[Nids] Yet more Hive news..

Copied from Bell of Lost Souls...

Lots of reports coming in from overseas of 1st hand views of the codex at long last:
Here are some confirmed morsels to keep you on the edge of your seat:

Carnifex: WS:3 BS:3 S:9 T:6 W:4 I:1 A:4 Ld:7 Sv:3
Scary options such as the return of old-school bio-plasma which is now a 12" Plasma Cannon
Groups of 1-3 confirmed, +2 I when charging. Costed as Leman Russ Eradicator

Trygon: WS:5 BS:3 S:6 T:6 W:6 I:4 A:6 Ld:8 Sv:3

Its bioelectric field is a 12" S:5 AP:5 Assault 6 weapon.
It indeed deepstrikes and leave a marker behind that other tyranids can reserve through.
Costed as Baharroth.

Zoanthropes: WS:3 BS:4 S:4 T:4 W:2 I:3 A:1 Ld:10 Sv:5

Dualmodes of fire are 24" S:5 AP:3 Assault 1 Blast, OR the 18" S:10 AP:1 Assault 1 Lance (move over Tau)
It indeed deepstrikes and leave a marker behind that other tyranids can reserve through.
Unit sizes are 1-3 and they are Elites. Costed as a SM Predator.

Tyranid Warriors: WS:5 BS:3 S:4 T:4 W:3 I:4 A:3 Ld:10 Sv:4
Can be put in a landingspore, unitsize 3-9, costed as a CSM Termy.

SwarmLord: WS:9 BS:3 S:6 T:6 W:5 I:6 A:4 Ld:10 Sv:3
Causes Instant Death, Armed with quad boneswords, 4+ Invulnerable, Gives +1 to reserves.
Costed as a pair of Colossus.

Swarm lord... OUCH!

Some thoughts on the above:

Carnifexes - Glad they've increased in points cost, now we'll hopefully see a lot less of them on the table, but the ones that are will be MUCH more deadly.

Trygon - Bioelectric field, nice way of dealing with Hordes, and I like the "leave a marker behind for other reserves to appear through". Nice little twist.

Zoanthrope - THE Anti-Tank / Character sniper for the Nids. Really happy to see more Psychic powers showing up and becoming the weapons of choice.

Tyranid Warriors - I like the fact they're now troops, and even better... Landing spores are confirmed. Can't wait to see some conversions of these, I've already got a few in mind.

Swarm Lord - Sounds like he can give a Bloodthirster a run for his money, I'd like to see what special rules come attached to him... and what effect 4 boneswords have?

Your thoughts below guys!

[Orks] Plastic Deff Dred sneak peek?

GW have put up some sneak peeks of upcoming 2010 releases, one for 40k, Fantasy and LOTR. So below is the sneak peek....



It's definitely Orks, it's definitely big and it looks a bit like a scary face on a Marine Dreadnought, hence the logic behind it being a Plastic Deff Dred.

Either way, the sneak peek looks really nice... will definitely be buying this for my Dred Bash army!

[ORKS] Waaaagh! Nobrot! Part 2: The Orky army

Hey again everyone, time for my belated weekly / fortnightly / monthly article on my Ork army. Due to work constraints and spending the weekend without the cable to get the photos off my camera, I'm only just managing to find the time to write this, so here we go.

This article, I'm going to look at the various styles of Ork armies that I can (or aim to) get out of my Ork army and the pro's, con's and example units used in each.



From my point of view, there's 6 distinguished playing styles to playing orks and then the option of a Hybrid for any of the styles.

Style 1: Horde
The first style of play for the Ork army is the most obvious playstyle - the Horde. This basically revolves around you getting as many, and as big as possible, units of Ork boyz onto the table.

Being 6pts each, you can fit a helluva lot Boyz into a 1500 - 2000pt list, and your standard boy isn't anything to be sniffed at. It's a very easy playstyle to adopt, when first starting Orks, as the ability of them to "tarpit" elite units or use the hidden Power Klaw weilding Nob to lop wounds off of a Carnifex.

Pros:
- Easy playstyle
- Some armies have a hard time dealing with Hordes.

Cons:
- Flamers
- Dealing with Mechanised lists.

Example Army setup:
HQs: Warboss and Big Mek with Force Field
Elites: Kommando unit for Outflanking, Lootas for support.
Troops: Boyz and Grotz
Fast: None
Heavy: None

Style 2: Mekanized
The second playstyle is one I've been experimenting with, since getting frustrated packing away 100+ Boyz after each game night.

The idea behind the Mekanized Ork force is to safely taxi elite units of Orks (or your standard boyz) as fast as possible, dispatching whatever lies within assault distance.

It can be frustrating at times, as the unit size you can fit in a transport vehicle limits your Ork Mob rule, needing only 2 casualties to start taking a leadership test.

The importance of playing a Mekanized list comes in your Big Mek with the Force field. I've happily played games in a Diamond formation with a Big Mek and his forcefield sat within 6" of all other vehicles.

The options for your transports are Trukks, Battlewagons and Looted Wagons. Now unfortuantely the Looted Wagons are just too unreliable, and take up a previous Heavy Support slot, so your main force is looking at Trukks and Battlewagons.

Pros:
- Very Fast
- Deadly on the turn you launch it

Cons:
- Once you're out, you have to deal with the fire
- Low armour values outside of Battlewagons
- Unreliability of Looted Wagons

Example Army Setup:
HQ: Warboss, Big Mek with Force Field.
Elites: Nobz, Meganobz, Burnas
Troops: Nobz, Meganobz, Ork Boyz
Fast: Warbuggies
Heavy: Battlewagons, Looted Wagons, Kans, Dreds.

