[Head to Head] Waaagh! Nobrot VS New Tyranids

So, now the Tyranid Codex has landed it's time for everyone to start facing - as usual - that the sky is falling, this Codex is better than every codex before it and everything inside it is unbeatable.

So I figured what I'd do is take a look at what's actually showed up on the tabletop, as opposed to what's circling the rumour mills, and then assess how I can attack and defeat these threats with my Ork army.

Threat #1: Trygon / Mawloc
The Tyrgon, it's big, scary and can take a lot of firepower head on. I think the best way of dealing with these guys for me, is to attack them in the same way I dealt with Carnifexes in the previous edition - lots of Tar pit units of Ork Boyz led by a Power Klaw Nob.

The Trygon might be able to rip a few Ork Boyz heads off before they can attack, but the sheer weight of numbers with the remaining FEARLESS boyz and the Power Klaw should be able to dent it. Combined with the fact if they charge, they're looking at between 30 - 60 S4 shots (depending on if they're Sluggas or Shoota) before charging in.

Threat #2: Mycetic Spores
These guys can be a nightmare for Orks, having a unit walk out in your midst right in your Boyz faces, unleash a wave of firepower and then say "Come and deal with me". They're also Monstrous Creatures with Wounds, which means 1 lucky Big Shoota shot isn't going to destroy it... but on the bright side it's easier to rip into in Close Combat.

I think they key to these guys is to treat them similar to how you would expect a Marine Drop pod force to show up... right where it hurts in your army. And they'll come in two flavours... either dropping a squad of cheap Gaunts or Warriors or with a Monstrous creature inside it.

For Monstrous Creatures, I'd go for the Tarpit method, shoot - then hack it to death. Whereas for the cheaper Gaunts, I'd try and isolate their Synpatic link and maybe use a Vehicle to tank shock them off the board or finish them off with something relatively cheap that I don't want tied up in combat like a cheap Boyz unit. For this, I use a mob of 20 Shoota Boyz that can hover near where stuff is likely to show up and attack from.

Threat #3: Zoanthropes
Zoanthropes are now one of the new "Must-Have" units in the Nid list, after being sidelined for years in favour of the Carnifex spam.

There's 2 things the Zoanthropes are doing well at the minute and that's having the AP1 Lance Weapon, meaning that pretty much any vehicle it's hitting is looking at getting penetrated. Combine that with the fact it can also use a slightly lower Strength plasma cannon shot to attack multiple elite troops like Nobz or Nob Bikers.

Threat #4: The Horde
Nowadays, it seems GW want to focus on getting more smaller troops on the board and even bigger centrepiece models. So now, the idea is to get as many Gaunts on the board, even reducing the price of Hormagaunts almost in half.

However though, the Orks have a trick up in their green arsenal, the fact that they do the Horde better - in my personal opinion. For the same price as a Hormagaunt you get something that's tougher, hits harder and have access to special rules to buff them up (Fleet from the Waaagh!, Big Mek's Force Field etc.).

However, Orks are notoriously sparse on template weapons on anything but vehicles. So the next thing to start thinking about with thinning hordes is weight of fire from units like Shoota Boyz and Lootas, giving your Nobz and Characters Kombi-Skorchas, just to think the place out, and then if push comes to shove... take a unit of Burnas!

Threat #5: Tervigon
I think the Tervigon is THE must have item in the Tyranid codex. A Monstrous Creature that you can take as a Troop choice AND it spits out more troop choices? "Yes Please!" shout the Tyranid players.

My personal method of dispatching this chap would probably involve sheer weight of firepower from a Loota Mob, followed up by support fire from somewhere else. But the majority of Nid players will hedge their bets on a combination of 2 Tervigons, incase 1 of them decides to give up. I think this is a unit you would likely have to commit a turn to, in order to kill them off completely. Meaning the rest of the Tyranid beasties run rampant.

