1850 DA, next week...

So, reflecting on last weeks game I think that while making Deathwing and Ravenwing "Troops" is really nice, the 215 points Azrael costs was just way too much to not hit the table.  Yes, I probably played wrong, so I am not totally discounting the usefulness of the Commander...  But having Belial hit the table on turn 1/2 exactly where I want him to be?  And then fighting for the bulk of the game, or at least until he dies :-) makes more sense to me.  Still not 100% sure it is something that will be able to beat things like the Necron Air circus, or the local IG hordes...  More specifically, the AV 14 tanks that are becoming popular locally...  Drop in, get a side shot maybe, hope for Melta/Multi Melta to survive long enough to matter...  Having Terminator armor is nice, but roll enough dice and 1's WILL come up.  Looking at fewer than 30 bodies total for the army at 1850, so those will all hurt.

Looking at:

Belial
Deathwing Squad (10, 2 CML, several TH/SS, probably at least 4)
Deathwing Squad (5, Heavy Flamer, a few TH/SS)
Deathwing Command Squad (Banner of Devastation, Champion, Heavy Flamer)
LRC (NOT a dedicated Transport, but maybe?, Melta, dozer)
Techmarine (Servo, Power Field)
Tactical Squad (5, ML w/Flak)
Ravenwing Squadron (Attack Bike, MM, Melta in Squadron)

I'm NOT sold on using the DW Command Squad over just a regular one, or even dropping that particular aspect altogether.  I'd probably swap out the LRC for a regular LR and hope to roll 6's when shooting at fliers I guess...

I am also kind of building it with the Campaign in mind.  I am facing off against several Chaos forces, including my primary enemy.  I forget my overall Warlord Trait, but in essence, I am hunting him...  Good bonuses for holding territories next to his, and better ones for actually defeating him in a game...  Since I just took a Hive City from him last turn, I'm set up fairly well for that.  And I have a number of "Bastion" spots, giving me free Bastions in games there...  Thinking my small Tac Squad foes there and fires Flak missiles, Heavy Bolters and Quad Gun/Las Cannon at fliers/reserves...  Seeing Rambo, I mean "Marbo" a lot these days in IG forces, so having something to potentially shoot him out of existence is a REALLY nice thing for me...  Getting out of paying the "Aegis Tax" for not bringing fliers...  And since I have yet to actually declare an attack in the Campaign, seems likely someone will try to come and take one of my good spots from me.  Plus side, no Planetstorm silliness attacking my Hive City as it incorporates a Shield Generator...  I could I guess bring extra Heavies or the like, but really not all that impressed with my choices there.

Kind of riffing off of that, my choices of Fliers is extremely limited overall.  Yes, I do have 1+ (the + is the extras I am building as Airships) for the Praetorians, I have a converted Valkyrie to stand in as a Storm Raven for my GK/BA forces...  But, honestly feeling that my IG/GK forces would be overpowered and over represented in our local environment.  My Fleshtearers are brutal.  Not a lot of local players are REALLY prepared for the way I play them.  Adding in a Raven to transport my DC DN and probably an Assault Squad?  Not sure I'd play it if I were not playing a "I'm making a point" Army and just going out to be a complete dick and destroy the opposition as quickly as possible...  So, no, not going to play that force I think...  And the DA fliers just look craptastic on paper.  NOT saying they needed to be "OMG BROKEN" level to have people play them, but really, 180 points for a very lackluster dog-fighter or 160 for a "ground attack" aircraft that is inferior in every way to the IG Valkyrie/Vendetta?  Yes, the IG flier is TOO good, and I don't think they need to make all of them too good, but playing now, I do not often see an army across the table without one of them as an "ally"...  Not the only reason to ally with IG of course, but I can erase blobs, even fearless ones easily enough, the filers are just a PITA...  The current crop of fliers is overall "Eh"...  The Chaos Heldrake is a bit over the top against Powered Armor armies not bringing Transports, but that can be dealt with I think...  The DA/Marine fliers are just a bit confusing to me.  Overpriced garbage.  And limited in which flavor of Marine gets the bloody things?  Not the strategy I would have taken as a business trying to sell more models, but...

