I'll admit, since the release of General's Handbook 2017, it's been hard to motivate myself to work on 40k content; not because 8th Edition is bad, but that Age of Sigmar is just so good!
But if one army was going to do it, it was gonna be Death Guard.
I'd always intended to build a Death Guard army, and was meticulously working my way through all the models from Dark Imperium, but in the time between Dark Imperium's release and the eventual Death Guard range hitting the shelves, my attention span (which, for those of you who have been following my hobby journey for any length of time will know, is not a force to be reckoned with by any stretch) led me in other directions.
But then I received a casual invite by a group of local gamers to join a slow-grow army building challenge. And if there is one aspect of the hobby I can't resist, its army builders! The challenge of hitting those incremental goals that culminates in finishing the process with a fully painted army is incredibly satisfying. It was also not going to be at a breakneck speed, which is great for me, as it allows me to chip away at the army at a pace that still allows me to enjoy the process, because for me, painting models is very enjoyable. In the frantic madness and mayhem of work, life and parenthood, those times where I can sit at my desk, put on a podcast or tv show and just slow down, really help me to wind down at the end of a hectic day.
The choice for me was simple. It was always going to be Death Guard! With new models hitting the shelves week after week, it was a no-brainer for me.
One thing that caught me a little off-guard, and was at first a little awkward, was the use of Power Levels instead of traditional points. The organisers of the army builder had chosen this for a variety of reasons. The Builder was not going to be a power-gaming, points-scraping win at all costs process, and so the simplified army building process naturally leant itself better toward what they wanted to achieve. It also meant that each incremental jump was easier to plan. Stages would be in 25 Power Level chunks, which isn't actually very much, especially in the context of Death Guard, a traditionally low-model-count elite army. The first 25 points would be pretty flexible, but at 50 Power Levels, the army must be Battle Forged. There would be a gaming element introduced once we hit Battle Forged at 50PL. There were no rules around using models in my army that had already been painted, so that would further assist me, having already painted a handful of models. With the structure of the challenge laid out before me, and a shiny new codex in hand, I wasted no time in planning out my first two stages.
First thing's first, I needed to settle on the Warlord. I decided to go with a Nurgle Daemon Prince, as not only is he tough as nails (made tougher by the Plate), he also gives me some psychic support, a really useful aura, and combat abilities that give me a healthy amount of punch should he make it to the front line. To make sure that he didn't end up with a smoking crater where his body used to be, I also included three Deathshrouds! I've just finished assembling these bodyguards and they… are… HUGE! They stand head and shoulders over most other models in the range! This gave me two seriously intimidating combat threats, but I'd need more than four models to win games. So, having spent almost 20 Power Points already, I focused on creating a tough, defensive element in my army.
The first stop was two units of seven Plague Marines, one kitted out with Blight Launchers, the other with Plasma Guns. This gave me some reach and mid-range fire power to be able to damage elements that are either terrifying in combat or will end up pinning down my combat elements in less than ideal situations.
Being well aware that Death Guard draws their strength from combinations and layering buffs over buffs, I chose to add a Blight Hauler and a Foul Blightspawn. The Hauler not only gives me some long-ranged anti tank shooting, but essentially acts as mobile cover for my Plague Marines, bumping their already respectable save up to a 2+. It also happens to be one of my favourite models in the new range! The Blightspawn was a unit I really hadn't given much attention to until an impulse purchase resulted in him joining my collection. His ranged weapon (albeit short ranged) is incredibly powerful, but his real strength comes from his stench, which cripples the offensive capabilities of oncoming assaults. These two would form the core of my Nurgle Apple, allowing all fourteen Plague Marines to benefit from both auras, and creating a tough-as-nails moving fire base.
I think that this formation will be the foundation of the entire army in later stages. I fully intend to add another two Haulers to increase the area covered by their cover aura, but also to add to the potential and reliability of the unit! And I'm sure there will be a few more Plague Marines added to the fold!
Has 8th Edition inspired you to start a new army? or build upon an existing one?
Thanks for reading,
Gabe
Showing posts with label 40K. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 40K. Show all posts
Sunday, 1 October 2017
Sunday, 13 August 2017
#97: Grey Knights 2017 Codex Review
With 8th Edition settling in to all of our brains, the wondrous assault of codexes has begun. Games Workshop has promised ten before the end of the year, and we've already got three of them! Space Marines was, of course, the first to drop; and with it came the select few who moaned about Marines getting all the attention, like they're not some kind of super-popular user friendly poster boys that spearhead the 40k universe and in turn, the game. But we've become accustomed to this after literally every space marine release.
To be honest, I wasn't overly stressed about picking up the new Space Marine codex, as there were three others that had my attention. Specifically, i was extremely excited for Grey Knights, Chaos Space Marines and, of course, Death Guard (hit the shelves already, Morty!). Thankfully for me, unfortunately for my wallet, both the GK and CSM codexes hit shelves yesterday, and while I will be dedicating a significant amount of content to CSM in the future, tonight I want to focus solely upon Grey Knights, look at whats changed, and what new tech we have at our disposal!
First thing's first. If you've been keeping track of the 40K scene, you would know that there are four new unit entires in the codex. The first two are the Stormhawk Interceptor and the Stormtalon Gunship. This is actually a pretty big deal for Grey Knight players, as one of the biggest shortcomings of the army is ranged high-strength, high-damage shooting. Storm bolters and Psilencers, while insane against a lot of things, just can't get the job done against things like Land Raiders and Knight Titans. Even Psycannons really struggle, only having AP-1… This left most GK players having to sort out their issues in close combat, which is much easier said than done in a lot of cases. Nemesis weapons are brutal, especially when combined with Hammerhand, but with the addition of the two fliers, we now have access to very mobile, very powerful gun platforms capable of crippling even the most powerful of units!
My personal pick of the two is definitely the Stormhawk Interceptor. Not only is it a little more durable at T7, but it packs significantly more firepower and gains plenty of bonuses against units with the FLY keyword; perfect when dealing with threats that can outmanoeuvre footslogging ground forces.
The third unit is the mighty Chaplain. As if we weren't spoilt enough already with support characters, we now have access to Terminator Chaplains! With a 6" LD9 bubble, a 6" Re-roll To Hit bubble, a 4+ Invulnerable save and all the standard Grey Knight perks (packing Psyk-out Grenades, being a Psyker, Daemon Hunters and so on), the Chaplain actually looks like a fantastic utility character that will get plenty of mileage! He's great at buffing those around him, he has full access to the new Psychic discipline and can punch on with the best of them. A definite winner from this codex!
Lastly, and probably most anticipated, is the inclusion of a Grand Master in Nemesis Dreadknight armour. Holy wow! Talk about bringing a gun to a pillow fight. While Grand Masters are amazing, and Dreadknights are a force to be reckoned with, the blending of the two together has single-handedly created one of the most terrifying HQ choices in the game so far! Don't believe me?
This T6, 12-wound monster rocks a 2+ save, an absolutely brutal combat weapon (if you go the Greatsword, you're hitting on 2's re-rolling 1's at S10… Yikes!), two ridiculous shooting profiles, and if that wasn't enough, he can cast and deny two psychic powers each phase and rocks an improved 4+ Invulnerable save. Pretty amazing, right? That being said, all of this doesn't come cheap. A fully equipped GMiDKA weighs in at a whopping 285 points! But as you'll see later, he's worth every point with the right combination.
The rest of the unit entires remain largely unchanged.
Now, we get into the really cool, army specific stuff. Firstly, if I run a Battleforged Grey Knight army, all Troops gain the equivalent of Objective Secured (awesome!), and every Psyker in my detachment receives +1 to cast and deny Psychic Powers… WHAT?!? Suddenly, this Psyker-heavy army has become incredibly dominant over the psychic phase (as if it wasn't already!). Fantastic.