Personally I'd be inclined to send in a Burna Squad to deal with it... Flamers to clear away the Gaunts it spawns and the Power Weapons to deal with the Tervigon itself.

Conclusion - Where from here?
Well... where next for Waagh! Nobrot! with all these Tyranid invasions?

I think I'm likely to stick to the balanced list I have, which includes a Burna unit in a Wagon, maybe give my Warboss a Kombi-Skorcha to be able to thin any hordes he might face.

Orks are lucky in the fact it's more or less Mandatory to take a Power Klaw on any Nob you buy... with a lack of Power Weapons. So that helps to deal with the amount of Monstrous Creatures and also, thanks to the loss of Immune to Instant Death from the Synpase rules, you can now smack your opponent's Tyranid Warriors and smaller beasties to your hearts content.

Key things for your Orks to fight the Tyranids:
- Power Klaws... don't be cheap and take Big Choppas!
- Lootas
- Burnas
- Kustom Force Fields (to reduce the amount of Boyz deaths)

Thanks to all those who read and enjoy :)
SB.

[HOBBY] The New Boys Pt.3

I have returned after debating on the colour scheme for a long while I have come up with a few ideas, I know that I want the basic colour a shade of white, probably along the lines of bleached bone, but with white highlights to lighten it up and a wash of blue to make them look more spectral. This first model is my favourite at the moment but there is still room for improvement.

I also know that the secondary colour would be red, this would be to represent the bloodiness of their raids and culture however I couldn't decide on a definite pattern. I was going to have some form of Heraldry or a Skull icon on the left shoulder. The right shoulder is going to have a scroll on it with the Marines name written on and maybe some squad markings. The fists are going to be red to represent the blood of their enemies over years of raiding, similar to the crimson fists.

In the bottom picture I considered the red reaching up the arms in a flame or blood spatter pattern as a sign of veterancy the higher it went the more senior the marine.

I have posted a picture of the three main ideas I have, however if you find any better ones, feel free to comment and give your feedback.

If you want to see the first two parts follow this link and the link at the end of that article, this is the only way we know of linking them together.

http://maws40k.blogspot.com/2010/01/hobby-new-boys_13.html

[Warlord] Warlord 2010 Begins!

To those who are unaware, Warlord 40,000 is an annual league run over the space of 6 or 7 games between the 40k players of MAWS competing for the Warlord trophy.

It's now in it's third year and it's 2nd with 40k 5th Edition, which is troublesome when it comes to creating a ruleset of 6 or 7 different scenarios as there's only 3 in the rulebook.

So this year it's been tweaked and updated and you can find an online version of the rulespack here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/25488812/Warlord-2010 which can be downloaded and printed.

The link above is for players taking part in the tournament, but if you guys aren't MAWS players, then feel free to let us know what you think about the rules pack.

For those of us that are taking part, there's links on the top left of the document to download the file in a variety of different formats and print if off either from the online document, or through it's respective program.

To all those involved, enjoy!

SB

P.S. If you spot any mistakes or problems, please email me.

[Tyranids] New Nids - First Impressions

Well i played my first game with my new nids against James' Slannesh Daemon army. my list comprised of

tyrant with 3 guard
3 warriors with death spitters
3 units of 14 termigaunts
1 unit of 25 homagaunts
1 trygon prime
1 mawloc
1 tervigon
1 unit of 2 carnifexes with devourers
3 zonathropes

I thought it was a good first list, it would have been a good list if i'd have remembered half the new rules and to charge with units.

lessons learnt from the new list and my first game with them.

1, EVERYTHING tests for synapse (even if fearless)
2, never charge with a mawloc
3, start with the trygon on the board
4, READ READ and RE-READ the rules for the new nids and dont confuse them with the old codex
5, don't over upgrade everything, you are going to need the extra points
6, a minimum of 2 tervigons should be taken
7, use your army as a cohesive force
8, decide how you want your army to function when deciding on your list (obvious i know but something to keep at the front of your mind)
9, keep your tervigons close to your gaunts and give them support
10, never play James' tooled up slannesh daemons

[Daemons] Mono-Khorne Daemons Game 3

Hey all,

Last night my Khorne daemons took to the table against Rob and, unluckily for me, he'd been itching to bring his Daemonhunters out of retirement and even more so, use them against the army they were designed for.