Style 3: Speed Freeks
Speed freeks are quite similar in make up to the Mekanized list, however, moving away from armour and increasing mobility and speed. Speed freaks utilise a LOT of bikers and Trukk boyz in their lists.

Pros:
- Extremely fast
- Mobile
- Options for numerous fast troop options.

Cons:
- Fragile
- Low numbers

Example Army Setup:
HQs: Warboss on Bike, Wazdakka
Elites: Nob Bikers
Troops: Nob Bikers (Warboss), Warbikers (Wazdakka), Trukk Boyz
Fast: Warbikers, Warbuggies, Deff Koptas
Heavy: None

Style 4: Elite
A rarely used, in my opinion, build for the Orks is to play the elite-heavy army, forgoing the Ork boyz in favour of Nobz etc.

This build suffers from high points cost for models with low armour saves, but benefits from multiple wounds and sheer destruction.

It also suffers from the lack of scoring units, being onl able to have 2 depending on your HQ choices, so the option for Grots as a cheap scoring unit is worth taking.

Example Army setup:
HQs: Ghazkull, Warboss
Elites: Nobz, Meganobz, Nob Bikers
Troops: Nobz, Nob Bikers, Ard Boyz in a Trukk, Grotz
Fast: Stormboyz
Heavy: Dreds, Kans, Flash Gitz.
Style 5: Shooty
Another really underused Ork build is the option for a shooty army, basically spamming the amount of assault or high-volume fire to make up for the naff Ballistic Skill of the Orks. Quantity over Quality all the way!

Most people view the Orks as a Close Combat army and nothing else, which is how a lot of people viewed the Nids - and looking at the amount of shooty builds that rely on High volume of shots, things eventually drop to them.

Pros:
- Similar to Horde
- Variety of weapons

Cons:
- Each units tends to be specialised in what it can shoot.
- Mobility
- Anti-Tank

Example Army Setup:
HQs: Big Mek with Force Field, Big Mek with Shokk Attack Gun
Elites: Lootas, Burnas, Tankbustas
Troops: Shoota boyz, Grotz
Fast: Warbuggies
Heavy: Flash Gitz, Big Gunz, Dreds and Kans.

Style 6: Heavy Metal
The final variant is also known as the Dred Bash or Kan Wall, but I like to call it Heavy Metal... because that's what it relies on, primarily Walkers and armour.

This list uses Killa Kans to support the advance of Dreds who want to walk up and Krump some 'Oomies with their metal claws.

Pros:
- Very strong against horde armies
- Good against armies with low anti-tank
- Mek + KFF + Dredz = Major annoyance for opponent

Cons:
- More melta = More dead Vehicles
- Low on scoring units

Example army setup:
HQs: Warboss, Big Mek KFF
Elites: Burnaboyz
Troops: Nobz, Dredz, Shoota boyz.
Fast: Warbuggies
Heavy: Dredz, Killa Kans, Battlewagons.

Summary:
So I hope I've opened up a few people's minds on the Orks here, specifically with the Elite and Shooty builds, as opposed to Nob Biker spam or 180 Ork Boyz with a Warboss and some extra bits.

Personally I prefer the hybrid approach like so:
Warboss on Bike with 9 Nob Bikers (my fast contingent)
Big Mekk with KFF with 15 Burnas in a Battlewagon (A LOT of points, but they always do well.)
2 x 30 Ork Boyz
1 x 20 Shoota Boyz for mid-table objectives
1 x 19 Grotz with Runtherd (so I save 10 points on buying another Herder)
Deff Dred with 3 CCW and a Skorcha
3 Killa Kans 2 with Big Shoota, 1 with Grotzooka

A mix of Horde (the amount of Boyz), Elite and Fast (Nob Bikers), Mekanized (Mek, KFF, Wagon and Burnas) and Heavy metal (Dreds and Kans).

Enjoy!

Confirmed Nid Rumors

well with the release of White Dwarf came the inevitable Battle Report featuring the Nids against the Salamanders, as you would expect from a Melta and Flamer heavy army where they are all twinlinked the Salamanders won the day, but only just.

What was unfortunate was that GW didn't go into the rules very deeply for their new models as with it being Januarys White Dwarf they would be expecting people would have a copy of the Nid Codex to read up on. However a few rumors were confirmed, and here they are:

Firstly eternal warrior is gone for good. Meltas kill Warriors and quick.
Zoanthropes have a Str10 AP1 Assault Lance psychic power, hopefully that will ruin Mech armies.
Carnifex's are extreamly costly, one fex with a stranglethorn cannon runs up 180 points according to White Dwarf.
But a Mawlock is 10 points cheaper with a Str5 AP2 template when it Deepstrikes, and it can burrow again and come up once again like the Swooping Hawks of Eldar, expect to see alot of them in lists.
the Trygon is amazing in combat as it ran through most of the Salamander army at a measly 200 points.
Toxathropes give everyone within 18" a 5+ cover save, but unfortunatly the Salamanders took them out early in the game meaning we missed anything else they may be able to do.
The Hive Guard look good and with a Str8 No line of sight needed weapon they are very survivable, however they lack the AP to be a real threat. Pyrovore is definatly a flamer creature and sounds like it has poisoned attacks in combat similar to the gargoyles who have the old Rending rules, but you get an armour save.

The weapon Rumors seem to holding up as the Fex was equipped with a Stranglethorn cannon, and the Hive Tyrant with a Heavy Venom Cannon.

