Food for Thought: MSU Assault Armies?!?!?!?! and Lovely Ladies

Cuz this blog is about collectin' 'eads!!!

Hi everyone!!! I've had and idea floating around in my head. It is not hard to go to a tournament and see what type of armies are winning now a days. Razor-spam, Venom-spam, Leafblower Guard, they all have three things in common, Multiple Units, Multiple Vehicles, and Shooty as Heck.
The other Idea I have been having is that assualt in dead, why? because with the last 2 Codices to come out are insanely shooty. Add that to the Shootyness of Guard and Space Wolves and you have one shooty meta-game. It is kinda starting to remind me of 4th ed. :(
The thing is, I prefer assault armies, so My question is this: Can the MSU principle be adapted to assault oriented lists? Normally it can't. Why? Because assault units are generally twice as expensive as Shooty ones. Anyhow, I present to you two 2000pt lists that I think can take advantage.of MSU  and still collect some heads in the process. The theme is cheap power weapons, cheep transports, and cheap anti tank.

GK Death Cult Assassin List 2000pts

Armor? It feels good when a Bolter makes your chest explode.

GK Death Cult Assassin List 2000pts

Inquisitor Coteaz
Xenos Inq. w/ Hammerhand, Force weapon, Digital weapons, Pychostroke Grenades, Rad Grenades

Elites
Vindicare Assassin

Ven. Psy-Rifle Dread

Troops
6 X Henchman Squads: 5 Death Cult Assasins, 3 Warriors w/ Melta guns, 1 Warrior w/ target on forehead (ablative wound) in Chimera

Heavy
3 X Psy-Rifle Dreads

Total 1999pts.
I like this list. 10 armor 12 vehicles, 18 melta guns, 18 Mult-laser shots, 16 TL rifleman shots. I'm really thinking about building this one putting it on the table top.

Dark Eldar MSU assault.

Armor? It feels good when a Bolter makes your chest explode

Archon w/  Agoniser, Blast Pistol, Haywire Grenades, combat Drugs, Shado Field

Drazhar

Elites
3 X 4 Man Incubi Squad w/ Venom

Troops
6 X 5 Wyches w/ 1 Hydra Gauntlets
Hekatrix w/ Blast Pistol, Venom blade
 Venom

Heavy
3 Ravangers

Ok, I know Drazhar doesn't fit the cheap catagorey, but I love him. One reason I love him is he fixes two of the main issues of incubi: Leadership and Anti Tank. I also know that all the blast pistols are in unusually places, but I think Wyches are prime for what im looking for and the anti is much needed.

So that is about it. I think next post I might try a MSU Ork List and see how it goes. What kind of MSU  Assault lists can you come up with. Feel free to post whatever list you can come up with? How good do you think the lists I came up with will do?

Batrep: Dark Eldar vs Space Puppies!

Now that I am unemployed, it seems like I play a lot of 40k. I'm not sure why I don't do more battle reports...Maybe I can remedy that.

I called up my buddy Grizzly Adams (Jake from If it wears power armor) and asked if he would be interested in a game last week, and I promised him a battle report as compensation, so here goes.

I haven't used many special characters in the new codex besides the Baron, so I decided to mix things up:

Vect
4 Trueborn, 3 blasters in Venom with 2 splinter cannons
4 Trueborn, 3 blasters in Venom with 2 splinter cannons
4 Trueborn, 3 blasters in Venom with 2 splinter cannons
5 Warriors with 1 blaster in Venom with 2 splinter cannons
5 Warriors with 1 blaster in Venom with 2 splinter cannons
5 Warriors with 1 blaster in Venom with 2 splinter cannons
5 Warriors with 1 blaster in Venom with 2 splinter cannons
9 Wyches with Hydra Gauntlet, Haywire grenades Hekatrix with agonizer in Raider with Flickerfield
9 Wyches with Hydra Gauntlet, Haywire grenades Hekatrix with agonizer in Raider with Flickerfield
Ravager with Flickerfield
Ravager with Flickerfield
Ravager with Flickerfield

Jake brought:

 

---List---

Rune Priest ---Storm Bolter, Living Lightning, Jaws Of the World Wolf

Rune Priest ---Bolter, Living Lightning, Murderous Hurricane

Rune Priest ---Living Lightning, Tempests Wrath

3x Wolf Guard ---Combi Melta, Power Fist

3x9 Grey Hunters ---Melta, Mark of the Wulfen, Wolf Standard

---Rhino w/ HK Missile

5x Grey Hunters ---Plasmagun

---Razorback - HK Missile, Las/TL Plas

3x6 Long Fangs ---2x Lascannons, 3x Missile Launchers

---Razorback - HK Missile, Las/TL Plas

The mission: We played an ATC mission, so we had sieze ground (3), capture and control and kill points, deployment was pitched battle. the adepticon poker chips were the sieze ground, the metal swords marker was capture and control. Above is the terrain setup, we decided everything was 4+ and the bastions were entirely impassable.