New warlord traits are pretty handy! While there are a few minor buffs and auras, I think the two standouts are Nemesis Lord (add 1 to the Damage characteristic of your Warlord's melee weapons) and Lore Master (your Warlord knows an additional Psychic power). Voldus comes with this as standard, giving him some serious mental abilities.
It wouldn't be a Codex without some Relics of Titan, and they did not disappoint. While there are a few in there that are… let's say, less than mind-blowing, all have their uses. The Fury of Deimos is a nifty Rapid Fire 3 relic Storm Bolter that offers some added punch. The Banner of Refining Flame is perfect for all of your Plaguebearer-toasting needs. And the Soul Glaive has returned as one of the most potent melee weapons in the Grey Knight Arsenal. There's also a pretty sweet Relic hammer in there, that if combined with Nemesis Lord, has a damage profile of 5!! No D6, no variables. One hit from this is gonna straight up obliterate most infantry characters!
I do want to give special mention to the Cuirass of Sacrifice, which essentially gives you a 5+ "save-after-your-save" against wounds and mortal wounds. While its not a sure thing, it may keep your prize hero alive for a smidge longer!
The new Sanctic Discipline is pretty special too! While Purge Soul, Hammerhand and Gate of Infinity were carried over directly from the Index, we see the return of Vortex of Doom (for some juicy mortal wound output!), Astral Aim (line of sight-blocking terrain? What line of sight-blocking terrain?) and the golden power to rule all powers; Sanctuary. Sactuary is amazing. If it's cast on a unit, that unit gains a 5+ Invulnerable save. If it already has an Invulnerable save, add 1 to that save. You already know where I'm going with this, but theres one more piece to the puzzle.
Stratagems.
Sixteen of them. And while a few are very situational, there are at least five or six that are insanely good! These range from being able to Combat squad a unit mid-game, casting an additional power with one of your units, piling in twice in the combat phase, shunting twice with Interceptors, even a cheeky Orbital Bombardment, the list goes on… but there are three I want to focus on.
The first is Psychic Onslaught, which adds 1 to the Strength and AP of all Psycannons, Heavy Psycannons, Psilencers and Gatling Psilencers in a GK unit (read Dreadknight).
The second is Only in Death Does Duty End, which allows you to shoot or fight with a GK Character after he's been slain (go down swinging!).
And lastly, and easily my favourite, Heed the Prognosticars; at the start of your turn, and lasting until the start of your next turn, add 1 to a GK character's Invulnerable save.
Heed the Prognosticars.
Sanctuary.
Grand Master in Dreadknight Armour.
Suddenly, the very expensive beatstick has a 2+ invulnerable save. You can increase his damage output in shooting with Psychic Onslaught. You can increase his damage output in combat with Nemesis Lord. And if someone manages to kill him, you can punch on or shoot both your amazing guns on the way out!
And that is why I think the Grand Master is the absolute shining star of this Codex! The amount of support and buffing you can give him, with pretty incredible mobility, is actually obscene.
But you know what they say; the best laid plan rarely survives contact with the enemy. I'm very keen to try out the codex with a couple of different builds before I get too carried away! All in all, it's a fantastic release, and as a GK player, I could not be happier!
I'll be doing a review of the CSM book soon, so if you're a little more inclined toward anarchy and carnage, I'll be catering to you too!
Thanks for reading,
Gabe
To be honest, I wasn't overly stressed about picking up the new Space Marine codex, as there were three others that had my attention. Specifically, i was extremely excited for Grey Knights, Chaos Space Marines and, of course, Death Guard (hit the shelves already, Morty!). Thankfully for me, unfortunately for my wallet, both the GK and CSM codexes hit shelves yesterday, and while I will be dedicating a significant amount of content to CSM in the future, tonight I want to focus solely upon Grey Knights, look at whats changed, and what new tech we have at our disposal!
First thing's first. If you've been keeping track of the 40K scene, you would know that there are four new unit entires in the codex. The first two are the Stormhawk Interceptor and the Stormtalon Gunship. This is actually a pretty big deal for Grey Knight players, as one of the biggest shortcomings of the army is ranged high-strength, high-damage shooting. Storm bolters and Psilencers, while insane against a lot of things, just can't get the job done against things like Land Raiders and Knight Titans. Even Psycannons really struggle, only having AP-1… This left most GK players having to sort out their issues in close combat, which is much easier said than done in a lot of cases. Nemesis weapons are brutal, especially when combined with Hammerhand, but with the addition of the two fliers, we now have access to very mobile, very powerful gun platforms capable of crippling even the most powerful of units!
My personal pick of the two is definitely the Stormhawk Interceptor. Not only is it a little more durable at T7, but it packs significantly more firepower and gains plenty of bonuses against units with the FLY keyword; perfect when dealing with threats that can outmanoeuvre footslogging ground forces.
The third unit is the mighty Chaplain. As if we weren't spoilt enough already with support characters, we now have access to Terminator Chaplains! With a 6" LD9 bubble, a 6" Re-roll To Hit bubble, a 4+ Invulnerable save and all the standard Grey Knight perks (packing Psyk-out Grenades, being a Psyker, Daemon Hunters and so on), the Chaplain actually looks like a fantastic utility character that will get plenty of mileage! He's great at buffing those around him, he has full access to the new Psychic discipline and can punch on with the best of them. A definite winner from this codex!
Lastly, and probably most anticipated, is the inclusion of a Grand Master in Nemesis Dreadknight armour. Holy wow! Talk about bringing a gun to a pillow fight. While Grand Masters are amazing, and Dreadknights are a force to be reckoned with, the blending of the two together has single-handedly created one of the most terrifying HQ choices in the game so far! Don't believe me?
This T6, 12-wound monster rocks a 2+ save, an absolutely brutal combat weapon (if you go the Greatsword, you're hitting on 2's re-rolling 1's at S10… Yikes!), two ridiculous shooting profiles, and if that wasn't enough, he can cast and deny two psychic powers each phase and rocks an improved 4+ Invulnerable save. Pretty amazing, right? That being said, all of this doesn't come cheap. A fully equipped GMiDKA weighs in at a whopping 285 points! But as you'll see later, he's worth every point with the right combination.
The rest of the unit entires remain largely unchanged.
Now, we get into the really cool, army specific stuff. Firstly, if I run a Battleforged Grey Knight army, all Troops gain the equivalent of Objective Secured (awesome!), and every Psyker in my detachment receives +1 to cast and deny Psychic Powers… WHAT?!? Suddenly, this Psyker-heavy army has become incredibly dominant over the psychic phase (as if it wasn't already!). Fantastic.
New warlord traits are pretty handy! While there are a few minor buffs and auras, I think the two standouts are Nemesis Lord (add 1 to the Damage characteristic of your Warlord's melee weapons) and Lore Master (your Warlord knows an additional Psychic power). Voldus comes with this as standard, giving him some serious mental abilities.
It wouldn't be a Codex without some Relics of Titan, and they did not disappoint. While there are a few in there that are… let's say, less than mind-blowing, all have their uses. The Fury of Deimos is a nifty Rapid Fire 3 relic Storm Bolter that offers some added punch. The Banner of Refining Flame is perfect for all of your Plaguebearer-toasting needs. And the Soul Glaive has returned as one of the most potent melee weapons in the Grey Knight Arsenal. There's also a pretty sweet Relic hammer in there, that if combined with Nemesis Lord, has a damage profile of 5!! No D6, no variables. One hit from this is gonna straight up obliterate most infantry characters!
I do want to give special mention to the Cuirass of Sacrifice, which essentially gives you a 5+ "save-after-your-save" against wounds and mortal wounds. While its not a sure thing, it may keep your prize hero alive for a smidge longer!