Thats all I can think of for now from White Dwarf, enjoy and confirm them yourselves with a decent read.

[Units] Eldar Elites

This week we will be looking at the Eldar elite choices. These choices are normally the “best of the best” the hard hitters and the source of the offensive and defensive power in an army. However this isn’t shown in the Eldar codex quite as much as others. There are some good units, and on paper and in theory all the Eldar elites are exactly that, better than every other elite in what they do and again cheap as dirt. Lets take a closer look though and dissect them and what they do.

Starting with the first choice of the elites is the Striking Scorpions. They are a measly 16 points per model, that’s the cost of a space marine, and for that cost you get… an Assault marine, with one less toughness. But at 6 points cheaper, not too shabby. However you don’t get fleet of foot, which for an assault unit isn’t too good, but given an Exarch for 12points and then with shadow strike they get infiltrate. Infiltrate is brilliant you can either outflank which means the turn they show up anything within 12” of the edge will be tied up, so devastator squads and other heavy weapon units, or they can deploy as a normal infiltrator, if there is suitable terrain to hid you 12” away from the enemy and you have turn one, then you have a unit in the enemy for them to have to worry about before the rest of your army arrive. A 3+ armour save and str4 weapons means they are a good all round choice, best for taking on horde armies where they can use their 4 attacks to greatest effect. Also they are one of the few Eldar units to receive grenades. The Exharch weapons are cheap and you can take either a power fist, or a weapon which varies from str4 to str8, unfortunately no power weapon options.

The other combat choice you have is the Howling Banshees, and on paper they are the best unit the elder probably have. 16 points and you get fleet, power weapons (on everyone) and initiative 10 even when assaulting into cover. The Exarch can make the enemy WS1 and give you the counter attack rule and a str6 power weapon isn’t to be sniffed at, but its only 3 attacks on the charge. However, they are not the be all and end all because they will normally be assaulting the enemies best troops, or at least their most armoured, still good yes? How do you get them there, on foot, with a 4+ save I doubt they will get very far very quickly. So take a wave serpent for them, there goes another 100 points, and when you get it there they can’t assault, they either have to sit in the Serpent for a turn, or stand and withstand the shooting. Another downer is they are str3 the enemies best troops are usually going to be at LEAST Toughness 4 which means you need 5’s to wound, suddenly those 30 attacks are whittled down to about 3, and anything more than a light breeze will blow the banshees over after their attacks in the first round.

The second most popular choice for the Eldar elites are the Fire Dragons. These can be a great option, but they are hard to use. At 15 points each they are cheap. There is no real NEED for an Exarch but he is a good choice still, he can be given an 18” melta or a heavy flamer and his powers give them tank hunter, not really needed with melta weapons, the second choice removes cover saves, mmm tasty, roasted marines. The fire dragons require a transport, there is no need for a wave serpent, as you only have 5 dragons, there isn’t a need for more, unless you really want to. So a falcon is your vehicle, but it is already a tank hunter itself, there are two options really, take out two tanks (potentially) or use the falcon to take out a tank, and if it does use the dragons to kill the passengers, or to finish the falcons job if it cant cut it. However you have to be careful because people of a blown up tank aren’t always happy you blew their ride, and any left will shoot/assault you and with a 4+ save your 5 dragons with crumble.

That leaves two Choices left, and these two choices look mean, nasty and down right dirty. Lets look at the Wraithguard first you can fit a unit of 5 in a wave serpent, they have an AP2 weapon that kills outright on a wound of a 6, its an assault weapon, and it ALWAYS wounds on a 2+ nasty also against vehicles on a 2-4 causes a glancing hit and a 5-6 causes penetrating hit. They have a 3+ save, and are toughness – so they are hard to kill, they are also fearless to boot. There must be some drawbacks then, and there are some big ones. Firstly they are 35 points each, 5 points short of a terminator, but the weapons warrant that, however the weapon is only 12” range, again fair enough there shouldn’t be much left to hurt you. The biggest drawback is that you have to have a warlock, 25 points for one, and it must have a power, otherwise you will have to roll and a roll of a 1 means, you can’t do anything, and are hit automatically in combat. However, if you take ten Wraithguard and a Warlock upgraded to a spiritseer (for 6 points) they become Troops. Brilliant. But at £7.80 per model few people field them for money reasons.

The final choice is probably the least used and the best looking in theory. The fearsome Harlequins. At 18 points per model they seem ok, they come with furious charge and Initiative 5 with 4 attacks on the charge (I think) they also have a flimsly 5+ invulnerable save, which is ok against power weapons as lascannons, but massed fire brings them to their knees quickly. Which is where their character upgrades become effective, you can give them a Shadowseer, which means night fighting rules apply to the Harlequins, but aren’t affected by wargear or rules which negate night fighting, but he is 30 points. All the Harlequins can be equipped with a Harlequins Kiss which gives them rending, this was brilliant in 4th Edition when rending was on the to-hit roll and you were rolling 30+ dice around, but now its lost some effectiveness, not a lot but some. They have the same problem as Banshees in being too fragile for their own good, transport options provide no help as you can’t assault out of it and walking is just painful to watch. There are better ways to spend your points but you must look at how they work on the table, not on paper.

I suggest a mixture of Scorpions, Fire Dragons and maybe some Wraithguard if you can afford it, and remember that Eldar are only good for doing bits, not wiping out units. Each unit can mop up, or cause a dent, so focus your fire and assaults on the enemies weakest point, or strongest unit in the open.

That’s it for this week, you will have to pick your favourite and best unit to suit you. Next week we will be looking into their troop choices. Enjoy for now.