My Initial thoughts: Damn, that is a lot of shooting. I don't know if my paper airplanes can stand up to that. If I can get Vect into his lines I have a chance of killing anything, but I'm not sure I can keep the pressure off long enough to do that. I hate hk missles.... and that many living lightnings is gonna hurt...

Jake's Initial thoughts: Well, well, well, a game against the ol' Wiley. Time to put my money where my snout is. I have been running my Wolves' list for the past couple weeks and have had some success, going 2-1. I thought I had enough shooting to go toe to toe with most, but I knew Wiley was bringin a pretty good DE list, one that I have had trouble with in the past. In fact, I have a stunning 0-4-0 record against the Nord, So I had something to prove. Luckily, I have quite a bit of experience against DE, in most of its iterations, so at least I shouldn't have any surprises! The main key to victory is quality shooting phases on my part, and some luck during his, as I can't afford to have a bad Turn1-2 shooting, or the poor Wolves may be makin Happy Hour a few turns early! I have to pick my targets carefully, and make good decisions. Hopefully, we can stick to it. On To The Game!!

We roll to see who goes first and he wins, but decides to concede it to me. I am feeling better about this game already! By getting first turn I figure I can neutralize the long fangs on the left and center and hide behind bastions to protect from the right fangs! I knew with the cover where it was he would deploy there. And luckily (maybe) he did!

My First Turn:

I move up and start shooting. I shoot the 3 venoms on the left at his long fangs, the 4 venoms on the right at his long fangs in the center. I move everything possible up to hide behind the bastions.










I have some success, 84 Splinter cannon shots and 11 Dark Lance shots later I have immobilized
1 vehicle, killed 3 long fangs and put 1 wound on a rune priest....yeah it turned into one of those games that quickly...At this point in the game I am sweating and I have some strange leakage pouring from my anal cavity, which doctors will later explain was me shitting my pants....in disbelief.




So I reluctantly turn it over to Jake, who decides not to move anything and instead shoot the living piss out of me! Which is exactly what I would have done if I were him.
From the picture you can see he blew both Raiders out of the sky, sunk 3 venoms and blew a Ravager away. So much for flickerfields and cover saves...


He also pinned a warrior unit and a wyche unit. Dammit son!








Kill Points: Willie 0 Jake 6

My Turn 2:
I'm realizing that with such a bad turn of shooting, i"m gonna have to capitalize on my speed and maneuverability to attempt a come from behind win. So I strategically redeploy to the left!

So after shooting pretty much my entire army at his long fangs on the left, I manage to kill the rune priest and all but 1 missle launcher. I also blew up a Razorback on the other side of the table I also attempted to move vect's unit up out of the crater to get towards hit lines and only manage to roll a 4, then out of frustration of knowing they are screwed I ran only to roll a 1, so they are out in the relative open. Not good as you will see later.





I only took 1 picture of Jakes turn, this is no surprise to anyone. 6 frag missles and 4 lascannon shots later....Vect is dead and most of his squad is toast. They manage to hang around, for a little while longer. This is the only kill point he earns this round.









Kill Points: Willie 2 Jake 7

My Turn 3:

Ok, feeling like some redemption definately has to be headed my direction sometime soon, I continue with the redeployment and head left!














Shooting sees me finally start to make some headway, wiping out the 1 man long fang pack and taking the middle squad down to 1 man. I also manage to crash a Razorback. I moved my wyches on the right side out to multi-assault the two rhinos praying that I choke him in keep control of that side of the board and I hustle that small warrior squad back onto my capture and control objective. It wasn't a great turn, but it was the best turn I've had, so I'm trying to relish it!




