get to the complicated stuff. Pay close attention to what I'm about to tell you. No matter the mission, and no matter the deployment, deploy your Predators where the opponent will MOST LIKELY be during the game. That means that you will probably just want one turn of moving 6 inches or 12 inches to get a good firing position on the enemy. You can use objectives to your advantage hare and place them out in the open, where your opponent will likely be so you can shoot at them. But again it really depends on each game since you have to estimate where the opponent's movements will be. You want to be able to pivot and get good LOS on enemy units. Having cover would be nice too, but it may not have to be a main priority since you can create terrain with some of your other models (Rhinos, Razorbacks, Dreadnoughts). But then here's the problem, what are you gonna do against deep strikers, suicide melta units, and assault units that just hit you and shake you so you can't use your guns. Well that's where bubblewrap units, and LOS blocking terrain comes in....

Deployment: Okay so here's some ideas that I have when it comes to deploying your Preds in Dawn of War but this isn't all there is but it is a deployment that can be tricky to use just because most of your army is in reserve and come from the table edge.

This is deployment model A. Here I have the Predators line up as if they came from the table edge during Dawn of War. They line up as close as they can to each other.

Now the Predator on the left pivots to the direction of the enemy. While the other Predators move 6 inches up and to the side to help give cover to each other.

Now here's what these tanks can see....

This is the corner of the left side of the table and weapons can draw LOS to this flank.

If they move to the middle ot the table, the Preds can pivot and get shots at the enemy. See? After a turn of just moving, I'm already in a good position to start shooting.

Here's an aerial shot so you can see how I pivot them. All the weapons can shoot.

Enemies on the right side? Okay cool I can pivot there too. But this is not considering how much terrain there would be. As you can see, a plain midfield equals a blood bath with shots. Now yes you have to take in consideration which weapon sponson can see what, but this deployment can help level the playing field with what can see and shoot at what. I deployed on the far right of my kitchen table but you can also do this on the right side of the table too. But then the Predator that lines up on the far right will pivot instead so the other Predators can proceed to move right instead of left. Argh! I hope that doesn't sound too confusing! The weaknesses I see with this is if the opponent outflanks, that's a problem for the rear ends of those tanks. Then there's the problem with incoming units coming towards the Predators but we will go over that. And lastly, a pie plate can hit two tanks at the same time so beware because if they can get two tanks on the side, that probably means both tanks can't shoot next turn! And they are also in danger of a multi assault and that means that they will also get auto hits, then boom goes the tanks.

Now for Deployment B using the same mission Dawn of War.

Now here's where the Predators will start. They are both 5 inches away from each other. So pie plates do not get to take two Preds with one shot. They also may not get multi assaulted but some squads are huge (Ork Mob). Again you can deploy on either side of the table except the middle like Deployment A.

Now it's the same concept as the first one except a pie plate will not be able to get two tanks as easily. This tempate can nick the weapon on the side sponson, but I don't think that counts for two tanks. Or would it? If so you can spread out 6 inches then if you can but still if you get the template like this, it still is a long shot when your spread out with 5 inches.

See the difference from Deployment A and B?

Now to address the problem with assaulters, suicide melta units, outflankers, and deep strikers. Use 3 Tactical Squads and combat squad. Then use that 5 inch or 6 inch space depending on your preference, to place those marines first turn like so.

You move out normally, moving up and giving that full 2 inch unit coherency to spread the bubblewrap. Then in the shooting phase roll a D6 and run to give that extra movment like the picture above.

Here's an aerial view of it all.

The bubblewrap is easily targeted, but hey look on the brightside! They aren't shooting at the Preds eh?

See how the Dreadnought tries to get the 12 inch Melta range? Now it's only 1 roll for penetrating but it can assault, yet the marines block it's way.

Then there is a Landspeeder here getting that 12 inches there so something has to happen...

So be sure to have a 12 inch distance with then Predators and the marines.

Now the Speeder can't get to me!

Here's how the marines may look like when they are farther away but feel free to spread the squads out.

But then there is the Drop Pod threat with this deployment right? Well keep a good 6 inch distance if there is one. See the Dreadnought there? He can barely squeeze through here if he's coming out of a pod. And the Pod can barely fit there too even if I don't have one there to plainly see.

Now for Deployment C, which is very different from the previous ones. Just because it relies on my own army synergy and utilizing it in a nice defensive deployment.

Here's how everything else sets up first turn I've got Rhinos and Dreadnoughts for support.

Here's how everything moves out. I've got my firepower spread out with the Predators and I have my Tactical Rhinos to help block of side shots off my AV11 Predators, utilizing that AV13 as much as possible.

See but here's the catch here. Enemy units can come in a variety of directions. See that Landspeeder? I have to ask myself how many weapons from my Preds can get to it? I know at least one Predator can fire all of it's shots but the other two may only get a Heavy Bolter and an Autocannon on it. So the tanks stay where they are but pivoting is vital here.

Then there is deep strike defense you have to worry about right? Well, combat squad down and place some marines in the middle like this so a Pod can't just drop down in the middle.

Some opponents may get extreme side shots on your tanks so why not use the combat squad to give a cover save?

Now for outflank defense. This is a good position to be right here. I use a Dreadnought, a Rhino, and a combat squad.

Well, guys that's what I have for now in terms of deployment options with your Predator tanks. I hope you guys find this tactica very informative and helpful. Hopefully you can look at your army list, find what type of Predator suits you, and can adapt these tactics to your playstyle as well. More to come...

Ultramarines vs. Eldar 2000 points

2011-07-17T15:17:00.000-07:00

Hey guys I'm back again with another battle report. Here I challenge Nigel, an avid veteran player of the Eldar. He's easily my top rival, (beating Ivan the Terrible at the top). He's beaten many times, 3 in fact. 2 with Dark Eldar and 1 with Eldar. Yeah, I might as well break it to y'all, I lost this one. We played Dawn of War (doh) and Capture and Control.

Army lists:

I will try to show how much Nigel had but point costs won't be shown because obviously I don't play Eldar, well at least for now.

HQ

Eldrad w/ Fortune, Doom, Mind War and a squad of 10 Warlocks.

-Wave Serpent w/ Twin Linked Scatter Lasers, and Shuriken Catapult

Elites

Fire Dragons w/ Wave Serpent w/ Twin Linked Bright Lance

Troops

Dire Avengers w/ Wave Serpent w/ Twin Linked Scatter Lasers

Dire Avengers w/ Wave Serpent w/ Twin Linked Scatter Lasers

Dire Avengers w/ Wave Serpent w/ Twin Linked Bright Lance

Dire Avengers w. Wave Serpent w/ Twin Linked Bright Lance

3x Jetbikes

3x Jetbikes

Heavy Support

Night Spinner

Again my list is the same as last time with Craig.

Deployment:

Here we go guys. Here's what we got.

Here my opponent has his retinue of warlocks and Eldrad with the Wave Serpent.
The black jet bikes are there as a troop choice too. I don't know why the other Serpent is there too. I think it was there at the beginning of the game but oh well. If it was it wasn't supposed to be there.

Here's my deployment

Here's a combat squaded Scout Squad. They had no where else to go. The table had a little bit of terrain so on my side, this was the only set of ruins. My objective was deployed next to it too. There was a hill on the other side of my deployment. I couldve deployed there since my MOF would get clear shots on the other objective. I went second by the way so I deployed second. I shouldn't have deployed the Scouts here, but I never knew how much Warlocks can do in terms of shooting and assaulting...

Here's where the Snipers should've been....

I could've infiltrated into cover right into the hill, but I second guessed my self...(doh!)

Turn 1 and we see this...

Warlocks zoom out, disembark, and shoot with Destructor, an Eldar psyker attack that is pretty much a heavy flamer but you can assault afterwards. Both Squads took the heat literally, as their cover saves are stripped. I shouldn't have used the MOF's Bolster Defences...and took the hill for cover instead. Oh well :(

The other squad of bikes, is at the tree objective. The Wave Serpent is hanging back for now as everything comes in and my opponent gets into position...

Here are the other Wave Serpents...see all the Dire Avengers? Yeah, bladestorm goodness alright...

Here come the other Serpents as they get into firing position into all my stuff. Man Eldar are fast.

Here comes my stuff...man I'm lookin to get my ass kicked! I thought my Dreads could handle the Warlocks, unknowing about their superiority over vehicles...escpecially walkers...I set up with my Tac Rhinos ready to move up and overwhelm the objective. I wanted to open up with Multimelta shots...My Predators are supposed to be lined up so I can get into position for firing. I should've just moved that extra 6 inches and popped smoke instead of trying to use searchlights...

I thought my Speeders could Heavy Flame these guys and kill them outright but I was wrong. See Mr.Dread #1, ready to assault and die. But of course, I never knew that would happen...Fennias tries to shoot but fails with night fighting.

Here's another view of my deployment..It sucks doesn't it? First turn I should've disembarked all my Tac Squads, and rapid fire, storm bolter, and flame that squad of Warlocks, but apparently, I never knew how evil those little green bastards would be! Argh! All my fire power should've been at that squad! Night fighting would't have saved those bastards!

His Serpents redeploy so they can move into a pincer movement with their mobility, successfully countering my attempt to sweep his objective.

My Predators are deployed so I can get side shots on him, but I should've moved them 6 inches up and popped smoke instead. That way I can get clear shots on a lot of his troops.

See how these Warlocks tore up my Scout squads? I decide to counter the threat with only a fraction of my force.

I use my Dreadnought to assault the jetbikes, but those guys are the least of my problems. I think I should've shot at the Wave Serpent right in front of the it. If I shot at the Warlocks, they get their cover, or invuln. save with Fortune from Eldrad. I just couldn't torrent them.

I don't have the turret for the Predator above. It was being stripped at the time. Again, they should've moved up. I didn't plan for Dawn of War and now I learn once again.

Eldrad detaches from his retinue and the Warlocks move to the right and proceed to roll up my flank...

Now it's turn two, and night fight is gone.

Eldrad attempts to cast Mind War on my Fennias, the MOF and proceeds to assault and kill the squad. The Warlocks will multi assault my speeders, Dreadnought, and Rhino.

The Speeders that tried to kill the Warlocks and failed. Now they get shot up by the Wave Serpent that held the Warlock squad and Eldrad. One Speeder dies, and the other loses a weapon.

His Serpents roll up to get in position to disembark Dire Avengers and bladestorm but that isn't done this turn.

Here my forces struggle to reliably counter attack because those Warlocks are causing mischieve.

The Dread in combat with the jetbikes, kills one after missing previously, and Eldrad wipes out the MOF and the lone sniper. The multi assault proceeds, immobilizing one Rhino, destroying a Dread, and nothing happens to the other speeder squad since they turboboosted. So far the Warlocks killed two Dreadnoughts.

One Rhino was exploded, killing 3 marines. I think the Warlocks did it and consolidated towards the immobilized Rhino, (the one with the die on it), or a Eldrad destroyed it with some psychic power.

Here, I attempt to kill the Warlocks and Eldrad, and I did.

My Dread attempts to destroy the Wave Serpent and assaults, but does nothing. The jetbikes that were assaulted, failed an LD test and ran back.

Turn 3 rolls up and things look nasty...my firepower is crippled,my Rhinos do nothing, my Dreads fail, and the speeders fail too.

Here those blasted Warlocks are still alive. Eldrad is down to one wound.

I moved a Rhino up front and had to disembark a Tactical Squad to target
Warlocks.

But my opponent is ready to destroy the said Tactical Squad.

See my Preds? Yeah bad deployment on my part. Now since the Warlocks and Eldrad failed to die, another tactical squad will die.

Now everything disembarks and gets ready to light up marines...the Deathspinner shoots and makes sure my Rhinos and Speeders count as moving through difficult and dangerous terrain. It ain't killy, but it sure is annoying. But it's the least of my problems.

These are the armour saves I have to take on a tactical squad in the middle of the field. Let's see how many marines live to tell the tale.

Yep. 1 lone sergeant. The Rhino died from Fire Dragons, the other marines died from bladestorms.

Now another squad shoots at the sarge. Let's see if he can make a last man stand and live to tell about it.

The shoot and he fails the first save. Oh well. If he survived 13 shots I would've made him a captain.

The jetbikes and blocks the rhino from disembarking and rapid firing. The rhino on the side was blown away by the Nightspinner.

This Pred is wrecked while the other Preds fail to do anything.

It's turn 4 and I got wiped. Preds are useless. Multimeltas eliminated. Speeders are also wiped too near the end of the fourth turn.

See the Predator to the left?

Now it's gone! And it was finally in position to shoot stuff!

I blame it on the Wave Serpents...

I attempt to contest. But it dies.

Here a Dread is armless and I have 2 speeders left.

My Pred tries to shoot but fails.

My Speeders shoot at the Nightspinner with Multimelta goodness and it dies.

We already know whats gonna happen. I lose. But eh, it's okay I learned quite a bit from this battle. And it was my first battle at Pegasus Hobbies. Nigel was a great sport. If you ever play a battle with him at Pegasus he'll probably be a very memorable player. Well, I hope you all enjoyed reading about my mistakes and learn from them.

Introducing: Pegasus Hobbies!

2011-07-16T01:30:00.000-07:00

Hey guys. Occasionally I will go to my local Gamesworkshop at the Gateway at Mountain Village up in southern California, but I wanted to shine some of the limelight on Pegasus Hobbies! It's the biggest hobby store in southern California and has a fantastic selection of paints, models, and other hobby supplies, but not only that, it also has 4 gaming tables that need some attention. Now I'm not trying to bang on GW, I love the company (to an extent I may add) but hey, the local store has had several managers (too much since I've been there) and the place is cramped with lots of people, weird store hours (closed mondays, tuesdays, opens at either 12 am or 1 pm depending on the days, and occasionally closes on some days due to the managers taking days off but that's their own business. So how can I reliably play games now? Well I met a small gaming group that loves Warmachine but will play 40k if people are willing to join in on the fun. Well if you live near Pegasus Hobbies, come on down when the store opens on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays. The group hangs out in the back till around 4 or 5 pm. Hopefully you might run into me (Clayton), Matt (guy who runs the group), and even Nigel ( Eldar and Dark Eldar player. There are some other folks too but I don't know their names. I will give them player intros if they have 40k armies. The more 40k players we can get, the better and if you play Warmachine too that's great too. It's a big store (huge!) and has a lot to look at so come on down and check it out!

