#46: Horus Heresy Battle Report 1000pts - Salamanders vs. World Eaters

Well, it's battle report time! It has been quite some time since my last bat-rep, so I thought what better way to re-enter Battle Report territory than with a campaign game from a local Horus Heresy League! This was my first game of the league, and I found myself facing down against a thousand points of World Eaters, who deployed a list that caught me quite off guard!

Using the Onslaught Formation (considering my inexperience in all things 30k, I could be completely wrong, as I'm still wrapping my head around the ins and outs of detachments and RoW), my opponent had fielded significantly more armour than I was expecting from a traditionally infantry-heavy assault Legion. The force was lead by a Delegatus with a power sword and a plasma pistol, who was accompanied by five Veterans in a Land Raider Proteus, forgoing the assault ramp in exchange for the more forgiving price tag. A Sicarian Tank was going to cause me some serious woes if I couldn't disable it early in the game, and a pair of Contemptor Dreads offered serious threats to my infantry; one sporting a fist and plasma cannon, while the other had two fists, one of which housed a Graviton Gun.

My list was a little more well-rounded, with a little bit of this and a little bit of that. I'll lead by confessing that it pained me to play with unpainted models, but as this army is only a few months old, I made the exception and am currently scrambling with the brush to finish things off for the next stage!

My army was led by a Delegatus, who was equipped with a power sword and artificier armour, and opening up the Covenant of Fire RoW. Two 10-strong tactical squads filled out my Troops choices, with an artificier-armoured Sarge with a power fist, and each squad carrying a nuncio-vox for a bit of artillery assistance. Speaking of, I've taken a Whirlwind Scorpius. These tanks are, in my mind, too good not to include in every list I write! S8 AP3 blasts are very versatile in many different situations. As you can see, I'm not using the actual FW Scorpius model; mostly because I think it looks a little... goofy. The Space Marine Hunter was a perfect stand in, with it's extra armour plates and stabilisers adequately representing it's 13/12/10 hull (how this tank has heavier armour than a Vindicator is beyond me).

Side note; I'd love to hear your thoughts on the Do's and Don'ts of proxying GW main range models in place of FW!

I purchased a Contemptor with a Multi-Melta (seemed like the Salamander thing to do), an Apothecary, a Dakka-Pred and two Rapier Platforms with Laser Destroyers. I'm excited to try out these little gun platforms, as they seem to pack a real punch and have the staying power to take some heat, while being really affordable and reliable. Time and dice will tell... 

My deployment was pretty straight forward. I was guaranteed turn one thanks to my opponent's formation (I think...), so I deployed accordingly. the Dread and my Delegatus' squad stood front and centre to apply pressure and take up residence in the ruins. The Predator stood guard over my heavy firepower hunkering down in my right hand side ruin. 

My opponent, painfully aware of the Rapiers searching for a soft target, deployed quite conservatively and using intervening ruins to protect his armour. 

With most of his big threats out of sight, my opponent wasn't giving me any free passes.

Turn one, I moved and ran my two central units into the area terrain, hoping to at least get cover saves against the Plasma Cannon-toting Dread. Past that, my movement phase was pretty unexciting, but my shooting phase was outstanding for the situation. My two rapiers could just draw a line over two buildings, and in a stroke of luck, blasted the Plasma Dread and managed to Immobilise him in a truly unfortunate position. To add insult to injury, my Scorpius fired a volley of rockets high overhead and stripped two hull points off the Sicarian. 

After a pretty threatening opening salvo, my opponent launched into action. All units that were still operational pushed forward, and prepared to unleash his considerable arsenal. This turned out to be less terrifying than I was expecting. The Sicarian unleashed its accelerator cannon into my Rapiers, and managed to kill a gunner, while the immobile Dread fired the Plasma Cannon at the only thing it could see, scoring a glancing hit on my Contemptor. I felt as though I was in control, but it was still early days. 

Turn two; My oh-so-brave (some would say differently) Contemptor stepped out into full view of his entire army, and raised his Multi-Melta at the almost-dead Sicarian and failed to even glance... with two dice... That's ok, I thought brashly, I'll just charge it. 

Nope. Failed that too. This was going to hurt...

The rest of my army performed. Not well, but they achieved more than old mate in the middle of a firing range. The Rapiers turned their attention to the other Dread, glancing it once, but failing to slow it on its impending rampage. The predator fired at the same target through a gap in the ruins, but to no avail. To close out the turn, my Scorpius opened up once more on the Sicarian, but being out of sight of my Nuncio-voxes, the shots scattered wildly and achieved nothing. Time to brace myself.

With only two hull points remaining, this guy was as good as dead, or so I thought. In a sheer barrage of luck, this one, solitary dread soaked up and entire army's worth of heavy weapons (Lascannons, accelerator cannons, plasma cannons, the whole nine yards) without so much as a scratch. That 5+ Invulnerable proved to be too much for the big guns to handle. 

Realising now that my untouched dread could be in a position to cause horrific damage if left unchecked, my opponent was left with one option. Charge on in! As if to add to his frustration, the charge resulted in a brutal Overwatch in which I managed to land a hit with my Multi-melta and blow his Graviton Power Fist clean off, seriously blunting his assault, which ended in a harmless draw. 