The new Sanctic Discipline is pretty special too! While Purge Soul, Hammerhand and Gate of Infinity were carried over directly from the Index, we see the return of Vortex of Doom (for some juicy mortal wound output!), Astral Aim (line of sight-blocking terrain? What line of sight-blocking terrain?) and the golden power to rule all powers; Sanctuary. Sactuary is amazing. If it's cast on a unit, that unit gains a 5+ Invulnerable save. If it already has an Invulnerable save, add 1 to that save. You already know where I'm going with this, but theres one more piece to the puzzle.
Stratagems.
Sixteen of them. And while a few are very situational, there are at least five or six that are insanely good! These range from being able to Combat squad a unit mid-game, casting an additional power with one of your units, piling in twice in the combat phase, shunting twice with Interceptors, even a cheeky Orbital Bombardment, the list goes on… but there are three I want to focus on.
The first is Psychic Onslaught, which adds 1 to the Strength and AP of all Psycannons, Heavy Psycannons, Psilencers and Gatling Psilencers in a GK unit (read Dreadknight).
The second is Only in Death Does Duty End, which allows you to shoot or fight with a GK Character after he's been slain (go down swinging!).
And lastly, and easily my favourite, Heed the Prognosticars; at the start of your turn, and lasting until the start of your next turn, add 1 to a GK character's Invulnerable save.
Heed the Prognosticars.
Sanctuary.
Grand Master in Dreadknight Armour.
Suddenly, the very expensive beatstick has a 2+ invulnerable save. You can increase his damage output in shooting with Psychic Onslaught. You can increase his damage output in combat with Nemesis Lord. And if someone manages to kill him, you can punch on or shoot both your amazing guns on the way out!
And that is why I think the Grand Master is the absolute shining star of this Codex! The amount of support and buffing you can give him, with pretty incredible mobility, is actually obscene.
But you know what they say; the best laid plan rarely survives contact with the enemy. I'm very keen to try out the codex with a couple of different builds before I get too carried away! All in all, it's a fantastic release, and as a GK player, I could not be happier!
I'll be doing a review of the CSM book soon, so if you're a little more inclined toward anarchy and carnage, I'll be catering to you too!
Thanks for reading,
Gabe
Sunday, 16 July 2017
#92: Viral Sensation...
Let's talk about Death Guard.
Mortarion's minions have long been a staple in the ranks of Chaos Marine players, and has garnered a die-hard following, and we're gonna look at why.
To truly understand the love that Chaos players have for Nurgle's favoured sons, we have to go all the way back to 3rd Edition 40k (an edition from an age before a lot of us got into the game at all). In that glorious age, chaos players were gifted with the Chaos Marine Codex against which all to follow would be compared to. It was revolutionary for its time, with rules and war gear specific to each of the original nine traitor legions. Iron Warriors had access to the then-incredibly brutal Basilisk, Khorne Daemon Princes were almost guaranteed Turn One charges, the list goes on. Sounds powerful, right?
It was! It was the vessel through which Chaos Marines ascended to complete domination of the game, so much so that it was partly responsible for the swift introduction of Fourth Edition, and a dial down of Chaos. From this massive high, Traitor Marines plummeted off the top tier, thanks to a combination of bland codexes and editions that favoured assault armies less and less. This left CSM players in a very tricky place, as they were naturally drawn toward "Min-Maxing" (the concept of taking the most points-efficient compulsory units to leave as many points left over to spend on "Best in Slot" powerhouse units. In this time, Plague Marines naturally climbed to the top of the ladder when it came to boots on the ground; they were tough as nails, had good options, high toughness, Feel No Pain (in some iterations) as well as the option to double up on weapons such as Plasma Guns with next to no real risk.
That's not to say that other Legions didn't get a look in, but one reason that Death Guard claimed top spot was that not only were they great in game, they were dripping (literally… Gross!) with character. Where some legions were only denoted by the colour of their armour, when you saw a Death Guard army, you knew exactly where its allegiance lay. The iconic green with flashes of gore, pus and sores would always stand out. From the bloated infantry to the dilapidated, rusting vehicles and decaying monsters, they were distinct in their origin.
Slowly, they began to grow some traction within the community as well as the design team. The Typhus model is iconic, and the Nurgle Daemon Prince released in the first wave of the Medusa V campaign still stands tall amongst the greatest chaos models ever made.
They continued their domination (maybe not in the game overall, but certainly within Chaos) into the 6th/7th Edition Codex, where Plague Marines were oft overlooked for the more affordable Cultists, but Nurgle Bikers and Nurgle Spawn formed the foundation of some very scary and extremely difficult to kill Death Stars in the Age of Deathstardom.
This strength and durability was only compounded and intensified by the release of the short-lived glory that was Traitor Legions Supplement.
And that leads us to the present time, mere weeks after 8th Edition has dropped, launching the ever-present and stubborn Death Guard, an army that refused to be held down by the rules and the meta, once again into ascencion to the forefront of Chaos players' minds; and they are recruiting new followers every day!
This new wave of Death Guard models is out of control. For years and years (and I do not exaggerate at all!), people have been crying out for plastic Plague Marines to replace the ageing metal/plastic then fine cast/plastic Seven Man kit. And they have not been disappointed. We haven't even seen the multi-part kit yet, but the Easy to Build and Dark Imperium models are on a completely different level! The detail is absurd, from divets and rust spots on the armour, to slugs, tentacles and entrails bursting forth from the damaged Mk3 armour (a mark of armour iconic to the Death Guard).
And that's just the rank and file. The Lord of Contagion in his archaic suit of Cataphractii armour to the ominous, floating disease machine that is the Foetid Bloat-Drone, and the lumbering Noxious Blightbringer are all amazing models, not to mention the many maniacal sculpts of Poxwalkers.
One model that I disliked when I first saw it is the Malignant Plaguecaster. That was until I assembled and painted it, and now it is easily one of my favourites.
And this is all just from the starter kit. We've seen teases of the multi-part Plague Marines, a kit that makes massive corrupted Terminators (or their infected equivalent), one of the coolest looking artillery vehicles ever gifted upon Chaos, and of course, the big man himself.
The Daemon Primarch, Mortarion.
To say that I'm excited about Death Guard is an understatement of biblical proportions. For the longest time, I had packs of Death Guard upgrade kits from Forgeworld, just waiting for the right time to make a Death Guard army; and well… I don't think anyone can fault me for saying that now is the time. With my Grey Knights approaching the level where I can play any sized game with painted models, I've been diverting a small portion of my allocated painting time to the Sons of Mortarion.
And before anyone goes and accuses me of "Band-wagoning", I'd like to take the time to politely tell you that that would be 100% true. I've always had a bit of a soft spot for Nurgle armies (see Daemons of Nurgle and Clan Pestilens), as well as Chaos in general, so it didn't take much to convince myself to dive in head first.
But now that I've decided to go for it, I feel like the release will take an absolute eternity to arrive.
What do you think of the Death Guard? Will you be joining the ranks of Nurgle? If not, how are you planning on taking down the pestilent hordes of Pox Walkers shambling in your direction?
Thanks for reading, as always.
Gabriel
Mortarion's minions have long been a staple in the ranks of Chaos Marine players, and has garnered a die-hard following, and we're gonna look at why.
To truly understand the love that Chaos players have for Nurgle's favoured sons, we have to go all the way back to 3rd Edition 40k (an edition from an age before a lot of us got into the game at all). In that glorious age, chaos players were gifted with the Chaos Marine Codex against which all to follow would be compared to. It was revolutionary for its time, with rules and war gear specific to each of the original nine traitor legions. Iron Warriors had access to the then-incredibly brutal Basilisk, Khorne Daemon Princes were almost guaranteed Turn One charges, the list goes on. Sounds powerful, right?
It was! It was the vessel through which Chaos Marines ascended to complete domination of the game, so much so that it was partly responsible for the swift introduction of Fourth Edition, and a dial down of Chaos. From this massive high, Traitor Marines plummeted off the top tier, thanks to a combination of bland codexes and editions that favoured assault armies less and less. This left CSM players in a very tricky place, as they were naturally drawn toward "Min-Maxing" (the concept of taking the most points-efficient compulsory units to leave as many points left over to spend on "Best in Slot" powerhouse units. In this time, Plague Marines naturally climbed to the top of the ladder when it came to boots on the ground; they were tough as nails, had good options, high toughness, Feel No Pain (in some iterations) as well as the option to double up on weapons such as Plasma Guns with next to no real risk.