Ultramarines vs. Grey Knights Analysis...

2011-07-12T19:45:00.000-07:00

Hey guys. Like I promised, I wanted to give an analysis to my part of the whole battle. Think of it like an overview of what went wrong, what went well, etc.

My Analysis:

Overall, I think everything was well. Like before, I didn't have an exact deployment plan for Dawn of War, so everything was planned last minute, and only took me a few minutes to plan in my head. Strategically, my plan was to keep my opponent in the small corner of the table he was in like so.

Honestly, it did go well until around turn 5 when he finally assaulted a tactical squad. It did take awhile for him to do because my forces slowly crept to his side of the table. Speeders went first (above) then died, two Rhinos went (then died), then Dreadnought ( two immobilized, one died). So I think I should've kept the speeders behind my Rhinos and moved out later. Turn 1 they provided too much terrain much too early. I knew that toe to toe, Grey Knight Strike Squads are a lot better then your friendly neighborhood tactical squad. They have power weapons, psycannons, storm bolters, and psychic powers. They can shunt, outshoot, and downright assault and win. I had no choice then to lever what my army can do against the threat that GK can do extremely well, use my synergy. I don't just send a unit or two, I send out whatever I can with a combination of movement blocking, shooting, and assaulting. Let's face it, my Dreadnoughts will never be as awesome as GK Dreadnoughts with all those psychic powers, force weapons, daemonhammers, psycannons, psybolt ammo, and fortitude. My Autocannons are no psycannons, marines will always fold in a one on one mexican standoff against GK Terminators and Strike Squads. But by leveraging what I can pull with my army I can hold my own and still win or at least pull a draw. Yes I will take many losses, but remember, "40k isn't about losing models, it's about being at the right place at the right time". And if we finished the game, I think I would've won.

My opponent's army is extremely elite, and yet very fluffy. It's not the most competitive list, but Craig still let me feel the sting. I just couldn't avoid it all game. I had the numbers over him. 3x Dakka Preds, 3x Black Reach Dreadnoughts, 4x Rhinos, 4x Tactical Squads, 10x Sniper Scouts, 4x Suicidal Landspeeders, and 1x Guy with a big gun, is A LOT to kill for 2x GK Strike Squads, 1x GK Terminator Squad, 1x Storm Raven, Kaldor, 1x Paladin Squad, and a Venerable Dreadnought is hard and challenging. We are playing seize ground so killing was not as important. I managed to whittle down Craig's GK Strike Squads to less than 5 dudes per squad. 1 had a Psycannon and that was it, the other had a Justicar, a knight, and a psycannon left. That's pretty good when it comes to turn 5. Dakka Preds still do their best despite the cover from dead vehicles and The Shrouding. That's what it can get you along with the small arms fire from Dreads, Tac Squads, and the Conversion Beamer. If I continued to hammer down and successfully kill his Strike Squads, that would force Craig to put his Paladins and Terminator Squad on his own objective. One would probably be in combat, while the other would be securing the objective.

Here's where the Paladins and Kaldor may need to be at turn 6...

Those knights would obviously be gone.

The chest is where the Terminators need to be. The Venerable Dread may need to be here too to help hold it.

See where these guns are pointed? Yeah, that chest objective. The Scouts are right there too. So I can just park all my Preds to there to help contest. If I could contest then that may be game. I just need to worry about the other objective.

The Dread there is immobilized but contests the chest at 3 inches. The Rhino can still move. The Tac Squad can still go in the Rhino. They can hop right in and contest the objective above. The Storm Raven is destroyed so no worries for contesting about my other objective below...

See? But if I had any speeders alive, that would've been great...

I think that's one thing I did not do quite right. The speeders died to soon because I forced them to.

Everything else seemed to be just fine. If that lone Tac squad with the last functioning Rhino needed help with contesting the objective held by the Termies, then a Pred or two could move over to it as well. The Scouts hidden here (below)

Couldve gotten out of the tower and ran to the other objective. While the Tac Squad holding this one (below)

Could run to the objective supposedly held by the Paladins and Kaldor to help contest.

But hey it may have been a draw or a win. I definitely think that I would've lost. Everything was planned accordingly and in such a short time. I guess you could say that I am getting used to playing this army.

Deployment was nice as you can see...

Predators are key when it comes to deployment. They have to be placed in a position where they can get plenty of shots at the opponent. Remember the opponent will be moving, but only question is where? I placed the objectives accordingly so my force can keep the enemy secluded in one part of the table. You know? Control their threat area. Rhinos and Dreads helped with that of course. Rhinos are great and very cheap for what they can do. No they are not like the gunboat that IG have with Chimeras. They are not like the Dark Eldar with their assault ships that they call Raiders. They are not like Tau Devilfish where they always get a cover save no matter what. They are big moving bricks, specifically designed to be used as a metal bunker for Multimelta madness, and mobile cover for Speeders, Dreads, and Preds. Like I said this army is very synergetic. Everything supports each other well and doesn't over do it. Vanilla marines are usually looked down upon as a "boring" and "uncompetitive" and everyone else likes to agree. But I am one of the few believers who seem to believe that marines can always put up a good fight in the end. I've got plenty of mobility, shooting both at midrange and at long range, many troops, and assault capability. Yes I'm not BA where everything is fast and can jump on you first turn with furious vampires. Yes I'm not SW where I shoot you with Long Fangs, Razorbacks chock full of Grey Hunters, and assault you with Thunderwolf Cavalry. Yes I'm not Grey Knights where they seem to be nastier in shooting, assaulting, and in psychic mojo then Vanilla Marines will ever be. But just because these marines need a crutch on special rules, and Vanilla Marines don't doesn't make a difference does it? Yeah so what if some think that we need special characters to do us good, but my army proves that you don't need any of that. You don't need crazy psychic mumbo jumbo, force weapons in every corner, and other special rules of the like. You just need to think tactically and address situations accordingly. My list isn't designed to beat every codex, it's designed to provide tactical options in most if not all situations in the battlefield. It isn't the best list out there but it sure as hell proves that Vanilla Marines can still put up a hell of a fight. Take that and chew on it for a bit.

Battle Report: 2nd Company Ultramarines vs. Grey Knights 2000pts

2011-07-10T20:06:00.000-07:00

Hey guys. I'm back again with yet another battle report with a twist (more like a hint) of tactics involved. This time I'm up against Grey Knights for the first time. Here's what we brought...

Craig (Grey Knight Chapter Master) otherwise my opponent had...

Lord Kaldor
1x 5 man Terminator Squad
1x 5 man Paladin Squad
2x Grey Knight Strike Squads (ten man each)
1x Venerable Dreadnought
1x Storm Raven

Here's what I brought
Master of the Forge
1x 10 man Scout Squad
4x Tactical Squads with Rhinos
3x Dreadnoughts
4x Landspeeders
3x Predators

Mission: Seize Ground Deployment: Dawn of War

Okay, so I know I have been stressing about deployment tactics but I have none yet for Dawn of War (now I do ). I was ready for spearhead and pitched battle, but oh well. Here's how deployment looks like.

My deployment: I got one Sniper scout squad and a Tactical Rhino. I got first turn and I'm ready for the rest of my stuff.

Here's Craig's: Here's Kaldor and two Strike squads on the ready. Now this area was key for the whole game. I wanted to move in and force him into a corner and keep him there. Let's see if I succeed...

Here's where the objectives are... and there's three. The tiny ruined shelter for a hobo, a base with bits, and a chest that looks like a grave, or leads to steps where a cemetary lies beneath the battle (think catacombs). You decide.

So I figured most of the battle would be centralized where the knight squads were and I really wanted to keep it there. My army focuses on the midfield so my goal was to keep the battle there and not spread around the table. I know Grey Knights excel midfield (all those 24- 36 in shots!) and well I have a midfield army too. So from the get go I have a bad matchup. Let's see if this costs me...

So turn 1 I know was uneventful in terms of killing and man slaughter in combat but this opportunity for night fight helps me get into position to unleash shots later on. I'm counting on it to protect me so I got a WWII bunker line stretched to move out turn 2.

Deployment: Here's everything lined up. Preds are near the scouts and are positioned to the Knight side of the table. Dreads grab cover and Rhinos are in position. Remember the part about the man slaughter? Well I forgot about the speeders.

The Preds have a good position on both objectives. Tactically, deployed where I want them to be. They do not move at all except pivot so imagine 3 tanks firing in the backfield, WWII style.

I want to be sure my Rhinos don't die to psycannons so I want my Speeders to soak up the shots. Remember, first turn is key for me since I need my Rhinos to at least survive first turn. I need my mobility. They turboboost up and get ready to die. This is the first key of keeping my opponent in that corner.

One speeder dies from squadron 1, creating difficult terrain for his army to walk through, and granting cover saves but who cares? Not me. As long as I draw LOS I am still going to shoot you. Preds will still fire and don't care.

Squadron 2 dies immediately but again I don't care. Those are shots not going to my troops, dreads, and preds.

This speeder loses a multimelta and will go hide for awhile. to try and contest turn 5.

I shot up some guys from both squads. Most of the shots went to the first squad on the objective. My conversion beamer from the MOF did not miss and killed a few from this squad above.

This squad ate autocannons, heavy bolters, bolters, and multimeltas. They move up to grab cover and weather the storm. The Paladins, Venerable, and the Storm Raven come in 2nd turn as we roll up.

Here are the Terminators. The Paladins are in the Storm Raven.

I move up two Rhinos and my Dreadnoughts. One dies from the Storm Raven.

Knights hug cover to intercept my forces.

Kaldor is hugging cover too. The knight squad that was behind here moved after being shot up.

He looks nice but with a storm shield, it is questionable to be behind cover isn't it?

Next turn or so rolls by and I shot up the knight squad again with a conversion beamer and I hit again on scatter. S10 AP 1 heavy blast is hard to pass up. And it's 72 inches!

The Knight squad on the objective is hard to remove all game. Even with Preds, But now I gotta take that stupid Storm Raven out and blast it out of the skies. Autocannons hit it and do nothing but shake it. Multimeltas on my Tac and Dreads are too far from the Storm Raven! Arrgh!

Here I have to reorganize After knowing how everything came in 2nd turn. I thought Craig would open another front on my left flank, but he took the bait and followed right into my plan. I kept a Rhino and some Dreads near my Preds to protect them from those deepstrikers, but oh well. He used Kaldor's teleport homer to bring everything near him. I deploy my Tac squad on the left in the picture and spread them out to get near an objective and to protect against the twin linked plasma cannon on the Storm Raven.

The 3 man Knight squad continued to hide, but behind the empty Rhino because the Storm Raven.

Kaldor reunites with his Paladin squad that came from the Storm Raven.

These guys look nice...too bad they have to die.

Here are the Terminators and the Dreadnought. The Terminators get ready to board it.

Here are the Preds and the Tac squad going for an objective. If the Storm Raven comes, it's getting mulitmelted.

Here Mr.Dread previously used a Rhino as cover but it gets a weapon destroyed from the Storm Raven.

The Rhino here, dies as well from a psycannon from the three man knight squad behind the first wrecked rhino.

That bloody Storm Raven needs to go.

These knights need to go to. Mr. Dread comes and says hi.

Turn 4 rolls on by and things start heating up as the Paladin Squad nears my forces.

Mr. Dread came and ate one knight. Now they started running away. But no worries. 2 die as the conversion beamer hits them on the scatter again.

The dread loses an arm but can still pack a punch.

This dread is immobilized after being shot in the back by a Storm Raven.

These guys wrap around an objective. while a speeder from before moves on out.

Theses guys get shot up by Kaldor and friends.

This squad pops the Storm but will die in the process.

My marines move to the side and flank Craig.

Kaldor and his squad move on top of the wreck and get ready to seize.

I needed my speeder to survive but it dies and fails to contest.

My guys solidify their position...

Here's that assault. The knights couldn't kill it because of their strength. Who says Dreads aren't good? They still scare assault armies.

That stupid Storm Raven finally fell to its knees. But out came trouble. Terminators munch these guys up. A spare Dreadnought goes up and gets killed too.

I moved up another tac squad to seize an enemy controlled objective as a Dread stalls Kaldor and his Paladins and the Terminator Squad. The Dread above was immobilized either from a psycannon from a strike squad.

Kaldor and his Paladins shot up the Tac squad and I used combat tactics to fall back and hopefully contest my objective that was destroyed of its marines by termies.

See? These guys die after shooting and assault. The Venerable Dread comes from the Storm Raven and chews up marines from a Tac squad to the right and past this picture. It did lose a weapon previously from a multimelta though.

So, in the end, what happened? Well overall the battle was great. I had fun, Craig had fun, we both had positive things to say about our armies, and it was just a great game with great sportsmanship. At the end on turn 5, we never rolled to see who won. We decided to call a draw. A dreadnought was still next to the chest objective and contested against the Terminators. Kaldor and his Paladins could've assaulted it but Craig forgot to declare and assault on it, by the time the terminators assaulted. Either way we both decided to call it because I needed to leave since the store was going to close. So until next time...seeya! Next post will be about analysis on this battle. Till then, I need to go paint my stuff more.

New Deployment Strategy Featuring: Pitched Battle!

2011-07-07T15:01:00.000-07:00

Okay guys so when I'm not painting, assembling, or building models, 40k is always a constant thought stuck in the dark corners of my enigmatic mind. I have spent several months thinking about Deployment Tactics specifically for my army. I hope that sharing my thoughts, you guys can come up with your own deployment tactics that work for you and your army :) Remember "40k isn't about losing models, its about being at the right place at the right time".