In my turn, I pushed my second tactical squad up to support my Delegatus, but otherwise, it was a largely uneventful turn. My backfield failed to do any damage, which was a little disappointing. At the end of the turn, my Contemptor finally fell to the fury of the World Eater Dread, who consolidated toward my marines lurking in the ruins.

I was in some trouble now. The Sicarian roared through the ruin, narrowly passing a potentially fatal Dangerous Terrain check, and blasted my Predator to oblivion with complete impunity. The Land Raider pushed up and disintegrated one of my prize Rapiers. To top things off, the Dread continued its rampage, launching into my Delegatus' unit, and started ripping heads off. Not too many heads however, as a sneaky Power Fist got an uppercut in and toppled the giant. 

Understanding that I was losing units, and fast, I knew it was the time to act! My Delegatus swapped squads, joining my Apothecary in order to avoid an unpleasant end likely to befall his original squad, who had taken it into their own hands to punch out the Proteus, or at the very least, force out the squad inside. Alas, the sortie was ill-fated, as I did zero damage, and now found myself in view of the crippled Contemptor who had been warming up his Plasma Cannon for the better part of the game. In my own half, things were going just as terribly. The Scorpius scattered long off its target. The last Rapier had an uninterrupted shot into the soft side armour of the heavily damaged Sicarian, but its twin-linked laser destroyer missed. I also failed the charge with my marines at the same tank, in a hope I could use krak grenades to finish it. 

My opponent piled out of his land raider and unleashed a volley of bolter and plasma, joined by the plasma cannon wielded by the nearby Dread, and after the smoke settled, I had two boys still standing and they passed their leadership check with ease. 

On the other side of the board, the Sicarian whipped around the ruins and sunk as many shots into my Scorpius, stripping a hull point and Stunning it, making it's missile launcher useless for a turn. 

In my turn, I charged my remaining marines, Apothecary and Delegatus into combat; a combat that would prove to drag out for three rounds of combat. The two survivors of my first tactical squad died a horrible death, but in return, I managed to wipe out his Veterans, and would have splatted his Delegatus with a power fist if it weren't for a cheeky Refractor Field. 

The last significant event of the game was my last remaining Rapier punching a hole in the hull of the pesky Sicarian with ease, blowing it up harmlessly and neutralising the potential for Line Breaker. 

Despite all my efforts, though, I ended up losing by a single point. It was disappointing, but it was a great game, and one that flowed back and forth as we struggled to dominate the centre of the field. A good game and a great opponent. Always a pleasure playing against a fully painted army on a fully painted table. 

So what did I learn? I haven't many games of 30k yet, maybe five or six at the most, none over 1500 points, so my experience is not as abundant as many others. The upside of this is the enjoyment I get from trying out each new unit as I get my hands on it.

The Scorpius proved to be a huge threat, and one that my opponent couldn't afford to ignore.

The Predator didn't really do anything all game, but I'll definitely give him a few more runs, as he didn't really have any good targets to sink his mid-strength high rate-of-fire arsenal into.

The Rapiers! I was really happy with the Rapiers! The Laser Destroyers are reliable and consistent at damaging armour of any level. I'll definitely be keeping them in lists to come!

So, the next stage of the Campaign jumps to 1500 points. What do you think I need? What do you think I should cut? Am I missing any essentials?

As always, thanks for reading,
Gabe

#45: Learning the ropes...

Well, this past weekend, I attended the first 40K tournament in quite some time, bringing an unfamiliar army in the form of Tau, and getting few practice games in beforehand. The force organisation was quite demanding, having one compulsary choice from Elite, Fast and Heavy on top of the usual 1 HQ 2 Troop. So, after changing my list about four times, here's the one i ended up taking.

HQ:
Cadre Fireblade

Troops:
7 Breachers with EMP Grenades in a Devilfish with Smart Missiles and Disruption Pods
10 Fire Warriors with a DX8 Tactical Turret (SMS)

Elite:
Riptide with an Ion Accelerator
3 Crisis Suits with 2 Plasma Rifles each
3 Crisis Suits with 2 Cyclic Ion Blasters each

Fast Attack:
6 Pathfinders

Heavy Support:
Broadside with High Yield Missiles, Smart Missile System, Early Warning Override and two marker drones

The significant changes from the list from a previous post were adding some marker drones to the Broadside as extra pinpoints as well as ablative wounds for the surprisingly fragile suit, and swapping out burst cannons for Ion Blasters on the second crisis team. Wow, Ion Blasters! These guns are unbelievable, and the same price as all other premium Crisis weapon options. For 30pts a suit (bringing the total cost to 52ppm), they can dish out 6 S7 AP4 shots a turn, or can choose to overheat the gun to make it S8 AP4 small blast. I had great success (for the most part) deep striking these guys and dumping 18 S7 shots into the soft rear armour of a tank, wrecking it with impunity!

The unique and fantastic thing about the tournament was the stipulation that all models in each army must be painted. This meant that on the day, there were twelve gorgeous armies playing games on 6 exceptionally painted tables! The organisers went above and beyond what was expected of then, and hosted a truly memorable event.

