[Orks] Waaaagh! Nobrot!: Grots

Afternoon everyone,

As usual, this article starts with a "It's been a while since..." and this time, it's related to Waaagh! Nobrot! A series where I was looking through the Ork codex, giving a bit of info on units and how I personally like to use them.

Having worked my way through most of the book, I'm not trying to tie up the loose ends - this time with Grots.

For me, Grots are one of the first units down on the team sheet. They're an amazingly cheap scoring unit. However, you get what you pay for with them.

Purpose
Firstly, the purpose of the Grots is simple. They're on the board to hold the nearby objectives that your more expensive and trustworthy Ork boyz don't want to sit on at the back.

Normally, what I will do is deploy these guys first on top of a "home" objective. They'll just sit there, in cover, for the majority of the game. The only time anything will ever happen with them is if someone gets near the building or shooting forces them to run away.

In most games however, I've started keeping them in reserve to minimise the chances of them running away. Usually when they show up around Turn 3 or 4, they can move 6" on, then run until they get onto the objective.

Personally, I wouldn't attempt to use Grots for anything other than objective holding, or possibly as a big tarpit unit to stop something with a low number of attacks. You never know... the Grots could win!

Equipment
As for equipment, the only choice you get really is on your Runtherd, whether you want the enemy to have -1 Attack or a Poisoned Weapon.

I much prefer having the poisoned weapon, just for the chance to scratch any bigger beasties that come in and try to squash yo, like Carnifexes or Wraithlords where you wouldn't have any chance to hurt them back.

Number
As for number, I like to take the bigger squads. It's easy enough to kill a handful of Grots, but to wipe out a full unit off an objective it takes more than a few pot shots.


I certainly wouldn't go for a unit size anywhere under 15, as I think it loses out on the swarm nature of the Grots.

Now personally, I'm cheeky and tight-fisted with my points. I take a unit of 29 or 19 Grots, so that I don't have to pay the points for the extra Runtherd.

Conclusion
What do you guys think about Grots then? I reckon they're one of the core units in an Ork army, allowing your Boyz to go forward and bash some heads, rather than worrying about sitting back and playing house.

Also, with the 40k FAQ from last year saying units can now hold / contest multiple objectives it means that a big unit of Grots coming on late in the game can have a chance of holding several objectives at once if they're cleverly placed. Or, be used to expand out from their home base to cover / contest another objective later on.

So there you go, first Waaagh! Nobrot! article for a long while, and I'm hoping to start finishing off the other articles as I go. Perhaps converting some of the missing units I don't own, like Ard Boyz, Big Gunz and Flash Gitz, then look at buying some Deffkoptas.

Maybe I should make a poll of what to buy next...

Peace,
SB

Badger's Log - Dark Eldar Wyches

Morning all,

I've made another push on with the Dark Eldar progress, whilst I had my first day off in a few months. The next undercoated things on the paint desk were my Wyches unit.

There's 10 of them and when assembling the unit I was unsure what upgrades to give them, so I gave 1 a pair of Hydra gauntlets and another a pair of Razorflails. Max Hydra gauntlets seems to be the vogue around the internet, but I like the ability for re-rolls on Wounds with them against higher toughness things.

I can't remember what the squad leaders are called, I think it's a a Hekatrix. But either way, here's the Hekatrix of the squad. I gave her an Agoniser as I think it's good to take for the extra points, and also a blast pistol for a bit of anti-character, terminator or vehicle sniping. Some people might think it's a waste of points for such a unit to be doing that kind of job, but meh... I like each unit to have a little bit of anti-tank.

But yeah, as well as these guys getting painted up, I also had a bit of an Undercoat-athon on other stuff in my boxes. Here's what's still to be painted from the army now:

• 2 Raiders
• 1 Ravager
• 3 Venoms
• 10 Incubi
• 10 Scourges
• 20 Mandrakes
• 20 Wracks
• 6 Haemonculi
• Urian Rakarth
• 6 Grotesques
• 3 Beastmasters
• Baron Sathonyx
• 1 Hellion

So hopefully these are gonna be made a start on this week. That's me done for now!