Jake's Turn 3, I didn't take any pictures. He really only had 2 targets to shoot at and he made it count, getting a boatload of smelly grey hunters out to shoot down my wyches and using his long fangs to pummel my warriors holding my objective, who promptly roll a 29 and run off the table.

Kill Points: Willie 5 Jake 9

My turn 4:

Time to bring some pain, I have to prepare for the end of the game, this mission is random game length, I'm starting to wonder if I will have enough models to make it...

I manuever up to get some warriors near his capture and control objective, get my trueborn into position to shoot a rhino and move a lone warrior back in craters towards my objective. I position a venom with 2 wyches in it to zoom and get on objectives later and I get another venom out of LOS of the fangs. 


Shooting sees me kill the rest of the middle long fangs squad and wreck a rhino that was threatening to come towards the objectives I hold. I killed all but 3 of the hunters that fell out but they managed to not run. I also immobilized the other Razorback that is near his capture and control objective. My trueborn on the right fail to harm the rhino between the buildings, so their souls will be going to meet Slaanesh soon...




Jake's Turn 4

Sorry this picture is blurry. Jake moves his squad in the rhino over to the side of the bastion and takes his 5 man squad down towards my trueborn in the crater. Shooting sees him get 1 shot from a razorback at my ravager in the middle of the table and get thru my cover save to wreck it. He also wrecks a venom up near his capture and control objective and drops some frags on my poor warriors on the objective, thank the gods they held!


The assault phase sees his 5 man hunter squad charge the trueborn in the crater and then slingshot over towards my lone warrior heading towards my objective.

Kill Points: Willie 7 Jake 11
My turn 5:

I know this could be my last turn, so I survey the field, I am holding 1 C&C objective, and can grab 2 Sieze ground objectives, but in order to make them count for anything I will need to neatralize a rhino and the grey hunters that are squatting in the building.






I accomplished nothing...I killed 1 guy in the ruin and made the guys close to my objective run, but I completely forgot that there was another rhino full of guys between the bastion and the building, I should have tried to neutralize that rhino...instead my ravager shot at the rhino coming down to my C&C objective and did nothing lol. But I did get into position to own 1 C&C obj and 2 Seize objectives if the game ends.


Jakes turn 5:

I need him to fail, hard to win, but I know it won't happen  as soon as I see him move that rhino...in my head a baby rabbit committed suicide...He moves them up and unload them, well within 3" of that objective and proceeds to shoot my venom with 2 melta shots and a 1000 bolter shots, the venom crashes taking both the Wyches with it.







The other rhino moves up and unloads its contents to get my C&C objective and kill my last little guy.

He also shoots down some various aircraft scatter about the board to take his kill points to untouchable levels.










Kill Points: Willie 7 Jake 14

Jake lets me roll for the game length, thank the gods my streak stays alive!




Then a crucial measurement proves to be his undoing! Ha! He didn't massacre me! I managed to win C&C, Jake got the Kill Points and the Sieze Ground!

Closing thoughts:
Wileythenord: Well I knew this one would be tough, but I never expected to have such a terrible first turn of shooting. He played well and capitalized on my bad luck. Living lightning really hurt me, having unlimited range meant I really couldn't hide anywhere. I had fun, I can't believe I had a chance at all really. But if both my wyches hadn't died when their plane crashed it would have been a draw. I will get his goofy Auburn loving ass next time!

Grizzly Adams:Aaahh Dark Eldar!!! Thats what makes Dark Eldar a pain in the butt. You can blow them to Kingdom Come and they will still push you all the way to the edge. That is a testament to a well built Codex (Thanks Phil Kelly!), a well designed list, and an opponent that can play it to perfection, rolling with the punches, and thinking on his feet. I really lucked out top of turn one, with Wiley's shooting kinda goin to crap on him, and my wolves made the most of it. My early game shooting phases were near perfect, and really is what kept me in the game. Not being able to drop his Ravagers really hurt, and The Nord made me pay for it. I feel my list executed well, even though I kinda deployed like an idiot. I still cant get over how shooty these wolves can be. My dice did me well, the list played just like it was designed to do, and I was able to pull out the Big W. Fun was had by all, and can't wait to do it all again!

Knowing is Half the Battle!!! Part 1 of 4: Know ThyRules!!!