That's not to say that other Legions didn't get a look in, but one reason that Death Guard claimed top spot was that not only were they great in game, they were dripping (literally… Gross!) with character. Where some legions were only denoted by the colour of their armour, when you saw a Death Guard army, you knew exactly where its allegiance lay. The iconic green with flashes of gore, pus and sores would always stand out. From the bloated infantry to the dilapidated, rusting vehicles and decaying monsters, they were distinct in their origin.
Slowly, they began to grow some traction within the community as well as the design team. The Typhus model is iconic, and the Nurgle Daemon Prince released in the first wave of the Medusa V campaign still stands tall amongst the greatest chaos models ever made.
They continued their domination (maybe not in the game overall, but certainly within Chaos) into the 6th/7th Edition Codex, where Plague Marines were oft overlooked for the more affordable Cultists, but Nurgle Bikers and Nurgle Spawn formed the foundation of some very scary and extremely difficult to kill Death Stars in the Age of Deathstardom.
This strength and durability was only compounded and intensified by the release of the short-lived glory that was Traitor Legions Supplement.
And that leads us to the present time, mere weeks after 8th Edition has dropped, launching the ever-present and stubborn Death Guard, an army that refused to be held down by the rules and the meta, once again into ascencion to the forefront of Chaos players' minds; and they are recruiting new followers every day!
This new wave of Death Guard models is out of control. For years and years (and I do not exaggerate at all!), people have been crying out for plastic Plague Marines to replace the ageing metal/plastic then fine cast/plastic Seven Man kit. And they have not been disappointed. We haven't even seen the multi-part kit yet, but the Easy to Build and Dark Imperium models are on a completely different level! The detail is absurd, from divets and rust spots on the armour, to slugs, tentacles and entrails bursting forth from the damaged Mk3 armour (a mark of armour iconic to the Death Guard).
And that's just the rank and file. The Lord of Contagion in his archaic suit of Cataphractii armour to the ominous, floating disease machine that is the Foetid Bloat-Drone, and the lumbering Noxious Blightbringer are all amazing models, not to mention the many maniacal sculpts of Poxwalkers.
One model that I disliked when I first saw it is the Malignant Plaguecaster. That was until I assembled and painted it, and now it is easily one of my favourites.
And this is all just from the starter kit. We've seen teases of the multi-part Plague Marines, a kit that makes massive corrupted Terminators (or their infected equivalent), one of the coolest looking artillery vehicles ever gifted upon Chaos, and of course, the big man himself.
The Daemon Primarch, Mortarion.
To say that I'm excited about Death Guard is an understatement of biblical proportions. For the longest time, I had packs of Death Guard upgrade kits from Forgeworld, just waiting for the right time to make a Death Guard army; and well… I don't think anyone can fault me for saying that now is the time. With my Grey Knights approaching the level where I can play any sized game with painted models, I've been diverting a small portion of my allocated painting time to the Sons of Mortarion.
And before anyone goes and accuses me of "Band-wagoning", I'd like to take the time to politely tell you that that would be 100% true. I've always had a bit of a soft spot for Nurgle armies (see Daemons of Nurgle and Clan Pestilens), as well as Chaos in general, so it didn't take much to convince myself to dive in head first.
But now that I've decided to go for it, I feel like the release will take an absolute eternity to arrive.
What do you think of the Death Guard? Will you be joining the ranks of Nurgle? If not, how are you planning on taking down the pestilent hordes of Pox Walkers shambling in your direction?
Thanks for reading, as always.
Gabriel
Sunday, 18 June 2017
#90: 8th Edition 40k Battle Report 1000 Points - Grey Knights Vs. World Eaters
After getting my hands on the much-anticipated 8th Edition Starter Box (with its wealth of amazing miniatures and a hefty, hardcover rulebook), I was chomping at the bit to roll some dice and shoot some guns! A good mate of mine was quick to accept the challenge with his heavily converted World Eaters.
As I continue crushing my way through the painting, and a large amount of army construction was dictated by what I had (mostly) painted. Grand Master Voldus is a beast of a character, and was a perfect fit for my mandatory HQ slot. He's well and truly capable of putting the hurt on with his nifty hammer, while a 2+ 4+ and 6 wounds means he'll take some dedicated punishment before he goes down.
I took two troop choices; five Strike Marines with Storm Bolters and Swords (mounted in an Assault Cannon Razorback) and six Terminators sporting Halberds, a Hammer and a Psycannon. These two units were backed up by a towering Dreadknight with a Heavy Psycannon and Gatling Psilencer. I only realised after uploading the above image that I realised that I am a good 80+ points under, but no matter.
My opponent brought the heat in his list, managing to fit in some pretty terrifying elements. Kharn the Betrayer was joined by five Khorne Berserkers in a Land Raider, while ten cultists lurked in the shadow of a converted Helbrute and probably the most impressive Maulerfiend conversion I've yet seen, resembling a hulking, oversized abomination of a Contemptor, drawing parts from the Lord of Skulls kit to great effect. If there was an army that could rival and overpower Grey Knights in combat, it was going to be Chaos!
We both agreed to play a simple Kill Point scenario, and my opponent chose deployment. My terminators and Voldus were held in reserve to strike any weak point that my opponent exposed. The Razorback and Dreadknight both set up behind the dilapidated redoubt in an attempt to gain a degree of protection from the four Lascannon barrels staring me down from across the battlefield.
Knowing perfectly well that the largest elements of my army were yet to arrive and reveal their hand, my opponent deployed his army in a compact formation (other than cultists, but let's be real… they're cultists and therefore a completely expendable resource thats essentially worth nothing to Kharn). This meant that if I was going to deep strike into a position that posed any threat, whatever I didn't kill with the alpha strike (and there are some tough-as-nails elements there) was going to counter charge and do horrible things to me.
Taking first turn, I moved up with the Razorback, being sure to not only obscure myself from the horrific firepower on show from the heavy tank, as well as giving the Assault Cannon a juicy target in the Helbrute. The Dreadknight was too far away from the action to add any firepower himself, so advanced a few more inches across the board. I decided to hold my reverses back until I could properly support them. After spinning the barrels of the assault cannon, I managed to strip three wounds off the Helbrute.
Chaos were pretty reserved on their first turn, not willing to break formation just yet, and rightly so. I was outgunned in turn one and hadn't fully revealed my hand. But the Chaos shooting phase really set the tone for the entire game. Four Lascannons, a twin Heavy Bolter (from the Land Raider) and a Twin Autocannon (from the Helbrute) fired upon the Razorback in an attempt to strand the squad inside, and delay their advance. But with all those shots coming my way, somehow, the Razorback did not suffer a single wound. Not one. This luck and degree of disbelief would continue...
In turn two, the Strike squad piled out of their transport, the Dreadknight moved into range of the Land Raider, and my reserves dropped in with all the might of the Ordo Malleus. The Terminators successfully cast Hammerhand on themselves, while Voldus unleashed his psychic lethality on the Maulerfiend, the Daemon Engine suffering four mortal wounds from Smite and Purge Soul combined. All in all, my shooting was pretty ineffective, despite the huge volume of fire. The exception to this was the Heavy Psycannon punching several holes in the Land Raider, inflicting four wounds from a snake eyes pair of save rolls. But that was just the beginning. Things were about to get violent.
Voldus failed miserably in his attempt to back up his psychic onslaught on the Maulerfiend, but there was no stopping the Terminators. They slammed into the Land Raider, imbued with psychos strength, and even though one of their brothers was disintegrated by a Lascannon in overwatch, they got their hands dirty and obliterated the Land Raider in a single round of combat.