So, after my last ramblings, right before the game I was in two minds whether to drop the Flesh Hound unit in favour of wings on the Daemon Prince. I was all up for giving the Khorne puppies an attempt at redemption, but I thought I'd keep them in the box and tack the wings on the Daemon Princes.



Rob's list was something along the lines of:

Grandmaster - Lots of Anti Daemon stuff, Terminator Armour
4 or 5 GK Terminators
Land Raider Crusader with them in

Inquisitor in Terminator armour

2 Squads of 10 Grey Knights
2 Rhinos

1 Squad of 10 Inq Storm Troopers
1 Rhino

2 Grey Knight Drednaughts.

I ended up going first, which immediately put me at a Disadvantage, meaning I'd have to weather an extra turn of nasty anti-Daemon fire. Kill points is a good mission for my army, only having 2 scoring units, and deployment makes no difference for me. Rob castled his Rhinos with the rear armour against buildings, to avoid a Deathstrike opening them up on the turn I drop.



Chaos favoured me and gave me my first wave of:
2 of the Daemon Princes
1 Bloodcrusher Unit
1 Bloodletter unit.

I chose to drop the 2 Daemon princes close to Rhinos and try and open them up via side armour, but risk the entire GK army opening fire on them. The Bloodcrushers tried to land inbetween buildings to get a bit of cover out of the way of enemy fire, along with the Bloodletters on an opposite flank.



A lot happened during the game, but the main points, mistakes and lessons learnt were:
- Giving Daemon Princes wings, means I don't need to drop them right in front of the enemy. I can hide out of the firing line for a turn, then hop over something and attack. More importantly, don't forget you've given them Wings!!!

- Beasts gain fleet of foot as a standard rule, along with their 12" charge range. This makes Flesh Hounds a bit more interesting to me, with a potential 24" charge range is all comes off well. Maybe they'll take part next game. I'd forgotten about this being the case... D'oh!

- Think 1 turn ahead with the Daemons. It's all well and good hoping for a Hit on the scatter roll so I can deathstrike a Rhino, but if it doesn't come off, or even if it does, you're stuck in the open being able to do nothing for a turn, then get retaliation fire next turn.

Overall, I think I did pretty well fighting a completely anti-Daemon army, I ended up losing by 5 kill points, but with a couple of mistakes rectified I probably could have saved myself a few KPs or took a few other GKs down.

Next week I'm not sure whether to keep the wings on the Daemon Princes and remember to use them, or drop the Flesh Hounds back in.

Peace out,
SB.

[Orks] Waaaagh! Nobrot! Part 3: The Boyz

Hey everyone,

Welcome to my not so regular post working through the my green tide of an Ork army.

In this article, after looking at the numerous different army builds I like to try out, I figured I'd look at the core of the Ork army - the troop choices, and how I can use them and what their purpose is in my Waaagh.

For the moment, I'll leave out things like Nobz (and variants) and the Deff Dred being able to be taken as troops, I'll cover those in their respective categories and units.

With Orks being relatively cheap for their basic troops, it enables an Ork player to build large mobs of 20 - 30 strong boyz for a low cost, meaning you can have plenty of them on the table, unleashing a proper WAAAGH! I feel the core of an Ork army should be around about 60 - 80 boyz spread between mobs.

There's 2 basic troop choices in the Ork Codex, the Grotz and the Boyz (and the different types of Ork Boy you can make), so I'll run through them one by one.

Grotz

Grotz are a really effective troop choice in my opinion, albeit very weak, but they make up for it in the fact they're so, so cheap. A full unit of 30, with Runtherds and upgrades comes in at around 100pts. And as well, they're eligible to be a scoring unit. So this cheap unit can camp on or near a home objective while your more expensive and trusted Ork boyz can leg it across the board and smash anyone who faces them in the middle of the board.