Now, I will preface the following by apologising for lack of photos. I was so focused on the games and not stuffing up rules with a new codex that it wasn't until half way through game two that I realised I hadn't taken a single snap. I will however, give you very quick run-downs of each battle, and include photos of my opponents' armies thanks to the TO!

My first game was against a fellow rocking an infantry-heavy Space Wolf list. While a lot of points were poured into gearing his list toward combat, the mobility and superior firepower offered by Tau, particularly the Riptide, caused no end of problems for my opponent. This was only amplified when my two Crisis teams arrived via Deep Strike, landed perfectly, and unloaded their potent arsenal with devastating effects. The Ion suits tore through the rear armour of a looming dreadnaught with ease, while the Plasma team obliterated a unit of Long Fangs who found themselves isolated from the rest of their aggressive force. After several turns, I managed to neutralise all units but a drop pod, and held four out of the five objectives on the board and securing a Major Victory.

The second game was against a good friend of mine, who was running a mechanised Ultramarine list. The army was exceptionally well painted, weathered and based, and is a credit to my opponent's hobbying skills. The scenario was Maelstrom of War, which typically focuses on objectives over slaughter, but this was by far the bloodiest game of the day. I got through the first few turns relatively unscathed, and did horrific damage in return. I crippled several of his vehicles early in the piece and was optimistic about gaining control of the board. Things seemed to sway further in my favour, when my plasma suits killed four Sternguard and left his Captain on a single wound. Then all hell broke loose. Thanks to some well timed doctrines, clever moves and three battered marines taking their combat blades to three unfortunate suits, the spine of my force was shattered, leaving both players with a handful of battle-weary models at the end of the game, only having five points to each of our names, and suitably enough finishing in a Draw.

Then came the interesting part. Thanks to the Draw, myself and my Game Two opponent managed to keep ourselves in the top half of the pool, without reaching the top table. This meant that I ended up facing the gentleman below me on the ladder, who was sporting a pretty scary Ork list, in a straight Kill Points mission. The photo is pretty self-explanatory. His army also looked fantastic on the board, with highly detailed swamp bases, great weathering and a terrifying and monstrous Ork Warboss on a trike! I knew I had to shut down the battery of Mega-Kannons if I had any hope of victory, but it wasn't until after deployment that I realised that his Bikers were in fact Nob Bikers, accompanied by his aforementioned Warboss and a cheeky Painboy! Now I had a fight on my hands...

I opened the scoring by easily disposing of four Deffkoptas and managing to hide pretty successfully from the guns on the other side of the board. The dense ruins in the centre of the table offered great protection, but in turn gave the hulking Bike unit an unimpeded course across the field. Things got real when I failed my Nova Reactor test on the Riptide to boost his Invulnerable save the same turn that he found himself on the wrong end of four Power Klaws. I spent the next two turns trying to gun down as many bikers as I could, as well as dropping my Ion suits next to the Mek Guns and failing to cause an impossibly difficult leadership check on the cowardly crew! The crew subsequently turn their guns on the newly arrived battlesuits and blew the unit off the board in a single salvo. My plasma suits managed to scrounge a few kill points (in combat, mind you) before getting shanked by Gretchin wielding broken glass and screwdrivers. My army was being torn apart, and while I couldn't take down the guns, I did manage to pour an obscene amount of fire into the bike unit, leaving the Warboss alone and on a single wound, and leaving me one kill point behind my opponent.

In a stroke of sheer, undeniable luck, I was gifted with a turn six, in which my four remaining models (three fire warriors and the Fireblade) did the unthinkable and gunned down the Warboss with the final shot! In return, only one Mek gun could see my now-exposed Warlord, but the dice had their way, and the blast scattered wide. The Warboss gifted me with another Kill Point and Slay the Warlord, pushing me one point ahead and handing me a Minor Victory!

This was enough to just scrape in at 3rd place! A very satisfying result from a great day!

Next week, I'll be publishing a Horus Heresy Battle Report between my Salamanders Legion and the bloodthirsty World Eaters! Keep your eyes peeled; it's going to be a great game!

As always, thanks for reading and for your continued support...
Gabriel  

#44: Boots on the ground...

Firstly, Happy Australia Day, everyone!

Having enjoyed a relaxing four-day weekend of eating, painting and binge-watching the Australian Open, it's now time to get back to reality. And what better way to spend my evening than to continue my thoughts and perspectives on the Horus Heresy and all of its wonders. Please keep in mind that these reviews (for lack of a better term) and from the perspectives of both a Salamander player and a player who has very little experience in 30k, so everything that I say is based upon what i have read and the very few games i have had the chance to play!

So, with my ignorance on the topic now being public knowledge, lets commence the next step of our Legion review. This week, we're going to look at Troops.

Troops are very often the first things I purchase alongside my warlord, being a base-level requirement of any list. And while I dont typically like to invest a fortune of points into Troops, 30k is an exception. Not only does the Salamander Rite of War (Covenant of Fire) demand that my Fast Attack and Heavy Support choices combined may not outnumber my Troops, but troops are the only unit type that can hold objectives, making them vital to victory. To top it off, you have certain units that count as non-compulsary troops, meaning that (to my limited knowledge) they can still hold objectives but may not count towards your minimum troops choices.

