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.

Chaos Space Marine Codex P. II

Sorry for my long absence guys,  to be honest I had started writing this next post almost a month ago but with work, school, and real life getting in the way, I just didnt have the time to finish it.  So in my last post I spoke of what I saw as my winners of the chaos codex, in this post I will continue with my review and concentrate on the not so good units of the codex.  Let me start of by saying the following, overall the codex is really good.  It gives players I believe the tools to make a competitive list that still has some fluff to them.  However I believe there was lot of lost opportunities that would have made this book the knockout that it should have been.  The hype surrounding the fact that Phil Kelly was the author, the rumours surrounding it just made it seem that this book would be the be all end all book of 40k, in fact what we got here is one of the most balanced books of the game.  Again, this is a Kelly production and it will take time for us to see that this book is a success.  With that being said, let me get to the meat of my post, the losers of the codex.

Defilers - While it can be argued that the defiler is better in this edition, the cost of this beastie is just way out there. 195 points for a stock armor 12 walker is just unacceptable, yes it has a battle cannon but go 2nd and guess what is the first thing you lose. If the defiler was armor 13 then maybe it would be worth it. If Phil would have kept it at the same price, then definitely it would be worth it but at armor 12 no way. I would have loved this guy priced at 135 points, with all options either being free or for minimal cost. The maulerfiend at 125 base is a heck of a lot better and brings a lot more to the table including a 12 inch move and move through cover. I expect to see a lot less of these guys on the table which is too bad as I love the model.

 Possessed - Wow was I expecting a heck of a lot more from these guys. At first glance, these guys look a lot better; same stat line which was good before, better possessed table which is based on a D3 roll with all 3 abilities being good, fleet built in and now as they are considered daemons fear. You then look at the price and all is lost. 26 points a model!!?? No gun, no 2+ save, what the heck Phil? That price tag should at least include a 2+ save, the mark of your choice, or 3 attacks base. For 5 points more you can get a terminator, 'nuff said. These models are just gorgeous so like I did in the old edition, I will probably pull these guys out, (this is becoming a theme now with me liking the models so much that I will be playing them even though their rules are terrible).

 Warp Talons - Man was I expecting a lot for these guys being a Nightlords player and all. I was expecting elite Raptors with ton of options, instead I get a unit that is horribly overcosted and with virtually no options at all other then marks.  Its cool that the champ can get 2 rolls on the chaos table but that is too random to base your unit on.  What Phil should have done with these guys is make it so that you can take any weapon sort of like the vanguard veterans out of the space marine books.  Grenades should have been a no-brainer as well, the fact that these guys are an assault unit with no grenades has me shaking my head what the heck was he thinking? 2 wounds would have made these guys extremely good.

 Mutilators - I have been following the rumors for the codex since the news broke that Chaos would be the next book. In trying to learn what was coming out, I looked and looked for that one unit that would allow me to run a hyper elite army.  Basically, an army with as little model count as possible, be tough as nails and give me what I want to call a chaos "paladin" army.  When rumors broke that chosen terminators would give me what I wanted, I waited with baited breath.  Once we learned that terminators were only going to be 1 wound, and not the hyper elite that I wanted them to be, we heard of a new unit, the so-called close combat Obliterator.  With 2 wounds, having the equalivent of terminator armor and being able to wield 2 sets of  specialized weapons, they sounded like they would fit the bill for me.  Then you get the negatives, slow and purposeful, no range weapon of any kind, and max units of 3 makes this a poor choice to try to do the super elite chaos army that I wanted.  Why oh why are they slow and purposeful?  They are a close combat unit which cant run so either you deep strike them in or spend the points on a landraider to get these guys across the board.  Just doesnt make sense, maybe I will give them a go as a rentinue for Abaddon complete with a Landraider, other then that, nope.  And what kills these guys even more, the models themselves which are some of the worst models I have ever seen GW put out. 