Speaking of odd business decisions, rumor has a direct only "flier compendium" coming out in a few weeks.  Now, I am no longer involved in a game store, but I REALLY would much prefer to purchase through my local store as that is where I play, and the owners are friends.  Even without knowing them, the "buy where you play" thing is big for me.  some other stores over the years where there was either no or limited play space or where some/all of our game group were "no longer welcome"...  Well, then buying online was the way I'd go.  If the rumors are correct, barring Dave getting a bunch of orders together and being able to get them in bulk from GW, does not seem that we CAN order through him.  That does not even get me started on the whole releasing broken, silly rules and selling expensive "patches" later on like the liquid Green Stuff and "Finecast"...  Once upon a time, they released updated online as freely downloadable PDF's...  Wouldn't think that would have cost much at all, and would retain a fair number of customers.  To say nothing of the ability to release say, an Eldar tank kit with the rules online so they do not have to wait for the next iteration of the Codex...  :-)  Not that this will happen again...  But kind of frustrating as a player not having "legal" access to the rules for things like the last wave of fliers (Marine/Ork ones) without hunting down a back issue of their advertisement/magazine...  :-)  I guess I am missing the "good old days" a bit, maybe it will all work out...

1850 DA AAR

So, played the "We Shoot Things" list last night against a pretty good Chaos force...  Just going from memory, but this is approximately what he had:

Chaos Lord (Daemon weapon, Juggernaut, 4++ save of some sort, Mark of Khorne)
Chaos Lord (Daemon weapon/Black Mace?, Juggernaut, 4++ save of some sort, Mark of Khorne)
15 Cultists
15 Cultists
2 Predators (AC, 2x LC)
Vindicator
2 Heldrakes (bale flamers)

IG allies
CCS in Chimera (plasma/meltas)
Vet Squad in Chimera (plasma/2 Melta)
Manticore
Vendetta


So, lots of Fliers...

He had first turn and set up for an alpha strike...  I seized.  My bikes that had Scout moved up were in position and ended up winning me the game.  The Attack bike caught the Manticore in the 12" "sweet spot" for the easy kill netting me "First Blood".  The other bikes I had ran as Combat Squadrons so 2 groups of 3. Made my first big mistake when I did not just shoot the first Lord out of existence...  I shot each at one Cultist Squad with the LRC pitching in to wipe the closest one off the table.  I should have pushed the 48 TL Bolter shots all onto the one squad along with the TLAC/MM/etc...  So, killed off all of one and almost all of the other Cultist squads, but I REALLY should have just focused in on the one to kill the Lord.

That brings me to me second big mistake...  I rolled the LRC forward, leaving the Tactical Squads in their cover...  They did move out some trying to keep up, but...  In any case they got strung out and left behind by the uber-tank...

Brings me to the Drakes.  So, they fly "near" something, a wing clipping it maybe, and it's d3+1 Str 7 AP3 hits.  Movement phase, so absolutely NOTHING I as the defending player can do about it.  Not a HtH attack, no opposed rolling, just automatic hits, take the damage and move on.  Then of course there's the 360 degree Torrent Flamer hitting at Str 6 AP 3...  Kind of makes Power Armor completely worthless.  I was planning on running my Wolves at some point, but to be honest I think they'd just die.  FAQ killed the Wolf Scouts completely as the Interceptor Quad Guns are not really as big an issue these days...  Not bringing the Wolf Guard with them means just the 4+ Armor on the Scouts can strike behind the lines, and no Assault out of Reserve so "less useful" to "why bother"...  Seeing a lot of folks getting more and more frustrated with the game, and the "slightly overpowered" flier armies in general...  The now insane prices for the models is not helping, but the rules are really just lagging.  Maybe in a few months it will even out, but it is NOT there right now...

With the DA, I am left feeling that it is Terminator Armor or nothing.  Bikes are expensive and 3+ Armor, so they are looking like a "bring a Squadron" for the Bolters and Teleport Homers...  But do not count on them living with all the things that ignore cover AND the 3+ save...  OTOH, they do bring speed and a really good first strike ability to my force...