Okay so before I draw out my deployment idea, here's a key or a legend below.

[R]= Rhino with a Tactical Squad
{P}= Predator
D= Dreadnought
LL= Landspeeder Squadron
(Snipers)= Sniper Scouts with Sergeant Telion and a Master of the Forge

Here's the deployment. I don't have anything else to use for an example so I hope this will do.

--------------------------Deployment Line----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[R] D {P} [R] D{P} [R] D {P} [R] LL LL
(Snipers)* (Snipers)*

Notes: This is how things will look like at the start of the game and IF I go first. First off I turboboost my two Landspeeder Squadrons as close to my opponent as possible. The Rhinos move 12 in and pop smoke. Dreads tag along using the Rhinos as mobile cover. The Snipers can go to either corner of the table. The point is to get the Master of the Forge 72 in blast with S10 and AP1. This does one of two things 1. It can force an opponent out of the corner and move forward more (which is where I win ) OR 2. It keeps them there and the opponent will have to shoot them with a 2+ cover save to deal with, or assault them which will take a portion of their army that isn't dealing with my forces. So with this scenario that I have created, I win either way. It does not matter if they die because they'll go down with losses on the opponent's side. The Predators do not move at all and stay there. They use their ark of fire to pivot and shoot through the fire lanes that are created by the Rhinos. By moving the Rhinos forward (They are pretty close starting at 12 inches ) I have Multimelta range to blast transports to get juicy troops on foot for my Predators, Snipers, Dreads, and smoking Boltgun fire to kill. The Landspeeders will target enemy Landraiders, deadly tanks ( Leman Russes etc ). The Multimelta units (Dreads and Rhinos ) can do the same too but the Speeders help soak up shots that aren't takin on my Multimelta units, Preds, and the rest. Anyways, turn 2 I'm keeping my troops in their Multimelta bunkers while the Dreads are their to cockblock any assaulters that want to rape my Marines ( Hey its 40k anything can happen right? ). My main targets will be anti tank units (usually Troop units anyways ) and I focus my target priority on that. Alternatively I can combat squad my Tacticals and use them to bubble wrap my Preds from suicide meltas, or hide them behind the Tactical's Rhinos and serve as tarpit units with the Dreads, bubblewrap, etc. For objectives, I'm looking to place at least ONE in midfield because if you haven't noticed, I have a certified Midfield Marine Army. The basis for this Deployment plan is to use my mobility to gain range on all my Multimelta units and Preds. I use my Scouts to affect the opponent's position and use my Speeders to mess with the opponent's mind so that they have to react to what I'm doing instead of the opposite way around. If they shoot my speeders, I don't care, that's just difficult terrain for assault infantry to trudge through. If they don't shoot at them, that's find, now they can say goodbye to a tank, or a unit of infantry. They will not go away until they are dead speeders. So that's my take on Pitched Battle. I have more battle plans specific to other ways, but again I have to continue to formulate plans that are viable at this part of the game and with all the new armies coming....

40k Campaign: "Return of the 7th Company Hawk Lords"?

2011-07-06T20:13:00.000-07:00

Hey guys. I'm back from the Warp to bring you another interesting campaign idea to build upon.
Let me know what you guys think of this.

Introduction:

During the engagements of 998.M41, the 7th Company Hawk Lords disappeared. Xeno forces were suspected to have been the cause of their lost contact during a deadly warpstorm but who caused it no one knew. BUT only until years after their disappearance, a Hawk Lord's Battlebarge, returned from the Warp and were set adrift along the Eye of Terror Containment. The Subjugator's Battlebarge was on a patrol for suspicious activity, only to spot the Hawk Lord's vessel and attempted to make contact. However, no transmission could be made so it was assumed that the battlebarge was in need of repair and it was probably damaged during the warpstorm, or Xenos assaults. The Subjugators decided to send a small task force to investigate the long lost vessel. Captain Maxim of the Subjugators 5th Company sent two tne manTactical Squads, two five man Terminator squads, and one ten man Scout squad and were teleported to different areas of the ship and were to rendevous at the control area of the entire ship. The control area was assumed to be damaged since communications were offline so the Subjugator task force was in charge of repairing the communications and contacting the Subjugators to assure them that the ship was safe and if there were any Hawk Lord survivors. Each squad was given communication devices to give full status reports after every hour as they searched the space hulk for Tyranid infestations, Chaos influence, survivors, etc.

Transmission 1 reported at 1900hrs : (communication sounds) This is Sergeant Hark of Tactical Squad 1 reporting. We have reached the docking bay of the Drop Pods. Over.

Sergeant Thomas of Tac Squad 2. We have made it aboard the Armoury. Over

Mothership. ( communication sounds ) I repeat Mothership, this is Sarge Mathews reporting for Terminator Squad 7. We are currently in the basement area of the vessel. Over.

This is Segeant Rogers. Mothership I am reporting for Terminator Squad 1. We have arrived at the livng quarters area, our designated destination. Over.

Hello, this is Sergeant Capernicus, reporting for Scout Squad 9. Our location is the cafeteria sector of the vessel. Over

Transmission 2: Reported at 2000hrs:

(Communication sounds ) This is Sergeant Hark, we have patrolled the area, and the ship is dark and requires flashlights. Emergency power does not seem operational and the ship overall seems damaged with boltgun holes in several of the walls. None of the Drop Pods were launched. But we found two dead Tactical Marines hiding in one of the Drop Pods. The cause of death is unknown because they have skeletal remains only. We will continue to proceed with caution. Over.

This is Sergeant Capernicus. We have scanned the cafeteria with the use of our emergency lights. We cannot turn on the lights in the cafeteria. Their seem to be no apparent signs of trouble on this part of the ship. However, we will contnue to proceed.

Sergeant Thomas reporting. We have inspected the armoury thoroughly and it seems that most of the weapons are gone from it. There are no apparent signs of a struggle here. Emergency lighting is off and may be damaged. Over.

Sergeant Mathews reporting. The basement sector is flooded with skeletal corpses. No survivors are in sight. Battle damage was found among the walls. It is infested with plasma fire, boltgun holes, heavy bolter shells, and several scorched areas from flame weaponry. It appears that their are no corpses to be found of any invaders in this sector. Whoever trespassed here were extremely resilient to our anti infantry weaponry, or enemy casualties were removed to avoid capture. Strangely, there has been no contact with enemy intereference. Over

This is Sergeant Rogers. We have gone through several living quarter rooms and found signs of struggle. Several beds have been flipped over, along with desks and chairs and are covered with holes. It seems the furniture was used for cover because the floors are littered with boltgun and bolt pistol shells. Several corpses were also found, and it was a mix of Hawk Lord Terminator, Scout, and Tactical squad remains. Enemy engagements have not been made since the enemy has yer to be determined.

Transmission 3 reported at 2100hrs:

(Communication Sounds with a mix of bolter fire) This is Sergeant Mathews reporting. ( Stom Bolter shells go off nearby )...We have engaged the enemy and they are firing from a distance and we cannot identify them. ( Loud roaring sound in the background followed by a shout of anguish from a Terminator ). The Communication device was destroyed soon after.

This is Sergeant Roger. We have just heard of a fire fight happening nearby and we are heading to its location. Perhaps we can identify the enemy afterall. We will contact the other squads about the activity. Over.

This is Sergeant Thomas. We have been informed by Sergeant Roger about enemy activity occuring in the basement area. He says to keep going to the Control Sector since we are closer to its location and we will continue to rendevous there. Over.

This is Sergeant Hark. My squad combat squaded to help provide fire support for Sergeant Roger, Sergeant Mathews, and the rest of their squads.

Mothership. This is Sergeant Capernicus. We have been informed about the current situation in the Basement area by Sergeant Roger. We have decided to continue ti head for the Control Sector with Sergeant Hark and Thomas to repair the Control systems and activate an emergency lockdown in the Basement area and any other unexplored sectors and corridors. Over.

Transmission 4 reported at 2200hrs:

( Communication sounds) Mothership, this is Sergeant Hark. I am here with Sergeant Thomas and we finally reached the Control Sector. We lost contact with my other 5 man squad, both Sergeant Mathews and Roger, and we are awaiting the arrival of Sergeant Capernicus and his Scouts. Over.

Mothership. I repeat Mothership. This is Capernicus and we have been informed from Hark that the Control area is heavily damaged and will take awhile to get even the emergency power back online. We are getting closer to the Control area to assist them in their efforts. I pray that the Terminator Squads are still alive. Over.

Transmission 5 reported at 2300hrs:

( Communication Sounds ). Mothership,,, I repeat Mothership. Do you copy? This is Capernicus and I am the last survivor of the entire task force. Do not send reinforcements. I repeat... DO NOT SEND REINFORCEMENTS. JUST BLOW UP THE DAMN HAWK LORD BATTLEBARGE!!! THE HAWK LORDS DIED FIGHTING THIS THREAT TO THE LAST MAN!!! And if more Subjugators come to avenge our deaths, it will only be in vain...( Scrambling sounds are heard ). Oh dear Emperor...they're here...( A loud scream from Sergeant Capernicus is heard and the communications device is destroyed ).

End of transmissions.

The Subjugators failed to contact any of the members of the task force and Capernicus's transmission was the last to be heard. Captain Maxim was hesitant to send a larger task force, or even to take Capernicus's advice to blow up the space hulk. Instead he sent a transmission to all of the other Space Marine Chapters to warn them of the unknown threat that lies in the dark and decrepit corridors and sectors of the Hawk Lord's Battlebarge......

End of the Introduction

Okay so the threat can be any race really and any Space Marine Chapter can bravely send reinforcements to stop the threat instead of destroying the entire space hulk. The threat is unknown so it is imperative that the Imperium should know what brought the end to the 7th Company Hawk Lords right? The only catch is that vehicles, and bikes will probably not be on the vessel since its a tighter space. Dreadnoughts and other walkers would be an exception however. Don't forget about the possibility of large monstrous creatures but they gotta fit the board some how.

Terrain:

Terrain is important for each battle as each player fights there way through each sector of the ship but should limit the size of vehicles somehow. I could see Landspeeders being used. Bikes is a big maybe though but each battle should be different. It is a big ship so there can be a variety of tables to be made. Some could look like the terrain in the picture, Just halls, and a few small rooms for troops to hide in. Some can be huge hangar bays like this one.

THIS is a good example of what a table can look like. Or maybe somethin like this.

This is perfect for the Drop Pod Hangar Bay in the Introduction.

Hirst Arts Molds are amazing for this. You can create all that from several different molds here http://www.hirstarts.com/molds/moldssci.html

So get creative guys. Its a big ship and its only matched by your imagination. Maybe it can look like a ship with Tyranid spores and spires sticking out of the ground. You can get very creative so that each battle can have a unique look.

Gameplay: Again the number of players vary. The size of the tables vary too. I do reccommend 6x4 or maybe 8x4 for table size but thats for big battles. For Space Marine players, you may be limited to Tactical Squads, Scouts, Landspeeder Storms, Landspeeders, Dreadnoughts, Legion of the Damned, Terminators, Vanguard Veterans, Assault Marines and even Thunderfire Cannons. Necron players can field whatever other than a Monolith. Tyranids could field anything. Grey Knights are in the same boat with Marines except no chimera and razorspam. Black Templars don't care much because they come in mass infantry anyways right? You guys get the idea I am sure. Night fighting will be interesting to fight in since the ship is dark. Again just like in the Defluo Campaign I made up, special rules are open for use. By the way Deep striking may be more focused since its a close quarter ship. So deep striking units may just land where they are supposed to ( because its an enclosed pace ). Daemons would have fun for this unless they face Grey Knights, then that's another story ;)

Objectives: The main objective for the whole campaign would to either liberate the ship of Xenos scum, or take over the entire ship from Imperium control. But you can create more if you want.

Maps could be used to represent different sectors. Each Sector may have different battles to fully liberate the Sector, but may have smaller table space for more realistic battles. So planning the map may take a little more thought, but it can be done on some graph paper, foamboard, cardboard, etc.

Other Requirements: Again like the Defluo Campaign, requirements will be the HQ and 2 TROOPS. But after each battle, depending on the sector and the battles in each sector, the FOC will expand and so will the points value for each army. For example, say the Hangar Bay Sector, allows space for a Rhino, Razorback, Landspeeder, etc. But the Basement Sector may only allow for infantry to fight, including different elite and veteran units from the different FOC slots. But that's up to you all as the players to decide whether or not the cursed ship can be saved, or continue to lie in despair along with the dead...

40k Campaign: "The Planet Defluo"

2011-07-05T23:02:00.000-07:00

Hey guys. I had this idea of playing this campaign idea that I have partially created. It is a base of a campaign that can include any army. I don't want to go in depth with it because eventually 6th Edition will supposedly roll along and I don't want the campaign to just die because the rules that I make up may not apply to that edition. But anyways thats enough rambling so read on...

Introduction: Defluo, a vast, lush, and tropical planet, was once a part of the Imperium long ago. An Imperial colony was sent to explore the planet for potential resources and after several days of trekking across steep hills, crossing rivers, and enduring the humid and moist atmosphere, the colony found several temples to use as adequate shelter. After a transmission was received from the colony about the ancient temples, the Imperium sent forces to investigate the temples. But before they could arrive, the Warp appeared in the atmosphere of Defluo and engulfed the entire planet and dissapeared. The Imperium tried to contact and find the missing colony, but failed for several years. But after those years, the Horus Heresy plunged the galaxy into chaos, and the search for Defluo and its lost colony was forgotten among the chaos. Within a decade of warfare and bloodshed from the Horu Heresy era, came the Codex Astartes, and the Second Founding, but Defluo still remained lost in the Warp. Until recently however, Defluo arrived from the Warp, alarming the entire galaxy, having believed that it was lost forever. Now every race travels to Defluo to either claim it as territory, harvest it for resources, but above all else, uncover its secrets...