Wow. Sorry for the long dead period. To make a long story short: Mid-terms, Spring Break, Last-minute 13.5 hour drive to Naples, FL, Second degree sunburn, PC burned out, Now have crappy rent-a-mac from School that won't play flash:( , It's a Mac! :'''''( , joined and helped start Unbroken Gaming Club, currently handling t-shirt orders, car is leaking oil, won the Bash at the Barn tournament with my Orks( Waaagh!!!), just pledged to finish 2000pts of DE in 2 months, taxes and fafsa still not done, and i still need a job!!! Anyhow back to the action.

Today I want to start a 4 part series based on what I think is a major reason people do badly in competive play. Most people are pretty competent individuals. So why do some people constantly win top tournements, while other, equally competent players never seem to hit their stride. The answer: MISTAKES!!! How do we prevent ourselves from making mistakes? By become Knowlegable about the game we play. There are many different aspects to this. Today we will cover the first aspect. Know ThyRules!!!

Know the basic rules: This is one of those things you shouldn't think you would have to mention, but it is often overlooked, especially with "veteran" gamers. Many so-called vets fail to really learn the new rules after a new edition releases and often confuse rules between editions.  Do you remember the first time you played a game of chess and someone castled their king? How about taking a pawn en passant?

The Wookie let's Chuck Norris win.

A player must ask himself, 'How do I expect to master a game I do not know the rules of?'
When my brother-in-law first started playing, he lost alot.  He has always played his tau really well, but his tactics are very min-maxed. He would always try some caculated gamble only to realize too late that the rule didn't work quite like he thought. This would often result in a game losing failure. Being knowlegable about the rules is the only way to make tatical desicions on the fly and come out on top.

"What do you mean,  'The popular vote doesn't count'"

Examples: Do you still have to make last man standing checks? What happens if a squads transport is destroyed and they can't disembark out of the exit points? If a squad deep strikes into a multi-floored ruin, where is it placed? Can a vehicle drive through a ruin? Do jump infantry squads take dangerous terrian tests when leaving difficult terrain. How fast is cruising speed? Can you make saves off dangerous terrian tests. Can fearless models fail leadership tests?  I think you got the hint. If you don't know any of the above questions, look them up. One of the biggest weaknesses most players have is that they would rather ask 'that rules guy' or post a rules question on a forum instead of looking it up. Sadly, " That's what it said on Warseer" doesn't hold up well in a rules argument at a tournament. Don't be afraid to crack open the BBOR. You might learn something. Another way to familiarize yourself with the rules is to surf online rules forums for other peoples rules questions.

That's it for now. What are some ways you find to keep up-to-date and fresh on the rules? Tune in next time for Part 2: Know Thyself!!!

Why you NEED Ghazghkull

Boss Redtoof, cuz ReD Thraka's go FaStA!!!

Your competitive ork list needs Thraka. "Not wants", "or would be better by", but needs. Here is why:

6' waaagh move : once you get used to having this, without it, you feel like you went to war without yer choppas. With Ghazghkull, your waaagh is no longer a random prayer to Gork(or possibly Mork). Your Waaagh! Move becomes a usable, devistating tool.

 ON Demand: One thing I feel that should be mentioned seperately, but effects all of Ghazghkull's abilities, is that Ghazghkull waaagh can be call at ANYtime. That's right any time. Most people miss this at first glance. I know I did, till a very good player pointed it out to me.  This is the true source of his abilities. In fact, many of the best times to call the Waaagh is during your opponent's turn. And since it lasts for two player turns, you always get your 6" move.

Fearless army, ON Demand:  Orks use the mob rule in order to fight their low leadership, however many of our most expensive, effective units are rarely taken in squads above ten. I'm off course talking about Nobs, despite their bosspole, and Lootas, who really have no way of fighting their low leadership, save taking full squads of 15. Just a few casualties or a lost combat can see Lootas run off the board, or Nobs overrun. If you are called upon to make such a test, especially one that the game depends on, simply call the Waaagh!!! This will ensure you boys will remain 'stuck in' and Lootas firing. Don't forget though, that you will take fearless wounds in assault, so don't try this trick with anything that isn't well armored.

Big Shoota!!: Just kidding. Moving on...

He can beat anything! (almost): During the Waaagh, Ghazghkull has a 2+ invul. So 2+ Invul. Sv.: ON Demand!. He also has T5 , 7 X S10 Attacks on the charge and eternal warrior. This simply mean he can go toe-to-toe with anything( besides a C'tan ) and come out on top. Which, leads me to my next point.....