Far and away the "Death Star" I brought in the form of the LRC with the Command Squad/Banner of silly shooting/TechMarine w/ Power Field was the MVP for me...  It DID take 2 hull points of damage over the course of the game, but I made a LOT of 4++ saves, and the TM has the 4+ to repair the vehicle instead of shooting and since he cannot shoot inside the vehicle...  Not so sure it will be something I keep running, but to be honest I am pretty happy with it all things considered.  24" range only, so a bit limiting there...  Any light Infantry caught by this should really just die though...  So many shots hitting that even Heavy Infantry have to be careful...  Thinking that next week I run this, maybe back to Belial and Terminators for the most part...  Could be a really brutal "rush forward and hope for the best" army...  2 DW Squads, Belial, the LRC of silliness and a bike Squadron...  NOT a lot of models, but might work...

So, next week's Army... 1850 again...

Well, looking like nothing too bad on the rules questions I had...  So looking like this will be what I am bringing:

Azrael
Command Squad (Banner of Devastation, Power Weapon maybe?)
Land Raider Crusader (MM)
Techmarine (Servo Harness, Power Field)
Deathwing Squad (10, 2 CML, 4 TH/SS?)
Tac Squad (10, ML w/ Flak, Flamer)
Tac Squad (10, ML w/Flak, Flamer)
Ravenwing Squadron (6 bikes, Attack Bike w/MM, Melta Gun)

Leaves me a few more points, and it is going to be a very "unsubtle" force...  Techmarine gives me a 3+ cover save to park some of the lads in...  Probably a Flak team, though maybe the Terminators against some forces...  Terminators can DW Assault in on one of the many Teleport Homers I have out there, or just hole up and hold an objective.  Everyone is a "Troop" selection, so I could potentially have 7 of them...  A lot of them a bit weak, but...  Plan is to park the Land Raider with Techmarine, Command Squad and probably Azrael in it at the front of my DZ...  The Tactical Squads deploy around it, preventing Deep Strikers, and giving more Salvo Bolters...  The Bikes Scout to the front to provide coverage there, and gaining the 4++ and making their Bolters Salvo as well...

Essentially, I have a metric crapton of Bolter fire, so it will be pretty deadly against Hordes...  Most Marines will have a fairly hard time dealing with the sheer number of shots they can throw out...  Fliers are going to be an issue, but can't be helped I think.  Just kill off everything else...

couple of rules questions...

Sitting at doctor office and have a few minutes....

So, here goes...

For the purposes of the Banner of devestation what all counts as a Bolter?  Hurricane Bilters list as "3 twin linked bolters fired as a single weapon", so I would say yes...  Likewise bikes have the tl Bolter, assuming that too...  Combi weapons? Yes?

Do "bubble" effects work from within a Vehicle?  The Sanguinary Priest's does, so I am going with the assumption that it is "yes"...  So the Banner and Power Field inside the Land Raider would have a fairly big "footprint" on the field...

Thinking that I might have to run a Heavy Bolter in one of the Squadrons of Ravenwing that I keep near the LR/Banner...  Just to be able to cause casualties at ranges greater than 24" via the new FAQ...  Potentially 28 TL Bolter shots should do a few wounds on whatever, but I am more concerned about hitting IG Blob/Chaos Cultist squads and only being able to do a few casualties if we end up dancing on the edge of 24" range...

Guessing the biggest thing I am really concerned about is the verdamnten Heldrake...  I just don't have a good answer to that.  Though giving all of my lads huddled around the LR a 4++ might help...  2 ML with the Flak missiles are not I think the answer to deal with AV 12 fliers, and while the Salvo of Bolter fire might work should one present a Rear arc shot...  Unlikely I would say...

1850 DA, This time formatted better...

Yeah, kind of doing a free range ramble on the last post there...  On one hand, really unfocused on the surface...  But thanks GraveMind!  That Power Field suggestion is looking like a really good one...  And amusing with the Techmarine riding in and hopefully repairing the LR...

So:
Azrael
Command Squad w/ Banner of Devastation, Company Champion
Techmarine w/ Servo and Power Field
Deathwing Squad (10, 2 CML, 4 TH/SS)
2 Tactical Squads (10 man each, Flamer, ML w/ Flak)
Ravenwing Squadron (6 Bikes, Attack Bike w/MM, 1-2 Melta guns?)

Getting pretty close to the end there...  I'd LIKE to fit in a Hyperion ML turret or three at 35 points each, but I should have a fair amount of resilient scoring presence on the field with this...  Al LD 10 or Fearless, loads of 4++ saves, some upgraded cover saves hopefully...  Not the same hyper aggressive force I normally play with my Fleshtearers, Wolves or even my Crimson Fists, but I DO think it will work well, assuming the Banner and Power Field both project their bubble around the Land Raider hull...