Lets kick off. First in the line are trusty Tactical Squads. Minimum size of ten, maximum size of twenty (TWENTY?!?), these are not the typical format that I think of, having come directly from the 41st Millenium. Every model carries a boltgun. There are no special weapons. There are no heavy weapons. These are your stock standard marines, and by far the most common. This irked me to begin with, having to pour points into a unit that wasn't all that effective against power armour in a game saturated in power armour. But as I play more games, I realise that these squads form a great backbone to the army. After the initial outlay of points, these boys are very cheap, being only 10 points a body after the first ten in the squad. The sergeant is spoilt for choice when it comes to wargear, even having access to Articifier armour, what with it being much more common back then. For Sallies, these squads are hard to shift off an objective with their bonus re-rolls for morale. Then, showing their true strength, they come with a nifty little special rule called Fury of the Legion. With FotL, if the squad stands still, they can fore double their usual shots, essentially pulling the trigger until the mag empties. Sure, they can't shoot in their following turn, but this ability can be truly brutal at flooding the enemy with so many saves, that inevitably, some will fail. To round it out, these guys can be equipped with Nuncio-Voxes, allowing your artillery to draw line of site from the squad, who play the role of spotter for the big guns These are my current picks for my two compulsary troops.

Tactical Support Squads are your go-to guys for special weapons. Following the trends of 30k, every man in the squad carries the same gun, allowing you do dedicate the squad to a specific role, but in turn making them a potentially very expensive unit! The most common I have seen fielded so far is just a five-man squad rocking plasma guns in a Rhino, but there are many uses for this particular slot! A ten-man squad carrying Volkite Calivers (30" S6 Heavy 2) can dish out a horrifying amount of firepower and can potentially cause more hits if unsaved wounds get through on the target squad. And all for an affordable 250 points! Meltaguns, Flamers and Volkite Chargers can also be handed to this squad. The one disappointing thing about these boys is that they can be equipped with very cool Rotor Cannons (essentially hand-held miniguns), but they only hit at a lackluster Strength 3...

Assault Squads are very much the same as their 40k counterparts, with access to several nasty pistols and Melta bombs all round, Not only that, but you can take twenty in the squad, making an assault from these guys quite undesirable. If I'm honest, I probably won't use these chaps much, mainly because of the debilitating drawbacks for Salamanders in combat. For my assaults to be effective, i really need a hard-hitting unit geared up to slay whatever they touch. I can't afford to get run down as easily as Salamanders have a habit of doing.

Breacher squads are tough as nails, carrying Boarding Shields and being encased in hardened armour. In my mind, these guys seem best suited for game types such as Zone Mortalis, but I'm yet to see these fine gentlemen in action on the open battlefield, so I shall hold my tongue lest I say something foolish.

Lastly we have the Recon Squad. As the name suggests, these guys are your first contact with the enemy. With Acute Senses, Outflank, Scout and ready access to Stealth thanks to Cameleoline, they can be a real thorn in your opponent's side. They are also particularly adept with the use of Sniper Rifles, and can come in real handy when trying to pick off that pesky character or silence a nuncio-vox! This squad particularly opens up some great potential for modelling.

So there you have it. Now, it should be noted that many legions and Rites of War allow for other units to be taken as Troops, but that's a topic for another day!

Hopefully, you enjoyed the read. What are your favourite choices when it comes to boots on the ground?

Thanks for reading,
Gabriel

  

#43: The Greater Bad...

A local store had recently announced that they were holding an army painting challenge, followed by a tournament; something I haven't attended in quite some time now for a variety of reasons. And I, having the attention span of a fruit fly, didn't hesitate to commit to painting a cool thousand point army. 

My first choice was what army to take. I had painted up a handful of Tau for a kill team (which shall feature in an upcoming battle report), and it took the tiniest of nudges for me to commit to expanding to at least 1000 points of the Greater Good. 

My second choice was significantly more difficult. The players pack is fantastic, and has been specifically designed to diversify the forces attending the tournament. I have to take a single Combined Arms Detachment, but instead of a HQ and two Troops being the only obligatory choices, I had to also include at least one Elite, Fast and Heavy Support slot. This is cleverly designed to avoid such shenanigans as "Min-Maxxing' and Death Stars. However, once we tick the boxes for our six obligatory units, we can spend any remaining points on whatever we choose. This left me with a set of difficult choices. After flicking through the Tau Empire codex, I realised that I had no idea where to even start! So many brilliant choices.   

Do I run a gun line?

Do i mechanize everything?

How many Riptides is too many?

After changing my list a multitude of times, and purchasing models that would eventually not make the cut, i settled on a list that contained a healthy mix of everything. In the spirit of people having more than enough time to plan my crushing defeat, I thought i would publish my list for your thoughts and critiques. 

Fireblade (Warlord)

11 Fire Warriors with Pulse Rifles and a DX8 Turret

8 Breachers in a Devilfish equipped with a Blacksun Filter and Disruption Pods

Riptide with an Ion Accelerator

3 Crisis Suits with 6 Burst Cannons

3 Crisis Suits with 6 Plasma Rifles

5 Pathfinders

Broadside with High-Yield Missile Pods

Tide Wall Shieldline

So there it is. A neat little bundle of half blind, trigger-happy xenos. It took me a while to find the balance, but here's how it all fell into place. The Fireblade (being cheap) complimented the big unit of Fire Warriors (being a cheap and bountiful source of mid-strength shooting). The Breachers mounted in their Fish was an easy choice, as no one can really ignore this unit. Not only is the Devilfish Objective Secured thanks to being a Dedicated Transport for Troops, but the Breachers can really deliver the knockout punch, thanks to their lethal shotguns. 