It's a nasty universe out there: I'm sure after playing a few Space Wolfs, Blood Angels, or Tyranids a beginning Ork player has asked themselves, " I thought orks liked assault? Why do I keep getting my butt handed to me then." The truth is there are many things in the 40k universe, that no ork( save Thrakka ) wants any part of in Hand to hand. To prove my point, here's a short list of them:

                                         Abbaddon

                                         Skarbrand

                                         Blood Letters

                                         Grey Night Termies

                                         C'tan

                                         Ghazghkull

                                         Shrike

                                         Lightning Claw Termies

                                         Well-tooled Vanguard squad.

                                         Calgar

                                         Lysander

                                         Ragnar

                                         Thunderwolf Cav

                                         Swarmlord

                                         Deathstar Hive Tyrant squad.

#1 Reason, CUZ IT"S ORKY!!!: The simple fact is that you didn't start playing orks so that you could dance around the field, avoiding loses, and minimizing damage done by the above mentioned units, picking your targets, and striking when the moment is right.  You started playing orks, cuz you wanted to run greenskins around like a biligerent mob of angry drunk dudes who's momma just got insulted. You wanted to see them grit and grunt, and be fairly certain that they were gonna krump some skulls. You can't play them like that if your opponent has a unit that can mow through any unit in your army, and your trying to avoid them the entire game. Running Ghazghkull into your opponent's nastiness allows the rest of your army the freedom to stomp around and destroy everything else. Ghazghkull gives you the freedom to play orks the way they was meant to be play: GOOD N' PROPA'!!!

Tournament Results: A learning experience

                            I love going down to Dicehead Games for two reasons. One, the players there are really cool guys. Second, the caliber of gamers that you play is top notch. When I loose a game down there, I see what I did wrong in a big way. I can see what I did and learn to change how I play. So, as I tell you how  me and The Griz did in the tournament, The main theme will be "What I did wrong," and "What I should have done..."

Note: I am assuming if your reading this, that you read my previous post with our army lists in them. I suggest you read if before you continue on.

GAME 1: Orks and Blood Angels vs. Orks and Chaos Marines
            The first game was a pretty easy win for us. The guys were new to the game. I think they said they both had been playing for about six months. They were great guys and it was a very enjoyable game. The mission was Seize ground, Dawn of War. Like most new Ork/ Chaos players, they assume the best thing you can possibly do is get as close to the enemy as possible. They went first and  put a approx 30 man boyz squad and 10 Bezerkers with a Khorne Termy Lord in it on the middle of the field. We had everything come in on Turn 1. They ran every thing up. We assaulted there stuff on turn one. At the end of the day we were able to get the charge on every assault, which for ork and blood angels usually equals a win.

GAME 2: Orks and Blood Angels vs. Dark Eldar and Tyranids
               Our opponent luck ran out after the first game. The next two games were against two of the best teams at the tournament. This was a really well built list. basically there were 3 or 4  Large Genestealer squads all with Broodlords, and the Dark Eldar vehicles had the grenade launchers on them. The point was to get all this cumulative -1 Leadership stuff up in your grill, then drop in the Doom of Malantia and just wreak havoc. The Mission was Modified Kill Points, Pitched Battle. I seriously think we would have had a chance here, if it wasn't for bad rolls. The Griz loves to put his storm raven in reserve. It allows him to move flat out when it moves on, giving him the 4+ save and preventing it from getting shot down in his deployment zone. Sadly though, when you put a Stormraven, 10 Death company, a Master Reclusiarch, and a Death company dread on a single reserve roll, It was bound to happen eventually, and this game it did. He failed every. single. roll and it automatically came in on turn 5. Needless to say my orks were 'stealer chow by this point.
             "What we did wrong...." letting The Griz roll his own reserves. My Grots came in on turn 3. Just sayin'
              "What we should have done..." Hindsight's 20-20. And if the Raven would have come in we would be having an entirely different conversation. But it is safe to say, that against this opponent, getting shot down in our deployment zone wouldn't have been so bad if we could have kept the lootas alive to shoot down raiders. I guess in a KP mission mobility is not as much as an issue if you have fire power. It would have been best.