Nid Rumors Posted

I have collected all the rumors I could find and am going to post them all in one go for you to read and dissect, there is a lot so ensure you have plenty of time to read, there are also some links to Bell of Lost Souls, our most reliable rumor mill. Enjoy and apologies if any rumors are repeated.


4 New Tyranid species never before seen in a codex, one of which will make the current carnifex "look like a dwarf". ~I assume this would be the plastic Trygon and the Mawloc
Tyranid Characters return... No so much individual creatures like Old One Eye, but these will be indicitive of big creatures that have survived through battlefields and evolved into something better.
Plastic Hive Tyrant kit with wings.
Codex is in the can and is written by Robin Cruddace (of codex Imperial Guard).
Tyranids will have evolved rules and abilities to better counter the rapid emergence of mech that has accompanied 5th edition. (implied that Biovores will be viable)!
Release in 2010 Janurary 16th

Sited - http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2009/08/40k-rumors-tyranid-tidbits.html

The Shadow in the Warp is 12" range ability: roll psychic tests on 3d6 (all 3, don't discard the lowest), Perils of the Warp on double 1 or 6. Free for Hive Tyrant, Tyranid Warriors and Trygon Alpha.Pyrovore: Template is S:6 AP:4.
----------------------------------------
Synapse CreaturesUnits within 12 inches are fearless. No more Eternal Warrior.

Instictive Behavior:
Each Tyranid unit not in range of a Synapse creature has to pass a morale check or falls back to instinctive behaviour.
Melee-creatures move as fast as possible to the next enemy, while shooting creatures go for the next cover and shoot at the nearest enemies. What they do is said in their entries.

Bio-Weapons:
Weapon symbionts are no longer modified by the creature that wields it. There are heavy variants of most of them for the bigger creatures.
Venom Cannon: 3" blast now. They suffer a additional -1 penalty against vehicles. So, a glancing hit is - 3, a penetration - 1. So vehicles can now be wrecked with this weapon.
Heavy Venom Canon: S:9, same as above.
Scything Talons: One pair of tham grants rerolls on all 1's rolled to hit. Two pairs allow you to reroll all failed to hits.
Bonesword: Causes instant death, if the target fails a morale check after suffering a wound. If you bear two pairs, the morale check is made on 3d6.
Tentacle Whip: Reduce the initiative of all models attacking the user to 1.
Crushing Claws: D3 additional attacks.

Biomorphs:
These grant USRs.
Examples: Toxic Glands grant poisoned attacks (4+).
Adrenalin Glands grant furious charge.
An Injector grants Instant Death on each to wound roll of 6. There are many more.

Units:
Headquarters:
Hive Tyrant, Alpha Warrior, Tervigon.
Named HQs: A special Hive Tyrant, A parasite-spreading winged horror.
Hive Tyrant: Initiative 6, WS:8. Starts of with a pair of Scything talons, a Tentacle whip and a Bonesword. May be given wings or heavy carapace (2+ armour save). May be given a Tyrant guard.
Hive Tyrant variant called the Swarmlord. Armed with 4 Boneswords (see rules above), and loaded up with special rules but costs more than a Land Raider.
May chose from 4 different psychic powers:
Mental Scream: All enemy units within 18 " have to pass a morale check. if they fail it, they suffer the difference between the roll and their morale characteristic as casulties with no armour saves allowed.
Lifeleech: One unit within 12 " suffers D3 S:3 AP:2 hits. For each casualty they suffer, the Hive Tyrant gains one wound, up to a maximum of 10.
Power 3: Forces a unit to pass a morale check or to fall back.
Power 4: A shooting attack.
Tyrant may be given special abilities, such as the ability to grant another unit outflank and +1 to reserve rolls.
Many weapon options available.
Special Hive Tyrant: WS:9. Invulnerable saves passed versus wounds inflicted by him must be re-rolled. He may give one unit within 18" Prerfered enemy, Furious charge or two other USRs.
Alpha Warrior: WS:6, granted to any unit of Warriors he joins.
Tervigon: Creates 3d6 Termagaunts with standard loadout each movement phase, even in close combat. If killed, gaunts nearby suffer heavy losses. It has its own psychic powers.The Horror "The Parasite of Mortrex": Winged hit-and-run monster. Every enemy unit outflanking may suffer casualties. The outflanking unit picks one model, and must pass a toughness test. If failed the model is removed and the Tyranid player gets D6 Ripper swarms.
The Horror does the same to victims he kills in assault.

Elites:
Hive Guard: Unit size 1-3, BS:4 Weapons are 24" S:8 AP:4 Assault 2.
Lictors: 1-3 per FOC slot, acting together as one unit. Lictors deploy like Marbo. Grant +1 to reserve rolls. Deep striking units do not scatter if deployed within 6 inces of a Lictor, as long as it was on the table for at least one turn.
Ymgarl Genestealers: Biomorphable Genestealers. They may increase Attacks, Toughness, or Strength at the beginning of each assault phase. "Hibernation" rule: Pick a piece of terrain. When the Genestealers enter play, they are placed in the selected terrain. The unit may move, shoot and charge. Unit size: 5-10.
No Broodlord option. (he is now a troop choice!)
Zoanthropes: Unit size 1-3. Warp field grants 3+ invulnerable save.
Two psychic powers:
Warp lightning: S:6 AP:3 3 blast-Warp lance: 18" S:10 AP:2 Assault 1, lance
Special Zoanthrope "The Doom of Malantai": Leeches wounds with a powerful 5" blast shooting attack. S is equal to current number of Wounds, max of 10.
Death Leaper: WS:9, I:7. Deployed like a lictor, but may retreat and be replaced text turn. (I assume this is similar to the Eldar Swooping Hawks)