This was a significant blow to Chaos, but I was now isolated and surrounded by some of the scariest combat monsters in the enemy arsenal. I was already preparing myself to simply lose this unit in a matter of seconds.
I had played my hand, and rolled the dice. Voldus was horribly exposed, and my Terminators were in a vulnerable position.
But Chaos is fickle, and luck was not with my opponent. While the Maulerfiend successfully killed Voldus with his Magma Cutters, three Berserkers were mowed down by the Psycannon in overwatch, Kharn choked his first round of attacks, but raged out and killed the nearby Helbrute where he stood. I then utilised my Command Points to attack before the remaining berserkers, killing all of them, and putting three wounds on Kharn himself. The Betrayer was understandably upset, and slaughtered his way through the rest of the unit, leaving the Justicar wounded but still standing. This was a crushing blow to my opponent!
In the dying moments of the game (in turn three!), my remaining forces converged on the Maulerfiend. A Smite from the Strike Squad and the intense firepower crippled the behemoth, leaving it on a single wound, almost dead but still defiant and deadly.
The Justicar crumpled Kharn the Betrayer with a last swing of his Nemesis Hammer, while my opponent also used Command Points on his Maulerfiend to splat two of the Strikes, but to no avail. The remaining marines struck back, and thanks to the high rend and damage capability of the Nemesis Swords, they laid low the infernal machine. And with that loss, the game ended.
I will lead by saying that luck was not forgiving to my opponent in this game. Literally every roll that would have a big impact on the outcome of the game, it went against him, to the point that it turned into a hilarious game by the end. We both had a great game, however, and at the end of the day, that's why we play.
The more I play with the Knights, the more I'm beginning to find my feet and learn the army's capabilities and limitations. The one thing that I'm really enjoying about 40k at the moment is the general attitude of the local community; everyone I've seen so far is so relaxed and positive about the game, because we're all still in that learning phase. People aren't worried if they win or lose games. All people want is to throw dice, re-learn their armies and enjoy this "honeymoon period" of the edition, and its so incredibly refreshing.
If you're in the greater Brisbane area, and you love throwing dice, get in touch with me through the Message function on the Facebook Page. I'm always happy to chat hobby and organise a game!
Thanks for reading,
Gabe
Monday, 5 June 2017
#89: Mind Bullets...
While the release of 8th Edition is still just under two weeks, pre-orders are on fire, and most importantly, stores have the rulebooks, starter sets and indexes for customers to browse through and get a pre-emptive jump on the release!
I had a chance this weekend to sit down read all five of the Indexes; and when I say read, I mean flip the pages at blinding speed as I tried not to have a mental overload when faced with the colossal information dump directly into my brain! The amount of content in these books is brain-melting…
While flicking through, a few surprises lay within the pages. Firstly, several units were missing from the indexes; most notably, the Astra Militarum's Vendetta. Now, before anyone loses their minds, before you go rip apart your most beloved conversions, there may still be hope for you. Forge World is releasing Indexes alongside the Games Workshop ones. I don't know entirely what to expect from these books yet, but I know that all the Forge World products will be getting rules. This may include units that we did see in 7th, but aren't currently seeing in 8th, as things like the Vendetta had upgrade packs available from Forge World. It wouldn't surprise me to see some units slip away into obscurity, as has been the way in past editions (Doom of Malantai? What Doom of Malantai?), but for the most part, most every unit is present and accounted for.
The other surprise to me was the inclusion of a couple of dark horse units making their triumphant returns! If you were involved in 40k when Apocalypse first hit the scene, you would remember the Terminus Ultra, a Land Raider variant sporting three Twin Lascannons and two Lascannons at the expense of all transport capability; a titan-killer if there ever was one. I was genuinely shocked to see this tank make an appearance.
I could go on and on and do a full break down of every single faction, but we don't have all day. So, i decided to knuckle down, narrow my crosshairs and tackle an army close to my heart, and one manageable enough that I can well and truly wrap my head around this edition without overwhelming myself with a massive array of units.
My trusty Grey Knights!!
Grey Knights have been given the tools to dish out some serious hurt. Firstly let's look at their army special rules, then I'll give you a breakdown of my initial 2000 point list.
Being marines that are so inclined toward the Imperium, all Grey Knights "Shall Know No Fear" (seems appropriate, considering these tough-as-nails super troopers kick down the gates of hell on a regular basis just to remind the Chaos Gods what's good) which allows them to re-roll failed morale tests.
They're also Daemon Hunters, which gives them re-rolls to all wounds in combat against daemons! Pretty nifty, but fairly situational…
Teleport Strike is a crucial, powerful factor that opens up tons of tactical options for this army. Most infantry (Purgation and Purifier squads excluded) have the ability to be held in reinforcement to drop in at the end of any of my movement phases, 9" away from enemies, allowing me to hit weak points and expose vital elements of my enemy's force.
Lastly, Rites of Banishment tackles the glaringly obvious problem posed by a whole army of Psykers having access to Smite. The range of Smite for all Grey Knights has been reduced to 12" instead of 18", and only does one mortal wound instead of D3 (unless you're a daemon, in which case, hold onto your undies and cop three mortal wounds to the face!). This makes total sense and puts an appropriate limit on what would otherwise be a ridiculous, abusable avenue of damage output!
We also got a re-worked, condensed Psychic Discipline.
Purge Soul is similar to its previous incarnation, able to clip a few wounds off units if dice go my way.
Gate of Infinity essentially takes Teleport Strike and wraps it up in a neat little psychic package that any unit can use during the game, without having to sit in reinforcements for too long.
And lastly, the star power, the jewel of the Ordo Malleus' eye; Hammerhand. Most of you know now that To Wound is much simpler now. you're either higher, equal or lower. The only other modifiers are if you're double strength than the toughness of the target. Hammerhand is a straight +1 To Wound in combat. Not +1 Strength, not some petty buff. +1 To Wound. To put this in perspective, a S4 Strike marine goes to S5 with a Halberd as a basic stat. With Hammerhand, I'm wounding T8 vehicles (Stompas, Land Raiders, Imperial Knights to name a few) on a 4+. And did I mention that all Nemesis Weapons do D3 damage? Needless to say, Grey Knights are bringing the heat to close combat!
So, on a fundamental level, these are the core building blocks upon which all Grey Knight Brotherhoods will be built! All in all, I'm very happy with the "army rules". When we first got a teaser about Smite, I knew that Grey Knights would be hindered some way to prevent abuse of this; otherwise it would be a matter of Teleporting in and Smiting key elements off the board in a display of psychic might and mind bullet…ness? It's still a handy tool to have in my powerful (but still relatively limited) arsenal.
Speaking of, Grey Knights are still dreadfully limited in their options. While they are spoilt with piles of different Nemesis weapons (which are pretty crazy, especially if there's someone that needs their soul sucked out!), they are still very, very limited in ranged weapons. Storm Bolters, Psycannons, Psilencers and Incinerators. Aside from vehicles, thats literally it. Dreadknights get bigger versions of those guns, but that's still pretty much it. In a way, I enjoy the harsh limits of this faction, because it condenses the information I need to absorb. Experience will tell.
With the basics laid out for you, I want to present you with my first list.
Grey Knights
2000 Points
Battalion Force Organisation (+3CP)
HQ - Lord Kaldor Draigo
HQ - Brotherhood Ancient w/Nemesis Force Staff
Troops - 5 Strike Marines w/2 Nemesis Swords, 2 Nemesis Halberds, 1 Psycannon
Troops - 5 Strike Marines w/2 Nemesis Swords, 2 Nemesis Halberds, 1 Psycannon
Troops - 10 Strike Marines w/6 Nemesis Halberds, 2 Nemesis Hammers, 2 Incinerators
Troops - 10 Terminators w/3 Nemesis Hammers, 5 Nemesis Halberds, 3 Nemesis Swords, 2 Psycannons
Dedicated Transport - Razorback w/Twin Assault Cannon
Dedicated Transport - Razorback w/Twin Assault Cannon
Heavy Support - 5 Purgation Marines w/1 Nemesis Sword, 4 Psycannons
Heavy Support - Land Raider Crusader w/Twin Assault Cannon, 2 Hurricane Bolters, Storm Bolter
So, let's break this down!