The Pathfinders and Missile Broadside were both easy choices, as they add a lot to my shooting phase, as well as being both pretty cheap points-wise. With these two purchases, I had the freedom to spend my remaining points however I chose. Being new to Tau, I simply couldn't resist the lure of Battlesuits. My initial instinct was to get my hands on a Ghostkeel, which I did, before changing my mind and picking two three-man Crisis teams, one sporting double Plasma Rifles for any pesky Terminators I might come across, while the other team was decked out with two Burst Cannons each, capable of dishing out a whopping 24 S5 shots from only three models. Terrifying. These two purchases gives me two aces up my sleeve, as I plan on leaving them in reserves and Deep Striking them wherever they can most effectively bring their considerable firepower to the conflict. 

The last choice, and one I would not typically be inclined toward (being a reckless, impulsive Ork player at heart), was a Shieldline. Not only is this piece of floating architecture incredibly practical, and conveniently big enough to house my Fire Warriors, Fireblade and Pathfinders, it looks fantastic and makes for a focal centre piece for display, and a tactical anchor for my xenos force. The one thing I didn't want was to play a bland, boring gun-line where my movement phase consisted of taking one step closer to the shooting phase, and i think i have successfully avoided that. While I do have a fire base of sorts, this list is quite mobile and quite reactive, and I hope it has the answers to deal with most threats I may come across in this tournament.

So how does this army actually perform on the table? Well, I've played two games with it so far, once against Eldar, and once against White Scars. While I actually fielded a second Broadside in both of these games, having not purchased a Shield Line yet, the results were brutal. 

My game against Eldar was predictably challenging, as my opponent and his superior mobility kept me on the back foot for the majority of the game, eventually beating me after five bloody and violent turns.   

The second game against White Scars was rife with errors on my part. Not only did I forget to use my Riptide's Nova Reactor and Assault Phase jump, resulting in an untimely death, but I simply didn't play to the army's strengths; They absolutely do have strengths, there's no denying that. The book is disgustingly efficient. My skills, however, require some fine tuning.

I'm hoping to get several more games in before the Tournament on Feb 7th, as I still don't feel like I've settled into the army yet, but time shall see if I can bring my A-game on the day! 

So, what is your project for 2016? A new army, or perhaps expanding on an old one?

I'll be continuing the series on my impressions of the Horus Heresy Crusade list next week, tackling the Troops slot. In all honesty, that was intended to be tonight's post, but I'm so focused on madly painting Tau at present, it was hard not to dedicate this evening's entry to the xenos.

But, as it is getting quite late, and I must be up before the sun, i must leave you here, my good friend. 2016 is going to be a big year for the Rune Axe, and I look forward to sharing my big plans with you in coming weeks! Oh, what plans! 

As always, Thanks for reading and for the support that you have all shown me on this humble blog. I hope that you'll continue following the Rune Axe as our little community grows.

Gabe

#42: The best of the best...

I contemplated tackling Troops next, as they're the building blocks of every legion list as well as compulsory elements to every army, but it was hard not to get straight into arguably my favourite Force Organisation Slot, Elites. I personally look to elites when I want to add some serious punch to my army, as there is a tool for the job here. 

I mentioned in last week's post that I would include Command Squads here, so what better way to kick off this post that with these boys! Typically used as a Bodyguard unit for your Praetor, these fine fellows fill a very specific role in your army. The whole unit (of up to 5) are characters, so they can issue and accept challenges, potentially saving your Praetor from a rather unpleasant or undesirable situation. They all come stock with Artificier Armour, making them a unit that will require some serious firepower to deal with. Alternatively, they can all be clad in Terminator armour, which unlocks Land Raider Phobos' as transports. Jump packs, bikes and jetbikes are also available to the Command Squad. Now, while this unit can be geared up for some serious combat pain, they do have a few flaws. The first being dedicated transports; unless you put the squad in Terminator armour, the only transport available is a rhino, which poses some obvious problems for an assault unit. No assault ramps means leaping out of your transport and copping a round of shooting and your opponent getting the chance to move away and deny you charges. This can be remedied, by purchasing a land raider from Heavy Support, but HS is already a brutally competitive slot. The next downside is that only Praetors unlock these boys for purchase, which is alright unless you intend on bringing Centurions or special characters. On the bright side, with a small points investment, these elite marines can quite easily wipe the floor with most infantry they come across. It should also be noted that the Standard Bearer has two wounds, making him the ideal candidate for a Power Fist, increasing his chances of surviving long enough to swing it. 