These are the worst of the chaos book per my opinion.  The internet will say that there are others but in my opinion the rest of the book is really good.  Time will tell with this book, and with the next 6th edition codex coming out next month, we wont have to wait long.

 

New Chaos Dex

The moment has finally come, the moment that my chosen army will once again breathe life and be the scourge of the table top, finally my army will be good as grey knights, or that is what most internet pundits have been stating since the release of the codex last week.  The truth however is a lot further from that as nobody has been able to come up with the netlist to rule them all.  As for me, I am actually quite happy with this turn of events as I find the codex to be like a fine cigar, to be enjoyed rather then rushed, to be savored rather then scarfed down, etc.  I dont want an army that is auto-take, an easy win button like how Necrons and Grey Knights are at the moment, but an army that rewards the thinking player, an army that utilizes the idea of combined arms where synergy between units is paramount.  I see this codex as that book, the thinking man's army and not one where you will see every player bringing the same list over and over.  This is a Phil Kelly production after all, where numerous builds are in, all can be competitive, and all fun to play.  For the last couple of weeks, I have read the book backwards and forwards and I still have not seen all of the combinations that are possible.  Every day I discover something new, something unique, something that I would not have thought of after going through the book the time before and this is exciting to me.  My imagination is going crazy on all of the possible builds I can do with my armies, all of the options I can take and with allies the sky is the limit.  What I thought I would do now is to discuss some of my winners of the dex as well as my thoughts on why.

Winner - Chaos Lords
 These guys saw a major improvement from the last dex.  The options that these guys have now are limitless, allowing you to build a lord that you can truely call your own.  You want a beatstick, give him the mark of Khrone, mount him on a juggernaut and give him the ax of blindness.  You want a more shooty lord, mount him on a bike and give him the brand and you have a fast moving mini hellhound that can really put out the hurt on horde and MEQ units.  All and all a winner


Winner - Chaos Space Marines
This unit is both a winner and a loser.  Let me explain, the unit definitely got a huge boost for the number of options available to them.  The fact that Marks could be taken without the icon means that marks cant be just shot off.  Gift of mutation on the champion is a nice little boost that can be good if you roll well, a homage to the old 3.5 dex of allowing you to tool up your champions.  Big squads is still in there and the base cost of each model is the lowest MEQ you could get.  Now the bad, if you tool these guys back to last edition stats, you are paying the same amount in points as the last book.  You start adding in the new stuff like marks, VOTLW, etc, and the cost starts going up.  I would be good with the price but the fact that these guys are not fearless or have some sort of ability to not be run down really takes the cake.  I would easily pay for fearless as a mark, all you are left with is an icon that can get sniped out easily especially in this edition at the cost of 25 points!!  Still not bad if taken cheap or if babysat by a fearless character.


Winner - Chaos Bikers
A unit that for the most part is a winner due to the fact of their new points cost.  They now cost the same amount Raptors cost in the last book which means big squads are a viable choice now.  6th edition has also made bikes a heck of lot better with jink saves, hammer of wrath, etc.  A good sized squad with a couple of melta guns and a mark will run you under 300 points.


Winner - Heldrake
To be honest, i didnt believe the hype when they first announced this unit.  Still didnt believe it when reading the heldrakes rules when I had the codex in hand.  After trying it for a couple of games thanks to a friend of mine letting me borrow his all I can say is awesome.  The heldrake is really good at one thing, killing infantry.  Yes this unit was billed at being the ultimate anti flyer unit however with its baleflamer is the scourge of infantry everywhere.  Its also remarkablely tough with its 5 + invul and armor 12.  It will not die just adds to its toughness which I saw first hand when I made several rolls to restore hullpoints.  Of all of the daemon engines, this one is definitely the best of the lot.  

I am still digesting the codex at this point, these were the stand outs that I saw and that I actually tried out.  I will go over the losers of the codex in my next post along with the lists that I plan on running.  All in all a great codex but one that is also filled with many missed opportunities.