I decided to use a Battalion, as in 2000 points, it's really not difficult to meet the requirements, and Command Points will be a valuable asset, particularly with an elite army. HQ was the first organisation slot that I filled, and it wouldn't be Grey Knights if I didn't have the man, the myth, the legend himself, Kaldor Draigo. This guy is an absolute monster! With a S8 -4 Damage 4 sword, disagreements will not end well. I think that in most games, I'll Teleport him into the thick of it along with the unit of Terminators (who'll typically take Hammerhand, as Purge Soul is a little unreliable and Teleport makes the need for Gate of Infinity pretty much redundant) to spearhead the assault. They can drop within 12" of an enemy, which allows their Storm Bolters to really warm up the barrels, dumping a total of 32 shots into nearby enemies (not counting the pure stopping power of the two Psycannons). While a charge directly after Teleport is unlikely for both Draigo and the Terminators, I can see their charges as a worthy factor for Command Points to be spent on for added probability.
The second HQ I took was a Brotherhood Ancient, a towering Terminator carrying the banner of my Brotherhood, gifting +1 to the Leadership and Attacks of nearby Grey Knights. I also gave him a Staff to increase his Invulnerable to keep him alive for as long as possible. While I can scrape him in under the Reinforcements threshold (Draigo and his entourage are almost 750 points!), he will typically ride his chariot, the Crusader! Accompanied by 10 Strike Marines with an array of close quarter weapons of death (multiple Halberd attacks with Hammerhand! Well, I've already mentioned what they can do…), this creates a second hammer combination of units capable of tackling the most fearsome foes! My original thought was to run Purifiers in place of the Strike Marines, but the difference in points was prohibitively large. And in assault, there is not really a huge difference between the two. I say this now, but the dice will surely make me eat my words.
I actually love the fact that the Banner Terminators (there's also a Paladin version) and Apothecaries are heroes now! It changes them from being mandatory unit upgrades to powerful heroes that impact heavily upon the game!
With these two Heroes and their retinues, I have two potentially devastating strongpoints. While these are both very obvious threats, they aren't really in the business of subtlety. Nothing says "I'm about to tear your jaw off and beat you to death with it" quite like a Land Raider full of psychically infused super soldiers with magic spears and hip-fired heaven bullets!
With a huge chunk of my points spent on very few models, I knew that I needed bodies and survivability to compete in scenarios. While I had already purchased two of my three troops choices, I really wanted to add some firepower and support for the Land Raider. Two more units of five Strike Marines with Psycannons mounted up in Razorbacks with Twin Assault Cannons (12!! 12 Shots at S6 -1!! Start spinning those barrels), while a five man Purgation Squad would fill the role of backfield objective campers and gladly sit on a key position in cover and kick out 16 S7 shots while hiding behind the relative safety of a 2+ save.
So, I have my two Hammers to take the fight to the enemy and get up in peoples grill, two mechanised squads to push up, claim objectives and lay down suppressive fire, and a small firebase to hammer threats from afar (and when I say afar, I mean a measly 24"…). This army gives me tons of mid-strength, mid-range shooting (32 S7 Psycannon Shots, 36 S6 Assault Cannon Shots and more bolter shells than a man should ever have access to) which should give me the tools to whittle down units and give light and medium vehicles a kick in the tracks, while my two empowered Hammer units are my answer to things such as Imperial Knights and other large, tough models. Hey, I didn't necessarily say it was a GOOD answer… I think Draigo will definitely be a star of the list, as now he will be much harder to kill before he starts swinging the Titansword.
Now, I'm self-aware enough to recognise that my list has some blinding weaknesses. Model count is the obvious one. With only 37 Infantry and 3 Vehicles, every body that hits the floor is going to hit me hard. If one or both of my spearheads get blunted (as they inevitably will be), I am going to be up against it!
The other one is facing hordes. While I have a ton of high rate-of-fire shooting, an experienced player will know that you can't kill everything, and that the masses of Orks or Tyranids will hit my line eventually, and when they do, my D3 Damage Nemesis weapons will be all but useless against a unit of thirty one-wound models. I'll have to play smart and prioritise targets to get the most out of my units!
It's satisfying to see that the strengths and weaknesses of Grey Knights have stayed true in the transition to the new edition. Now that I've had a chance to see rules and plan lists (and finally use that hobby cash that has been burning a hole in my indecisive pocket), its full steam ahead for the Brotherhood. I'm busy getting 1000 points painted to start making battle reports, but the 2000 point list above is the main goal. I'm sure the entire list will be tweaked after a few games, but I think it gives me a solid foundation of units with which to build upon and mix and match as I see fit!
I'd love to hear your army plans for diving into 8th Edition!
Thanks for reading,
Throw Dice, Have Fun
Gabe
I had a chance this weekend to sit down read all five of the Indexes; and when I say read, I mean flip the pages at blinding speed as I tried not to have a mental overload when faced with the colossal information dump directly into my brain! The amount of content in these books is brain-melting…
While flicking through, a few surprises lay within the pages. Firstly, several units were missing from the indexes; most notably, the Astra Militarum's Vendetta. Now, before anyone loses their minds, before you go rip apart your most beloved conversions, there may still be hope for you. Forge World is releasing Indexes alongside the Games Workshop ones. I don't know entirely what to expect from these books yet, but I know that all the Forge World products will be getting rules. This may include units that we did see in 7th, but aren't currently seeing in 8th, as things like the Vendetta had upgrade packs available from Forge World. It wouldn't surprise me to see some units slip away into obscurity, as has been the way in past editions (Doom of Malantai? What Doom of Malantai?), but for the most part, most every unit is present and accounted for.
The other surprise to me was the inclusion of a couple of dark horse units making their triumphant returns! If you were involved in 40k when Apocalypse first hit the scene, you would remember the Terminus Ultra, a Land Raider variant sporting three Twin Lascannons and two Lascannons at the expense of all transport capability; a titan-killer if there ever was one. I was genuinely shocked to see this tank make an appearance.
I could go on and on and do a full break down of every single faction, but we don't have all day. So, i decided to knuckle down, narrow my crosshairs and tackle an army close to my heart, and one manageable enough that I can well and truly wrap my head around this edition without overwhelming myself with a massive array of units.
My trusty Grey Knights!!
Grey Knights have been given the tools to dish out some serious hurt. Firstly let's look at their army special rules, then I'll give you a breakdown of my initial 2000 point list.
Being marines that are so inclined toward the Imperium, all Grey Knights "Shall Know No Fear" (seems appropriate, considering these tough-as-nails super troopers kick down the gates of hell on a regular basis just to remind the Chaos Gods what's good) which allows them to re-roll failed morale tests.
They're also Daemon Hunters, which gives them re-rolls to all wounds in combat against daemons! Pretty nifty, but fairly situational…
Teleport Strike is a crucial, powerful factor that opens up tons of tactical options for this army. Most infantry (Purgation and Purifier squads excluded) have the ability to be held in reinforcement to drop in at the end of any of my movement phases, 9" away from enemies, allowing me to hit weak points and expose vital elements of my enemy's force.
Lastly, Rites of Banishment tackles the glaringly obvious problem posed by a whole army of Psykers having access to Smite. The range of Smite for all Grey Knights has been reduced to 12" instead of 18", and only does one mortal wound instead of D3 (unless you're a daemon, in which case, hold onto your undies and cop three mortal wounds to the face!). This makes total sense and puts an appropriate limit on what would otherwise be a ridiculous, abusable avenue of damage output!