GAME 3: Orks and Blood Angels vs. Black Templar and Dark Eldar.
               We played our third game against two gamers we are very familiar with. I don't like using people names on blogs without their permission so we will  will refer to them as Sea and Youyou.  Sea and Youyou have given me more whoopin's than my momma has. The Griz and I played them second round in the last team tourney we went to. On turn 3 when the painting judge got to our table, he had to ask us what armies we were playing, cuz they weren't on the board anymore! Last singles tournament at The Barn, I and Sea played on the "final table" and he beat me to win the tourney...with Necrons!
                   Anyhow, I am happy to report that we have improved. At the end of the game we had a single Ork Loota on the board!!! YEAH IMPROVEMENT!!

"What We did wrong..."  We put everything on the board during deployment. I also did a horrible job ad judging their army. I thought it was gonna be assault oriented just because it had BT in it. What I didn't realize is that due to the new FAQ they can be shooty as hell, not to mention all of the DE 12 poison shots on each of about 5 venoms. So it was a desert table, we were going second, and staring at a incredibly powerful shooting army, and what do I do? Because of the last game, I put every single model on the board. For them, it was like a turkey shoot. Looking back, I really see how I played like a complete and utter noob. After one loss, I completely shut my brain off and didn't play to the level I am capable of .

"What We should have done.." Reserve EVERYTHING!. The game was Capture and control, Spearhead. Reserving everything would have robbed them of 2 rounds of shooting. Then we could have brought everything on the far left of our long board edge, shortening our drive. Instead of try to hold our objective, we would have put the lootas within range of it and let them shoot everything off of it, then making an all or nothing play for theirs.

THE BIG MISTAKE:  DEPLOYMENT:Griz and I have got to learn to read other people's list in order to discover what their play is. We are both very visual people and tend to dismiss our opponents list and assume we will figure it out once it hits the table. In fifth edition, deployment is one of the major tactical aspects of the game, and if you don't deploy correctly, it will loose you games, like it did for us.

CONCLUSION. The guys we played second round went to the "final table" were they won their game but only got 4 battle points. See and Youyou got 16 off of us and hence won the tournament.

Angels of my heart...the Dark Angels FAQ and you

It should be no secret to any of my friends or opponents that I am a Dark Angel fan. My marines are painted as a successor chapter, The Guardians of the Covenant, and I use Dark Angel Iconography throughout their design.

Most don't know that when I started playing 40k (again) it was just as 5th edition was coming out, and it was using the codex Dark Angels. Many of you know the troubles that Dark Angels have faced since their initial release, but for those that don't, here is the skinny; Dark Angels are one of the last codices designed for 4th Edition. So their point costs and flexibility (high and none) were reflective of that. In fact chances are if you have only been on the scene for a few years, you have never seen anyone using Codex: Dark Angels, instead you have seen dark green marines with robes using the Codex: Space Marines. So sad...but I was one of those guys...

Flash Forward to the end of December 2010....the DA get FAQed, but in a good way! (See  Dark Angels FAQ  for details) Dark Angels get upgraded equipment! Dark Angels get Feel No Pain! Dark Angels get good POTMS! These things make us rejoice, not for our power armored brothers, but for our 1st and 2nd company!

Why do they care?

Dark Angels are unique in that they have special characters that open up Terminators and/or Bikes to be troops. The next caveat is Dark Angels Bikers (referred to by their proper 2nd company title Ravenwing) are slightly more expensive than standard SM bikes, but they gain Fearless and a special form of Scout. Oh and they also have another small addition that Terminators may care about.....all Ravenwing Bikers are armed with Teleport Homers. Thats right kids, not only do they scout but they all Terminators to not scatter if they want to land within 6" of a bike.

Now time for the next caveat, Terminators in the Dark Angels (referred to by their proper 1st company title Deathwing) are slightly more expensive than their smurf cousins, and can only be taken 5 to a squad. However, they have discounted cyclone missile launchers and can mix their weaponry within the squad, so you could have storm bolters, lightning claws, thunder hammers and power weapons all in the same squad, and still take a cyclone on one of them. Oh and they also have another small addition that you may care about...Deathwing have a special rule called "Deathwing Assault" which replaces Drop Pod assault for the Dark Angels Army, which allows half of your Deathwing squads held in reserves to arrive on the first turn!