The downside to the unit is the fact they're so weak... a good round of fire off pretty much any unit in the game can be forcing even a large unit of them to be taking a Morale check, and whilst the Runtherds can sacrifice Grotz to re-roll it, it's still a tough ask.

Best solution for this is camp them out of sight and out of the enemies mind and if push comes to shove... run away! Or better yet, rush from cover, all guns blazing and attempt to hack the shins of your attackers. Even if it's a Monstrous Creature or high T character, it's worth taking the Grot-Prod upgrades on the Herders just to be able to deal out a bit of pain.

I normally run them in a unit of 19, which means I only need to take 1 runtherd and CAN fit in a Battlewagon if ever I need to do so (you'd be surprised!).

Shoota Boyz

These guys got a real boost when the Ork codex got updated, giving them Assault 2 weapons. The amount of firepower you can get out of a 20 - 30 strong mob is astonishing and even then, you can have the assault power to either go in and start krumping them - or to take it on the chin next turn.

I like to use a 20 strong Shoota Boyz mob as a buddy unit for my Grotz holding the home objective. These guys head towards the next objective outside of my closest one. If anything comes near the Grotz, these guys generally have enough firepower or threat to stop them and let the Grotz finish them off with their BB guns.

They also make a particularly effective unit whilst in a Battlewagon, 18 plus the Nob accompanied by a Big Mek, being able to jump out and unleash a torrent of firepower into the enemy unit nearby, or even better unleash a drive-by Shooting from the open topped Battlewagon.

The downside most people have with using this unit is the low Ork ballistic skill... which I admit is a problem, but the amount of firepower you get back out of it more than makes up for it. I'll happily have half the BS of a Space Marine and twice the amount of fire power!

Slugga Boyz


Slugga Boyz, same points cost as the Shoota Boyz for Close combat beasts. A mob of 30 of these, lead by a Nob is going to cause serious and considerable damage to whatever it hits. Smashing an enemy unit with 4 attacks each on the charge is nothing to be sniffed at, combined with the furious charge. Marines will still be faster than you, but there'll be enough Boyz to take the damage and still hit home.

I like to run two units of 30 Slugga boyz in my lists forming the core pincers of my army. I have 3 Big shootas and a Power Klaw and Bosspole Nob to keep them in the game, should they ever need them. I've found on rear or side armour, the big shootas are quite handy for ripping open a Rhino and getting at what's inside.

The downside is, big mobs attract lots of fire, especially from templates. So normally my 2 are covered by a Big Mek with Force Field, but they still get munched by flamers, so whilst they are tough - they're still soft and squishy.

Trukk Boyz

Simple concept, a mob of 12 boyz in a Trukk, speed over to the enemy, hop out and hack to death whatever is on the other side. I'd initially not used my Trukk model other than to transport of Nob unit on foot, but found it died too easily carrying it's cargo.

So I eventually expanded to having 3 Trukks with a mob of 12 boyz (Sluggas and Choppas, 1 Big Shoota and a Power Klaw Nob) inside. And yes, once they're out they do die quite easily, but the speed and manouverability they offer, I feel is way worth it.

They are also quite expensive. 12 in a trukk with upgrades sets you back about the same as 25 - 30 do on foot. However, back this lot up with a Kustom Force Field and they're gonna be a nightmare to crack open.

Ard Boyz
The last troop choice is another variant of the Ork Boy, coming with a 4+ Save. The problem I have with these guys is that you can only have 1 mob of these per army, otherwise I'd happily upgrade each of my Trukk mobz to be Ard Boyz.

Equivalent to just short of two normal boyz, to earn yourself a 4+ save isn't worth doing in my opinion. I'd rather get a mob double the size and accept that some will die.