DA back to 1850...

Back to "normal" games...  Not sure if the weather will permit the motorcycle next week or not, but in any case I tend to have a "set" army list or two that can be easily transported via bike or truck...

So here goes:
Azrael or Belial...  Still deciding here.  Azrael gives me Ld 10 and that's pretty nice...  Deathwing/Ravenwing Troops...  Belial makes the DW Troops...  If I bring them, really feel I need to Deepstrike to get the full advantage.  Belial would not scatter and has the Homer for follow on forces.  Been playing DW Assault wrong, it is only one, they ALL come in at once, no choosing for each unit...  Still, turn one, good odds on the lads coming in on turn 2 to support...  Azrael if I can find some points for a Ravenwing squad I guess for the extra Homers...

2 Squads of PA Troops...  8 Bolters each, Flamer and Missile Launcher w/ Flak rounds.  Probably should mention that I am bringing a Command Squad as well...  They'll have the Banner of Detestation and ride in my Land Raider Crusader.  Now, as I am reading it, the Hurricane Bolters are listed in the Codex as 3 twin linked Bolters that fire as a single weapon...  And the Banner makes the Bolters Salvo 2/4...  Being Vehicle Mounted, they should always fire as if stationary.  So 24 shots/turn, twin linked, and the 2 squads (4 if Combat Squad) of lads on the outside to be a buffer...  LD 10, Stubborn, with the potential for 32 more Bolter shots each...  Yes, I COULD bring more, but I am honestly more concerned with things not easily brought down by Bolters ..

Deathwing Squad, maybe 2...  Or one and one Ravenwing Squadron to give me Homers and a fast moving platform...  Maybe they park in front of the LRC to take advantage of the Banner for the start of the game... :-)  Does sound like a bit of fun...  Bonus they're ALL Troops, can throw down a metric crapton (Yes, the Metric one IS bigger) of fire...

Yeah, posted quicker than I should have...  In the LRC and attached to the Command Squad will be a Techmarine...  Thought it was a bit light...  So, depends a bit on whether the Hurricane Bolters are counted as "Bolters", else I can just bring a standard "Godhammer" class Land Raider for the TL Las Cannons...  Am feeling a bit light on the AAA/AT firepower...  But I may just be paranoid...

Ah, Campaign games...

Yeah, remembering again why I do not like GW's campaign games.  There is almost never any thought given to "balance" or anything of that sort.  The game last night illustrated it very painfully.  And I am most certainly NOT faulting the players for running armies that exploited the poorly written rules for the scenario...  Just that Fliers, which are already "somewhat overpowered" got a bunch of bonuses and Reserves being able to come in anywhere on the Station meant that people bringing in late reserves were able to simply walk on and take Objectives...  Things like "Send in the Next Wave" for the IG were REALLY powerful as the 30 man unit could just keep walking in wherever they wanted, fire their now with Rending las guns, kill a bunch of things and then die to reappear next turn somewhere else...  Yeah, Rending for all attacks EXCEPT against Necrons and Demons...

Just poorly written and unbalanced rules.  Not a major problem if you are doing this as a "beer and pretzels" thing with a group of buddies, and since that appears to be the GW philosophy for most of their stuff, unsurprising.  Problem if you are wanting to inject this into a competitive league where there is money on the table.  Mind, I am not stressing/stressed about this, if I happen to win, great, else as long as I have fun playing then I consider the league fees to be money well spent.  This was not a fun game.  One of the reasons I stopped playing a lot of Privateer Press league stuff, the scenarios were, to put it nicely "poorly written".  Just led to games that were no fun whatever for one or both players.  Kind of easy to burn out on a system when you pay to play, must play with their models (no proxies/3rd party stuff allowed) and then feel like you get thrown into a game you cannot win, no matter what.  NOT the situation in the 40K league, we're all about proxies, 3rd party stuff is fine, etc...  Just that some of these special ones like this just kill off a lot of the "good feelings" we get from playing most of the games.

Anyway, back to 1850 games next week, so I can actually field a regular army...  Looking forward to that.  I might even get to play :-)

750 DA for the "Crusade of Fire" space station game

Well, we're playing the "Space Station" game in the Crusade of Fire campaign tomorrow...