Our first actual elite choice is the Veteran Tactical Squad. These are probably best described as the 30k equivalents of the traditional 40k tactical squads, but with abilities and wargear that actually reflect their status as experienced vets of hundreds of battles. This squad can number anywhere from 5 to 10, and for every five guys, you can purchase a traditional special weapon or a heavy bolter/missile launcher with a suspensor web (allowing the weapon to be fired as an assault weapon at the cost of halving its range). This gives the squad a great deal of flexibility without sacrificing damage output. The sarge also has some great options, ranging from thunder hammers to Artificier armour, allowing you to tailor this squad even further to a specific role. Lastly, and definitely most significantly, the squad can select a special rule to apply to the whole squad, be it Fearless, Furious Charge, Outflank, Sniper or Tank Hunter. Essentially, this unit is your ready to tailor gap stop unit capable of being equipped to fill a multitude of roles. 

Terminators! Terminators have been a mainstay of elite shock troops in marine armies since the earliest of days, and for good reason. The squad has the option of chain fists, power fists, lightning claws and a range of ranged weapons for thier Volkite arsenal to auto cannons and heavy Flamers. The main choice is whether you want regular terminator armour and act as normal infantry, or choose the added protection of Cataphractii armour, which increases their Invulnerable save to a very respectable 4+, but slows them down significantly. If you do opt for Cataphracts, consider a transport as almost mandatory in order to pose an urgent and constant threat. 

Destroyer Squads are something else. At first glance, I considered this to be a dunce choice (and due to running Salamanders, my Rite of War excludes them from my available units as it is), but these guys can pose a serious threat! They dual wield bolt pistols, they can be mounted in a Rhino or rock jump packs, and they pack some serious punch in the form of Rad Grenades and Suspensor-webbed Missile Launchers (also packing Rad Missiles). The idea behind this squad is to tag a squad with as much Rad as you can, dropping their toughness dramatically, and then flooding them with hits to force as many armour saves as possible! Quite a neat squad, if used in the right army! The Sarge can also throw Phospex bombs around to devastating effect!

Tech marines can be taken as 1-3 in a single Elite Slot. These guys can be accompanied Servo-Automata, and can raise your average Toungbess to five! They also have access to some pretty cool toys. They may have a place in some lists, but I won't be taking any, if we're honest...

Apothecaries are the absolute business! These guys can be taken in the same manner as Techmarines (1-3 per Elite Slot), and they are worth their weight in gold. These fine fellows can be allocated to any number of squads, handing out Feel No Pain as they go. The bigger the squad, the more bang for your buck. Definitely worthy of your points! 

Dreadnaught Talons are as they have always been; Armour 12/12/10, plenty of weapon options, and some great defensive tools in the form of Ceramite Plating. They can pack a punch, but unfortunately be brought low with even the simple Krak Grenade, unlike our next friend...

The Contemptor Dreadnaught!! This guy is significantly more expensive than a regular Dreadnaught, weighing in 50 points more, and bringing an Invulnerable save and front armour 13. Is it worth it? I think yes. That extra point of armour puts him out of reach from damage by Volkite weapons, and mitigates much of the damage front S7 weapons as well. These guys can easily tank squads and splat characters with ease! He comes with Fleet, making it easier to get to combat, and can rock a multitude of weapon kit-outs! The Mortis Pattern Contemptor is the less-combat/more-death-from-afar gentleman. Instead of a hulking Dreadnaught Close combat weapon, he packs as many guns as humanly possible upon his heavy-set chassis, and gains all kinds of special rules to handle aircraft, or any number of threats for that matter. 

Lastly, I'm going to tackle my personal favourites from Elites; Rapier Platforms. These field guns are points efficient, and come with four options for the guns mounted on these tracked weapons platforms. A quad heavy bolter is the standard, but comparing to the other options, this is by far the least impressive. Laser Destroyer Arrays are perfect tank-busting guns, punching out reliable, high strength, low AP shots every turn with terrifying range and efficiency, while Graviton Cannons can cause absolute havoc and long range. Then there's the Quad Mortar; the devastatingly brutal Thud Gun. This artillery piece is either loved or hated, depending on what side of the gun you're on. Don't expect to make any friends with them, but expect to break everything you shoot at! Whether your Thud battery is dropping 12 strength 5 templates a turn or bring Shatter Shells down upon your enemy's prize tank, firing these babies will be satisfying!

Thanks for reading, everyone. Next week, we'll be tackling Troops.

Thanks,

Gabriel

#41: The Horus Heresy and all that comes with it...

As Silly Season (and it is Silly!) is upon us, my schedule is actually winding down, which is nice. Two short weeks of work left after a frantic and brutally busy few months (hence the almost complete lack of content being added here); and for that, I apologise. 

But onto the real reason you are here. Heresy! Plastic MkIV marines, Cataphracts and Contempotors, Oh My! How long have we been wishlisting for this? 

Really freakin' long, that's how long! 

But it's here, and the new kits are exquisite! The marines are brilliantly designed, and fit enough cool extras and special weapons (not to mention the revamped missile launcher and drum-fed heavy bolter!) to gear up squads however you please! The Contemptor, while being practically mono-pose without some clever converting, is no less a brilliant kit, and comes with the option of a Multi-Melta...

...which is perfect for my Salamanders, or a Kheres Assault Cannon, which, if you can beg, borrow or steal one from another hobbyist, makes Mortis Pattern Dreads an incredibly simple (and brutally effective) conversion!

That's not mentioning the brilliant characters or the option-laden sprues of the Cataphractii Terminators!