Nice background story line eh? I tried to do my best to create an entirely "new" planet and make it apart of the 40k universe. I'll go further into the details of the planet itself to help inspire you all to try out this campaign and perhaps add on to the history of the planet, etc.

Terrain: The terrain for the whole campaign should have plenty of tropical trees, hills, rivers, mountain like formations, waterfalls, temples, obelisks, etc. There could be statues with mold and obvious signs of erosion, beach areas, etc. The temples could have webway portals, could be necron like, chaos like (Lord Alchemy would like that), etc. Again, terrain can be very free formed. Trees could look bizzare and alien like but still have a tropical feel to it. Dangerous terrain features could be found like bug infested areas, pit traps, arrow traps, temple traps, vicious alien creatures, etc. Wrecked vehicles could also be used for difficult terrain but be sure to make them look old. Maybe old broken down chimeras, landraiders, drop pods, rhinos, storm ravens, vendettas, etc. Remember it was an Imperial colony so you have a variety of Imperium vehicles to use for wrecks. Giant exoskeletons of people, strange inhabitants, etc are also useful to include for exclusive terrain features. Tombstones, hidden caves, underground tunnel hatches, etc can help expand on the story. Again, the terrain created for each battle can be quite remarkable and make for memorable games.

Gameplay: The table size can vary from 8x4 to 6x4 to even 4x4. Of course there will be an HQ and 2 TROOP choices minimum for the campaign. I reccomend starting out at 500 points for Troop and HQ choices for the first battle. But after each battle for "territory" in parts of Defluo, various options can be allowed for each battle. I'm thinking they can vary from each game. Terrain can have a big part to play in deciding what units to use after the first game. Maybe Fast Attack options like Landspeeders and Assault Marines are better for tree infested areas over bikes because they may crash? Maybe long range tanks are more viable to use in another battle because lighting storms can strike flying vehicles out of the skies? Bikes may be useful for an open field with less trees and a hill or two? Again you can get very creative with this. Creative bonuses can be used after each battle like Furious Charge, Relentless, Fearless, etc can be granted to specific units after a battle is won and morale is boosted. Negative bonuses could also be used for the losing side. Don't forget to be aware of the weather effects too. Maybe the heavy rainfall can make steep hills difficult to cross for infantry. Or the heavy thunderstorms can make a commander think twice before deploying any vehicles. Troops could also be hit by these storms each turn, or take leadership tests even. And don't forget about night fights too as they could make it hard to distinguish friend from foe (meaning friendly units could be shot!) because of the thick jungle. It really all depends on you the players to come up with free formed house rules to follow.

Objective of the Campaign?: The objective of winning the campaign depends all on you. The more players the better (perhaps a 2 vs 2 campaign?) but be sure to not get upset about disagreements (remember its just a fun campaign). There could also be multiple objectives as well. For example finding the most treasure, weapons, equipment or objectives and after each game these accumulate. The side with the most objectives out of the whole campaign wins. Or the of course the classical winner take all objective meaning the side that has the most territories control over the entire planet of Defluo. Or maybe taking control over the most temples can be an objective so in the end of the whole campaign, the fate of the lost colony is discovered. But of course those are just to name a few.

Campaign Map: I highly reccomend creating a huge map out of perhaps foamboard, graph paper, etc. to show the terrain features, who has control over each territory, etc. Tactical scenarios can also be included with each territory. For example, say the Space Marines took control over Defluo Sector 4, which contained a clean river for a drinking source, and the Orks want to take control over the river for themselves, or send a small taskforce to poison their water supply... Or maybe Defluo Sector 10 has a secret hatch that contains ammunition and provides shelter for a nice camp for reinforcements to arrive. Maybe some Tau forces need to hold off their position in the hidden temple found in Defluo Sector 20 until reinforcements arrive etc.

Well folks, thats all I have for now about rules and gameplay and if theres more to add on feel free to comment and give me your thoughts. This concept of this campaign is nice for storytelling capability and for fun, yet unique battles and gameplay. But the most important thing is just to have fun. Invite friends over and allow them to invite others to join as well since Defluo can be occupied by any force in the galaxy. And of course sufficient planning should be arranged to fit anyone's schedule so meetings can be arranged to come up with the next scenario, upcoming objectives, special rules, Force Org Chart limitations, weather effects, etc. Hope you all can enjoy constructing and envisioning the sceret and enigmatic world of Defluo and who knows? Maybe your army will suffer the same fate as the Imperial colony and become lost in the Warp...

Fighting Tigers of VEDA!

2011-07-03T18:22:00.000-07:00

Hey guys. Now when I first got into the game, I came across this site http://www.fightingtigersofveda.com/ and I think its a great site for fluffy space marine players, or even fluff players in general. I remember just browsing the internet for 40k sites to look at just out of curiosity and I gotta say, this site keeps me coming back for more. I picked and stayed with Ultramarines because of this site. I wanted to have cool storm trooper like (Star Wars) blue soldiers who ran around and caused mayhem on tabletops to come. Yes I could've stripped them to look like Black Templars, Blood Angels, Dark Angels, etc. but I'm just convinced on playing Codex: Space Marines for now. Although, I will eventually have all the armies out right now (It will take a long time), I just stuck with my Ultramarine dudes, constantly painting them the way I like them. So by sharing this site with you guys, I thought it would be nice to show you all a site worth checking out if you have the spare time. It inspired me to keep painting these guys, convert them differently, and build up on fluff for them. So check it out! I got my inspiration, so go get yours too! Oh yeah by the way, if you guys know of any sites similar to this one, post a link so I can give that site a shout out too. I have decided to have a "Cool Sites" Section so the more the merrier, so don't be shy!

Army Builds?

2011-06-10T16:48:00.000-07:00

Hey guys I've been thinking a lot about this in my head and I wanted to share it as it comes across my mind. We all have armies that we play and we all know about one thing, the builds that come from the codex of the army/armies. For my main army, codex space marines I can think of a few builds to come by which are Mass Dreadnought Armies, Drop Pod Armies, All Bike Armies, Razorspam Armies, Pod+Biker+Mech Armies, Vulkan (Sally) Armies, Termie Spam Armies, or what I play which is mainly just an MSU Mech Army. All of these builds are all fun to play. Armies that are built around them vary from person to person and they are all well known I'm sure. Some are taken often , some are not because GK, SW, BA, and IG seem to outshine CSM because they (CSM) are not played as much as the previously mentioned armies,along with xenos. I stick with with Vanilla Space Marines simply because it was the first codex I ever bought. I wanted to try them out, learn how to play them, paint them, and all that stuff with starting a new army. Guard looked cool, SW didnt appeal nor did BA (Its not like they were boring) and I picked up Black Reach and chose SM because of it. But now that I know of the many builds out there, I want YOU to see if you can come up with army builds from the codex you play that can be competitive, just fun to play, or both. I've done my part and now I'm interested in what other armies have in the current edition.

More Necron Rumors...

2011-06-10T16:01:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! A lot of this info is from a blogspot with many other sources that were found within it. I wish I could find more sites, or websites, but all I can't find anything better. Here goes.

-Heavy Destroyers and Destroyers will be done in plastic and are in one box with a lot of weapon options. Not much will change except fancier torsos. You still get one per box.

-Tomb Spyders will be redone and will look very different. They will have more weapon options too. I'm pretty excited about hearing this. I may get some for myself.

-There will be a new MC/Vehicle type thing that will be able to have 48 inches weapon that is similar to a Manticore. This I hope may open up some new Necron army builds that may be cool to play instead of having scarabs, destroyers, and heavy destroyers all the time.

-There is also a new MC that may be like a Wraith Lord in terms of assault and shooting but who knows? Its called the Necromancer. The model is supposed to be huge and I'm a fan of giant robots to play with ( dreadknights, dreadnoughts, ironclads, etc). It will have a lot of weapon options. Sounds pretty cool to me. I think this can definitely be a new unit that could possibly open up new builds.

-A new fast attack unit is gonna look a little like flayed ones ( dont quote me on this but it might be the Tomb Blades). They will have non MC weapon options for assault so this is nice. I thought they would be like pariahs but aw well. They will be jump infantry with an 18 in assault range. There will be 5 per box. THIS is even better news. Now Necrons might have some new assault units to use if they are any good to help back up scarabs.

-There will be a new metal Necron Lord on foot with a cool model and staff. Could possibly be a new character.

-Phase out of course is gone and I forgot to mention it.

-Ctan will be gone and will be replaced by Necron Lords and special ICs but still Im not sure if there will be generic Ctans and its just Nightbringer and Deceiver being moved to apocalypse but we will see.

-One lord makes Immortals Troops which is nice.

-An IC, or Lord will have Anti Psyker abilities which is a nice thing to hear since theres so much psyker stuff out there.

-Living Metal will get changed and not takin out so we'll see if its better or for the worse.

-A lot of the shady rules that are confusing in the codex will be simplified and will still be back in the book. Thank goodness!

-Necrons still will have "powers" but they arent psychic abilities.

http://natfka.blogspot.com/2011/03/necron-rumors.html
this is my source for the above info.

Named Lords:
The Enfleshed - making Flayed Ones Troops
The Undying - making Immortals Troops
The Silent King ?
The Voidbringer ?
The Stormcaller ?
The Harbinger of Night ?
Here are some names that MIGHT be in the codex.

Warriors
Will come 10 to a box
New options and also other colors of rod (orange and red I think? Orange is not bright orange, but sort of dark, kinda like a beer color almost)
Warriors - no re-cut, possible additional sprue, yellow, orange, red, green rods, possible mark system. (10 per box)

This is good to know. Now Necrons can have some more variety.

Immortals
Redone, in plastic? Unsure of the material.
Lots of "Bling"
Bigger than old ones
One of the Special Character ‘Cron lords makes them troops
Will come in boxes of 5, can be in units of up to 10.
large (35mm) base; they are redesigned as larger, bulkier and more

Cool. Bigger and hopefully better robots which is what I expect nothing less of.

-Pariahs may be a part of a retinue unit for Necron Lords. SO they may not be gone from the codex in terms of the FOC. Nice!

Necromancer - Resurrection, Warscythe, Gauss smthn... (plastic kit, 1 per box)

Obelisk/Gauss Obliterator/Heavy Gauss Cannon platform (plastic kit, 1 per box)

These are some of the new vehicles/MC in the Heavy Support slot. I hope they can do some nice stuff and change up the game a bit.

http://natfka.blogspot.com/2011/04/necron-summary-compilation-and-rumors.html

-Necrons are set to be released in August/September 2011. Which should hopefully be around my birthday.

Warren at Beasts of War 2/24/2011The Obvious
■We’ll be back is definitely gone (Feel no Pain has took over)
■We’re hearing that Gauss weapons are rending (which makes sense and will please Darrell no end)
■There will be a ton of Psychic powers listed as ‘Tech Upgrades’

The more ‘out there’ stuff that we have trouble believing
■There will be a more ornate vehicle (maybe monolith?) with moulded glyphs
■The feel of the range has been re-skinned to make it less ‘Terminator’
■Spyders have been redone
■We hear they are getting a reboot on the scale to rival the Dark Eldar!
-Whoa! Rending? I though it would not be any rending on weapons? Maybe its some of the weapons? Not sure. Rivaling Dark Eldar seems believable since the Necrons will have open topped vehicles and are EVIL.

http://natfka.blogspot.com/2011/02/necron-rumor-compilation.html

WBB - the name is gone, now it is save 5+ working like FNP without influence of double strength and AP2 or AP1. However, save is made at the END of the phase after morale tests are taken.

-This is pretty interesting but still Im terrible at rolling 5+ for saves but thats just me.

Ever-Living - unit can make 5+ WBB/FNP/Whatever save even if wiped out.

Quantum Shielding - gives open topped skimmers 2+ save for front & side armor until vehicle takes its first glance/pen

-Here are some interestingly new rules that Im anxious to try out.

Heat Ray - working like melta or flamer depending which is needed.

Gauss - this type of weapons on a roll of 6' to hit cause auto-glance on a penetration roll. There is no auto-wound regardless of T. No rending.

Gauss Cannon - Assault 2 S6 AP3.

Gauss Flux Arc - Each Arc fires separately and can hit four different targets.

Tesla - this type of weapons on a roll of 6' to hit cause two more hits.

Tesla Heavy Cannon - has a chance of hitting all other units close to the target; both friend and foe.

Doomsday Cannon - 72" S9 AP1 Heavy1 Large Blast.

-These are some new weapons that look pretty powerful.

Tomb Spyders - MC, 3 different builds (CC, Shooting, Support).

Necromancer - MC, no squadrons, can be fielded as Elite or HS, high T but not enough vs plasma or melta, Resurrection, Warscythe, lot of weapon options, Heat Ray. Any unit hit by Necromancer is marked. All other Necrons shooting at this target count as having twin-linked weapons for that turn. It has a mechanised skeletal torso housing a suspended crystal.

Sky Barge/Chariot - Heavy support platform, which can be mounted by character. Provides bonus to character.

MC/Vehicle type thing (Obelisk/Gauss Obliterator/Gauss artillery platform with crew) - 48” range, less powerful than Manticore, looks stupid and out of Necron theme.

Vehicle which carry Doomsday Cannon.
-These are the units yall should look to for your heavy support.

Heres a few schematics for the new vehicles.

http://natfka.blogspot.com/2011/05/updated-necron-compilation-with-necron.html Heres my source for the above.

Necron LordCost: Just under 100pts (no idea what hundo means but I'm guessing 100).

Stats:
T5 W3

Unlocks Crypteks

Wargear:
Can take Destroyer Body for 50-100pts

Gives Hit and Run?

Makes him a Vehicle? Starts as 13/11/11 but as you take damage you go down to 11/11/10? So for each wound he takes he loses 1 armour value on all sides down to a min of 10?

