Fully Operational Death Star?

 

 

 

With the release of Codex Adepta Sororitas and the upcoming release of Codex Inquisition, I see a potential for abuse. If you thought the screamer star was bad, this could take the cake!

 

Codex Space Marines: Revisiting Double Land Raiders

 

 

 



After my worse tournament showing in a very long time, a serious list shake up was needed. I know I needed to add grav weapons, and centurions will be my go to unit. Their lack of an invulnerable save and their shorter range will mean I need a delivery system.

This and my love of Land Raiders led me to revisit the double Land raider list.

Scouts: First stop, meat and potatoes!

Just a quick article today to get some thoughts flowing on scouting units. I want to  concentrate tonight on what options to take in the unit. I will be playing Sisters of Battle Dominions and Space Marine Scouts, so these two will take up my thoughts...

Word of the day: Scouting.

Lately I have been looking at sisters of battle lists, and one unit always seems to make it into my lists. Surprisingly it is not death cultists. Dominions are my unit of choice, and I have have been doing alot of thoughts on it. Scouting seems to be an important reason and an important tactic not used alot.

WIP Wednesday: Khornehusker army list thoughts.



Kirk: Khan!
Khan: You still remember, Admiral. I cannot help but be touched. I, of course, remember you.


This week I spent too many hours on army builder. I need to come up with a final list for the RTT in Omaha next month. I have a theme I like and I just need to tweak it a little.

Pedro Kantor and the "Bubble List" in action.

Ard Boys is coming up and I'll be running a simple Pedro Bubble list. Never heard of it? I'm not surprised. Scroll further down for more bubbleness......

Time; How it affects your build and playstyle.

Time is always moving forward. We are always playing against time in a tournament. How does time influence how you build your list? Does it even influence your list? Can time change how we are playing the game?

The "Pedro Bubble" list, what is it?



Pedro Kantor of the Crimson Fists.



The Pedro Bubble list, you have probably never heard of it. I'm not surprised, since Pedro is looked at as the second or third best choice for special characters in the space marine codex. Most would rank Vulcan and even Lysander ahead of the Crimson Fist's chapter master. What people over look is Pedro's +1 attack bubble and what it can do to certain units.

Ard Boyz List Theory: Dual Landraiders



Picture property of Bols.

I'm sitting here tonight fleshing out my Ard Boyz list for next month. Right now I would like to run a dual Landraider list. I have a few reasons for wanting to run the "golden eggs".

Great Video Battle reports!!

I started following a blog last week that had these great video battle reports.

Pedro and Cato? Ard boyz possibilities.



Captain Cato Sicarius



Chaptermaster Pedro Kantor



Can these two get along on the battle field and win?

It's About Spacing Stupid!

Bugeater GT list vehicles minus the Ironclad.

So looking back at the Misty Mountain RTT, one of my biggest problems was I did not know how to play my army. Specifically, I did not know how to deploy my forces to maximum effect, nor did I know where each unit should be to support his brethren.

I have been thinking of this for awhile and tonight I stumbled onto a gem. Here is a link to a really good article on tanks and spacing/protecting side armour. In my game three, my opponent took advantage of my side and rear shoots. Not one of my preds in game three were destroyed vs front armour.

I need to work on getting more cover saves and remembering all space marine vehicles in my list have search lights and smoke for free.

Anyhoo check out the link to the article and post up what you think.

Repetition and Redundancy, a very good 3++ article.

While touring the internet today, I came across this nice article. I really liked the breakdown it did on your army and what repetition and redundancy really are.

http://kirbysblog-ic.blogspot.com/2011/05/repetition-and-redundancy.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+3IsTheNewBlackKirbYourEnthusiasm+%283%2B%2B+is+the+new+black.+%7C+Kirb+your+enthusiasm%21%29

Ok back? I think redundancy in competitive lists is a must in today's environment. With out it, you run the risk of good players simply neutralizing you list in one or two turns. Having multiple units that can accomplish the same missions means you can stay in the fight longer and neutralize your opponents army.

Using the breakdown chart from Kirby's blog, my 2000 point Crimson Fists list looks like so.

Light armour - predators, melta/missile tactical squad, mm speeder, Dread, termies, sternguard

Heavy armour - melta sternguard, melta tacticals, termies, ironclad, mm speeder

Horde - HB razors, HB speeder, sternguard, HF speeder,

MCs - predators, meltas, mm speeder

Influence enemy movement and deployment - DP Ironclad

Longevity - termies, 13 armour preds


So it looks like I'm light on influencing enemy movement and deployment. Mostly deployment as I can move forward with melta razorbacks and control mid board. Some kind of scouts would go along ways for my force. Infiltrating or outflanking would be handy. I could drop some speeders and take scouts or a storm. Bike scouts with melta bombs are a unit I have been thinking of running also.