So, here's what we are going to do, you and I! Each post, I am going to tackle a different Force Organisation Slot and review what options are available, what's good, bad, and downright useless (although, to be fair, pretty much everything has its uses). Legions along with their Rites of War, characters and unique units will get their own post as I work through them! It's gonna be a long road, but a fun one!

So, let's tackle HQ first. 

Legion Praetor: 

This guy is your biggest, baddest character, with huge stats, access to a variety of Rites of War, and so many options for wargear, that his damage output can be tailored to deal with any threat. Unless you're taking a Primarch or special character as your warlord, this fine fellow should be your go-to-guy!

Legion Centurion: 

Centurions are your building blocks for ALL of your secondary characters, able to purchase upgrades to fulfil different roles spending on your needs. Legion centurions have almost as many upgrade options in regards to wargear, not to mention some 'Consul' upgrades come equiped with wargear built into their costs. 

The first upgrade is Chaplain. For 35 points, you get a Crozius Arcanum and the Zealot USR, which is a big deal in 30k, because these armies aren't rocking ATSKNF. This makes leadership really important, especially if you find yourself in a bad situation. These guys are good frontline combat characters.

The Master of Signals is the polar opposite, preferring a defensive, backfield role. The Master, being most at home in a gun line, comes with the tools to amplify that play style. His first force-multiplier is a Cognis-signum, giving one nearby unit +1BS, making their shooting phase more accurate and more effective. He also rocks a Nuncio-Vox, allowing him to be the eyes for friendly Barrage weapons. To top it off, he can call down D3 S8 Ap3 large blasts once a game to hammer a position from orbit. Top notch character, and worth every point in my mind, IF he is in the right list. 

The Legion champion is pretty self-explanatory. He gets an extra Pip of weapon skill for being such a boss at sword-fighting, he can choose a weapon to be master-crafted, must always issue challenges and can re-roll Heroic Intervention. This guy is a little more specific in his role, seemingly being designed for going after other Consuls. 

The Vigilator is a total bad ass, being basically a Batman-Consul. Scout, Sniper, Infiltrate, Move Through Cover and everything in between, this guy has the tools to play complete havoc if used well. But therein lies the tricky part; he is hard to use. His recon armour makes him much easier to kill than a power armoured Consul. He comes with a special-ammo bolt gun, which makes it undesirable to replace it with another, perhaps more useful, weapon you have to pay points for. The one great rule he has, though, is Sabotage, where this Ninja plants a demo charge on an enemy unit and blow it sky-high before the game even starts. This S6 bomb hits rear armour on vehicles, making them prime targets! Used correctly, this fellow can cause complete carnage and remain a thorn in any General's side. 

Librarians are pretty straight forward. They can be raised to Mastery Level 3 and choose a single psychic discipline. Useful, but expensive. This choice, I think, will come down to fluff and background for me, and personally, I probably won't use one. 

A Forge Lord comes with Artificier armour and a Servo Arm. He can purchase items from the Techmarine equipment, and comes with Battlesmith. Iron Hands, anyone?

The Primus Medicae is your Consul-level Apothocary, who can also deny VP's claimed by the enemy from nearby friendly Infantry. Not a terrible choice, but much more affordably accessed through Elites for less points and a very minor tweak in special rules. 

The Siege Breaker is one brutal demolition man! He and his unit's heavy weapons gain Tank Hunter and Wrecker, he comes with a Nuncio-Vox as the Master of Signals does, and can take Phosphex bombs! To further impose his love of brutally inhumane weapons, he can stock any Medusa Siege Tanks with Phosphex shells! Taking this guy will determine where a large chunk of points is to be spent if you want to get your money's worth with this cold-hearted chap. 

Last and certainly, CERTAINLY not least, comes the Moritat, a Chem-fuelled gunslinger capable of quick-firing his way out of any duel. This guy comes with Scout, Counter-attack and Rad grenades. He can only join Destroyer squads.  And he rocks two pistols. This is where he gets silly. Upgrading either to two plasma pistols or two Volkite pistols, your Moritat can 'Chain-fire', basically blasting away until they miss (with BS5), or they kill whatever they were shooting at. This can be a clutch move, and well worth investing points into!

That's all for tonight. You'll notice the admission of Command Squads. Fear not, I have not forgotten them. They will be in the next post! 

Thanks for reading,

Gabriel

#40: Battle Report - Daemons of Nurgle Vs. Savage Orcs

Age of Sigmar. There has been a lot of controversy around this game, but I've got to say, I am thoroughly enjoying it, and I'll tell you why. The Lords of War army structure. If you haven't seen this structure, it's a great way to moderate the brutality that can come with unrestricted AoS. 

Myself and some friends have also been playing AoStrom, (40k Maelstrom but for Sigmar) which uses a standard objective card deck from 40k and uses common sense to transfer those objectives over to Age of Sigmar. This adds a whole new level of strategy to a game that, in its most basic form, is 'kill or be killed'. 

Keen to give this alternative game type a try, my friend Matt and I unpacked two armies and gave it a red hot go. 

