Continuing with the Dark Mechanicus

Its been a couple of months now playing the dark mechanicus list.  The list has proven to me that it has some merit and for the most part will stand up to a majority of other army lists.  Recently I faced an imperial guard player who played a mechguard list with 10-12 chimeras, and 3 Vendettas.  We played 1750 points, rolled up big guns never tire with vanguard strike.  I played my 1750 list which included the warpsmith, 3 csm squads, an ageis defense line, 3 oblits, a forgefiend, and a maulerfiend.   Like the daemon player I faced in the tournament, this would be a challenging opponent and another that would test my list to the fullest.  I do have to say that one of the unsung heros in my army is the Ageis defense line.  I will never leave my army without it, it provides me with my own piece of cover, a defensive position where I could place my firebase and with the quad gun a weapon that could skyfire.  In this game, it allowed me to weather my opponent's first turn without taking much damage.  My forgefiend opened up and netted me first blood by blowing up a chimera.  My Oblits went next and blew up another chimera with my HQ havoc squad blowing up a third one.  My dice were definitely on fire that first turn and pretty much decided how the game went.  By concentrating on his tanks in the front, I forced my opponent to have to move around his wrecks or roll dangerous terrain tests.  This was the first game I took my maulerfiend which I hid for the first 2 turns as there was nothing in charge range.  By turn 3 I decided to move him up but of course he became bullet bait once his 3 vendettas came on.  My forgefiend also fell prey to them and if it wasnt for my dragons, would have run amok the entire game.  In turns 3-4 the bulk of the heavy lifting came from my 2 CSM squads and the 3 oblits that took turns hammering my opponents chimeras.  I have to say I really hate these multiple veterans squads with either 3 meltas or 3 plasmas, they are way to cheap, these guys kept my opponent in the game and would have won him the game along with his 3 vendettas if it wasnt for the 2 dragons and my obits.  My dragons actually took out 2 of the vendettas with the oblits taking out the last one using twin linked plasma guns.  After taking out his air force it was just a matter of moping up and playing hide and seek with his veteran squads with the 3 plasmas, killing their ride and having the heldrakes munch on them. 

The game ended on turn 6 with my opponent holding 1 objective and me 2 and also having first blood and slay the warlord.  The army is still showing me that it has legs to stand on but I am definitely seeing something.  The list is very dependant on the heldrakes.  They are definitely MVPs every game and I believe until every army gets updated to 6th edition, they will continue to be one of the most hated models on the table top.  I plan on running more troops by adding in more cultists so I might drop one of the heldrakes.  I recently acquired 40 cultists and a dark apostle that I converted using one of the chosen models from the starter box and feel that by having 70 bodies as troops, this might make the game more fun for both me and my opponent.  Fliers are extremely OP right now, having 2 of the most powerful ones might be a little too much for friendly games so I might use the 2nd one for tourneys only. 

Dark Mechanicus test drive

A couple of weeks ago, I finally got the chance to test drive my dark mechanicus army.  I didnt have time to test the list in normal games so actually took the list untested to the local GW's final 40k tournament before it closed its doors as a battle bunker.  The tournament was 1500 points, modified book missions and it was 3 games long.  I would certainly get a feel of the list playing it against 3 different armies.  In terms of the list I took the 1500 pts list I posted in my last post which contained a warpsmith, 3 CSM squads with extra close combat weapons; one with plasma and autocannon, 2 with melta gun and plasma, 2 Heldrakes with baleflamers an Oblit squad and a forgefiend.

Game 1 vs. Tyranids - Without a doubt the coolest guy I played at the Tourney, here was a guy who just made the game fun to play.  His list was what I would call an elite nid list with a flying hive tyrant, a tyrant on foot, big warrior squad, a tyranofex, a Zoai, trygon, and 2 squads of 15 guants.  My army obliterated the nids with knocking the hive tyrant out of the air and killing it by turn 2, my forgefiend killing his 6 man squad of warriors in one salvo.. ok I got lucky with my rolling, and the 2 heldrakes just flying around and killing stuff.  The made mince meat of the trygon that popped up with vector strikes and killing off his 2 troop choices that were left.  By the top of 4, my opponent and I called it.  I tell you what, this guy took it in the teeth and still had a great time.  I dont know how I would have felt with my big HQ dying by turn 2 without feeling like crap.  My army proved to me that it was shooty in this first game with MVPs going to the Warpsmith and his squad behind the ageis and the Forgefiend.