Troops:
Hormagaunts: WS:3, S:3, I:5, A:2. Infantry. May be given poison and adrenalin glands. Unit size 10-30
Gaunts: Weapon is S:4 AP:5 Assault 1. For each 10 gaunts, one may be upgraded to a S:2 template that wounds against the target's Strength ~Sounds like tanglewebs return.
Warriors: WS:5, Many options. 4+ Armor save.
Genestealers: Mostly the same, but with less options. Cheaper than Grey Hunters, though. Armor save canot be increased. Infiltrate and Fleet.
Broodlord retains his statline, at a point cost of a Long Fang with a heavy bolter.
May have two psychic powers:
Confusion: Both players roll a D6 and add the Ld of a model chosen by the Tyranid player. If the Tyranid total is the same or higher, the enemy targeted model may not attack in this close combat phase.
Ability 2: Reduces the Ld of surrounding enemies by 1.

Fast Attack:
Winged Warriors
Gargoyles:
Harpies: Flying, Trygon-sized creature that acts as a bomber. It drops Spore mines on a unit it flies over. Monstrous creature.
Raveners: Two pairs of scything talons. May have a thorax swarm: a special weapon, with ammo chosen at the start of the game. Three flamer variants.

Heavy Support:
Carnifexes: Unit size: 1-3. Must have the same loadout. Cannot boost initiative, probably cannot improve armor past 3+. Gain +1 I when charging. Adrenaline glands give I:4 and S:10. Basic WS:3 S:9, W:4 2 pairs of scything talons, A:4.
Trygon: WS:6, S:6, W:6 A:6. Shooting attack: 12" S:6, AP:5 Assault 6. Deep Strike. Trygon cannot assault a unit he Deeps Strikes onto. Follows the same rules as Drop Pods, i.e. stopping within 1".
If upgraded to a Alpha Trygon, weapon becomes 18" Assault 12.
Tyrannofex: Walking weapon battery.
Fleshborer swarm: S:4 AP:5 Assault 20
Pyroacid spray: S:6 AP:4 template, used like the IG Hellhound.
Capsule cannon: 48' S:10, AP:4, Assault 2
-------------------------------------------------
Dedicated Transports:
Spore Capsule: Many units may purchase a Spore Capsule. Occupancy:1 Monstrous Creature, or 20 Infantry. Deep Strike. Disembarking unit may not move or assault. It may shoot.
STATLINE: WS:2 BS:2. T:5-6 W:3 A:3 S:6.Weapon: 6" S:6 Assault 6.

Sited - http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2009/08/40k-rumors-tyranid-tidbits.html


RANGED WEAPONS:
Venom CannonR:36 S:6 AP:4 Assault 1 Blast-1 modifier on the vehicle damage chart
Heavy Venom CannonR:48 S:9 AP:4 Assault 1 Blast-1 modifier on the vehicle damage chart
Barbed StranglerR:24 S:4 AP:6 Assault 1 Large Blast
Stranglethorn CannonR:36 S:6 AP:4 Assault 1 Large Blast
SpinefistR:18 S:4 AP:5 Assault X(X= bearer's number of attacks), twin-linked
FleshborerR:18 S:4 AP:5 Assault 1Sting BlasterR:12 S:5 AP- Assault 1
Spike BlasterR:18 S:5 AP:5 Assault 4
Texorin Bug 3 fire modes, may be fired additionally to all other weapons:
Template S:* AP- Assault 1, wounds on 2+ vs. non-vehicles
Template S:5 AP:5 Assault 1-Template S:3 AP:6 Assault 1, Rending
Death BlasterR:18 S:5 AP:5 explosive

BIOMORPHS:
Toxin Sacs: ALL units may buy these. Grants Poison attacks (4+)
Adrenal Gland: ALL units may buy these. Grants Furious Charge
Spore Launcher: Big bugs only. Grants Frag granades
Injectors: To-wound rolls of 6 cause the loss of all wounds instead of one
Flesh Hooks: R:6" S:5 AP- Assault 2
Toxic Blood: When the model loses a wound in assault the model causing the wound must pass an I check or lose a wound with no armor save allowed. Vehicles suffer a glancing hit on a 4+ Toxic Miasma: Enemy models in assault range pass a T check or lose one wound with normal armor saves allowed
Lashwhips: All enemy models in assault are reduced to I:1
Chitin Upgrades: From 6+ Armor save to 2+, with several variants
Boneswords: A model suffering a wound to the weapon must pass an Ld test or is killed outright. If the bearer has a pair of Boneswords the Ld test is made on 3D6.
Scything Talons: Reroll to-hit rolls of 1 in assault, models with a pair of talons reroll all failed to-hit rolls
Rending Claws: Grant Rending USR in assault
Crushing Claws: Model I is lowered to 1, +D3 Attacks
Regeneration: At the start of each turn the model regains a lost wound on a 6
Wings: Model counts as Jump Infantry

Sited - http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2009/12/40k-rumors-weapons-of-hivemind.html

Unfortunatly i cant find anything about the Mawloc, but it is supposed to be like a big Ravenor.

I will leave this with you and let you decide on the future, remember these are still rumors and until the Codex comes out treat them as such. Enjoy

[Nids] 40K Tyranid Rumor overlook

We have all been hearing a lot about the new Tyranid infestation the last couple of months and the rumors are looking more and more solid. Even the Nids are moving towards transport options with the release of a spore capsule, this will work similar to a drop pod with the exception of the drop pod assault rule, as far as we know up to now. Also the spore capsule is going to have a toughness and wounds, which means harder to kill, but you can be locked in combat with it. A way of keeping those weak armour units alive from shooting maybe.