Peace,
SB

DoW II: Retribution - a quick rundown

I felt I should throw in my thoughts on the new Dawn of War game. I wont spoil any of it for those who are thinking of buying it, but at the same time I feel obliged to tell you all that this game is a big change from the others.



The first change is the most obvious and well known inclusion of Imperial Guard and being able to have a campaign with each race. This is quite good and sounds very appealing, after having a quick try on the campaigns they even managed to give the Hive Mind a character which tells you what to do and about threats relevent to the mission and story (like other races commanders really).



Now onto the radical changes, the biggest change I noticed first is that they no longer have 4-6 characters with a squad for some to lead as Sargeants. Now you have 4 heroes and in the desroyable boxes is power and requisition and thats because now you capture HQ buildings and can build armies!!! Yes, they have combined the campaign with parts of multi-player. This seems alright but I was a bit disapointed as I felt they had the campaign perfect in the other games.



Next up when you level up you still upgrade your character, but no longer do you have to spend point upon point to get an upgrade, you now get 3 Stats (Health, Damage, Stamina) and each point gives you an upgrade. These upgrades can change what weapons the charater can have, or which units he can summon (nids). At the end of the first mission (and the rest I assume) you get to pick one of three options, usually, a piece of wargear for a Hero, an upgrade for a purchasable unit, or a new unit to buy from HQ's, I'm not sure if this means you will have to lose out on wargear, units or, unit upgrades throughout the campaign.



Lastly, the biggest disapointment is that the first mission for every race is identical, I'm not sure how this works out later on as I have only playing the first mission of each race. I am hoping the races get a very different campaign as it goes along otherwise I think that they may have rushed this game and focussed too much on the multi-player as games tend to do lately.



All in all I think it is average, and nowhere near as the first DoW II game. So I hope this gives you a bigger picture when you think about buying Retribution, have fun and enjoy this game if you buy it.

Badger's Log - Dark Eldar Warriors and Archon

Morning all,

Despite the fact it's a Saturday morning, I'm here in work waiting for my work to update, so thought I'd show off some of my Dark Eldar that I've been working on this week.

Last blog, I showed you the tester model for the scheme, which was amazingly quick to paint. Thankfully, since it didn't require a basecoat of colour on the armour, it makes it even quicker to paint.

So I've managed a batch of warriors over a few odd hours this week - one night for the armour, one for the other bits and bobs, one for the wash to set and one for the bases.

So here goes. First squad of Dark Eldar Warriors from my Kabal of the Poisoned Tongue offshoot.

I think they've come out looking really good. They match my other armies in terms of the darkened style (Gotta love Badab Black wash!!) and also are a change to paint. The armour is different from the Orks or Guard, their skin isn't done in human style (I used Dheneb Stone) and they look really good grouped up.

The one thing I can see I've missed from the picture is the Sybarite's Agoniser. I used Gretchin Green for it, as I didn't have anything I could think of using and had already used Ice Blue for the armour and Mechrite Red for the spot colour on the warriors.

Then, I also painted up my converted plastic Archon. She's currently un-named but since this is a Kabal of the Poisoned Tongue offshoot, she'll be Lady Malys related and go alongside her when I convert a Malys model.

I converted the model from a Raider crew member (the one's that hang off the sides). I compensated for the crouched leg by making her stand on the head of a defeated Ork Nob, which nicely ties them into Waaagh Nobrot and provides a link between my armies.

She's armed with a Huskblade (Dark Eldar knife hilt and pommel, with a Zombie scythe for a blade), Soul Trap (the cursed skulls) and then the cloak to bulk the model out.Basically, anything Haemonculi related in the army is made from Skaven, so I imagine the cloak is a trophy taken from a skinned Haemonculi / Wrack as a punishment for defying her in some way.

Looking at the blade, I could have done with maybe some blood splatters on it, but looking at it, I like the clean and almost ghostly look to it.

So what do you guys reckon? I'm going to hopefully start painting my Wych squad over the weekend and also spray up the remaining bits and bobs.

Peace,
SB

What I've been up to this last month...

Morning all,

Realised it's been a bit without a blog post containing some pictures of my stuff, so over the weekend I took a few pictures of what I'd been working on.