I've always wanted a Mob of them, made from Warhammer Fantasy Black Orc Boyz, so maybe one day I'll get around to it.

Conclusion
So there you have 'em. The Ork troop choices summed up and shown off.

I hope you've enjoyed reading it and the pictures of my units. Any comments, critiscism, feedback or discussion is, as always, welcome.

Peace out!
SB

[HOBBY] The New Boys Pt.2

Following on from my article yesterday where I gave you an idea to what my new Space Marine army is going to look like and why I chose it, today I am going to start going into the fluff of the Chapter which is yet to be named as I cant find anything suitable and not super corny so any ideas are welcome, for now they are named “The Brotherhood Of The Forsaken”.

The general fluff will be along the lines of, “The Brotherhood Of The Forsaken was founded in the 13th founding where there is little known of which chapters were created and which survived. The Brotherhood Of The Forsaken thought dead by the Imperium has become self sufficient and tribal, while still maintaining the structure and discipline of the modern day Astartes. The chapter hold a larger number of Land raiders than any other chapter, this may be because of the constant raids that they carry out upon anyone they see as beneath them, and their Techmarines are often called upon to increase the power output of their vehicles, mainly their land raiders for a fast and devastating raiding party which the chapter excel at. The techmarines are also highly trained fighters and often lead squads into battle to help keep the vehicles running at maximum capacity. Before a raid the Brotherhood Of The Forsaken adorn their Land Raiders with Skulls and skeletons of their recently beaten foes.”

The initial idea for the paint scheme is going to be, white with a pale blue wash followed by highlights and a black wash followed by a second light blue/white wash. With red trim or armour pieces, the hands are going to be red on the grunts like crimson fists and more of the arm is red as they gain veterency, going in a sort of Jagged pattern similar to the white scars. I will post some test pictures as soon as I am able to.

For the last Edition of this article Follow this link http://maws40k.blogspot.com/2010/01/hobby-new-boys.html

[HOBBY] The New Boys

Recently I made the decision to start a new army, I wanted something that would be fun to play and something I could individualize. Over the years I have found that I play better with a small elite force where losing one model can affect the game, and normally with a list like that I get close to winning. So thinking along these lines I found the smallest list I could with as much room for personalizing as possible. After a few weeks of writing list after list of armies I settled on Space Marines, something draws me to them, not the blue and gold of the Ultramarines, it’s the unsung heroes like Shrike, who although has a character, no-one knows much about him, and Lysander who is in a similar situation.

The list I decided on was:

Pedro Kantor - 175

Lysander - 200

Techmarine - 105
Harness, Power Weapon, Plasma Pistol

10 Sternguard - 285
Combi-Plas, Melta-bomb

10 Tactical Marines - 215
Plasma gun, Heavy Bolter, Storm Bolter, Fist

10 Tactical Marines - 195
Melta Gun, Plasma Cannon, Storm Bolter,

Land Speeder - 60
Heavy Bolter, Heavy Flamer

Land Speeder - 60
Heavy Bolter, Heavy Flamer

Land Raider Redeemer - 240

Land Raider Redeemer - 240

Land Raider Crusader - 250

However as I wanted them to be unique I have decided that I am going to make my own chapter, and this is what this next set of articles will be about. Building this chapter from the ground up into something worth singing tales of.

First why this list, why not something more playable and forgiving, well I do best with a small elite force, and I don’t think I could have got much smaller. The way that the guys are kitted out is part sense and part for how they would look. As a quick Breakdown, the three Independent Characters will go with one squad each, Lysander with the Sternguard, Kantor with the Melta Squad and Techmarine Mohammed with the Plasma Squad.

So here is the unit and their objectives:

Sternguard with Lysander in the Land Raider Crusader;

The point in this squad is they are Scoring because of Kantor and Lysander makes their bolters Twin-linked… nasty. They will move up with support from the rest of the army and jump out with their special ammo weapons blow a unit away with help and fire support if needed from their crusader, which will either shoot the same unit until is crumbles or fire at another to weaken it for the next shooting phase.