There is also a drop of the eternal warrior USR for synapse creatures, those warriors are going to be much easier to deal with now, even if they are troop choices. There looks to be some nasty HQ choices including the special Tryant “The Horror” and the Tervigon looks like it could cause a lot of problems spawning Termagaunts everywhere, reminds me of fighting the Vampire Counts.

I personally am not keen on the new weapon rules, I much preferred when the creature affected the amount of shots and the strength, but I assume this is how GW plan to simplify everything and it may turn out to make the games quicker and easier to understand. This is the same with the Biomorphs giving Universal Special Rules, I am undecided on this and will have to wait until the new Codex is released and I fight against them in their new form.

I am eager to see the new models on the board, especially the Tyrannofex because at the moment I have the image of a Tyrannosaurus Rex holding a couple of flamers and a big cannon on his back. We will be releasing a full list of all our gathered rumors and information later in the week.

[Units] Eldar HQ Choices

Every week beginning today I will be posting an article on each FOC of each army looking into the choices and how they work well in the army and on their own. This week we will be starting with my favourite and probably my best army to date, Eldar.

This week it is the Eldar HQ choices, starting with the first choice of the Eldar HQ’s the Autarch. The Autarch is probably the cheapest and in my opinion the best value for points HQ in the game. Starting at a measly 70pts coming with a 3+ save AND and invulnerable with a massive Initiative 6 and weapon skill/ballistic skill 6. Then when you start to add the upgrades which again are cheap he becomes better and better. For 10 points you can give him an extra attack which sounds expensive but when you only have strength 3 you need to maximize the number of hits. Another 10 points and he has a power weapon. So 90 points and you have high stats with minimum of 5 power weapon attacks. For another 10 points you can give him a Melta gun. 100 points and he is an all purpose leader with a brilliant skill to give you +1 to your reserve roll. Need the mobility give him a jetbike and he is now very mobile, with T4 and only costs 130 points in total. There are other setups which may cost more or less, and vary in effectiveness some better some worse than the one I have mentioned, try him out in a unit of shining spears or on his own. You wont be disappointed.

The second HQ choice is the Farseer. I avoid Farseers as they can become very point heavy very quickly. They look cheap with a basic cost of 55pts but that is with no powers, and only some protection from the perils of the warp. A 4+ invulnerable is a good save but not a lot of protection when a str6 weapon will insta-kill you. The points start to go when you have to buy spirit stones to use the precious second power. The next batch of points go on preventing enemy powers by making them roll 3 D6 and adding them all together. So those two bits take the farseer up to 80pts, still not a lot? Now we need the powers. You will want Fortune to re-roll those saves, that’s 30pts now you want either guide or doom, I prefer guide as re-rolling to hits is more important when you are hitting on 4s than re-rolling to wound when you are wounding on 2s. so that’s another 25pts. So now we are up to 130pts what if you want to make it easier for you to use your powers, another 10pts, give him a singing spear another 3 points. What if you want him on a jetbike, another 30pts, soon he is up to 180-200pts, and if you want a unit of warlocks with him, your spending more and more, especially for the jetbikes. They are good and useful for tank hunting or buffing your squads, but very point heavy.

The third viable HQ option that is worth the points is the Pheonix lords. Each one has its bonus’ and weakness’ but on the whole they are well worth the points, the only thing that lets them down is the lack of an invulnerable save. Fuegan can murder tanks and the people inside, on his own, Karandras is devastating in combat with 7 powerfist attacks on the charge. Jain Zar has an strength 5 AP2 assault weapon and a high strength power weapon. All the Pheonix lords come with Fleet which is a brilliant asset to their combat powers, even Mugan Ra has a strength 6 power weapon in combat on the end of his Shuriken cannon.

That leaves the Avatar, Eldrad and Yriel. I think for the points the Avatar is the best of the three but draws a lot of firepower which eventually takes him down, also only being strength and toughness 6 with 4 attacks makes him a bit weak in combat compared to a Wraithlord. Eldrad is a good replacement for a farseer for the points as a Farseer can accumilate points very quickly for what Eldrad does better, a very good choice. But Yriel is just useless. I fought against Yriel in combat and he was no-where near the standards of an Autarch. He also lost wounds quickly to shooting. For the points they are better spent on a real Autarch.

Awesome 40k Ork as Guard army

Saw this on Bell of Lost Souls and thought I'd need to repost it here for all to enjoy.







Seriously, some of the most awesome models I've ever seen, especially the 2 "Choppa" Valkyries. It's really given me ideas now... I've got nearly 10,000pts of Orks, to do something similar would be awesome, but also detract away from my fledgling Guard army somewhat.

I'm thinking along the lines of...

Warboss w/ 5 Nobz (Waagh Banner, Painboy etc.) - Command Squad with Vets.

3 squads of 10 Ork Boyz, Nob and Big Shoota - Veterans with Sergeant and Melta Gun

- Trukks / Looted Chimeras - Transports for the Vet Squad above.

- 9 Ork Bikerz - Rough Riders

- 'Ard Boyz - Storm Troopers

- "Choppas" - Valkyries / Vendettas

- Skorcha Wagon - Hellhound / Variant

- Grotz - Conscripts

- Weirdboyz - Primaris Psykers / Psyker Battle squad

- Meks - Techpriests

Then you get to things that you can't really use an Ork equivalent of, in the guard list:

- All the tanks basically.