Comes with Staff of Light

May exchange for Warscythe for free

Warscythe makes him S7 with power weapon hits, so it's a +2S Power weapon similar to the Sisters Blessed weapon or Dark Eldar ones.

May exchange for a Gauntlet = Flamer

2 Sword options that seem rather meh

Phylactery = When he dies roll a D6 = 1-3 he dies, 4+ he stands up with 1-3 wound depending on how high you rolled.

Rez Orb = Boosts the WBB to a 4+

Phase Shifter = 3++

Can upgrade his armour to 2+

Branishackles, similar to Grey Knights grenades with the effect to make units attack their own.

Necron Hunter Killer Missile, S8+ AP3+ Probably Blast or Large Blast.

Seems they got him in ResinHand To Hand/Close Combat - Assault (p33 40k 5th)

-This is a very cool Lord, but for a hundred points!? That seems a little unbelievable but thats me.

http://natfka.blogspot.com/2011/05/back-online-with-necron-lord-rumors.html

This is supposed to be a picture of one of the new necron vehicles. I still dont know the damn name!
http://natfka.blogspot.com/2011/05/ctan-are-back-solid-necron-rumors.html

And thats all folks. I wish I could get more info from other sources but this info I needed to share. I looked further out but found garbage so this is it for now.

Null Deployment?

2011-06-09T21:49:00.000-07:00

Hey guys I like this concept of disrupting the opponent's deployment so I will try to build some codex space marine lists based on this concept. Just watch these vids to get an idea of it.

Test Games...

2011-06-09T21:22:00.000-07:00

Hey guys its been FOREVER since Ive been on this blog because of school, chores, projects, etc. But now Im back again with some more ideas for y'all to ponder about when you're working up a fun/competitive net list, or a fun/fluffy list (*cough *cough...ahem Lord Alchemy, you might like this article, so read on). Say you're like me and don't have much time to play games at your local gaming club, or just visiting your flgs on the weekends for months at a time. Then when you do you have time for a game it has to be short and you may not have any ideas for tactics, deployment, etc while your opponent has probably got an edge against you because he/she has plenty of practice with their army and you haven't. Well, I have some ideas that I have to share that will help shed some light on the disadvantage of knowing less about your army due to lack of time to play.

Sorry this picture of the table is blurry but here was a side view of the table me and Sean, a regular gamer, played on. I was pretty much confused with what to do because I didnt play for weeks and the terrain hindered my fire lanes (there was a built in temple on the table that blocked LOS for my Preds and ruined my deployment in the end.
So based on my observation, I realized from this picture that terrain placement can hinder my army if it blocks my fire lanes. I'll make a note of that below so you all can follow me as I list things to think about BEFORE I play a game.
1. Terrain placment can cripple my fire lanes if Im not careful.
Next time I need to reconsider how much terrain me and Sean really need. This concept of what I call a Test Game is really helpful for players like me who are new and have new lists. The objective is neither winning or losing. Its more about observation so playing a Test Game is beneficial in a limited amount of time. Taking pictures of everything is key here so afterwards you can look back on them and make one or more observations or even inferences. So you can ask yourself questions like "What could I have done better in this situation?" "What if I had done this differently?" "Was my Target Priority well thought out?" etc. Try to come up with scenarios and develop questions as you make your analysis. Me and Sean never finished our game but we still had fun and I gained from my experience back then. So that leaves me with several scenarios I can come up with on how the game would've turned out in the end. I won't go over everything that happened but I will still continue to list mistakes.

This is the blasted temple that was in my way. The area with the green blast template is where my pitched battle deployment was located. Notice how my army faces the opposite direction. I couldn't get many shots because there was a building that also blocked LOS to the left, leaving a parallel fire lane that I could pump all my shots through.
2. Be careful with tables that have built in terrain and think about how it could help or hinder my movement, and shooting.
Not only were my shots limited but my movement was also. I didn't want to roll my rhinos, preds, or troops through that molten temple because I knew it could immobilize my stuff, or cause my troops to march through slowly and get shot up and then assaulted in a heartbeat.

Here I have deployed two Predators to shoot at whatever tries to cross my lines and to stay away from missile devs. Heres what I shouldve done.
1. Deploy the Preds in range of the enemy objective. If I did that I couldve destroyed the single tac squad squatting on the objective. That meant, Sean would have to focus more troops on the objective. I focused too much on protecting them from missile shots and couldve used them as a distraction so those missiles dont have to hit the rhinos, marines, and dreads advancing towards the objective.
Jeez, a picture does mean a thousand words! Alright to cut this article short, Ill end it right here since I want to finish other things for now. However I may continue this some other time. But for now yall can get the basic idea of using a test game to come up with scenarios, new deployments, tactics, army construction, etc.

Necrons from the deep abyss...

2011-06-08T22:44:00.000-07:00

Eh guys, been a long time since ive posted anything so this time I got some necron rumors that have floated around the internet for awhile and I havent gotten the time to scour the web in search of more stuff. Im very interested in armies having new codex updates and models so I just want to share some Necron info I thought was interesting. Okay here goes...Necrons will get a 4+ save and have a WBB roll of a 5+. Resurrection Orbs will also allow the WBB to go to a 4+. WWB rolls are also not cancelled out by AP 2 or 1 weaponry. Power weapons and other CC weapons of the like will not cancel the effect on WBB. Rending will also not affect WBB. Gauss weaponry will not be rending and will lose the effect of wounding on a 6+ regardless of toughness. They can still GLANCE, but thats not very much. Anyways, the Gauss weaponry that Destroyers carry will be Assault 2 or 3. Im still unsure about Ctan being moved to apocalypse, ( Deceiver and the Nightbringer) but apparently there will be 3 Ctan slots in the Elites section but the "Ctan" will be generic with the MC status and Necron power upgrades, like messing with the deployment, providing army wide advantages, or giving disadvantages to the opponent like hindering movement, etc. Its still open to speculation however so not too clear about it. The codex will have a few new units, like different Necron Lords that are named and give army wide bonuses, Crypteks, Tomb Blades ( I think thats the name), a new walker, and 6 new vehicles. The Tomb Blades will have the jetbike status and may be like new and improved Pariahs since they will be out of the codex supposedly. It does seem unlikely with all the psyker stuff out there (*cough *cough Grey Knights)... The new walker will have a "heat ray weapon" that could be like a melta or flamer weapon but I dont know anything else about it yet. There will be two open topped transport vehicles. Once can carry 10 and the other can carry 15. Destoyers can be carried and take 2 model spaces since they will count as jump infantry, Wraiths may be the same but I dont know yet, Jetbikes ( Tomb Blades) will take 3 model spaces. Necron Lords can take Crypteks which can have powers and other upgrades and can be attached to Warrior squads to add some variety in the squads. The Monolith might lose living metal because of its OP to melta but it may keep it. Immortals are 17 pts a model and are T4 not T5. Flayed Ones will be troops and Scarabs as well. Wraiths will be in larger squad numbers (3-5). That's all I have for now and I will try to look for more stuff to add. Until then feel free to add more or speculate even more for how Necrons will be in 5th...

2x Min/Maxing Gk Lists @ 2000pts

2011-04-09T22:06:00.000-07:00

Hey guys I got these lists from http://yesthetruthhurts.com/ and boy are they nice!

List #1 PsyRifleman Madness

HQ

Coteaz 100pts

Inquisitor- 49pts Incinerator, and 3 Servo Skulls

Elites

Venerable Dreadnought-195pts 2x Tl Autocannons, Psybolt Ammo

Venerable Dreadnought-195pts 2x Tl Autocannons, Psybolt Ammo

Venerable Dreadnought-195pts 2x Tl Autocannons, Psybolt Ammo

Troops

Warband-149pts 5x storm bolter warriors, 3x meltagun warriors, 4x warriors, chimera, searchlight, hull heavy flamer.

Warband-149pts 5x storm bolter warriors, 3x meltagun warriors, 4x warriors, chimera, searchlight, hull heavy flamer.

Warband-149pts 5x storm bolter warriors, 3x meltagun warriors, 4x warriors, chimera, searchlight, hull heavy flamer.

Warband-149pts 5x storm bolter warriors, 3x meltagun warriors, 4x warriors, chimera, searchlight, hull heavy flamer.

Warband- 133pts 5x storm bolter warriors, 3x multimelta servitors, 3x warriors, chimera, searchlight, hull heavy flamer

Warband- 133pts 5x storm bolter warriors, 3x multimelta servitors, 3x warriors, chimera, searchlight, hull heavy flamer

Heavy Support

Dreadnought- 135pts 2x Tl Autocannons, Psybolt Ammo

Dreadnought- 135pts 2x Tl Autocannons, Psybolt Ammo

Dreadnought- 135pts 2x Tl Autocannons, Psybolt Ammo

Army List #2

HQ

Coteaz 100

Inquisitor 49 Incinerator, 3 servo skulls

Elites

Purifiers- 191 2x psycannons, Tl Heavy Bolter Razorback with Psybolt Ammo, searchlight

Purifiers- 191 2x psycannons, Tl Heavy Bolter Razorback with Psybolt Ammo, searchlight

Purifiers- 191 2x psycannons, Tl Heavy Bolter Razorback with Psybolt Ammo, searchlight

Troops

Warband- 147pts 5x Storm Bolter Warriors, 3x meltagun warriors, 2x warriors, 2x boltgun warriors, chimera, searchlight, hull heavy flamer

Warband- 147pts 5x Storm Bolter Warriors, 3x meltagun warriors, 2x warriors, 2x boltgun warriors, chimera, searchlight, hull heavy flamer

Warband- 147pts 5x Storm Bolter Warriors, 3x meltagun warriors, 2x warriors, 2x boltgun warriors, chimera, searchlight, hull heavy flamer

Warband- 147pts 5x Storm Bolter Warriors, 3x meltagun warriors, 2x warriors, 2x boltgun warriors, chimera, searchlight, hull heavy flamer

Warband 135pts 3x Multimelta Servitors, 5x storm bolter warriors, 2x boltguns, 1x warrior, chimera, searchlight, hull heavy flamer

Warband 135pts 3x Multimelta Servitors, 5x storm bolter warriors, 2x boltguns, 1x warrior, chimera, searchlight, hull heavy flamer

Heavy Support

Dreadnought-135 2x Tl Autocannons, Psybolt Ammo

Dreadnought-135 2x Tl Autocannons, Psybolt Ammo

Dreadnought-135 2x Tl Autocannons, Psybolt Ammo

I thought stelek did a great job. What do y'all think?

Grey Knights: Assasins

2011-04-09T21:14:00.000-07:00

Hey guys this time I wanted to talk about assasins and all the variants from the codex.

So let's see what the Callidus Assasin can do. For 145pts you get Synskin, which is a dumb downed Feel No Pain, Polymorphine, Neural Shredder, and Frag grenades. For special rules you get Fearless, Fleet, Hit and Run, Move through Cover, Stealth, and Uncanny Reflexes.

In close combat, she's got high initiative, beating most units, lots of attacks, a high hit rate, yet still she only has S4 for wounds. I'd say her role doesn't really change much from the last codex, so any tactics you have they may still work even if the C'tan phase sword is nerfed. For 145pts shes okay but we'll see the other options.

The Eversor Assasin seems really cool. For 130pts you get Synskin,, meltabombs, a neuro gauntlet(lightning claw), Frennzon, Frag grenades, and an executioner pistol. For special rules you have Furious charge as a unique rule from the other assasins. The pistol is cool, the extra D6 attacks is great, and the Lightning Claw bonus is nice. Again the tactics are the same for all other assasins.

The Culexus Assasin is more of a specialist against psykers obviously. I don't really care for this guy for 135pts.

The Vindicare Assasin is pretty cool since he is pretty much like Telion from CSM, except his shots arent rending they are AP 1. He can also pick out special characters and unique weapons out of squads. They also wound on a 2+ so picking guys out is guaranteed. However he's 145pts.

Out of all of them, I like the Eversor assasin because he is cheaper and has plenty of attacks to wipe out a wimpy squad or 2. But then again I wouldnt bother using assasins anyways but thats just me.

Grey Knight HQ choices; Coteaz

2011-04-09T20:17:00.000-07:00

Hey guys in this post I wanna discuss my favorite special character, Inquisitor Coteaz.
Okay so lets have a brief summary shall we?

For 100pts we get...Artificer armour, master crafted Nemesis Daemonhammer, bolt pistol, frag and krak grenades, psyk out grenades, and...a psyber eagle...let's call him Patchy, named after the puppet bird on those spongebob specials.

Anyhoo, lets look at those special rules shall we? He gets Stubborn, Aura of Faith, and he's a Psyker Mastery Level 2 with the Hammerhand, Sanctuary, and Mindblade powers.

He can also do things none of the other characters can do.

He's got Spy Network, allowing you to reroll the dice to seize the initiative-even if its the opponent's dice roll.

He can also allow his unit that he's attached to shoot at an enemy who arrives from reserves within 12" of him. There's also no limit to how many times the unit he's attached to can shoot with this rule.

He also allows you to take warbands as Troops so he's pretty cool with me and powergamers alike.
You could put him with a purgation squad with psycannons, or a warband with Jokaeros so you can shoot down enemies from reserves. You can get some servo skulls and utilize the deployment against deepstrikers that try to come down near your deployment. You can use the servo skulls to block them out and the only place they can come down is where Coteaz is if used correctly, but that's if the opponent is willing enough to deepstrike near him. The servo skulls can also serve as a weapon too if you gotta Techmarine with an Orbital Relay so you can set up a defensive position and bombard the enemy each turn. Sanctuary is handy for speedbumping and pulling a tactical retreat against assaulters. It's pretty easy to now alpha strike with Grey Knights too with the Spy Network. So if you want to try out warbands, give Coteaz a spin. There's probably a lot of ways to utilize his ability to shoot down death from the skies such as placing him at an objective, protecting weak squads from assaulters, and protecting against late contestors from reserves. Tell me what y'all think.