So now you are probably trying to process this information...let me throw another wrench into the wheels. Taking the Deathwing Special Character Belial not only opens up the ability to have Deathwing as troops, it also opens up allowing one of those Deathwing Squads to be a command squad opening up the options for an apothecary (FNP) and a standard bearer (units within 12" may re-roll failed morale and the unit gets +1 attack).

Those scouting bikers dropping in terminators with cyclones on the first turn probably has your mouth watering a little, and it probably should. But remember, those are probably going to be smaller bike squads and those are definitely only 5 man terminator squads that are dropping. Even a 2+/3++ will fail from time to time.

Sample 1863 list for an upcoming tournament.
Guardians of the Covenant - 1863

1 Sammael, Master of the Ravenwing (HQ)    
Land Speeder TL Assault Cannon; TL Heavy Bolter

1 Belial, Master of the Deathwing (HQ)
Twin Lightning Claws

5 Deathwing Terminator Squad (Troops)
Cyclone Missile Ln.; Lightning Claw (x1); Thunder Hammer (x4); Lightning Claw 2 (x1); Storm Shield (x4); Terminator Standard Bearer

5 Deathwing Terminator Squad (Troops)
Cyclone Missile Ln.; Lightning Claw (x1); Thunder Hammer (x4); Lightning Claw 2 (x1); Storm Shield (x4)

5 Deathwing Terminator Squad (Troops)    
Cyclone Missile Ln.; Lightning Claw (x1); Thunder Hammer (x4); Lightning Claw 2 (x1); Storm Shield (x4)

2 Ravenwing Attack Squadron (Troops)
Meltagun (x2);
1 Ravenwing Sergeant @ [60] Pts
1 Attack Bike
Multi-Melta (x1)

2 Ravenwing Attack Squadron (Troops)
Meltagun (x2);
1 Ravenwing Sergeant @ [60] Pts
1 Attack Bike
Multi-Melta (x1)

2 Ravenwing Attack Squadron (Troops)
Meltagun (x2);
1 Ravenwing Sergeant @ [60] Pts
1 Attack Bike
Multi-Melta (x1)

1 Ravenwing Support Squadron: Landspeeder (Fast Attack)
Heavy Bolter (x1); Typhoon Missile

1 Ravenwing Support Squadron: Landspeeder (Fast Attack)
Heavy Bolter (x1); Typhoon Missile
1 Ravenwing Support Squadron: Landspeeder (Fast Attack)
Heavy Bolter (x1); Typhoon Missile

Models in Army: 32
Total Army Cost: 1860

Bonus: Some pictures of my Guardians. This reminds me....I need more pictures...

To Be or not To Be (Competitive)

Often folks in our hobby speak of having to make a choice between a "fun" list and a "competitive" list. I don't understand the difference. And even after I ask these supposed "fun" players what makes them think they are having fun and us "competitive" players aren't having fun, I rarely receive an answer that makes sense.

So what is it that "fun" gamers do different than competitive gamers? They try to justify their lists through "fluff" reasons (fluff for any that aren't familiar with the term, means based on the story or history) or through "comp" (comp is short hand for composition, or the make up of your army. comp scores are given at some tournaments based off your army build) reasons. But to a competitive gamer, these fluff bunnies are breaking their own definition, because by limiting your composition, you are making things less fun for yourself. For instance, one thing that fluff bunnies dislike is spamming the same unit over and over again, however what if the army I am building relies on those core elements for the theme that my competitive list is going for? Or what if its the only option available (i.e. Necron warriors)?

And what exactly is not fun about trying to win? Isn't that the point of playing a game? A game, by definition, is  "an activity engaged in for diversion or amusement" Nothing in there says anything about winning, so I guess if I play a game i'm not supposed to win? Tell that to an NFL player, a Nascar team, or a Sculling Crew. Have these people trained their asses off to come out and play? Hell no, they came to win! Winning is fun!

Oh those are team sports you say, OK great, do you play Chess to pass the time? Have you ever played to a draw in Chess? Its the worst feeling on Earth! Do you play checkers because you want to get to know your opponent better? No you play these games to win.

Well folks, there is nothing wrong with playing to win a game. If people weren't supposed to win games, games would have never been invented. Have any of you ever won a game? How does that feel? Winning is one of the greatest feelings humans can ever feel. Its like watching fireworks for 36 hrs straight, it never gets old and it excites you every time! 

So why are competitive gamers looked down upon in 40k? 