My army was first. I chose to give the Daemon Cohort of Nurgle a run on the battlefield. While this restricts my options and forces me into pretty much one possible build, the benefits offer my force a great deal more durability in the form of 'Blessings of Nurgle' as well as a handy damage mechanic in the form of 'Rot, Glorious Rot'. The Great Unclean One would take up the mantle of General, while a Herald of Nurgle would act as second-in-command. 

Three units of Plaguebearers would form the bulk of my army, and five Beasts of Nurgle gave me a durable, quick hammer unit that could fill any role that I need them to. 

Marching against me would be a horde of naked, bloodthirsty Savage Orcs led by a Shaman and Warboss. His formation mirrored mine in many ways. Three units of infantry backed up by a fast hammer unit in the form of Boar Boys. The significant difference in lists was the presence of a Warboss riding a Wyvern; a model that I didn't really have an immediate answer for. I was hoping that perhaps I could get a few sneaky Arcane Bolts into him and then perhaps tackle him in combat, but a 4+ re rollable save on a 10-wound flying beat stick meant that I was probably going to lose a few models in the process...

I won the roll off to deploy, which meant that I would get first turn.

My deployment was a simple one. GUO was front and centre, the herald by his side, and my other units spread out so as to have good channels of movement. We were playing on a 4'x4' table, which in hindsight may have been too small, particularly with two tenacious melee armies. My opponent placed his board on the far left flank, and his Wyvern atop the tower. His Savage mobs filled the gaps backed up by his characters. 

My first round of objectives were achievable. Objective 1 was right at the feet of my Herald, and I was confident in casting a power with my Unclean One, as the Savage Orc Shaman was well outside range to stop spells. 

My first turn was largely uneventful. I pushed up with all units except the Herald, who chose to hang back and sit on the objective. My General placed Inspiring Presence and Mystic Shield upon my Beasts, knowing that they were furthest forward and most likely to be a priority target early in the game. That effectively ended my turn, securing me two Objective cards. 

Matt drew some great cards, with Big Game Hunter making the Great Unclean One a huge target, as he is the only model with the Monster keyword. Objective two was also inside his deployment zone. 

He followed my footsteps in handing Mystic Shield and Inspiring Presence to the far-right mob of Boys, before swooping his Wyvern into the centre of the battle line, flanked by two groups of raging barbarians. He claimed Objective 2, and held on to Big Game Hunter, fully intending on giving my General a terrible time. 

Drawing three new cards left me in a bit of a pickle; hold the two objectives on the far side of the board (with an army notorious for being woefully slow) and kill the 10-wound dragon rider menacing the centre of the board. 

My army pushed up, unsuccessfully trying to cast Mystic Bolt at the Wyvern, and using his special command ability, which hands out extra attacks if a Nurgle unit rolls a 7 on the charge; unreliable but fun if it fires. My beasts pushed up, hoping to make a short charge, while the rest of the Plaguebearers plodded forward. 

In a stroke of luck, that proved to be a double edged sword, I rolled 12" for their charge and launched into combat with his Warlord, not realising that this would draw both units of boys into the same combat purely by proximity. I may have bitten off more than I could chew...

My beasts made that charge easily and unleashed a flurry of attacks, but thanks to the Savage Orc's Ju-Ju Paint, only three fell, causing no damage in return. However, thanks to Inspiring Presence, they ignored Battleshock. 

The combat in the centre went surprisingly well. Sure, I was in some serious trouble, but if I could hold those units in place, perhaps it would give me the chance to gain the upper hand elsewhere in the battle. 

Perhaps...

To my surprise, Matt's Shaman unleashed the Foot of Gork down upon my monstrous leader, stomping three times and shaving four wounds off with frightening ease!

On my left flank, things were looking dire. The boar boys and a very angry Warboss were racing toward my unsupported and isolated infantry.

The Plaguebearers decided to fight with pillows, and got slaughtered by the angry pig riders. The Warboss refrained from combat, instead choosing to make a dash for Objective 3. 

 In the central combat, things got violent. A single survivor was left, enveloped by the right mob. This caused me some major concern, as the very dangerous and very alive Wyvern was now free to draw a bead on my general. 

The Beasts on the right continued to grind down the Savage Orcs, but in the process, began taking damage from the avalanche of attacks that were returned.

 Then the unthinkable happened. My opponent seized the initiative, and again cast Foot of Gork upon the Great Unclean One. I wasn't too concerned; he had 6 wounds, and the odds of taking damage were unlikely. 

Two stomps. Six mortal wounds. You can't fight good luck!

This was the turning point of the game. With my centre collapsed, and my left unit of Plaguebearers being relentlessly ground down by some very agitated pigs, my last hope was to kill the Wyvern and claim D3 victory points to close the margin. My Herald and last unit of Plaguebearers barrelled into combat, but to no avail. The plagueys had no effect, as they have no Rend to speak of, but the beasts and Herald managed to crush 7 wounds off the monster before my entire force was wiped out in its entirety. 

Well, a convincing defeat, but a great game none-the-less and always a pleasure using two fully painted armies!

I think the trouble with that formation is that you simply have to invest too many wounds into Plaguebearers, which, while tough, are slow and struggle to kill anything tougher than a sleeping elf. 

We shall see. 

Anyway, readers, it's great to be back! Can't wait for the coming weeks, when some seriously exciting models are being released!

Keep it real, and bring that hobby back!

Gabriel