Game 2 vs. Orks - Was this game ever tough, my opponent was running an extremely different ork list, one that I have never seen before.  His army was what I call a killa can list made up of 2 mega deff dreads, 9 killa cans, and 3 deff dreads.  His only unit of infantry came in the form of a 10 man boyz squad in a truck that he hid on his home objective.  We drew vanguard strike and emperors will as the primary mission and I would like to say that my generalship won me the game but truth be told, my dice were on fire.  My heldrakes were the scourge of the battlefield, vector striking, and flaming cans and deff dreads down.  The daemonforge ability helped quite a lot in this battle giving me the ability to re roll damage pens rolls against the Killa Cans and deff dreads and really helped with damaging my opponents ability to move as I concentrated on killing the models in front of his battle line thus forcing him to have to go around or roll dangerous terrain.  Placing the heldrakes in front of the dreads also helped in this as he had to move around them and needed to keep at least 1 inch away from their bases.  By Turn 4, I knew that the game was mine as he only had 2 cans left, 1 deff dread, and 1 mega deff dread that was immobilized and not going anywhere.  One of my Heldrakes had taken out his 1 scoring infantry unit and I had gotten first blood and kill the warlord.  We called it by the bottom of turn 5 as there was no way he could win or tie the game.  MVP's of this game was again the forgefiend, my HQ "Havoc" squad unit, and of course the Heldrakes.

Game 3 vs. Chaos Daemons - By the time the 3rd game around, I was 2-0 and on one of the top tables.  Up until this time, I didnt think my list had legs especially in a tourney setting. My opponent this time around was running one of the most hated netlists of all time. This game of course took place before the new daemon codex had come out so of course the guy was running fateweaver, 3 squads of flamers, 4 small squads of horrors, and 2 max squads of screamers. I deployed as best I could knowing that I had one turn to kill as many of his units as possible and then hope for the best. I concentrated all my forces in a corner giving him few avenues where he could deepstrike safely. I lucked out that he didnt get his preferred wave but due to a huge line of sight blocking terrain piece, he very wisely hid this 4 - 5 man horror squads behind it. I was able to kill 1 squad and mauled another one but that was all I could do before hell broke lose. Next turn he got all of his units in and with it my chance of winning the game. I did my best at holding him off until my dragons came on and was able to actually hold my own when both came on. MVPs of this game were believe it or not a squad of CSM's that wiped out a squad of flamers and put the hurt on a squad of screamers before dying. My forge fiend got to fire once before his other squad of screamers took him down. The game went on to about turn 4 before I decided to call it to save myself from tabling as all I had was 1 dragon left. He did pay me a compliment that I was able to kill the most of his units in all 3 of his games so I will take that as a morale victory. Hard, hard game but glad I wont be facing that list anymore as the new Daemon codex is out. All in all a great first outing for the dark mechanicus. The army is a blast to play and looks quite striking on the table top. I plan on adding in the maulerfiend and a helbrute to give me even more daemon engines. The pics in this post are of my maulerfiend and the warpsmith. Let me know what you think.  

Work in progress

Hey guys, I wanted to talk about my latest project that I am currently knee deep in.  As your average 40k hobbiest, I have ADD when it comes to projects.  I might get inspired to do a certain build and then a week later have something else inspire me and go off on another tangent.  Many things inspire me to "go off" on from listening to the latest podcast, to reading an article, to bouncing off ideas to my poor wife as she is trying to catch up on her shows, inspiration can come from anywhere.  My latest scheme involves adding a dark mechanicus wing to my Dark Wolves army with a warpsmith, a couple of heldrakes, and either a forge fiend or maulerfiend.

  This past christmas was good to me and I ended up with a good start for the army so I needed to just add a Mauler fiend.  My list involves running a warpsmith as my HQ, running 3 CSM squads, 2 Heldrakes, a ForgeFiend, Mauler Fiend, and squad of Oblits.  I know that on face value the list doesnt appear competitive which is not the point, I just love the models and the theme of running just a lot of daemon engines.  The Heldrake on its own is just too good, arguably one of the best models in the game (rules wise).  Having 2 in the list makes it so at least I have a shot at winning games.  And then we come to the forgefiend.  I dont know about you but a model with 8 strength 8 shots just screams awesome to me.  I know that the model is is over costed but the number of shots the model puts out makes it worth to me.  Joining the forgefiend in the heavy support is a squad of 3 oblits.  Oblits might have taken a hit with the loss of fearless but the fact that they can now take marks makes them a lot more survival able then ever.