Playing DA, I do not have much choice...  I more or less need Belial to keep my Deathwing Troops (Yes, I could bring Azrael, but...), so that eats up 190 of it right off the top.  Filling out one DW squad, 440 points and I need the 2 heavy weapons and a number of the Storm Shields...  So that's about it.  I COULD skimp on the squad, bring 2 5 man Squads, or maybe even bring a small Assault Squad.  The special rules for the game include things like movement being like Jump for normal Infantry, if they are Jump, double move...  Minus side, Difficult Terrain test, but potential 24" move for Jump Troops?  Thinking the BA will be WAY too fast for most people to react to in this one.  Jump Terminators might be amusing...  But one of the other rules being a 6 on the "to wound" makes it AP 2...  Just thinking this will suck for me.  And considering that Chaos gets free Demos squads every turn to appear and assault...  Has the makings of a REALLY short game for my lads.  Looking at maybe 11 bodies on the table, and the potential for everything Rending...

Most of the other rules for me are less relevant for me with most of my lads coming in via Deep Strike/Teleport in any case...  Belial does not miss his, and has a Homer in the event I bring 2 Squads and want to keep them together.  Guess we'll see, but my list is more or less fixed...  Have to say these small games are the most difficult for me since I can only being a little...  Just concerned that there will be NO balance in the game as no one can bring effective AAA if fliers are allowed...  And hordes are just going to be silly...

Thoughts on the new DA codex/FAQs...

So, got in a few games with the new book, and overall I am VERY happy with the book and the overall direction GW seems to be taking with the Chaos and DA books...  Assuming they continue this going forward of course...

The book itself has a good number of options, many of which seem viable as Army builds.  My "Subtle, like Sledgehammer" build of the Deathwing Assault is REALLY good now.  Belial and Azrael both open up Deathwing Terminator Squads as Troops, and Azrael also opens up Ravenwing Bikes to match Sammael (Master of the Ravenwing).  Focusing mostly on Belial for me, he went up in cost from 130 to 190, but the new Deathwing Assault (DWA) rules are REALLY good.  I ran him with a DW Command Squad, but I do think he would be better off in a line DW Squad...  His precision assault combined with the twin linked shooting the turn they deep strike in means I can really simply place the DW Squad 1"away from, say, a Scout Squad hiding behind the Aegis Line and fry a bunch of them.  Oh, and Split fire means we can ALSO shoot at something else altogether :-)...The Command Squads is nice, but not scoring and fixed at 5 seems like it is something for larger games...  The Apothecary is nice, the Company Champion is REALLY good (Str 7 AP2 weapon?  Yes, please...  And just +5 points?), but a single Heavy Weapon and just not THAT much weight of firepower means this just might not be the normal route for me.  DW Knights are another interesting one...  Their weapons are modified Power Mauls, so Str +2, AP 4...  Except against their Preferred Enemies, Chaos Marines.  They get -1 AP...  The Flail used by the SGT here IS AP 3 to start, so he could be a Terminator killer if it came to that...  Storm Shields, Hammer of Wrath and +1 T if they are in BtB with 2 others?  Not much more expensive than my "line squads", but no shooting at all and no way to make them Scoring would I think make them an expensive "linebreaker" unit...  I can see using them, and probably running them in a Land Raider Crusader...  If I were playing a stupid expensive list, I might give them the Banner of Devastation turning the Bolters to Salvo 2/4 weapons...  Park it in the middle of 3+ squads of Tac Marines for the sheer number of Bolter shots as I park on an objective.  Dare them to let me charge with the Knights after they make it through the firepower...  Silly, expensive, but might be amusing...

The other thing I am really liking is the ancient Missile Launcher getting Flak...  Yes, you have to pay to upgrade, but silly at this point NOT to.  Seeing a lot of fliers and looking like more are inbound soon.  The FAQ change limiting casualties to only include models in range of at least one weapon also makes inclusion of a Heavy a good idea.  It does not need to hit, just be ABLE to cause a casualty out to 36 or 48" range (AFAIK, I could be wrong, going from memory here), and having the ability to slap down a 5 man squad with AAA in the form of a ML seems like a good thing.  Down side, you might well be giving up "First Blood" playing with a min sized squad and the Chaos Heldrake is now REALLY powerful (no cover on vector strikes and the AP 3 heavy flamer has a 360 arc)...  Conceivable that one simply flying over could wipe out or almost wipe one while the Flamwerfer toasts another.  Since my only other defense against that is "gee, I hope he rolls lots of 1's" or perhaps a Bastion?