I've seen and heard a lot of "counting as Guard" lists, with variants of what they are, but I've not seen anything nearly as good as the Ork Deffskullz that I've posted pictures of.

Seriously good work on behalf of the guy who made them and apparently he's gonna be posting more over the next few weeks on BOLS.

A link to the original article: http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2009/12/40k-aporkalypse-now-mechanicon-09.html where all the original pictures are taken from.

[FTW] Worst Painted / Modelled in your experience?

Hey guys,

As part of our collaboration with FTW (http://fromthewarp.blogspot.com) each month there'll be a collaborative post that each blog registerd with FTW posts about on a subject.

"What is your absolute worst personal example of modeling/painting?
We've seen the best, collected them and archived them... now let's see your worst stuff.

I'm talking about stuff gone wrong, things that didn't turn out right, conversions that don't look anything like what you planned, that kind of stuff. Stuff you would never show anyone in a million years."

So go on lads and ladettes, what's your worst examples of painting and modelling over the years?

To get the ball rolling, I'll share mine with you. Mostly mine occured through playing Lord of the Rings, starting off painting, modelling and gaming with that, then later moving onto 40k where I had the majority of skills built up from practice.

I've also not got many pictures, as things have since been repainted, stripped or sold on. It's hard to pin point some prime examples, but they all tended to be in the first year or so of painting... a few I can remember fondly:

- Ringwraiths from LOTR, which were painted with Black paint, no shading or highlights etc, then scraping the black paint off the armoured areas, as I thought that showing actual metal would always look better than painted metal.

- Painting all 4 Hobbit characters from the Fellowship box, I decided "Why try and leave black shading near the eyes or in the mouth? - I'll just give everything an overall wash of Black Ink". It made them look like they'd cried Tar out of their eyes, it was really bad.

- My first attempts at painting were a box of LOTR Goblins, which were painted armour Mithril Silver, skin Goblin Green and anything else whatsoever on the model scorched brown. The effect looked like it could have been achieved by a paintball gun.

- I once also went the cheapskate option and used a spray paint from a model railway store to undercoat my figures, only once it had been sprayed on did I realise it was glossy finish. So I had 40 Uruk-Hai warriors in shiny black armour. More fitting to Dark Elves I suppose.

Also, last night I went to find some images for this post at my parents house, where I've left all of my LOTR models due to space, and found this chap... who at one point I thought was one of the pride and joys of my collection:



A knight of Minas Tirith, which by the time of painting I thought I was quite well practiced at painting horses. Looking back now, flat Codex Grey over Chaos Black was a no-no.

Also, tied in with the modelling, I decided that I wanted to make my Knight's horses stand out more from the other ranges of knights and cavalry, so I tried to use Greenstuff to make barding for the horses.

Rather than think things through, roll the GS flat, cut it to shape and then drape it over, I decided to just attach parts here and there, stick my fingers in it and then deal with the consequences and in the end it ended up looking a mess.

The funny thing is, I then went and did this to 4 other Horses because I thought it looked good at the time... and let's not even get started on the Orc that's being trampled on the base!

So, I'll leave it there for now, and open it up to everyone else - What are YOUR prime examples of bad painting / modelling?

[CLUB] Necromunda

A long while ago (about 2 years, which is long in club terms...) a fair few of us from MAWS ran a short Necromunda campaign and keep harping on about how we want to start it again.

Finally last night we got around to having a refresher game to get back used to the ruleset and whatnot, so we're able to run a campaign smoothly and also introduce prospective players.

It was a 3 way gang-fight between Ste's House Orlock gang, Rob's hand-flamer of doom Cawdor gang and my surprisingly Greenskin looking Goliath gang (the idea is to make a gang using Goliath rules to represent Orks, then use them as Kommandos / Kill team in my 40k Ork army.)



- The central structures on the battlefield.



- Rob's Cawdor Heavy Stubber takes aim at the Goliath gang...



- The Orlocks begin to move towards the central building, taking heavy fire when crossing the open walkways.



- The Orlock gang moves into play, accompanied by Dog, the Bounty Hunter (cue theme tune)



- Waaagh!!... House Goliath begin to storm across the board with Heavy stubber support from the only gang with 2 Heavies.

All the scenery was from Ste's Necromunda card building boxsets and the elements of levels within the gameplay really adds to why I like Necromunda, as well as ll it's little intricacies such as Ammo running out (which near enough every Heavy Stubber on the field ran out of ammo)

Definitely looking forward to playing this some more over the coming weeks, up until we start our Warhammer 40,000 club league again.

Waaaagh! Nobrot! Part 1: Planning and Painting

Hey everyone, welcome to the first part of a series of blog entries from myself on my Ork army, basically showcasing it from beginning to end, now that I'm at the stage where I don't feel like I want to add anything more for the sake of competitive lists.

The idea is that I'll talk through some aspect of the army in each post, some tactics, how I use them, conversions etc. etc.



So, I started this army in August 2008, with the intention of buying a new unit each month and then waiting until that is painted before doing anything. How wrong I was! Now it's within sniffing distance of 10,000 points with some upgrades.

The first purchase I made was the Codex, planned a couple of lists with that, then bought the Ork Battleforce from Britcon, for about £42. Originally I wanted to run an Infantry heavy list and looked to sell the Bikers, but now I'm extremely glad I didn't as they have become a staple part of my list.

Then this was reinforced by a box of Orks I had from when the 4th Ed codex has been released, and the release of Assault on Black Reach, basically giving me a 1000pt army that I could game with, get the hang of some stuff etc. etc.

