Back On Track

Ok guys, thanks for bearing with me, Finals are over, College is in the books, and I am now just another unemployed graduate lookin for work! over the course of Finals week, I was able to get in a couple games of 40k with Pariah.Stevo of Tainted By Xenos fame. He brought his Grey Knights and Dark Eldar and I brought the Nids. The first game was Capt. And Control, vs GK. 

What Stevo Opened up on me with his GK's

I basically watched a Grand Master w/ rad grenades and a purifier squad walk through 2 Trygons and storm bolter fire annihilate all my gaunts, with my Tyrant/guard/Prime never getting into assault. Sad day for Hive Fleet Cerberus. So I changed up my list a lil bit for the next game, Kill points vs. Dark Eldar. I ran;


2 Tervigons
3x 16 strong Hormagants
2x 3 strong Hive Guard
2x Trygon Primes
3x Venomthropes


Game was a close one, coming down to 12-10 kps, Stevo pullin it out. Hormagants w/ Feel No Pain via the  tervigons are nigh unkillable, and Trygons pumpin out 12 St. 5 shots a piece were downin skimmers left and right. I think that i am hangin up the Tyrant Deathstar unit for a while, a crap ton of points for very little gain thus far. 2 Tervigons = awesomesauce. I fell in love with this list, as there are more hooves on the ground and it is overall more effective. 3 units of Toxin Sac/Adrenal Gland Hormagants are a bear to take out, especially when they have FnP. 

Playing against two extremely shooty armies made me realize something. None of my armies are balanced. All of them are killer assaulty, with minimal firepower. It would be nice to have an army that can shoot as well as it assaults. I then started gettin the new army itch (again) and started lookin for my balanced answer. As I was cleaning up my hobby room, I began to find all of my Space Marine stuff that I don't use that I have had since before my BA, all the stuff that was gonna be Salamanders. Well, no offense to anyone, but I hate the SM codex. It is a very viable dex, i just don't care for any of the builds out of it. Then my eyes fell on the Space Wolves.

Codex: Space Wolves is like the perfect blend of what I was looking for. Great Troop Choices, like my Chaos, without the heavy price tag points wise, yet good in assault, like my BA. And they cant shoot the lights out. Then I realized that with all the SM crap I have, i am only about 40 Grey Hunters away from a new army. So, I get a new army, more balanced, for next to nothing comparatively? Yes Please! 


So that brings the army total to 4
---Chaos
---Blood Angels
---Tyranids
---Space Wolves


All very different armies, and all very flavorful. I have thrown a list together, an idea of kinda where I want to head.


Wolf Lord in Terminator Armor
---Storm Shield, Frost Weapon, Wolf tail Talisman, Saga of the Bear
2x Wolf Guard in Terminator Armor
---Storm Shield, Frost Weapon
2x Wolf Guard in Terminator Armor
---Storm shield, Thunder Hammer
Drop Pod

4x Wolf Guard in Power Armor
---Combi Meltas, PF's

4x Grey Hunters Packs
---9x Strong, 1x Flamer, Rhino

2x Long Fang Packs
---6x Strong, 2x LCs, 3x ML's
2x Rune Priests
---JotWW& Living Lightning
---Murderous Hurricane & Tempests Wrath

Vindicator

1999pts



Well, thats all I got for now, feels good to be back!


So, what do we think of The Grizz's new army decisions? Will he be able to juggle all four armies? How will he fare with his new Wolves?

And Now Back to Your Regularly Scheduled Program

I know, I know, I haven't updated, and for that I apologize, some real life happened this week, and lots of stuff that I thought would never happen. It is official, The Grizz has been......Tainted By Xenos!!!! I know, please take a moment to pick your jaws off the floor and wipe away those tears of disbelief. It took me a little while to come to grips with it myself. 


After 13 years of wargaming and 40k, I have never owned a non power armored army save my IG, but that was still humans/imperium. I have never even thought about it till the last week or so. I sold all my stuff on eBay, bought what I needed for my Chaos/Blood Angels, and had a little extra left over. So I began lookin at the possibility of starting a new army and started goin down the list.


CSM - Already have
Chaos Daemons - too expensive, not consistent enough
Blood Angels - Already Have
Vanilla Marines - Already have
Grey Knights - Just sold them
Witch Hunters - Used to have and sold
Space Wolves - love rules, hate model range/fluff
Black Templar - too similar to BA/Vanilla
IG - too broke to do what i want to do - Death Korps of Krieg
Dark Angels - .......no.

Sounds like Dark Angels

I Then came to the realization that if I wanted to play a new army, it would have to be...dare I say it...Xenos. So then I broke down the Xenos Races. I wanted something completely different to the armies i currently play, yet at the same time having a familiar feel. I couldn't play Orks, as that is Pariah.Stevo's army, and I play against them too much to want to play them myself.

There can be only one...