Whilst in the madness of painting up the rest of my Imperial Guard infantry, I found these 4 Commisars (Far left was already done) in a box tucked away. Thinking they might be good to attach to some infantry platoons in games, I got them painted up pretty quick.

This is the first Dark Eldar model I've painted, and is the tester for the rest of the army. This guy took absolutely forever to get a scheme I was happy with. Originally I started with a Necron Abyss basecoat on the armour, but it was so dark to paint on that I could barely tell where I'd gone over the black undercoat.

So I gave up on that one and after a few attempts at drybrushing I stumbled on Ice Blue and got this "Tron" sort of look going on

So yeah, what have you guys been up to recently? Hopefully I'll have a full squad of Dark Eldar Warriors painted up by the weekend (work permitting) and get some pictures online.

Peace,
SB

The Journal of Keeper Cripias

Hi all, Angryman here.

Its been a while since i've posted anything so I thought I'd quickly share something with you. I found this link the journal of Keeper Cripias the other day.  Some of you may have read it, others not.  I also found this fan fluff. 

Let me know what you think.

all comments welcome

IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD!!!!

So with the release of the Grey Knights approaching alot of people are screaming Codex Creep and threatening to quit the hobby because of another "Broken" Codex. My question is, is it really the end of the world?

Well I am going to break it down and prove that it really isn't (and if anyone still believes it is, please stop moaning and just quit the hobby).

Firstly, there is alot of complaints that two wound models with a 2+ 5++ save and FNP are overpowered and going to kill us all, but don't they already exist in the form of Mega Nobz with Mad Dok? sure that will put you back a good few hundred points, but I am sure that the Grey Knight Version will too.

Next is the complaint of Henchmen being overpowered for the cost. From what I can gather they are going to be cheap, but they aren't troops without a Special Character (which means one less HQ) and they are T3, plus they come basic with a 5+ save, and WS3, they aren't even Vet Guardmen standards!!!

The Dreadknight is a big scare, but is it not just the Grey Knights answer to Mephiston and the Trygon?

There are several other complaints but I can't remember from the top of my head, if you have any questions I will justify them as best as I can.

Now, lets look at Codex Creep in general

Alot of people scream Codex Creep every time a new Codex is announced (even before the rumour mill starts) and sure, some Codex's have been upped a notch, but then every other follows suit. At the end of 4th Ed alot of the Codex's had specific gimmics and their own tricks, Dark Angels had Termie troops, Dark Eldar were fast and fragile, Imperial Guard were slow and shooty and Eldar were Psyker Masters.

With 5th Ed Dark Angels were ousted with Space Wolves getting Termie Troops and now the Grey Knights get them too, Dark Eldar became a bit more survivable (not much) and Guard became Faster, Eldar were pushed off top of the Psykers by Marines. But we are looking at all the 5th Ed Codex's and comparing them to 3rd and 4th Ed Codex's. Which means, we will see all the Codex's get some new gimmic plus strengthen their weakness's, GW seem to be working on everyone having something similar to everyone else, plus a bit more, I am sure this is to partly increase sales and partly to settle the cry of "Codex Creep" but still the Internet Mobs persist until it is their armies turn for the new and shiny.

My general Point therefore is that if you feel cheated, wait your turn, it will happen and then everyone else will moan at you just like you moaned at them.

Any questions or comments please feel free to leave them and enjoy a discussion

What do you want next for your army?

Morning all,

Again, I'll try and keep going with the updates here and there, in between bouts of overtime at work.

Last night, I was flicking through the Imperial Guard codex to have a nosey at some units and started thinking about what I'd like to buy next for them, to move me away from Mechanised transported squads and utilise more of the Imperial Guard book.

First up, there's a few more characters I want in the army...

Commisar Yarrick
  First up, the only named Independent Character in the book (well, one without being bought in a command squad to start with?). I've already made a plastic Commisar Lord from the Cadian command boxset, but next up would be to make this dude.

The idea being, that I've got plenty of Ork power klaws lying around, waiting to lop off his hand with. Add a storm bolter to the other, and his bale eye, and we're there. My Manutian equivalent of Yarrick.