Grey Knight Terminators

2011-04-09T19:41:00.000-07:00

Hey guys here's another unit analysis. This time its Grey Knight Terminators but here's the challenge, how should they be put together weapons wise? Heres some ideas but I'm just experimenting.

200pts GK Terminators- All Halberds

225pts GK Terminators- All Falchions

200pts GK Terminators- 3x Halberds, 2x Force Swords

210pts GK Terminators- 3x 3x Halberds, 2x Falchions

215pts GK Terminators- 3x Falchions, 2x Falchions

210pts GK Terminators- 3x Force Swords, 2x Falchions

225pts GK Terminators- 5x Halberds, Psycannon

200pts GK Terminators- 5x Daemonhammers

200pts GK Terminators- 3x Daemonhammers, 2x Halberds

210pts GK Terminators- 3x Daemonhammers, 2x Falchions

Theres more but I think this is enough so far. Incinerators seem like too much trouble unless you deep strike really close. I'd like the psycannon because of relentless. Again its more of a preference for me. Tell me what y'all think and come up with since I can't playtest often and I have no GK models aside from an inquisitor and 1 justicar.

Grey Knights Heavy Support: Purgation Squads and Dreadnoughts

2011-04-09T19:30:00.000-07:00

Hey guys. I have been working on more combos with unit configurations. Here goes the nicknaming again.

Rifleman on Steroids- Dreadnought with 2x Twin Linked Autocannons, Psybolt Ammunition, and a Seachlight-136pts

Purging Rhino- 2x Incinerators, and 2x Psycannons. 180pts, 5x man

Psycannon Devastators- 4x Psycannons, and 10x Knights. 280pts

Astral Rhino- 4x Psycannons, 1x Rhino. 5x man 220pts

Psilencer Rhino- 4x Psilencers, 5x man, Rhino. 180pts

Teleporting Dreadknight- Personal Teleporter. 205pts

Alright so I had an idea with the purgation squads. You could deploy a rhino behind cover and then have the knights hide behind the rhino so it blocks LOS and you can shoot psycannons at targets with the astral aim power. The ten man squad is too expensive for my tastes so thats why I think the Rhino is good so the squad doesnt get shot up so much since its too small. I like the Dreadknights the way they are when they are plain but you could use a teleporter with them since I think it's a good idea for their movement since dreads are slow. But its if you have the points. All the other weapons seem too expensive to me. But its all about preference. The Psilencers on the purgation squads are meh to me but hiding them behind a rhino while the enemy gets a 4+ cover anyways means the more shots the better. If you have more ideas let me know.

Grey Knights: Featuring Inquisitorial Warbands

2011-04-09T18:43:00.000-07:00

Hey guys I have some new insight on a unit in the Grey Knight codex...Warbands.

I have been reading the codex, and came up with some pretty good min/max squads if y'all wanna list with these guys as troops. Here goes some configurations so far...

BTW. I nicknamed each squad so I know which one is which.
162pts Laughing Rhino- 2x Jokaeros, 2x Warriors with Meltaguns, 6x Warriors, and a Rhino.

117- Mindlocking Rhino- 3x Multimelta Servitors, 2x Meltagun Warriors, 5x Warriors, and a Rhino.

111- Laughing Chimera- 2x Jokaeros, 5x Warriors, 3x Stormbolter Warriors, and a Chimera with a hull mounted heavy flamer.

109- Lonely Chimera- 3x Multimelta Servitors, 2x Bolter Warriors, 2x Stormbolter Warriors, and a Chimera with a hull mounted heavy flamer.

153- Acolyte Chimera- 8x Stormbolter Warriors, 3x Meltagun Warriors, and a Chimera with a hull mounted Heavy Flamer.

These are by no means meant to be taken as 5 different troop choices because it it NOT an army list for TROOPS. They are simply options you can take and spam out however you wan because they are all points efficient in my opinion. If you have any other ideas let me know so I can post those too and give credit to those who are willing to contribute. I have never playtested any of these but they all look good on paper. I'll do some number crunching for y'all who want to spam or mix n match between these options.

IF you take 6 Laughing Rhino squads you get...12x Lascannons,12x Multimeltas, and 12x Heavy Flamers from Jokaeros alone. You get 12x angry meltagun wielding warriors, and 36x Warriors who are nothing but cannon fodder. You also have 6 Rhinos who can cast fortitude every turn so you can keep on moving. All for 972 pts.

IF you take 6 Rhino of Solitude Squads you get...18x Krazy Multimelta Servitors, 12x Krazy Meltagun warriors, and 30x warriors for cannon fodder. All for 702pts.

IF you take 6 Laughing Chimera Squads you get 12x Lascannons, 12x Multimeltas, and 12x Heavy Flamers from Jokers and 6x Wise cracking Chimeras with 18x Heavy Bolter shots and 6 Heavy Flamers. You also have 36x Storm Bolter shots from the hatches a turn. All for 666pts.

IF you take 6 Lonely Chimera Squads you get 18x Multimeltas, 12x Boltgun Warriors, 24x Storm Bolter shots, and 18x Heavy Bolter shots and 6x Heavy Flamers. All for 654pts.

IF you take 6 Acolyte Chimeras you get 96x Storm Bolter shots, 18x Meltaguns, and 18x Heavy Bolter shots, and 6x Heavy Flamers. All for 918pts.

Mix n match what you want if you ask me its all about preference. Enjoy!

Blood Angels Heavy Razorback Spam 2000pts

2011-03-27T20:22:00.000-07:00

Hey guys here's another list I think is cool.

HQ

Librarian- 110pts
-Fear of the Darkness -Shield of Sanguinius

Librarian-110pts
-Fear of the Darkness -Shield of Sanguinius

Troops

Assault Squad-130pts
-Infernus Pistol -Meltagun -Razorback with Twin Linked Heavy Flamer and Dozer Blade

Assault Squad-130pts
-Infernus Pistol -Meltagun -Razorback with Twin Linked Heavy Flamer and Dozer Blade

Assault Squad-115 -Meltagun -Razorback with Twin Linked Heavy Flamer and Dozer Blade

Assault Squad-115 -Meltagun -Razorback with Twin Linked Heavy Flamer and Dozer Blade

Assault Squad-115 -Meltagun -Razorback with Twin Linked Heavy Flamer and Dozer Blade

Assault Squad-115 -Meltagun -Razorback with Twin Linked Heavy Flamer and Dozer Blade

Elites

Sternguard Veterans-210pts
-5x Combimeltas -Razorback with Twin Linked Heavy Flamer and Dozer Blade

Sternguard Veterans-210pts
-5x Combimeltas -Razorback with Twin Linked Heavy Flamer and Dozer Blade

Sternguard Veterans-210pts
-5x Combimeltas -Razorback with Twin Linked Heavy Flamer and Dozer Blade

Fast Attack

Landspeeders-140pts
-2x Heavy Flamers -2x Multimeltas

Landspeeders-140pts
-2x Heavy Flamers -2x Multimeltas

Landspeeders-140
-2x Multimeltas -2x Heavy Flamers

Ahhh...my favorite. Meltas and Flamers all around. Sounds fun eh? Weeell, fun for you at least not your opponents.

Blood Angel Fast Mech List 2000pts

2011-03-27T20:06:00.000-07:00

Hey guys here's a list I thought would be fun to play. Here goes...

HQ Librarian 110pts
-Fear of the Darkness -Shield of Sanguinius -Combi Melta

Troops

Assault Squad- 130pts Sarge with Infernus Pistol and Chainsword, Meltagun, Razorback with Twin Linked Heavy Flamer,Dozer Blade

Assault Squad- 130pts Sarge with Infernus Pistol and Chainsword, Meltagun, Razorback with Twin Linked Heavy Flamer,Dozer Blade

Assault Squad- 130pts Sarge with Infernus Pistol and Chainsword, Meltagun, Razorback with Twin Linked Heavy Flamer,Dozer Blade

Assault Squad- 130pts Sarge with Infernus Pistol and Chainsword, Meltagun, Razorback with Twin Linked Heavy Flamer,Dozer Blade

Elites

Furioso Dreadnought- 160pts Drop Pod

Furioso Dreadmought- 160pts Drop Pod

Furioso Dreadnought- 160pts Drop Pod

Fast Attack

Baal Predator- 145pts Flamestorm Cannon, and Heavy Flamer Side Sponsons,Dozer Blade

Baal Predator- 145pts Flamestorm Cannon, and Heavy Flamer Side Sponsons,Dozer Blade

Baal Predator- 145pts Flamestorm Cannon, and Heavy Flamer Side Sponsons,Dozer Blade

Heavy Support

Predator-151pts Autocannon; Lascannon Side Sponsons,HK Missile,Dozer Blade,Searchlight

Predator-151pts Autocannon; Lascannon Side Sponsons,HK Missile,Dozer Blade,Searchlight

Predator-151pts Autocannon; Lascannon Side Sponsons,HK Missile,Dozer Blade,Searchlight

1998 in all...

I don't have any strategies planned for an army like this but I'm sure you guys can come up with something...

Vulkan's Dread...2000pts

2011-03-19T19:24:00.000-07:00

HQ Vulkan He'stan 190pts

Master of the Forge 100pts

Troops

Tactical Squad-220pts Multimelta, Meltagun, Sarge w/ Meltabombs, Drop Pod

Tactical Squad-220pts Multimelta, Meltagun, Sarge w/ Meltabombs, Drop Pod

Tactical Squad-220pts Multimelta, Meltagun, Sarge w/ Meltabombs Drop Pod

Tactical Squad-220pts Multimelta, Meltagun, Drop Pod

Elites

Dreadnought 155pts Multimelta, Storm Bolter, and a Drop Pod w/ Teleport Homer

Dreadnought 140pts Multimelta, Storm Bolter, and a Drop Pod

Dreadnought 140pts Multimelta, Storm Bolter, and a Drop Pod

Heavy Support

Dreadnought 140pts Multimelta, Storm Bolter, and a Drop Pod

Dreadnought 140pts Multimelta, Storm Bolter, and a Drop Pod

Dreadnought 140pts Multimelta, Storm Bolter, and a Drop Pod

Vulkan's Chapter form the Forge 2000pts

2011-03-19T19:12:00.000-07:00

HQ Vulkan He'stan 190pts

Troops

Tactical Squad 205pts Multimelta, Flamer and a Rhino

Tactical Squad 205pts Mulitmelta, Flamer and a Rhino

Tactical Squad 205pts Multimelta, Flamer and a Rhino

Tactical Squad 205pts Multimelta, Flamer and a Rhino

Elites

Assault Terminators 460pts Thunder Hammers and Storm Shields. Landraider Crusader w/ Multimelta

Fast Attack

Landspeeders 140pts 2x Speeders, 2x Multimeltas, 2x Heavy Flamers

Landspeeders 140pts 2x Speeders, 2x Multimeltas, 2x Heavy Flamers

Heavy Support

Predators 85pts Autocannon, and Heavy Bolter Side Sponsons

Predators 85pts Autocannon, and Heavy Bolter Side Sponsons

Predators 85pts Autocannon, and Heavy Bolter Side Sponsons

Thoughts? Comment away people.

Ultramarine Biker Strike Force 2000pts

2011-03-19T19:00:00.000-07:00

HQ Captain 170- Relic Blade, Bike,meltabombs

Command Squad- 380pts- 4x Lightning Claws, 4x Storm Shields, 4x Meltaguns, 3x Meltabombs, Squad on Bikes, Veteran with bolt pistol and chainsword

Captain 170pts- Relic Blade, Bike, meltabombs

Command Squad- 380pts- 4x Lightning Claws, 4x Storm Shields, 4x Meltaguns, 3x Meltabombs, Squad on Bikes, Veteran with bolt pistol and chainsword

Troops

Space Marine Bike Squad 225- Sarge with meltabombs, and combimelta, 2x bikers with meltaguns, 1x attack bike with multimelta, and 2x additional bikers

Space Marine Bike Squad 225- Sarge with meltabombs, and combimelta, 2x bikers with meltaguns, 1x attack bike with multimelta, and 2x additional bikers

Space Marine Bike Squad 225- Sarge with meltabombs, and combimelta, 2x bikers with meltaguns, 1x attack bike with multimelta, and 2x additional bikers

Space Marine Bike Squad 225- Sarge with meltabombs, and combimelta, 2x bikers with meltaguns, 1x attack bike with multimelta, and 2x additional bikers

Vehicles and Monstrous Creatures will die when this list shows up. The Command Squads work together with feel no pain and T5 to chew up infantry squads and kill tanks, and MCs alike. Bike armies already have plenty of anti infantry power with the twin linked bolters and they need melta weaponry. I don't have experience on biike armies so I will continue to learn how to deploy them and manouever them on the table.

Korsarro Khan and his Rough Riders 2000pts

2011-03-19T18:36:00.000-07:00

Hey guys I thought of a new Khan list that is more of a hybrid list than any other army list on this blog. Here's my first attempt on a hybrid list.

HQ

Korsarro Khan 205pts

Command Squad 340pts Apothecary and Veteran with bolt pistols and chainswords, 3x Veterans with 3x Meltaguns, 3x Lightning Claws, and 3x Storm Shields. Entire squad on bikes.

Rhino (35pts)

Captain 165pts Bike, and Relic Blade

Command Squad 340pts Apothecary and Veteran with bolt pistols and chainswords, 3x Veterans with 3x Meltaguns, 3x Lightning Claws, and 3x Storm Shields. Entire squad on bikes.