We also got a re-worked, condensed Psychic Discipline.
Purge Soul is similar to its previous incarnation, able to clip a few wounds off units if dice go my way.
Gate of Infinity essentially takes Teleport Strike and wraps it up in a neat little psychic package that any unit can use during the game, without having to sit in reinforcements for too long.
And lastly, the star power, the jewel of the Ordo Malleus' eye; Hammerhand. Most of you know now that To Wound is much simpler now. you're either higher, equal or lower. The only other modifiers are if you're double strength than the toughness of the target. Hammerhand is a straight +1 To Wound in combat. Not +1 Strength, not some petty buff. +1 To Wound. To put this in perspective, a S4 Strike marine goes to S5 with a Halberd as a basic stat. With Hammerhand, I'm wounding T8 vehicles (Stompas, Land Raiders, Imperial Knights to name a few) on a 4+. And did I mention that all Nemesis Weapons do D3 damage? Needless to say, Grey Knights are bringing the heat to close combat!
So, on a fundamental level, these are the core building blocks upon which all Grey Knight Brotherhoods will be built! All in all, I'm very happy with the "army rules". When we first got a teaser about Smite, I knew that Grey Knights would be hindered some way to prevent abuse of this; otherwise it would be a matter of Teleporting in and Smiting key elements off the board in a display of psychic might and mind bullet…ness? It's still a handy tool to have in my powerful (but still relatively limited) arsenal.
Speaking of, Grey Knights are still dreadfully limited in their options. While they are spoilt with piles of different Nemesis weapons (which are pretty crazy, especially if there's someone that needs their soul sucked out!), they are still very, very limited in ranged weapons. Storm Bolters, Psycannons, Psilencers and Incinerators. Aside from vehicles, thats literally it. Dreadknights get bigger versions of those guns, but that's still pretty much it. In a way, I enjoy the harsh limits of this faction, because it condenses the information I need to absorb. Experience will tell.
With the basics laid out for you, I want to present you with my first list.
Grey Knights
2000 Points
Battalion Force Organisation (+3CP)
HQ - Lord Kaldor Draigo
HQ - Brotherhood Ancient w/Nemesis Force Staff
Troops - 5 Strike Marines w/2 Nemesis Swords, 2 Nemesis Halberds, 1 Psycannon
Troops - 5 Strike Marines w/2 Nemesis Swords, 2 Nemesis Halberds, 1 Psycannon
Troops - 10 Strike Marines w/6 Nemesis Halberds, 2 Nemesis Hammers, 2 Incinerators
Troops - 10 Terminators w/3 Nemesis Hammers, 5 Nemesis Halberds, 3 Nemesis Swords, 2 Psycannons
Dedicated Transport - Razorback w/Twin Assault Cannon
Dedicated Transport - Razorback w/Twin Assault Cannon
Heavy Support - 5 Purgation Marines w/1 Nemesis Sword, 4 Psycannons
Heavy Support - Land Raider Crusader w/Twin Assault Cannon, 2 Hurricane Bolters, Storm Bolter
So, let's break this down!
I decided to use a Battalion, as in 2000 points, it's really not difficult to meet the requirements, and Command Points will be a valuable asset, particularly with an elite army. HQ was the first organisation slot that I filled, and it wouldn't be Grey Knights if I didn't have the man, the myth, the legend himself, Kaldor Draigo. This guy is an absolute monster! With a S8 -4 Damage 4 sword, disagreements will not end well. I think that in most games, I'll Teleport him into the thick of it along with the unit of Terminators (who'll typically take Hammerhand, as Purge Soul is a little unreliable and Teleport makes the need for Gate of Infinity pretty much redundant) to spearhead the assault. They can drop within 12" of an enemy, which allows their Storm Bolters to really warm up the barrels, dumping a total of 32 shots into nearby enemies (not counting the pure stopping power of the two Psycannons). While a charge directly after Teleport is unlikely for both Draigo and the Terminators, I can see their charges as a worthy factor for Command Points to be spent on for added probability.
The second HQ I took was a Brotherhood Ancient, a towering Terminator carrying the banner of my Brotherhood, gifting +1 to the Leadership and Attacks of nearby Grey Knights. I also gave him a Staff to increase his Invulnerable to keep him alive for as long as possible. While I can scrape him in under the Reinforcements threshold (Draigo and his entourage are almost 750 points!), he will typically ride his chariot, the Crusader! Accompanied by 10 Strike Marines with an array of close quarter weapons of death (multiple Halberd attacks with Hammerhand! Well, I've already mentioned what they can do…), this creates a second hammer combination of units capable of tackling the most fearsome foes! My original thought was to run Purifiers in place of the Strike Marines, but the difference in points was prohibitively large. And in assault, there is not really a huge difference between the two. I say this now, but the dice will surely make me eat my words.
I actually love the fact that the Banner Terminators (there's also a Paladin version) and Apothecaries are heroes now! It changes them from being mandatory unit upgrades to powerful heroes that impact heavily upon the game!
With these two Heroes and their retinues, I have two potentially devastating strongpoints. While these are both very obvious threats, they aren't really in the business of subtlety. Nothing says "I'm about to tear your jaw off and beat you to death with it" quite like a Land Raider full of psychically infused super soldiers with magic spears and hip-fired heaven bullets!
With a huge chunk of my points spent on very few models, I knew that I needed bodies and survivability to compete in scenarios. While I had already purchased two of my three troops choices, I really wanted to add some firepower and support for the Land Raider. Two more units of five Strike Marines with Psycannons mounted up in Razorbacks with Twin Assault Cannons (12!! 12 Shots at S6 -1!! Start spinning those barrels), while a five man Purgation Squad would fill the role of backfield objective campers and gladly sit on a key position in cover and kick out 16 S7 shots while hiding behind the relative safety of a 2+ save.
So, I have my two Hammers to take the fight to the enemy and get up in peoples grill, two mechanised squads to push up, claim objectives and lay down suppressive fire, and a small firebase to hammer threats from afar (and when I say afar, I mean a measly 24"…). This army gives me tons of mid-strength, mid-range shooting (32 S7 Psycannon Shots, 36 S6 Assault Cannon Shots and more bolter shells than a man should ever have access to) which should give me the tools to whittle down units and give light and medium vehicles a kick in the tracks, while my two empowered Hammer units are my answer to things such as Imperial Knights and other large, tough models. Hey, I didn't necessarily say it was a GOOD answer… I think Draigo will definitely be a star of the list, as now he will be much harder to kill before he starts swinging the Titansword.
Now, I'm self-aware enough to recognise that my list has some blinding weaknesses. Model count is the obvious one. With only 37 Infantry and 3 Vehicles, every body that hits the floor is going to hit me hard. If one or both of my spearheads get blunted (as they inevitably will be), I am going to be up against it!
The other one is facing hordes. While I have a ton of high rate-of-fire shooting, an experienced player will know that you can't kill everything, and that the masses of Orks or Tyranids will hit my line eventually, and when they do, my D3 Damage Nemesis weapons will be all but useless against a unit of thirty one-wound models. I'll have to play smart and prioritise targets to get the most out of my units!
It's satisfying to see that the strengths and weaknesses of Grey Knights have stayed true in the transition to the new edition. Now that I've had a chance to see rules and plan lists (and finally use that hobby cash that has been burning a hole in my indecisive pocket), its full steam ahead for the Brotherhood. I'm busy getting 1000 points painted to start making battle reports, but the 2000 point list above is the main goal. I'm sure the entire list will be tweaked after a few games, but I think it gives me a solid foundation of units with which to build upon and mix and match as I see fit!
I'd love to hear your army plans for diving into 8th Edition!
Thanks for reading,
Throw Dice, Have Fun
Gabe
Sunday, 7 May 2017
#87: An Edition for the Ages...
Well, it's almost here!