Captain Al'Rahem
There's something I like about this guy as an upgrade to my Platoon command squad. Mostly because he's got better orders than a standard Platoon commander (Bring it down and First Rank, Second Rank), bigger order range, a unique order which lets you shoot, then run. And on top of that a plasma pistol and an instant death causing power weapon. So he's S3, big deal, he only needs 1 wound to land on a Carnifex for it to go pop. He's got plenty of fodder around him to take the hits!

As for converting Al'Rahem, the best thing to do is get his iconic weaponry - the plasma pistol and Claw of the Desert Tiger - and make him look a bit rugged and worn. I'm hoping a Dark Eldar power weapon and standard Guard plasma pistol can do the trick there, along with a goggled Catachan head and a cloak from Empire pistoliers. Job done... hopefully.

Commander Chenkov
I'm a pansy for special characters, I like to use them all over the show, just for the variation they can bring to a game. I'm intending on buying the bits for Al'Rahem, so it seems daft not to also do the other Platoon Command upgrade - Commander Chenkov. The main reason I was to use  him, is to back up a big Conscript unit. I

A Manutian version is going to be a bit awkward to do. His defining features are his cloak, greatcoat and sword. The only problem with that is I've used exactly the same gear for my Commisar Lord (excluding the bolt pistol). There's a few WHFB heads I can use for the beard and whatnot, and I should have plenty of broadswords lying around.

Conscripts
Continuing on from using Chenkov, I've always wanted a big meatshield unit of Conscripts. Literally to worry people about a 50 strong unit heading towards them and for the satisfaction of knowing they're pretty much just a suicide unit. The only problem I've got with that is painting and buying all those Conscript models...

I'm not sure how to make my Conscripts yet, I intially wanted to use the Catachan models as inducted Manutian Gangers, but having found no decent deals on the older boxes of models via eBay... I'm thinking I may as well just use the Cadian models.

Sentinels
Sentinels have always been a cool little unit, I like the thought of these scouting walkers to support Infantry units or tag along with mechanised infantry. I also like the amount of weapon options available to them, from anti-vehicle, anti-infantry, anti-terminator, anti-light vehicle etc. The only question is scout or armoured?

No change here, I'd love to just use the GW models as standard, hopefully magnetising the weapons and being able to swap the cockpit top in and out to swap between scout and armoured variants.

Rough Riders
Rough riders are my absolute favourite unit in the Guard codex. So much so that I've been hanging fire on building them, just waiting to see what new models are coming out for all the GW ranges, for what I can convert them from.

My initial idea for them came from an article in White Dwarf about Abhumans, with the use of Xeno mounts. At that time, using the very old and chubby Cold Ones. I didn't have an issue with those models, just that they were a pain to get hold of in bulk. So at the moment, I'm toying with either using Dark Elf cold one knights for the Xeno approach, or go the classic horse way and use Empire pistoliers.

Psyker Battle Squad
I know, I know. The internet loved / loves these guys and everyone else hates them... but I really, really like the idea of a Psyker squad. I love Psykers in 40k and think they're really, really underused. Mostly because they're competing for better slots in some armies (Weirdboys in Orks, for example) or whatever other reason. But I do want to try and force a squad of them in, to accompany my Primaris Psyker.

The intention for them is to have this rogue and tattered look about them. Probably using Empire Flagellants for them, or Bretonnian men at arms. However, when making my Primaris Psyker I did think about using Cadian Shock Troops with Empire bits to maintain the similar look - although maybe they'd be too similar for other players?

Hardened Veterans
The next thing on my list is to have some actual models for my Hardened Veteran units. The aim is for these to be my Chimera mechanised squads, and my current Mech squads can sit inside the Valkyries / Vendettas.

Now these guys are Wargames Factory sci-fi Infantry, but I really like the Killzone Helghast thing they've got going on. Plus they're pretty cheap. I think it's about £40 for 54 of them. Which is more than enough and with all the special weapons to boot. They're different enough from Cadians to get away with and also could be used to show Carapace armour?

Hopefully over the coming months I can start chipping away at the tons of units I want. Maybe before the end of this month I can look into that Psyker Battle squad, or the Platoon command special characters and Yarrick.

Next month's project is to start some Rough Riders!

Peace,
SB