Melta Marines with Kantor in a Redeemer

Although he is technically my main HQ he gets relegated to a normal squad because Lysanders Bolter Drill is more important to Sternguard than normal Marines. These are on the flank of Lysander and either jump out and melta a Rhino/Land Raider or provide fire support or target a separate unit with fire support from the Redeemer.

Plasma Marines with Techmarine in a Redeemer

This squad has a similar role to the one with Kantor, but if anyone breaks down then the Techmarine jumps out and fixes them, in theory of course.

Land Speeders

These were originally going to be a Dreadnought, but I wanted to make my army as mobile as possible and Land Speeders are cool, these will Harass the enemy and target heavy weapons which threaten my Land Raiders.

Later this week I shall start on the fluff and I may even post a few paint scheme Ideas for the army for your criticisms.

[News] Incoming! - Blood Angels

Look what arrived in my inbox at 7am this morning :)

Incoming! Blood Angels

This April the Blood Angels will be re-launched with an all-new Codex and range of plastic and metal miniatures. One of the oldest and noblest of all Space Marine Chapters, the Blood Angels have stood fast against the enemies of the Imperium since the Great Crusade and it was their Primarch Sanguinius, who laid down his life to aid the Emperor against Horus in the final hours of the Warmaster’s rebellion. The new Codex explores the background and history of these superhuman warriors like never before, and contains new artwork depicting some of their greatest battles and most powerful champions.

The Blood Angels have always been a powerful close combat army and have been made even deadlier thanks to a range of specialist wargear, the ability to field Assault Squads as Troops choices, and more Dreadnoughts than any other Space Marine Chapter, including a Death Company Dreadnought and the fabled Furioso Dreadnought. The Sons of Sanguinius will be deep striking onto a tabletop near you this April – now’s the time to practice painting red.

No mention of a joint release with something else, but April is way earlier than expected....

Could this be the fabled year of 4 codexes? I'm hoping so!

What do you guys reckon? WHat are we going to see in the Blood Angels book and is it going to be a joint "Angels of Death" style codex?

[Upcoming] Cities of death - Nids and more?

Voices in the wind say that soon the Hivefleets will descend upon the cities of the Imperium using a variety of strategems and trickeries such as the ones listed below:

Superior Concealment: Deployment Stratagem
Lictors are the ultimate terror weapon in the Tyranid hordes, lethal creatures capable of ranging independently ahead of the Tyranid force to wreak havoc behind enemy lines. The urban sprawl of a cityfight provides Lictors with unparalleled opportunities to hide from the enemy, springing perfect ambushes that leave the enemy with no chance to react!
After deployment areas have been established, but before either player deploys any models, the Tyranid player may place D3+1 Concealment markers anywhere on the board. If a Lictor (including Deathleaper) enters play within 3" of one of these markers it may charge on the turn that it arrives.

Gargoyle Eyrie: Key Building Stratagem
Gargoyles will occasionally choose a high place within a city from which to launch their attacks. Unsuspecting enemies will venture into these chosen ruins, only to find themselves beset by dozens, if not hundreds, of screeching, flapping Tyranid creatures, who erupt from quiet corners and hidden spaces to soar up and out across the battlefield.
The Gargoyle Eyrie stratagem is always the tallest building on the battlefield and is declared after the terrain has been set up, but prior to deployment. If your army includes any Gargoyle Broods, they must start in reserve and Deep Strike onto the battlefield anywhere within 12" of the marked building. Additionally, when a unit of Gargoyles enters play through Deep Strike, any non-Tyranid units inside the building suffers 3D6 Strength 2, AP- hits and must immediately fall back.