Here is my current 2000 point list for reference as of 5-5-11.

Pedro Kantor
Librarian with null, and machine curse

Ironclad dreadnought with Drop pod
Assault terminators, 3 LC, 2 TH/SS
10 Sternguard- 2 melta, 2 combi melta, LC sarg with melta bomb, Ass can razorback

10 tactical marines- missile launcher, melta, PF sarg, HB razorback
10 tactical marines- missile launcher, melta, PF sarg, HB razorback

HB/HB speeder
MM/HF speeder

Predator- auto/las
Predator- auto/las
Predator- auto/las



Predators 1 &2 Crimson Fists.




I am spamming Predators, but my list has the hidden redundancy in the other units. I feel the predators are more of a distraction for some of my other units. If my opponent spends his resources killing them and ignores the rest then I feel I will win. I have other units that can take over the predator's role of anti-tank. If he ignores the predators, he runs the risk of them decimating his forces.

Horde lists are a different story. The lack of horde lists in tournaments, plus the other elements in my force (HB Razors/speeders), means the predators are not the biggest threat. Tank shocking and blocking will have to be their main use in those games.

Well there's my 2 cents for now.

5th Edition, Does your list have the tools to win?

I recently played a Kill points tournament with my Sister's of Battle. I took pretty much my normal mech list with a small change. While this list preformed pretty close to my win ratio for kill point matches in general, 33%, it gave me incite to my Fists list I'm building . Specificaly it highlighted what units or unit abilities you need to win kill point missions in 5th.

My first match was vs BA with the Sanguinator, stormraven, 2 landraiders, assualt marines, and sternguard. What I learned from this matchup was, sternguard are good. Looking back at the matchup, I can see the lesson I learned in games 2 and 3, but reversed. I deployed on the board and he reserved just about everything. He was worried about loosing his transports right away. I took the middle and positioned my melta for when he came on. And like I planned, it so happened. Of coarse one dreadnought with bloodtalons almost cost me the game, but over all my plan was solid.

Game 2 I faced a necron army. He ran Nightbringer, monolith, destroyer lord, 5 heavy destroyers, and 3 reguluar destroyers. The rest didn't matter for the fight. I got to choose sides and deploy first. I set up hopping to make him reserve some, and deployed in a string across my side (rookie move by me). He then deployed everything and stole the initiative. /sad face me. He knocked out 2 rhinos, destroyed an exorcist, and two units were pinned. More importantly looking back was the turboboosting necron lord coming for me and the Nightbringer at mid field. These 2 units can kill my whole army, and I'm guessing he had been doing that to his past opponents. It took 2 turns for me to deal with those 2. Meanwhile his monolith took mid field and thus my chances for any win. He slowly racked up kill points and it was close till I had to try and drive past the monolith. That thing glanced my armour to death. I learned I needed some way to get across the board in addition to mech. Mech is ok till you face a shooty army that stays on thier board edge. Kill point missions allow them to "turkey shoot". In objective missions, the objectives are usually only midfield or slightly further. That extra 12 inches is pretty huge.

Thats why I had an advantage in game one. He had to come at me because he did not have the tools he needed. One drop podding dreadnought would have changed that whole battle. I would not have been able to focus on the transports due to having to deal with a drop pod. Outflanking would have helped also, and maybe given him another option.

Game three was dawn of war vs Tau. I got off a turn one assualt but he ran. I didn't catch him and my units were murdered the next turn. The rest of the game can be summed up by him popping my transports and slowly killing my footsloggers. I also rolled really bad but, I don't think it would have helped. I simply did not have the tools to get to him.

Ding!

Ok so what did I learn? Well, I learned I only win about 1/3 of my kill point games. Wait I aready knew that. I learned WHY I loose 2/3 of my kill point games. I used to think it was having too many kill points. Having lots of units is acually an advantage not a disadvantage. I learned it was my list not having the tools to deal with shooty armies in kill point missions. Not having a unit that can infiltrate, deepstrike, or outflank is huge in 5th.

5th edition is not about mech like everyone says. 5th is about being able to move. It is about being able to be where you need to be,when you need to be there. Watching the greyknights do it with 30 inch teleporting opened my eyes to what my army needed. I think the grand master will be huge for GK. The ability to give units the usr they need is huge.