Have to admit the Bastion is growing on me.  Yes, it is a death trap if someone brings a Melta or similarly armed unit down specifically to deal with it...  But it is also a good way to get AAA with a quad gun or heavy laser.  And a squad inside could occupy and fire the Heavy Bolters and shoot their own weapons as well.  So Flak missiles and the Las Cannon probably for me...  Dunno :-)  Hobby budget for the month blown getting the DW Command box and book...  But given measurements I HAVE a full shop downstairs...  Hmmm...

Oh, and have to say that the DW Command box set is one that is certainly well worth it.  Especially if, like me, you have an existing DW Army, and maybe more than a few Terminators around to modify.  3 full sprues, options to make the Knights, Command Squad and normal Deathwing...  Including ALL of the possible options like Heavy Flamer, Assault Cannon, Cyclone Missile and the new Heavy Plasma...  Neat, and I am betting that I will use every piece in the box converting a large number of my existing DW models as well as piecing together the 5 that come in the box...  This one I do think is well worth the $60 price tag, I can't say the same for the new speeder variants or fliers...  Maybe it is just my bias of not really liking the model in the case of the Speeder or the completely underwhelming game stats in the case of the flier.

Free ranging ranting, moving from the cost of the Fliers to their in game use...  I think the recent fliers, in general, are costed out pretty well.  Not too horribly overpowered and relatively easy to deal with.  Exception being the Chaos Dragon...  Playing normal Marines, I do not really have a good way to deal with it as my Crimson Fists found...  Deathwing are less vulnerable, but I dread bringing my Grey Hunters out of hibernation.  Conversely, my IG probably worry the least about the Drakon...  Losing d3+1 models to flyby and then a single flamer?  "Eh", they take worse casualties hitting the mess hall...  The issue I have is with the older ones that got "Flier" tagged onto them and some of the Forgeworld ones.  Vendetta/Valkyrie is VASTLY undercosted for the new rule set...  It was too cheap in 5th before becoming a Flier, now looking around at the competitive armies it is unsurprising how many are included.  Have to admit that sort of stalled out my drive to make my Steampunk "Airship" versions.  Really not wanting to just be one of the crowd there...  So, still building them, just pushed back a bit on the workbench...  The Forgeworld stuff is going to be problematic I think.  AV 13 fliers with twin linked 5" template Melta weapons?  Maybe a bit too much, being completely immune to a lot of ground fire...  And the dirt cheap weapon platforms in the Aero book...  No one using them locally yet, but I have to admit they are becoming a major temptation for me...  Hyperios ADA Btty and the Contemptor DN's are both thing I would use in an instant...  I'd ALMOST feel bad using some things like the Land Raider immune to Lance and Melta, so those are likely out...  But the ADA Btty would be something CHEAP points wise I could throw together myself...  35 points/platform for the Str 8, AP 3 Skyfire, Interceptor missile?  Btty of 1-4, and potentially split fire?  Hmm, let's think it through...  No, really no need, it is really almost too good in and of itself with Interceptor being able to fire at things arriving from Reserve, so Drop pod troops, flankers, etc...  Almost never going to be a useless investment...  Thinking I can put my Whirlwind missile packs on a platform for use as this...  So, will have to get the ruling about "homemade" Forgeworld rules units... (edited for spelling, slipped back to Scottish I guess for a bit...)

New Dark Angels...

So, picked up the codex today at the Gopher :-)  Looking good so far.  I was using Belial, or the Consecrator's equivalent to make Deathwing Troops.  The 5 man squads were pretty darn good so was pretty hopeful they would at least NOT mess that up...  Nope.  The Terminator squads are a bit more expensive, but I can get 10/Squad, they are Twin linked on the turn they Deep Strike in, can still mix in TH/SS and LC with the shooters... Oh, and they can split fire as well...  And the first actual NEW Terminator weapon since the RT era...  We can get a Plasma Cannon :-)...  Not really all that great an option I think overall as you cannot snap fire or shoot at Fliers...  But I'll be modeling at least one to give it a shot as it were...  Might work well given the "foot" heavy focus that this edition seems to be having at least locally...  Belial himself has gone up in points from 130 to 190, but there are a LOT of new rules for him...  His squad does not deviate on Deep Strike, he gets precision shot on a 5+ rather than 6+, he has a Teleport Homer, 4++ save and his sword is fleshbane (wounds on 2+ like the Eldar Witch Blades)...