Pheromone Clusters: Deployment Stratagems
Seeded across the battlezone by stealthy Tyranid creatures, Pheromone Clusters are an unpleasant excretion that acts as a potent lure to Tyranids. Even Raveners burrowing below the ground and Harpies soaring high above the combat zone are drawn inexorably to the pungent alien secretion.
After deployment areas have been established, but before either side deploys any models, the Tyranid player may place D3+1 Pheromone Clusters anywhere on the board. Any Tyranid unit that attempts to Deep Strike within 6" of a Pheromone Cluster does not need to roll for scatter.

Ground-burst: Dirty Trick Stratagem
As Trygon and Mawlocs burrow through the sewer networks deep below the city, they are occasionally retasked by the Hive Mind, temporarily despatched from their frenzied tunnelling to burst through the ground floor of a building, throwing the occupants into chaos, before continuing on their way.
The Ground-burst stratagem is declared at the start of any turn except the first. The Tyranid player chooses a single building - all models on the ground floor of that building must immediately take a Dangerous Terrain test (vehicles will test as if they had moved more than 6"). The ground floor of that building then counts as dangerous terrain for the remainder of the battle.

When is the last time you guys played a game of Cities of Death?.

[Wishlist] What would you like GW to make in 2010?

Random question and post, but was discussing this afternoon what 3 models you really would like GW to release this year?

Me personally it would be

1. Cadian Rough Riders - Plastic, with dirtbikes, or failing that some kind of cyber-steed. I really want them to re-do the rules to make them worth taking in an army and move away from the Mechanized rules. Maybe swap them from being Beasts and make them Bikes!

2. Plastic Greater Daemons - Make them with a fair few weapon options and a couple of head choices, so you can create the special characters from the Daemon book. Skarbrand could have Wing Stumps instead of Wings, Fatewaver could have a second neck on the Sprue which is split in 2, meaning you can attach both heads and Ku'Gath could have a different arm, head and / or stomach?

3. More plastic Necrons - Since it's fair and I have to pick one, probably a Plastic Necron Lord torso that can be combined with a Destroyer kit to make a Destroyer Lord, Wraith-tail for a Wraithlord etc. etc. along with different arms that can be interchanged from other kits. So like Pariah / Flayed one arms to make a Pariah / Flayed Lord. That would be awesome!

What do you guys think then, your top 3 GW wishes for 2010 - what would you like to see?

[Daemons] Mono-Khorne Daemons First Impressions

Hey guys, thought I'd spend a few minutes on here talking about my newest fledling 40k army - an all Khornate Daemon Army.

I've been building this army since August, buying a lot of things cheap at Britcon, with the aim that I'll do it all in plastic, avoiding lots of heavy, easily damaged and more importantly, expensive metal models. I'll do another article at a later date with pictures of my army.

Over the past 2 weeks I've brought the Daemons to the table, since they're now completely painted, thanks to Christmas holidays and bad weather conditions stopping me leaving the house.

Both weeks I've used the following list and played against a Marine army, week 1 Black Templars, Week 2 was Salamanders. Both lists had a land raider, terminators, a tough HQ choice and numerous Marine squads in Rhinos.

I used the following list:

Gorezilla, the Bloodthirster - Deathstrike, Unholy Might, Blessing of the Blood God, Instrument of Chaos.

- This guy is my main anti-Tank and anti-Character unit. Plus bullet magnet. In the first game against the Black Templars, he showed up on Turn 1, plonked on a flank to Deathstrike the back armour of a Predator the turn he comes down, then move onto munching some Marines in Rhinos. But the Marines jumped out, Predator turned round and a Land Raider combined to take him out by sheer weight of fire.
- I run him with Deathstrike so he has the ability to attempt to pop a Transport before charging the troops inside, and also so he can do something ont he turn he drops.
- Unholy Might is there for reliability sake. I'd rather know he's S8 all the time, with the Bonus of S9 on the charge, for the extra oomph when attacking vehicles and also to insta-kill Marine chars if they try and charge him.
- Blessing and Instrument are there as point fillers. I figure 5th ed means more Psykers (Space Wolves, Nids as prime examples) and the Instrument has managed to earn it's points back when holding off a unit of Thunder Hammer / Storm Shield terminators.