I think it stems from GW putting out battle reports for years where players spend most of the 10 page report talking about all the fun they had using every unit they had available instead of making a list designed to win. I mean most 40kers have read White Dwarf over the years, and we know those lists are not designed to decisively win a game. "Really, Gav took 6 sternguard on foot and gave the Serg a combi-flamer?" "Wow look at all those Bio-Morphs on that Hive Tyrant, why would you spend 280 pts on him when you could just get Swarmlord for better flexibility?" "Wow did you see that Phil Kelly had 5 dire Avengers walking in that battle report against the non-mechanized non-Lash CSM list?" 

Another reason I believe competitive gamers are looked down on is because many competitive gamers are also WAAC (Win at all Cost) gamers. Sometimes that term is the same as calling someone a cheater or shady. Nobody strives to be TFG (that fucking guy) but most WAAC gamers are TFG. And many WAACers and TFGs are also self proclaimed competitive gamers. That doesn't bode well for us have fun while winning sort of folks. In reality, these players are not competitive, they are cheaters or assholes. Sometimes both. Nobody likes TFG, not even TFG's mother, nor Jesus.

It boils down to this, if you think competitive gaming isn't fun, maybe you should try to win a few times. I think all us competitive guys will agree that winning is what keeps us all coming back. The challenge of building a list that can completely shalack the other guy is fun, the challenge of breaking that person down on the battlefield is lots of fun, and talking shit to those guys on forums, Facebook, or whereever is also fun.

What do you guys think? Are competitive gamers not having fun? Do fluff bunnies make up excuses to lose?





 

Web Way Portals?

This week's article will discuss an oldie that was brought back into the fold in the new Codex, the Web Way Portal.

For you folks that don't know what a Web Way Portal is, or how it works, or how it used to work this article will be particularly enlightening, and may give you a few wtf moments. Rest assured, this is the reaction I'm looking for!

Web Way Portal "fluff": Commorragh is the "capital city" if you will of the Dark Eldar, but referring to Commorragh as a city is doing it a great injustice. If a Hive World of the empire can be considered a city, then Commoragh would be a metropolis. It spans a major part of the Web Way. The Dark Eldar are the Eldar that fled their empire before the Fall and made home within the Web Way. So the Dark Eldar existed prior to the Fall, and for the last time, no they are not Slaanesh worshippers....Anyway since the Dark Eldar live within the Web Way when they go to battle oftentimes they will leave a huge portion of their army in reserve back in Commorragh then on the battlefield they will drop a device that creates a portal back to the Web Way, thereby letting their fellows pour onto the battlefield from an advanced position. Pretty crafty!

Web Way then: The WWP used to be completely disgusting, but you had to build an army completely around it. The way it used to work you declared what units would be entering the game through WWP "reserve" and then that unit couldn't enter any other way except by WWP, even vehicles could enter through it. So if you didn't put down the WWP until the last turn, your opponent couldn't do anything about them except kill the bearers of the WWPs. However all units used to be able to bring along a portal (except Mandrakes). So what you did was take a big heavy hitting close combat units in Raiders with Dark Lances and a couple of throw away Raider squads to deploy a WWP round 2 or 3 and all of a sudden the enemy has no target and you get your entire army on them turn 3 or 4, because if a unit rolled its reserve roll and the WWP wasn't down, it got to wait till a webway was out then the unit became available!

Web Way now: Well now things have changed. They obviously saw that the WWP was a little too good, because they really toned it down. It deploys the same way as it used to, but now only a few HQ choices have the ability to take it, and instead of a "WWP reserve", once the portal is deployed it is treated as a seperate board edge. Not that impressive really, because now I can't hold units back and specifically know i'll get a good portal drop before they become available...boooo!

However, with all that being said, there are still some nasty ways to deploy a webway that I think could be effective.

Consider Harlequins.

Harlequins with the Shadowseer make your opponents roll 2d6 x 2 for night fighting everytime you wish to target them. So they are hard to see. Also consider that a 50 point Haemonculus + a 30 point WWP will be able to join the Harlies giving them FNP and a WWP to deploy. Its a pricey way to deploy a webway, but its the safest route to follow for WWP deployment.

Now if you just had some fast assaulty units to pour out of the WWPs....

Oh! Beastmasters and packs you say? Hellions you say? Even Wyches or Incubi? Wow, I hadn't thought of that ;)