Azrael makes the Ravenwing and Deathwing Troops...  Gives his squad a 4++, gets to choose his Warlord trait from the DA specific ones...  Pretty powerful, and coming in at 215 points he is NOT bad at all...  Longer term, I will definitely play that force...  Maybe the 1-2 punch, but that is 400 points for my army...  Doubt I could go for that...But still, one or the other I think and I will have a pretty darn good force to lead out my lads.  I am also thinking that a Bastion will probably be used :-)...  Park the objective there, a squad of Deathwing with him for the 2+/4++, FnP, Fearless, Split fire?  Good luck getting them off the Objective...

So, more to read, and a bunch more to paint I guess...

The next batch...

Well, here's the next batch of the lads on the way to get the Minwax/Matte coating...  Oh, and one of these things is not like the others :-)

Random ancient High Elf in there to test paint scheme...  Guess I will be painting up one of the ancient Elf armies I have around, I had High and Wood Elf armies in the ancient times...  Not thinking that Warhammer will start up any time soon, but these things have been around here bloody forever and something to break up the monotony of painting the Redcoats...

I also threw together one of my ancient "Assault Marines"/Grey Hunters with my new paint scheme for my old Wolves...

No REAL plans on redoing the Wolves in the short term, but I am pretty happy how this one came out so I think I have my basics set for them.

Also gathering up my Consecrators (Dark Angels)...  I had almost forgotten about the ancient "beakies" I have for the Consecrators as they probably haven't hit the table since 2nd Edition...  But another 50 or so "Basic Marines" to go along with my 60 or so Terminators.  So, really no matter what the new book has in it, I am set for "basic troops"...  Curious what the vehicles and Aircraft are going to do, but seeing the price tag, well...  Not likely I'll be picking up a lot of them...

Redcoats everywhere...

Well, getting over the plague again...  I didn't get hit nearly so badly as my wife and kids, but that did kill a lot of my "hobby" time...  So, just got back to painting a bit last night and I got the main hull cut out of press-board for the Airship...

Another random "concept" shot:

Oh, got a new phone last week too, and it does take some amazing pictures...

The lads are coming along, still not COMPLETELY bored and burned out...  Still have yet to actually play the army in this edition though...  Played against it a fair number of times, and I think this codex is certainly still among the more powerful ones.  Getting the vehicles repainted in the "Brown Violet" (what I used to call OD Green, Vallejo Flames of War paints), coming along slowly as I am focusing mostly on the "Light Rifles" for the moment.  I do not have any particular doubt that the Armored Division approach is still insanely powerful, at least in our local scene...  So filling the ancient Armory/Chessex figure case with repainted and sealed minis...  And realizing that I'll be filling 2 cases for my Infantry alone...

All of this is just in time for the DA codex to be released...  I'll be dropping by the Gopher later to pre-order/pay for one...  So, looking like one of my 2 4th edition Codices  will be updated...  I'll be in my "Wait and See" mode for this as well.  I HAVE a giant Deathwing based force already, if the Terminators are viable still as rumored, might be breaking out my Consecrators for a bit while the Praetorians get redone...  Will likely be fabricating weapon swaps and doing more magnets as I see what I can actually field in the new era...  Guessing my old standard 5 man unit of 3 TH/SS, 2 LC with one having the CML will not be allowed...  I am kind of hoping (though really doubt) they go back to the 2 HW/5 man Squad on the Terminators and that the Assault Cannon drops a LOT in price...  :-)  I still have a bunch of them, and for nostalgia reasons I still fielded them in "fun" games...  Counting on "roll lots of 6's" to do much of anything against modern armies just doesn't cut it in a more competitive force though... Just my opinion of course, I'm just an Engineer, what would I know :-)  I guess we'll know for sure in a few weeks...  This stealth product drop just HAS to drive retailers nuts...  To announce it officially less than 2 weeks before it ships?  Seems "less than well thought out", but again, Engineer, not business or marketing, so these things are likely beyond my poor comprehension :-)...