So my tournament finished right where I thought it would. 1 win, 2 losses in a kill point tournament. Looking back and playing the battle over in my head with my Fists instead of my SoB, I can see so many more options. There are so many more ways the new list would deal with those shooty lists.

Well that's my 2 cents.




Inquisitor_Dunn



What is your play style?

Greatest show ever!

I'm sitting in the man cave looking at my shelf that holds my 40k armies. As I sit here, a little light pops on in my head. My play style was staring me in the face. I have been thinking over the last couple days on what type or "style" army is right for me. Most armies fall into one or two categories, shooty or assault. My play style was neither. For good or bad, my style has been and looks like will be, a hybrid of the two.

Looking at my Salamanders, Sister's of Battle, and Dark Eldar arranged on the shelves, I could see they all had a common theme or style. They all were about 75-80% shooty with a unit or two of assualtyness. I guess I never could buy into the 100% all shooty. I always like having that ace unit or reserve unit to throw into the fray. Why is this even important? Well, I'm currently in the process of building my Crimson Fists army. My current list is mostly shooty with guess what... a couple assault units. My list has a unit of assault terminators and an ironclad dreadnought. While this is not the best use of points, it fits my play style. I don't suggest anyone go out and copy it, but instead to look at what you like playing. Don't choose the latest internet list just because. Pick what plays to your heart and play the hell out of it.

But thats just my 2 cents.

Librarians, don't leave home without them.



Games workshop image.

The other day I was thinking about my list for the Bugeater GT. One think keeps nagging me about it, no psychic defense. So what would it take to add a Librarian and what would I loose/gain. I would have to drop both Speeders. I could add a 100 point librarian and 1 HB attack bike.

I would loose some mobility in the speeders and a MM shot, HF shot and 1 HB. I would gain a psychic hood and NULL ZONE. Null zone alone might be worth the trade. It will help my Hammertime unit take on the mirror match and make it so much easier vs daemons.

I hate the fact that I almost have both speeders completed and I'm not going to use them, let alone the fact that I'm adding another model to paint and convert up. Now is the time to decide with more than 3 months out.

New list looks like...

Pedro Kantor

Librarian- null zone, avenger

10 man tactical squad- Melta gun, missile launcher
razorback
Sarg- powerfist

10 man tactical squad- Melta gun, missile launcher
razorback
Sarg- powerfist

Ironclad Dreadnought
Drop pod

Assault Terminators- 3 lightning claws, 2 thunderhammer

10 sternguard- 2 combi meltas, 2 meltas
razorback
Sarg- lightning claw

Attack bike- heavy bolter
Predator- lascannon sides

Predator- lascannon sides

Predator- lascannon sides


Whatcha think.

Tactics, Strategy, and 40k

I read a great article on Dakka about strategy, tactics, and how you use them in 40k. It was started by a new player that was having trouble trying to figure out what he should be worrying the most about. This is what I took from the discussion and how I think you can apply it to 40k.

Strategy and 40k, is simply what do you want to accomplish? What is your army's goal for the coming battle. We all want to win, so what does your army need to do to win? Do you need to capture objectives? Do you need to wipe out the enemy? Do you need to stop a mobile enemy so you can capture the objective? Plan what you need to do before deploying. Decide what units are you going to use to accomplish these goals. Where do these units need to be to accomplish their goals? What units do you need to kill or stop to accomplish you mission?

Tactics are how you will accomplish your goals. How will that rhino with a tactical squad eliminate those guardians? Tank shock them and them flame the bunched up ones? Multi assaults to tie up more than one unit so another can claim the all important 3 objective?

Knowing what you need to do, how you are going to do it, and with what forces you can do it with, is the most important part staying focused and giving yourself a chance to win.

Black Templars with a 5th ed list?

Stelek had a very interesting list on his blog. He had made a 5th ed looking mech Black Templars army. It is lacking a little melta but I could see variants of this working really well. Add in their cheap termies and wozer!!

Check it out:

http://yesthetruthhurts.com/2011/01/black-templars-fully-mech-and-liking-it/

New Faqs, Oh My!

So GW released new Faqs for Marines, Dark Angles, Templars, DE. Head over to their site and check them out. Drop pods got a little more dangerous with terrain. Dark Eldar looked ok by their faq, no big surprises for me. Dark Angles and Templars can now run termie spam. Maybe better than anyone else.


http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?categoryId=1000018&pIndex=1&aId=3400019&multiPageMode=true&start=2

Just my 2 cents.