Rhino (35pts)

Troops

Tactical Squad 170pts Missile Launcher, and Flamer

Tactical Squad 170pts Missile Launcher, and Flamer

Elites

Dreadnought 140pts Multimelta, Storm Bolter, and a Drop Pod

Dreadnought 140pts Multimelta, Storm Bolter, and a Drop Pod

Dreadnought 140pts Multimelta, Storm Bolter, and a Drop Pod

Fast Attack

Landspeeders-120pts 2x Speeders, and 2x Multimeltas

Bikers, Dreads, Drop Pods, Rhinos, and Speeders oh my!
The Rhinos for the command squad could be meat shields and tank shockers. They could go with the tac squads though. The Drop Pod Dreads move out and cause mayhem. Khan's Rough Riders then turboboost to help back up the dreads. The Speeders also move out to cause mayhem, speedbump, y'all know the drill and the usual speeder tricks. I think this list is fun to play and I hope you guys enjoy it too :)

Korsarro Khan Strikes Back..With Fury! 2000pts

2011-03-19T18:16:00.000-07:00

Hey guys here's another list I have in mind using Khan. Here goes...

HQ Khan 160pts

Shrike 195pts

Elites

Assault Terminators 400pts Thunder Hammers, and Storm Shields

Assault Terminators 400pts Lightning Claws

Troops

Tactical Squad 165pts Razorback with Lascannon and Twin Linked Plasmagun

Tactical Squad 165pts Razorback with Lascannon and Twin Linked Plasmagun

Tactical Squad 165pts Razorback with Lascannon and Twin Linked Plasmagun

Tactical Squad 165pts Razorback with Lascannon and Twin Linked Plasmagun

Fast Attack Landspeeder Squadron 120pts 2x Speeders, 2x Multimeltas

Landspeeder 60pts Multimelta

There isn't much of a difference except the use of Fleet and loss of preferred enemy on cassius. Oh well it still packs a hell of a punch in my opinion

Korsarro Khan walking with his furious brethren...2000pts

2011-03-19T18:06:00.000-07:00

Okay so I thought it would be cool to make an army with Khan but not with bikes.
Here goes...

HQ Khan 160pts

Cassius 125pts

Elites

Assault Terminators 400pts Thunder Hammers and Storm Shields

Assault Terminators 400pts Lightning Claws

Troops

Tactical Squad 165pts Lascannon and Twin Linked Plasmagun Razorback

Tactical Squad 165pts Lascannon and Twin Linked Plasmagun Razorback

Tactical Squad 165pts Lascannon and Twin Linked Plasmagun Razorback

Tactical Squad 165pts Lascannon and Twin Linked Plasmagun Razorback
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fast Attack

Landspeeders 120pts 2x Speeders, 2x Multimeltas

Landspeeders 120pts 2x Speeders, 2x Multimeltas

OR

Heavy Support

Predator 85 Autocannon, Heavy Bolter Side Sponsons

Predator 85 Autocannon, Heavy Bolter Side Sponsons

Predator 85 Autocannon, Heavy Bolter Side Sponsons

Okay so Khan and Cassius can join either the Thunder Hammer Squad, with I6,S5,A5 on Khan, rerolling hits in WS6 in the charge and I5, S5, A4 on the charge, and S9, I2, A4 Termies with rerolls to hit. On the other hand the Lighting Claw Squad can use love to with I5,S5,A5, and rerolls to hit AND wound. So either squad can do some good and its your choice. Another decicion would be the use of the Speeder Squadrons, or Predators. Whatever the choice is I'll let you guys decide. Enjoy!

Calgar's Battalion 2000pts

2011-03-19T17:44:00.000-07:00

Hey guys I wanted to create a fun Calgar list with lots o smurfs to take advantage of his Chapter Tactics
Here goes...

HQ Marneus Calgar 250pts

Troops

Tactical Squad 180pts Missile Launcher, Plasmagun, Sergeant with bolt pistol and chainsword

Tactical Squad 180pts Missile Launcher, Plasmagun, Sergeant with bolt pistol and chainsword

Tactical Squad 180pts Missile Launcher, Plasmagun, Sergeant with bolt pistol and chainsword

Tactical Squad 180pts Missile Launcher, Plasmagun, Sergeant with bolt pistol and chainsword

Tactical Squad 180pts Missile Launcher, Plasmagun, Sergeant with bolt pistol and chainsword

Fast Attack

Assault Marines 190pts

Assault Marines 190pts

Heavy Support

Devastator Squad 150pts

Devastator Squad 150pts

Devastator Squad 150pts

Once again the concept is to flood the table with as many marines as possible. Let me know your thoughts.

Scout Strike Force 2000pts

2011-03-19T17:28:00.000-07:00

Hey guys I got a new fun list you all might like. Here goes...

HQ

Librarian 140pts Terminator armour, Storm Shield, Null Zone, Vortex of Doom

Librarian 140pts Terminator armour, Storm Shield, Null Zone, Vortex of Doom

Troops

Scouts 105pts- Combimelta, meltabombs, teleport homer

Scouts 105pts- Combimelta, meltabombs, teleport homer

Scouts 180pts 9x Sniper Rifles, 1x Missile Launcher, 10x Camo Cloaks

Scouts 180pts 9x Sniper Rifles, 1x Missile Launcher, 10x Camo Cloaks

Elites Assault Terminators- 200pts 5x Thunder Hammers, and Storm Shields

Assault Terminators- 200pts 5x Thunder Hammers, and Storm Shields

Assault Terminators- 200pts 5x Thunder Hammers, and Storm Shields

Fasr Attack

Landspeeder Storm 65pts Multimelta

Landspeeder Storm 65pts Multimelta

Landspeeder Storm 65pts Multimelta

Heavy Support

Predator 85pts autocannon, heavy bolter sponsons

Predator 85pts autocannon, heavy bolter sponsons

Predator 85pts autocannon, heavy bolter sponsons

Again, this is just a fun list, I think posting competitive CSM lists would be pointless since they are floating around the internet somewhere already. I highly doubt I could come up with any new CSM army lists that have a good competitive mindset to them. Escpecially since the codex has been out for a long while. Anyways the army is pretty straight forward and I thought its something fun to play and to play against. The Storms and 5 man scout squads can go separately or together as a unit for deep striking/outflanking purposes. The Librarians go with a termie squad together or in two separate squads. The Snipers sit back in ruins, holding objectives. The predators are there for cheap anti infantry support. The Storms and Scouts need those melta weapons to crack vehicles and distract the opponent until the assault teminators come in through the teleport homer. I haven't play tested this list, its more of an idea, so feel free to add what you would like according to your play style. Have fun!

Mass Thunderhammer Terminator List 2000pts

2011-03-05T19:57:00.000-08:00

Hey guys here's another list I've been wrapping my head around.

HQ

Librarian 140 Vortex of Doom, Null Zone, Terminator Armour, Storm Shield

Elites

Assault Terminators 400 10x THSS

Assault Terminators 400 10x THSS

Troops

Tactical Squad 225 Sergeant w/ chainsword, bolt pistol,meltabombs, teleport homer, 1x Multimelta, 1x Flamer, Rhino

Tactical Squad 225 Sergeant w/ chainsword, bolt pistol, meltabombs,teleport homer, 1x Multimelta, 1x Flamer, Rhino

Scouts 110 Sergeant w/ Powerfist anf Teleport Homer, 4x Scouts w/ Bolt Pistol and Close Combat weapon

Fast Attack

Landspeeders 120 2x Speeders w/ Multimeltas

Landspeeders 120 2x Speeders w/ Multimeltas

Heavy Support

Predator 85 Autocannon, and Heavy Bolter Sponsons

Predator 85 Autocannon, and Heavy Bolter Sponsons

Predator 85 Autocannon, ans Heavy Bolter Sponsons

The idea is to have the Terminators, and Scouts go in reserve. The Tacticals move up midfield, hiding behind terrain and popping smoke on the way there. The landspeeders will move flat out center field to distract the enemy befor the Termies come. One squad can drop in the center field with the tacticals and start marching to wherever they need to be. When the Scouts come in, they can tie up a shooty infantry squad, or destroy a tank with the powerfist. The other Terminator squad can come in with the scouts to back them up in an assault, or multi assault other units around the scouts. However, the Termies don't have to go in reserve, one squad can walk up with the rhinos and speeders, while the other squad deep strikes. It's all up to you in how you want to play them. IF you have any other suggestions about changing the list let me know because this list is just an idea I had. It's more of a fun list for me then a competitive one.

Thunderfire Madness 2000pts

2011-03-05T17:26:00.000-08:00

Hey guys I've decided to post army lists just for fun, not really for powergaming. I've decided to focus on Thunderfire cannons and building some kind of list around them.

HQ Master of the Forge 120pts conversion beamer

Troops Scout Squad 182pts Sergeant Telion, 7x camo cloaks, sniper rifles, and a scout heavy bolter.

Combat Squad 165 Razorback w/ Lascannon and Twin Linked Plasmagun

Combat Squad 165 Razorback w/ Lascannon and Twin Linked Plasmagun

Combat Squad 165 Razorback w/ Lascannon and Twin Linked Plasmagun

Combat Squad 165 Razorback w/ Lascannon and Twin Linked Plasmagun

Elites

Dreadnought 125 2x TL Autocannons

Dreadnought 125 2x TL Autocannons

Dreadnought 125 2x TL Autocannons

Fast Attack

Typhoon Landspeeders 180 2 Speeders

Typhoon Landspeeders 180 2 Speeders

Heavy Support

Thunderfire Cannon 100pts

Thunderfire Cannon 100pts

Thunderfire Cannon 100pts

So the idea of this army is to concentrate all artillery on infantry, ecspecially enemy Devastators and the like. They can slow enemy squads down and strip cover saves away so use them wisely. They are extremely fragile, and I wish Servitors can go with the Techmarine but they can't. The cannons will eventually be destroyed, leaving techmarines to go wreck havoc by speedbumping, fixing vehicles, etc. They can increase cover saves so razorbacks get a 3+ save. The master of the forge joins the scouts and Telion can pick out weapons from a Dev squad, and special weapons out of infantry squads. Razorbacks, Typhoons, and Dreadnougts go after transports, and other anti tank vehicles. They can also double as infantry slaying if up againsts hordes. There really isn't much else to say about the list other than the fact that it is more of a fluffy Omnissah army so having fun is all that really matters. Tell me what you guys think, and proxy models and play this army if you want to have some Omnissah fun.

Pre-game Deployment Plans...

2011-02-27T00:26:00.000-08:00

Hey guys I'm back again with some more tactics. This time I want to discuss something that can be adapted to any army...deployment. I've lost countless games because of errors in my deployments because they weren't pre planned or thought too carefully. For the past few months I've drawn out deployment on line and graph paper for each mission. Each of these deployments focus on how the enemy's army is. For example if the army I face is a deepstriking/outflanking army then I have deployments to help increase my army's chances of surviving and have the ability to counterattack effectively. I've broken down a list of things to think about before you start drawing out deployment plans.

1) How will your army deal with an all assault army, an all shooty army,and a balanced army?

This is pretty tricky to wrap one's mind around because there are so many different armies and playstyles. So to make things easier think about what the current metagame is in your local gaming area. Think about previous games with friends and how they play. If an opponent outflanks, deepstrikes, or infiltrates figure out how you can create a defensive deployment. If they have an army that stand back and shoots like Tau, how can your army deploy offensively? If it's a balanced army, how can you create deployments that favor your army's playstyle and strategy? Then ask yourself if your army can deploy and adapt well in all of these scenarios.

2) How can you create a field of fire?

A field of fire is what I call the area of where most if not all fire support is focused at. Categorize all the long range shooting units you have in your army, whether they are Destroyers, Fire Prisms, Predators, Defilers,etc. and figure out where they need to be placed in order to have line of sight to a certain area of the opponent's side of the table. Think about where those shooty units can get side shots of Predators, or have line of sight to the majority of the opponent's long range units. Targeting a certain list of units by utilizing target priority will help create the field of fire your looking for. However, this may only work if you are going second, so that you can decide where to deploy long range units at priority targets. So if your going first, and it's an objective game then pick an objective you want to capture, and place long range units at a secure spot that can draw LOS to the objective and surrounding perimeter. If it is an annihilation mission, you can predict which way the opponent may attack. Will they attack on two flanks, or will they use units in reserves to disrupt your formation?

3) How will you deploy your offensive units?

Units that fit into this category DO NOT have to be assault oriented units. They could be landspeeders, sternguard vets in a drop pod, assault marines, assault terminators, etc. Will your offensive units like a land raider with terminators sit back somewhere on your deployment zone, like a lion waiting for his prey? Or will they go out early in the game like drop pods, and cause trouble in a specific area like a field of fire, or an objective area? These are things to consider depending on the kind of army you face, so keep in mind what your target priority is.

4) How will you deploy your troop units?

This may vary from codex to codex because Troop choices could be terminators, or sternguard, or dreadnoughts, etc. Do these troop choices pose a threat to the opponent and should support the other offensive units? Or are they more defensive like a combat squad of marines in a LasPlas Razorback? Choose carefully for when the time is right to move up to take an objective so early on in the game, most of your troop choices are still in good shape to take last minute objectives.

5) Does the objective placement help your deployment or hinder it?

Objectives are VERY important when it comes to deploying. Is your army a slow footslogging army? Is your army fast? Is your army mechanized? Is your army a mix of footslogging and mech? If your army is footslogging or a mix then consider placing objectives close together instead of far apart. That way it's much easier then having to trudge through a field of fire to get to an objective on the other side of the table. However for a fast army like an army of bikes, keeping a distance between objectives is key so at turns 5,6 or 7 you can contest or capture at the last moment. A fully mechanized force, full of rhinos and dreads like mine, may need to keep a distance apart with objective placement, but it could be in a stepping stone placement with objectives, or just keep the objectives in the deployment zone.

I hope this helps and if there is more to add then just comment about it. There will be more deployment ideas that I will show coming up real soon.

What is MSU? An in depth look at this army building concept.

2011-02-23T19:56:00.000-08:00

Alright guys, here's a topic I want to clear up for all of you who don't know what MSU is. I don't know who came up with this concept, but I must say it's something that needs to be known in order to help gain an advantage in games. Okay so MSU stands for multiple small units and the concept is to take as many units in a codex and squeeze them in whatever point value a player wants to play in. Now the point is to spam out as many units that can take on infantry and vehicles in each force org slot. This is easy to apply in 5th edition armies right now because point costs for units are decreased. Let's look at some units in my own army as an example in the standard SM codex. For troops I have...