It then spiralled out of control that any time I got a lump sum of money I was buying job lots or bulk deals on Orks. Mainly for the conversion aspect and because I could paint them so, so quickly - as opposed to my previous armies.

My original idea was that I would replace any Orky vehicles I didn't like the look of, with looted vehicles / units from other armies, which was reinforced by a Deffskullz background.

This then evolved with me finding blue really easy to paint with, making a really effective colour scheme, as opposed to my Original Goff army paint scheme, which the black was quite boring.



This is Warboss Nobrot, working his way up through the Lootas, then the Flash Gitz before finally taking control of Waaagh!! Gnasha! by defeating the current Warboss, becoming the biggest and best Loota around.

The army paint scheme for Waagh Nobrot is pretty simple. It had to be considering I've got hundreds of them to paint.

Metal: Heavy drybrush of Boltgun Metal
Skin: Knarloc Green
Clothing: Randomnly chosen between Khemri Brown, Adeptus Battlegrey and Calthan Brown
Tattoos / Warpaint: Ultramarines Blue
Bone / Teeth: Dheneb Stone

Then top this all off with a big wash of Badab Black to shade the entire model and darken it.

The base had the sand painted Black, then drybrushes of Codex and Fortress Grey, with some Static Grass dotted around.

So yeah, that's an intro to Waaagh! Nobrot!. I've gotta try and decide what to write my next blog on now.

Any suggestions? :)

[NEWS] Battle Missions incoming!

Pasted from an email from GW:

Incoming! Battle Missions

Coming in March, Battle Missions is a brand-new supplement for Warhammer 40,000 that expands on the basic missions found in the Warhammer 40,000 rulebook. Each of the thirty-something scenarios detailed in Battle Missions has been designed to allow you to fight the sort of battles normally the subject of Black Library novels. From daring raids and assassinations, to breakthroughs and last stands, Battle Missions will allow your army to play in a way that reflects its background. No matter what Warhammer 40,000 army you collect this exciting new supplement will open up a whole new gaming experience.

Of course it just wouldn't be the same if there weren't some great new miniatures to fight through these missions with. Fortunately, there will be new sets for Space Marines, Orks and the Imperial Guard released alongside Battle Missions in March.

Not sure quite what's left in the Space Marine codex without a model, since the Legion of the Damned have come out, but here's hoping for some new Ork stuff - Looted Wagon, Big Gunz, Flash Gitz or Warbuggies?

We'll have to wait and see what models appear in the rumour threads on forums, but I'm definitely excited for the missions book, something that was greatly missed in the new rulebook, aside from the odd few examples at the back of the book.

So what do you think about the missions book - and any suggestions what the new sets might be?

[POLL] The Greatest Chaos God?

It is a long standing debate over which Chaos God is the greatest. Khorne the god of blood and war, Nurgle the god of plague and pestilence, Slaanesh the god of pleasure, or Tzeentch the god of change.

All four gods have benefits and negatives the choice is yours who to follow.

Or is there a greater path to hold them all as equals and worship them together, does that give you greater strength or does it dilute the power?

Lets start with Khorne. he is bloodthirsty and his troops are just the same, at just over 20pts per model, they are fairly cheap for an extra attack and furious charge they are also able to have up to 3 plasma pistols in one unit. The daemon weapon for the lord is particularly devastating allowing up to 18 power weapon attacks.

But Khorne does not have the staying power of Nurgle who are toughness 5 making them alot harder to kill and effectively having two saves thanks to Feel no pain. they can be equipped like a standard squad and have both offensive and defensive grenades, their Daemon weapon can kill any creature

Tzeentch has the staying ability and killing power of both by having a 4+ invulnerable save so that even lascannons are not a threat to them and AP3 bolters means even the Power armour of Space marines is useless. however their disadvantage is high cost and slow movement having to be lead by a sorcerer champion who does have a force weapon (bonus)

Slaanesh has high initiative and multiple weapon settings allowing movement and a high number of shots or stationary firepower. They also have a weapon which strips the armour of Space marines. I don't know too much of Slaanesh so you will have to fill in the gaps

As for going "Black Legion" this is the path i have started to fall down, the increase in effectiveness outweighs the loss of power that each unit suffers from only having one or having normal marines with a banner for them as then the Tzeentch can give the Khorne a cover save while getting their Invulnerable, Nurgle chosen can infiltrate and stay around, the Tzeentch can whittle down any opponent before the Khornate close in and finish them off. It all works in Harmony.

Now you get your say.
Which do you think is best, or do you believe in uniting the Chaos powers for the greater evil.

[Update] You can now vote in the poll on the right hand side of the page :)

[APOC] The Eye of Terror

So, last Sunday all the regular 40k lot from MAWS participated in a semi-recreation of the Eye of Terror:

Jamie's Imperial Guard led by Ursarkar Creed teamed up with Marcus' Ultramarines went toe to toe with Rob and Ste's Chaos Marines led by Abaddon and James' Chaos Daemons who were summoned into battle with a host of massive Greater Daemons.

Unfortunately, we only got through 2 full game turns in this epic 9,000 point per side battle, including a massive amount of Imperial Guard and Ultramarine tanks (including Ste's Baneblade fighting for the Imperium!).

Find some piccies below :)

Thousand Sons secure a Bastion objective as the forces of Nurgle cross the board.

Fiends of Slaanesh surround the defending Ultramarines as they materialise from The Warp.

The Imperial Gunline prepares for the incoming Chaos Marine attack!

Any questions or comments are always welcome, and feel free to ask for more information!