 Necrons were marked off the list, with Eldar/DE/Tau never even making the list. Much like Highlander, at the end, there was only one - Tyranids. They were a horde, low armor, high tougness bugs, completely different to my current armies. Yet they felt strangely familiar, being assault based and short range. I began lookin at the model range and became as excited as a little boy who just discovered his first.....well, lets just say I was excited.


Every army I have ever owned I had some idea of how they worked. Oh ok that squad has bolters and power armor, lets put em in a transport and move em around. Not so with this new purchase. As I read through the codex, I became so lost, not knowing what any unit did or how to run them. I felt like I was starting 40k all over again. It scared the piss out of me, but at the same time, it excited me. I feel like I am looking at the game in a whole new way now. I received my first box of Gaunts yesterday, and got my first paint test done today. Tuesday, i should have sitting on my door step -


-2x Battleforces
-2x Trygons
-1x Carnifex


That gives me a pretty sizable chunk of stuff, and a lot to work on. So here comes the big question - Do you guys care about the Nids? I started this blog to talk about power armor, showcase my armies, and so on and so forth. Of course I never planned on havin a xenos army either. So, what I am asking you, the humble follower -

Do you want to see Tyranid Stuff on here, or keep it strictly SM/CSM stuff? Should I chronicle my rocky journey with this new army on IIWPA... or keep it straight Power Armor?

The Vindicator...Pie Plates of Doom

The Vindicator. Just saying the word can drain the color from an opponents face. Simply placing the little stubby thing on the board automatically changes the way the person on the other side deploys/plays. From turn one, they are playing reactively. So why is it that we don't see these little bulldogs on the table as much as we used to?


Part of it is the survivability of vehicles in 5th. This has encouraged many to dust off their Landraiders and use up all of their HS choices. I have seen 4 Raider lists in tournament play out of C:SM. I think another is the 24" range. When a lot of people get to selecting their HS, they look for range. Las Cannons, Missile Launchers, anything with a 36"+ range. While powerful, it is not as reliable for poppin armor due to range and scatter.


When it comes to Blood Angels, you tend to see a lot of Preds due to the Fast rule. Everyone and their mama are runnin Autocannon/Las Cannon preds, and why not? Move 6" and fire 2 S7 AND 2 S9 shots?? Yes please! Also the BA vindy has to share FOC slots with not only preds, but drop pod dreads, cheapy cheap dev squads, and Stormravens!


Space Wolves players have Long Fangs.......moving on.

Space Wolves' Default Heavy Support choice

Now, after I have brought all these defects and issues to the surface, surely I can't be trying to convince you to take one of these little suckers, can I? Of course I am. One of the most important parts of Warhammer 40,000 is knowing your units and how to use them properly. You must know their weaknesses, as well as their strengths. 

Looking at this end has been known
 to cause sweats,  irrational behavior,
instant vacation of the bowels,
screaming, crying, paralysis, and death.

The number one rule to Vindicators was voiced by my good friend Pariah.Stevo, "If they're good enough to run one of, they are good enough to run two of ". One of the biggest beefs people have with Vindys is that they tend to go down turn one, as they are so terrifying. Running two is an insurance policy. The opponent will kill one and leave the rest of the army unscathed or try and split up their fire, giving you a better chance either way of having a tank left. If they both survive, then you can reek some real havoc. Everyone is afraid of a S10 AP2 large blast, and I mean everyone. Running them in a pair also helps when a scatter die doesn't go your way, basically giving you a second chance. As said before, A Vindicator makes your opponent play into your hands. Two Vindicators makes them fill their pants. All for a petite price tag, weighing in at a cool 115pts a piece.

Before

After

Now, for BA players, the Vindicator becomes an even better option, as it has the Fast rule Cause Da Red Ones Go Fasta!!. That means that a Red Vindy has an effective 36" range, moving 12" then throwing that template. On a pitched battle deployment, if you have first turn, you can throw 2 Vindys 12" up and have range to pretty much your opponents entire deployment zone. Can you say "Bye Bye Nob Bikers"? The sheer devastation that these bad boys can cause, as well as the psychological effect they have on your opponent, can be yours for a cool 145 pts.


The Vindy can also take some nifty equipment, as they are the only tank that can take the awesome lookin siege shield, which allows you to ignore dangerous terrain tests. Not sure if it is worth 10 pts, but it could save you some grief when that 1 drops. 


Space Wolves can also bene..........oh yeah, Long Fangs.

...sigh...

Now, For You Black Templars out there, your Vindicators can take the almighty POTMS, essentially making it fast, and ignoring Crew Shaken/Stunned. Definitely something to consider.


Now, I am not saying that the Vindicator is the end all be all HS choice, or that every list should take them. I am just trying to give those who haven't ever used or considered it an idea of the game changer it can be. They can be truly deadly, if given the chance.


So, how many of you guys regularly take Vindicators? When has that S10 template saved your rear end?