There's not many people that would argue that 40k is in poor shape in 7th Edition. The rules are so expansive that it's borderline overwhelming, theres a thousand and one Universal special rules, that all interact differently to each other, and to the multitude of special rules of each faction, and it felt like every codex had a supplement, which was in turn supported by several campaign books, that for the purposes of the game, was largely unnecessary bar one or two pages of Formations or data slates hidden within the back pages.
And there was no sign of slowing down.
But, when Games Workshop announced 8th Edition, we knew it was going to be drastic. I had several conversations with long-time 40k veterans who were vehemently convinced that it would stay the same game that they (as a small percentage of the wargaming population) so dearly loved. While I knew for certain that streamlining had to occur for the game to be successful, I was also fairly sure that if they were to give it the necessary streamline, they had to shave the book-keeping down. Let's be real, it was getting a little crazy; even Orks (firm residents of the bottom branch of the power tree) needed anywhere up to five separate books (not including the amazing, if a little outdated Imperial Armour 8) to utilitize the force to its full potential. FIVE! That doesn't include the core rulebook.
So, the news that all current publications would be null and void came as music to my ears! The games designers could start from scratch, build synergetic armies and mechanics in a way that would make each race totally unique in its play style and tabletop performance, and cut away the cumbersome, word-heavy ruleset that did naught but slow the game down.
Templates are gone.
Formations are gone.
Warp Charges (in their current form) are gone.
Even Hull Points are gone.
The new Force Organisation charts herald back to when I first started in this hobby fifteen years ago. There were no faction-specific force organisation charts, there were no formations. You had your chart, and it was up to you to design an army within its structure that captured your imagination and tactical acumen. Every article that games workshop has released on different aspects of the upcoming edition (a huge improvement on any edition they have ever released before, in any of their game systems) has screamed one simple message; "Smoother, faster and more fun". Of the slowly growing pool of information that we've been fed so far, the game looks like it will play faster than ever before. No longer will Daemon players spend the first fifteen minutes of the game rolling up Psychic Powers. No longer will Guard players spend an eternity dropping mass templates upon the heads of their foes.
And for me, most excitingly, (practically confirmed, but we'll wait and see) the Age of Deathstars is over! No more Invisible, teleporting, board-spanning conglomerations of heroes, villains and demigods in such a combination as to prove almost invulnerable to damage! What a time to be alive!
All of this news, while gladly welcomed by half of the community, was condemned as pure heresy by the other half. The game they knew was no more, torn from their grasp, and all the books they had spent their hard earned pennies on rendered useless in the wake of this apocalyptic news of doom and gloom. And to those people, I empathise but also hold to account. A very similar series of events unfolded in the early days of Age of Sigmar, but there were a few small differences.
When AoS dropped, there were no points, there was very little-to-no structure, and most importantly, there were no answers; no feedback, no announcements, nothing. Radio darkness. It was over nine months before the arrival of the General's Handbook, the redeeming saviour of Age of Sigmar, the catalyst that turned the game from an unbalanced, unplayable mess (before several very solid community-developed scoring systems) into one of the single most enjoyable games I have ever played.
And was I mad about all of my books being made redundant? Sure, at first. But then, 40K codexes were being updated and made redundant every few years anyway. I have four editions of the Space Marine codex in a box in my shed, all redundant. Would I call them a waste of money? Absolutely not! I believe that I've got my money's worth out of every GW book I have purchased, and I don't regret one of them (well, maybe one…). Let's face it… I've spent a lot more on things I've enjoyed a lot less.
From this, I hope that the skeptical players learn from hindsight and history, and realise that Games Workshop knows what they are doing here. Age of Sigmar survived a much harsher transition and is flourishing like never before. Imagine the state of 40K after a well-rehearsed, well-planned transition that tackles everything wrong with the game, and accentuates everything great!
I'm very interested to hear your opinions on this upcoming era of change.
I, for one, am bursting at the seams for this release, and am madly painting my alternate-scheme Grey Knights in preparation!
Thanks for reading,
Gabe
There's not many people that would argue that 40k is in poor shape in 7th Edition. The rules are so expansive that it's borderline overwhelming, theres a thousand and one Universal special rules, that all interact differently to each other, and to the multitude of special rules of each faction, and it felt like every codex had a supplement, which was in turn supported by several campaign books, that for the purposes of the game, was largely unnecessary bar one or two pages of Formations or data slates hidden within the back pages.
And there was no sign of slowing down.
But, when Games Workshop announced 8th Edition, we knew it was going to be drastic. I had several conversations with long-time 40k veterans who were vehemently convinced that it would stay the same game that they (as a small percentage of the wargaming population) so dearly loved. While I knew for certain that streamlining had to occur for the game to be successful, I was also fairly sure that if they were to give it the necessary streamline, they had to shave the book-keeping down. Let's be real, it was getting a little crazy; even Orks (firm residents of the bottom branch of the power tree) needed anywhere up to five separate books (not including the amazing, if a little outdated Imperial Armour 8) to utilitize the force to its full potential. FIVE! That doesn't include the core rulebook.
So, the news that all current publications would be null and void came as music to my ears! The games designers could start from scratch, build synergetic armies and mechanics in a way that would make each race totally unique in its play style and tabletop performance, and cut away the cumbersome, word-heavy ruleset that did naught but slow the game down.
Templates are gone.
Formations are gone.
Warp Charges (in their current form) are gone.
Even Hull Points are gone.
The new Force Organisation charts herald back to when I first started in this hobby fifteen years ago. There were no faction-specific force organisation charts, there were no formations. You had your chart, and it was up to you to design an army within its structure that captured your imagination and tactical acumen. Every article that games workshop has released on different aspects of the upcoming edition (a huge improvement on any edition they have ever released before, in any of their game systems) has screamed one simple message; "Smoother, faster and more fun". Of the slowly growing pool of information that we've been fed so far, the game looks like it will play faster than ever before. No longer will Daemon players spend the first fifteen minutes of the game rolling up Psychic Powers. No longer will Guard players spend an eternity dropping mass templates upon the heads of their foes.
And for me, most excitingly, (practically confirmed, but we'll wait and see) the Age of Deathstars is over! No more Invisible, teleporting, board-spanning conglomerations of heroes, villains and demigods in such a combination as to prove almost invulnerable to damage! What a time to be alive!
All of this news, while gladly welcomed by half of the community, was condemned as pure heresy by the other half. The game they knew was no more, torn from their grasp, and all the books they had spent their hard earned pennies on rendered useless in the wake of this apocalyptic news of doom and gloom. And to those people, I empathise but also hold to account. A very similar series of events unfolded in the early days of Age of Sigmar, but there were a few small differences.
When AoS dropped, there were no points, there was very little-to-no structure, and most importantly, there were no answers; no feedback, no announcements, nothing. Radio darkness. It was over nine months before the arrival of the General's Handbook, the redeeming saviour of Age of Sigmar, the catalyst that turned the game from an unbalanced, unplayable mess (before several very solid community-developed scoring systems) into one of the single most enjoyable games I have ever played.
And was I mad about all of my books being made redundant? Sure, at first. But then, 40K codexes were being updated and made redundant every few years anyway. I have four editions of the Space Marine codex in a box in my shed, all redundant. Would I call them a waste of money? Absolutely not! I believe that I've got my money's worth out of every GW book I have purchased, and I don't regret one of them (well, maybe one…). Let's face it… I've spent a lot more on things I've enjoyed a lot less.
From this, I hope that the skeptical players learn from hindsight and history, and realise that Games Workshop knows what they are doing here. Age of Sigmar survived a much harsher transition and is flourishing like never before. Imagine the state of 40K after a well-rehearsed, well-planned transition that tackles everything wrong with the game, and accentuates everything great!
I'm very interested to hear your opinions on this upcoming era of change.
I, for one, am bursting at the seams for this release, and am madly painting my alternate-scheme Grey Knights in preparation!
Thanks for reading,
Gabe
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