Over the course of the last couple of months, I have been able to put together the models and actually put paint to brush.  I have completed painting the Warpsmith, the forgefiend, and both Heldrakes.  I also painted up an ageis defense line with a quad gun in order to give me some anti air.  As it stands, the list contains the following at 1500 points-

HQ- Warpsmith
Aura of Dark Glory
Gift of Mutation

(2 units of )Troops- CSM Squad (10)
1x Melta gun
1x Plasma gun
Aspa Champ with Power Sword
Unit has extra CCW

Troops- CSM Squad (10)
1x Plasma gun
1x Autocannon
Aspa Champ with Power Axe
Unit has extra CCW

(2 units) Fast- Heldrake with Baleflamer

Heavy Support- Obliterator squad (2)
Mark of Nurgle

Heavy Support- Forgefiend
Twin Hades Autocannons

Fortification - Ageis defense line with Quad gun

The concept of the list is simple.  The Warpsmith joins the CSM squad with the autocannon behind the aegis manning the quad gun.  This unit effectively becomes a havoc squad armed with 3 autocannons and with the ability to skyfire and interceptor, makes them a threat to all light armor, aircraft and troops.   I keep the forgefiend next to him to add his firepower to the unit.  The other 2 units i use to capture objectives or take a defensive posture in kill points as mark of khorne makes them great in defense (which is very ironic...).  The dragons clear the field after the oblits or the autocannons pop the transports.  I might want to add a big squad of cultists and a Dark Apostle as well to get me up to 1750.  With the new Daemon codex coming out, I might want to add in some daemonic allies to give my opponents a threat in their back field.  Next week I plan on taking the list to our local GW's last 40K tournament before they close.  I am hoping the list does pretty good but we shall see..

Spreading the 40K love

Hi guys, sorry its been a long time since my last post.  This last season has been a busy one especially for us hobbyists who in this time we need to put aside our hobby to help with the preparations to make the holidays the best ever.  My hobby has certainly suffered but no matter how busy I was with setting up the Christmas tree to hanging lights on our house, I always made a point to get some hobbying in no matter what.  We then come to the title of my post, sharing my love of 40K with others in particular people who have never played the game.  40K as it stands is a real complex game for people who have never played  a war game however for our hobby to expand and survive we as players need to bring in new people.  We as gamers should be responsible to teach and grow our community and whenever somebody new expresses interest, we as gamers should try to cultivate that interest.  The purpose of this post is to share my ideas on how to do this, not as a be all, end all guide but to share my experiences in trying to bring my love of the game to somebody new.  Over the course of my 40k "career", I have had numerous friends, family member, etc ask me what the heck is warhammer and why I'm I so passionate about it.   I explain its the lore, the armies, the painting the playing that I love and with each different person asking, I have tried to find a better way to explain the hobby without overwhelming my audience.  Recently I had 2 such people express interest in what I do, one person with little or no experience to gaming in general and the other with a lot of gaming experience but not war gaming experience.  The challenge was how do I share my love of Warhammer without overwhelming them and hopefully getting new converts to the game.  Below are some basic ideas on what I did to inspire this
1.  The use of painted models - Nothing brings out the wow factor in our hobby like painted models.  Its one of the reasons why I try to play with painted models all the time.  Painted models is what brings our hobby full circle, what really brings the game to life.  People interested in the game will really be drawn to painted armies playing on painted terrain more so then grey models or black painted ones. Anytime somebody asked me about the game, it was the painted models that drew their attention.  People might be intimated  by the idea of having to paint their entire army, this is where you bring up the idea of painting techniques, ways to paint models fast and easy.  I always tell those interested that I could show them how to paint models and will go out of my way to support them. 
2.  The Fluff -
      Depending on what you are trying to sell, a good backstory always makes a good selling point.  As it stands, 40K has one of the best back stories that any sci-fi fan can grow to enjoy.  I have seen people get into the game by having a 40K player recommend a book to them or by just talking up the back story.  Its definitely one of the reasons that brought me into the game.  Reading the fluff of a traitor legion called the Night Lords back in the old index astartes  articles got me into wanting to build my first Chaos army.  The different types of armies each with their own back story makes for a game that can  entice any sci-fan.
3.  Videos Games - Let me tell you a little bit about myself.  I was a gamer first before getting involved with 40K.  The guy carrying his big ol PC to his friends lan party, that was me.  Around 6-7 years ago game developer Relic dropped a little game called Dawn of War.  After reading some previews about the game and catching a segment on xplay, I just had to have this game.  I bought the game and just had a blast with it along with friends when low and behold as my wife and I were walking in our local mall I spotted something familiar standing outside a games workshop store.  It was a space marine statue, one of the guys from dawn of war the game I loved, I instantly dragged my wife into the store and the rest as they say is history.
In closing, as I stated at the beginning of this poat, its are responsibility of us gamers to grow our hobby.  Getting new people into the game will ensure not only that we will have new players to play against, but that our hobby will last for years and not grow stale. 
Hobby progress - i am currently working on a dark mechanicus wing for my chaos space marine army.  I am about 80% done with painting up my warpsmith, put together a forgefiend, a defiler and 2 heldrakes. I had an old dred that I will be using as a helbrute. I also startes revamping my old Tau army and have redone all 34 fire warriors, my 4 crisis suits, and my 2 commander models. I still need to get my vehicles done for them as well.