Tactical Squad [205]pts; Sergeant with chainsword and bolt pistol; 7x boltguns; 1x flamer; 1x multimelta; 1x Rhino

The weapons are free and the rhino is already included with the cost. Now 205 pts is a lot for a squad but take in consideration with what I have in the squad for upgrades. All I have is a rhino to pay for which I need in a MSU list. This isn't the cheapest SM can get for MSU. However, this is another way to go escpecially since SM are elite in number so I will always be outnumbered in terms of infantry. With this unit I can target heavy tanks, with the multimelta, and infantry with a flamer, boltguns, bolt pistol, and storm bolter. I don't need a power weapon or fist because I have Combat Tactics and a rhino to help me out against assaults. Remember about speedbumping with rhinos? Now let's go to my Elite slot for another example.

Dreadnought [105]pts; Dreadnought close combat weapon; storm bolter; multimelta;smoke launcher;searchlight.

Now look at the standard black reach dread! I can deal with infantry with the claw and storm bolter, and tanks with the multimelta. I can fill up the Elite slot with these guys for 315pts. Now that's pretty cheap for SM! Now let's look at the fast attack for my army.

Landspeeder Squadron [140]pts;2x speeders;2x multimeltas;2x heavy flamers

I can deal with tanks with mms and infantry with flamers. See the pattern here? I have two slots filled with this unit but they have been a necessity in my list and has been working for me well so I recommend getting some speeders. Now for heavy support.

Predator [85]pts;autocannon;heavy bolter side sponsons;smoke launchers;searchlight

I can deal with infantry and light vehicles with these. I spam these suckers out for 255pts because that's what MSU is all about, spamming what you need. So for all you non marine players take the MSU concept and build an army around it. It will take some proxying to test the army out but with time and patience eventually you'll find what suits the list the best. It's harder to apply to non 5thed armies so keep that in mind.

Rhinos...what roles do they fulfill in my army?

2011-02-23T19:12:00.000-08:00

Hey guys I'm back again with some more strategic advice I have for newer players.

To be honest, Rhinos are very dull and straight forward vehicles. But you gotta give them some love though. Their cheap 35 point models and they get troops where they need to be, even though they're slow vehicles. They only have a storm bolter, and they can have an extra storm bolter or hk missile. But both options aren't really worth it because points are better spent elsewhere. So why are 4 of them in my list for anyways? Look at the footprint of a Rhino closely. They can give all the vehicles of an sm army (except drop pods) cover saves. They can take hits from incoming fire for bikers, marines, and terminators by blocking line of sight. Little things like this are very important things I take in consideration for my list ecspecially because all my models can get mobile cover with my Rhinos. I also need Rhinos for getting my magic multimeltas in range against other mech lists. But then people will say, but if you move the Rhinos, you're multimeltas can't shoot. Yes this is true, but I just need to move them a foot across the table, and that 24 in range can do something next turn. On top of that they're free, but then again there are missile launchers. If I want to take missile launchers though, I will spam them out in my whole army. I actually have a list with 21 missiles, and 76 marines in 2000 points. But in my current list I have 11 Multimeltas and I need mms in my troops to support my Dreads, and Speeders because my list is very synergetic. That's enough about multimeltas though, so let's continue with Rhinos. Alright so if I got my troops where they need to be, what can I do with the Rhinos now? That's simple, I can A) Tank shock troops off an objective or B)Use them to block LOS on my troops so they don't get shot up. The first choice is a suicidal move, but hey I have 4 of them and I don't care if I need to lose all of them to win because if they're cheap, they're expendable. Tank shocking isn't something I seevery often but when the opportunity is there then why not? If I need to provide a target my opponent needs to get rid of instead of my troops, then it's worth the trade. In the picture above if you look at all the marines on the back of the table, it's because the Rhinos got them away from the objective in the crater (under the baby blue rhino). In choice B, I used the baby blue rhino to land on top of the objective on turn 4 so, my marines can't be shot up. So my opponent has to shoot it up, to claim the objective however Rhinos aren't hard to kill. At least the marines, are saved from the shots on the rhino though so it evens out. Another choice that is available is what is called speedbumping, which is to move a unit up the table to intercept an enemy unit through combat. But you can do this with rhinos even if they are vehicles. Just move 12 in up towards an enemy unit to prevent assault and pop smoke if needed. That way, the enemy unit needs to shoot or assault it. If they destroy it, it doesn't matter because now the unit needs to go through difficult, or dangerous terrain to get to my forces. Of course bikes, calvalry, or jump packers can go around it so it is a down side. But the idea is to speedbump the unit, so you can shoot at it as it moves slowly up the table. So all in all, you have a cheap unit to use to gain the upper hand tactically. Other transports like Landraiders, Monoliths, Wave serpents, etc. can do all of the things Rhinos can do. However the rhino has an advantage, it's cheap and expendable. All those other vehicles aren't easily spammed out like rhinos, so that's an important thing to remember over the other vehicles with the troops in a pimped out ride and bells and whistles. Thus rhinos are perfect for MSU SM armies and are worth considering. There's some food for thought to chew on.

Ivan The Terrible...an Introduction.

2011-02-23T18:17:00.000-08:00

Hey guys I wanted to introduce you all to my rival that I want to beat in a game at my local flgs. His name is Ivan but I just call him Ivan the terrible because he plays Chaos armies. He also beat me in a close game last summer and a little revenge wouldn't hurt eh? Lol, that's enough with the play teasing, a little friendly competition at the shop wouldn't hurt. But anyways I must say he's a challenging player for me since he's been playing for 11 years. So even though we play different armies it's always nice to play vet players to learn more strategies, tactics, etc. He's got some Chaos Space Marine Nightlords to play aside from his Daemon army and I want to play against that army because I've never played CSM before because it's a rare army where I play at. Most of my games in VA have been against SM armies, but where I play at now I have a little more experience with other older edition armies like Tau, Necrons, Orks, Chaos Daemons, Grey Knights, etc. 40k is a great game and I think it's nice to play variety do I have a diverse amount of knowledge with all the armies and I have an idea of what I'm dealing with across the battlefield. But I'm gettin off topic here. Playin Ivan's Nightlords would be an exciting game. I got some pics of his Nightlord models and they look great!

Aside from our competition against each other I also want to take more pics of models I haven't takin a pic of yet like his obliterators and boy does he have a lot of that.

He's got some more work on them bikers but the first one looks great.

Look at those big guns those traitors are carrying! The models speak for themselves.

I've decided that I should do more introductions like this of players at the flgs. That way people can have an idea of the type of player I'm up against, whether my opponent is a newbie, intermediate, or a vet. Plus it's a great way for my opponents to show their skill in batreps, and painting skills on the blog.

Battle Report Ultramarines vs The Iron Angels

2011-02-20T22:57:00.000-08:00

Hey guys it's time for a battle report and the first one on the blog! I have decided to make a blog so I can post battle reports, tactics,etc. I can go more in depth in my thinking throughout battles such as tactics, mistakes, strategies, etc. This way when people watch my vids they have the option to go to my blog and read the specific details. Okay so here goes!

We played a battle mission called scorched earth. We didn't play with the armies in the exact mission but we played the rules of course. The store manager Josh set up the terrain for table quarters so no player had an advantage in choosing a side. If you aren't familiar with battle missions don't worry. We played a seize ground game with 4 objectives and it was a modified spearhead deployment with a 9in center instead of a 12in center. Terrain was either smoking, or falming and was decided on a random roll off. I can't remember which terrain piece was smoking or flaming. Smoking counted as adding a +1 to cover saves and burning counts as dangerous terrain. But here's the catch, units can't SHOOT thorough smoke or fire which was my very first mistake. Sean and I rolled for who goes first and I won the roll off. It was an objective game and contesting on turn 5 would have been a decent option but I wanted to alpha strike and attack first before I get blasted, However it didn't turn out that way. Here's deployment:

As you can see, I set up my Predators on my front line so I can alpha strike Sean's devastators with missile launchers, my only real long range anti tank threat to worry about. My snipers set up on the tallest ruin on my side so they can get a +1 cover so my scouts had a +2 cover save without bolster defences from my master of the forge. I wanted to use Telion to snipe out mulitmeltas, powerfists, and meltaguns from Sean's tac squads. My rhinos and dreadnoughts were ready to move on Sean's left flank. That was where two objectives were placed anyways and it was heavily fortified with marines. I wanted to push them off the objecctives while the Preds and scouts offer fire support. Landspeeders are on my left flank are ready to move to Sean's right flank since moving towards the middle of the table seemed too suicidal with all the marines with smoking bolters. Plus if Sean had his assault squad and tac squads move up I can intercept them and slow their movement down immediately. I had a rhino and a tac squad sit back and sit on an objective. The other objective was next to my baby blue pred (that metallic gray rectangle thingy). I wanted to use my dreads and rhinos to move up one flank( where the metallic thingy was) so I can cause trouble with Sean's platoon with two objecctives. The other flank was with the speeders which was more of a defensive flank but it also seemed like an offensive one. So I had planned a pincer movement with my army while the scouts and Preds served as a supportive defensive center. If marines tried marching to my center my whole army was ready to challenge any opposition in a pinch. If they Sean tried to flank me I had Rhinos, marines, dreads, and speeders at the ready to disrupt enemy movement. All in all I had a solid deployment planned out, but there was one fatal flaw...I couldn't shoot through smoke and fire. This screwed my scouts and preds in the long run of the game. I had to reposition all predators to my left flank with the speeders, and my scouts could only guard my left flank. Let's see how that affected my game.

Turn 1

I repositioned my preds, moved up my speeders, and mobilised the rest to my right flank as you can see in the picture above. I can't remember what turned this happened but this was the result. There's that metal thingy so I secured that objective. I disembarked a tac squad on my objective where my scouts were and moved a rhino, to tank shock my opponent's formation. During Sean's turn he moved an assault squad to my left flank(where the speeders were) along with a Librarian in termie armour with a thunder hammer and storm shield and a captain with double powerfists. Both were attached to a tac squad with a powerfist, multimelta, and a meltagun. The assault squad had a sarge with a power weapon and it was a ten man strong unit. Sean shot his missile devs at my baby blue pred and exploded it. I had popped smoke on it but one penetrating hit went through out of two pens. He shot a plasma cannon at one landspeeder and destroyed it even with one cover save. He shot one plasma cannon shot at a rhino and did nothing.
Turn 2

I continued to move my preds in a firing position to fire at the enemy tac and assault squad. My lone landspeeder moved to the fray and heavy flamed them, killing a few marines from both squads. I moved the second landspeeder squad behind the trees in the corner. They were now protected by smoke from the trees so no shots came through. I wanted them to speedbump the troops after the lone speeder died. My rhino on the left flank came in, disembarked and fired a flamer with bolters at the dev squad. I kept a dread behind the rhino and popped smoke to prevent missile shots. Sean rapid fired marines from tac squads and fired missiles at my marines, leaving two left. They took a leadership check and passed, Two plasmacannons shot at an empty rhino from my left flank, and nothing happened because of my smoke from that rhino. Marines fired on the tank shocked rhino and it exploded, causing more difficult movement to the objective on a burning hill and the one on the crater.

Turn 3

My second speeder squad came in (the same picture previously) and flamed the crap out of the tac and assault squad. The lone speeder was assaulted and killed from the previous turn. One pred moved while the other pivoted a little and fired at the tac squad and didn't do much. I moved another rhino and disembarked, friing bolters and flamed a tac squad, killing a few. The two man squad's rhino tank shocled, forcing many marines to be pushed back. My two man squad assaulted and the dread as well. The dev squad came down to two men, and another enemy tac squad assaulted. They survived the onslaught. Meanwhile the assault and tac squad shot a meltagun at one predator, shaking it.While the captain and librarian, along with assault marines assaulted the speeders. Surprisingly they did nothing since my speeders made it by moving at cruising speed, allowing them to get hit on 6s.

Turn 4

I moved a second rhino (the baby blue) to cover tac marines on my metal objective and a dreadnought. Meanwhile I moved an empty rhino from the previous tac squad on my objective at the beginning of the game and tank shocked. The explosion was from a dreadnought. I moved a second dreadnought and fired at the two man dev survivors and killed a missile marine. I had to test for difficult terrain. The marines from a rhino came moving behind the baby blue rhino for cover, and their rhino tank shocked again, but it wasn't as successful as the first one. My speeders moved six and fired multimeltas and flamers at the tac and assault squads alike, killing a few. I shot both predators, wiping the tacs out, and a few assault marines. A dreadnought moved in between my metal objective and the baby rhino to help guard the spot and contest the objective in the crater. The other dreadnought assaulted the lone dev squad sarge, killing him and consolidated 1in. Sean's turn came, and he moved the assault squad combined with the Librarian and Captain towards the speeders. Tac squads moved in and shot at Rhinos, doing nothing. One tac squad shot at the dreadnought that killed the sarge, wrecking the robot. The tac squad next to the rhino with the arrow assaulted that rhino, doing nothing. The assault squad with the ICs wrecked both speeders, consolidating towards the Preds.

Turn 5

I moved the baby blue rhino and popped smoke over the objective on the crater. to contest it. The tac squad moved behind it. My last dread moved closer to the objective. Enemies moved to the sides, claiming one objective on the hill. My Preds were attacked and one became wrecked and the other weapon destroyed. My scouts finally got to attack the assault squad, shooting all but one, the sarge. The sarge attacked one pred and the ICs attacked the other. I claimed 3 objectives and Sean claimed 1. I got my revenge win and instead of bragging about it like Sean did when he beat me, I said It was a fun game and ended it like a true player. I hope you enjoyed reading and learned from my mistakes. Read carefully at those blasted battle missions, and remember, sometimes even dull and fragile units like Rhinos can save the day!