Skullcrusher and Bloodfist, Heralds of Khorne: Deathstrike, Unholy Might, Juggernaut

- These guys support a unit of Bloodcrushers each, Unholy might is there so they have an extra pop at killing off Vehicles that the big guys can't reach and Deathstrike is there to try and open up Rhinos to get at the squad inside.

8 Bloodcrushers (2 units of 4): Icon and Instrument

- This squad is the beef of the army, the Bloodthirster and his friends are there to pop tanks and characters, this unit wants to walk into any fight and smash whatever comes at it.
- I always go with the Icon and Instrument combo, as when I actually remember to use the icon, it's really handy, especially as these guys are ridculously survivable.

20 Bloodletters (2 units of 10): Icon and Instrument

- So far, these guys are the ones that are getting pasted by Enemy fire the turn they drop, so I think I need to be more careful with where I place them.

10 Flesh Hounds: Karanak

- These guys haven't earned their points back yet, and the lack of power weapons and anti-vehicle really hurt them. They're nice when they work and you can get a long charge with them, but when they get there, they don't pack the punch I want. I think I'll be dropping these to upgrade....

Krush, Kill and Destroy, Daemon Princes: Mark of Khorne, Iron Hide, Unholy Might, Deathstrik, Instrument.

- These guys take up a fair chunk of my army, but I really wanted to play Daemonzilla to scare the pants off people.
- The Iron hide upgrade served me really well, the ability to shrug off Bolter fire has kept these guys alive.
- As with the BT, Deathstrike is there to pop transports to get at stuff inside, and also for lucky kills on the turn they drop.

Things to Remember:
- Always remember the icons on the table. I forgot near enough every other turn I had an icon on the table when stuff was showing up and it would have really helped my game had I used them. Especially when the Fleshhounds deviated and landed in terrain.
- Don't drop out in the open. I've ended up doing this in both games, dropping Bloodletters out into the open to be mowed down by flamers and Bolters. Same with the Bloodthirster in the first game.
- Don't take the first turn. In the first game I went first and basically gave Ste an extra round of shooting at me, which was daft.
- Split your army equally. Don't attempt to put everything you want that's big and nasty in your favoured choice, it's a 1 in 3 chance you won't get it. Work to split your army equally and get used to that system.

Things to Change:
- Another unit of Bloodletters for Objective based games, or simply be more careful with them. I only have 2 scoring units and they're quite fragile to shooting.
- Drop the Flesh Hounds. If they had power weapons, I would love them, simply for the potential 18" charge, but when they get there they need support, in a normal Daemon army you would weaken a unit with shooting from Flamers / Horrors, then send in the hounds to tie them up and / or finish them off. I think I'll swap the unit either for another unit of Bloodletters to boost my Scoring unit count, or Wing upgrades on the Daemon Princes.

Conclusion:
So I've won my first 2 games with the Daemons, admittedly both against similar Marine armies, but I've learnt lessons in playing as the Daemons and will no doubt come unstuck against shooty armies, or horde close combat armies, but we'll see what the future holds.

In the mean time, I'll continue to plug away with them and work out what I need to do. Hopefully do a Khorne Daemon army showcase next week!

New Year Plans

It's a new year and a new start so i'm going to start this years posts with an open thread abour what your new year resolution (for 40k) is.

What is this years plan for your 40k. Have you got a new army lined up, expanding on an old one, or are you waiting for a new release to come out?

I know my plans are varied and i probably wont stick to them. I'm planning to increase my Chaos army with a couple of Defilers and Noise Marines. I am toying with the idea of a Nid army, and also I am itching to get my Grey Knights off the shelf, but this time i am going to use them as Allies to either my Raven Guard, or maybe expand on the Marines possibly with Kantor or Karn as their leader, maybe even the Mighty Lysander.

Because of money obligations the Nids are looking unlikely but the Marines are a possibility.

So over to you and your plans, if any.