Run silent and cloaking devices...

So…  Looks like GW is back to “Run Silent” mode…  Disappointing, I had rather liked the Black Library and Forgeworld stuff on Facebook, etc…  Frankly I could do without the GW advertisement mail hitting the same time as all of the new releases go to “pre-order” status.  Probably just me, but I usually already know about the few things I am interested in, and I am not ordering through them in any case…  Silly me, I go through my local game store because that’s where I actually PLAY the game.  And with them not telling the bloody retailers what is coming out before they put it up on their own store…  Just seems wrong, but hey, I’m just a silly consumer…

Playing the 200 point Kill Team, is OK I guess…  My Fleshtearers are not horrible, but have a hard time dealing with larger numbers of things like say 10 Nurgle Marines J…  So, next week I guess I play my Crimson Fists.  I think I can get 5 Tactical Marines with a Plasma Cannon or Missile Launcher and 5 Scouts with a Heavy Bolter and 4 Snipers…  Oh, and a Speeder Storm with Flamer or Heavy Bolter.  Probably Flamer, that was awesome on the FT one I ran last week…

Star Trek stuff looks pretty darn nice…  Looking like that will be what I start up playing.  The Klingons are looking really good, and probably very much my play style.  There is OP at the store, and we’ll see if I can make it out to play…

200 point Kill Team League and Star Trek Attack Wing

So, new League starting tonight...  200 point Kill Team, with a 500 point "Super Kill Team" tournament in the middle...  Looking like I will be playing my Fleshtearers at least for the first week, probably the full League.  200 points is not a lot, so I have just a few options...

Sternguard:  5 lads with a variety of Combi Weapons and a Rhino.  Not a lot of subtlety, but with the Bolter rounds I have some options.  SMALL number of troops, so losing 3 puts me to 50%.  SGT becomes a leader, I usually take "Sniper", "Feel No Pain" and ...  Shred probably...  Re-rolling to wound with a small number of shots seems likely I'll need to make every one count that I can...  Small army, quick and decisive.

Assault Squad:  5 man Assault Squad and a Sanguinary Priest (Medic) with Jump Packs.  Melta Gun Trooper and a Plasma Pistol for the SGT, the Medic provides the bubble of FnP, and we move quickly to engage and hopefully not get bogged down in a firefight...    Again, quick and dirty.  Probably the "ignore Cover" for the Melta, Preferred Enemy for the SGT and either Rending or Fleshbane for one of the other lads...  Might swap the Medic for a Speeder to deal with enemy Armor, but in any case sticking with the "Go, Go, Go" style...

Looking at and will be picking up some of the Star Trek Attack Wing stuff...  Guess I am missing my old SFB, and since this is NOT a stupid "blind buy" game, I can actually get the Klingon ships I am looking for.  Thought about Federation, but they seem fairly bland.  Glad that there are at least 4 Factions/Armies to start with and it looks like the Borg are coming as well...  Probably the only thing keeping me from the Star Wars one was that there really are just the 2 Armies, so it doesn't matter that much.  In any case, Klingons are what I'll be playing and hopefully I am not too far behind the power curve by getting in later like I did with MechWarrior, etc...  Eventually evened out, was just a fairly steep learning curve and the blind buys were NOT helpful.  This should be better overall as I will need only 100 points of things more or less, so likely 5-6 ships to give me some choices in the longer run.  Seeing some Fleet builds with 3 ships, so guessing the Devil being in the details for all the options, etc. is where the subtlety is for this.  Starting off I am more likely to bring what I consider a "standard" Fleet build with more ships rather than trying to figure out tricks and combos...  At least until I have a solid understanding of the game play, etc...

Knights, more games and motorcycles...

So, got a few more test games in with the Knight...  Well, my Warhammer figure as I am still slowly assembling the model...  New puppy has pretty much killed my hobby time, but Angus is fun to zip about with...  With my Fleshtearers, the Melta one is quite good...  Plays very aggressive and not the least bit subtle...  Point at the target and go.  Deep striking provides the close in support that the Knight needs in order to take and hold objectives...  Eldar are still a PITA to face with their speed and massed Str 6+ fire mean that the six hull points are not something to count on.  Tau on the other hand are are less of a threat.  Just that my Wolves and Fleshtearers are so far out of the top tier that it is still frustrating at best to play out the game.  My Crimson Fists are REALLY good with the Knight so the more modern books seem to be very good with it.  Guessing Mike's White Scars would be brutally effective, not so sure with a DA bike force though...  Still, between my Praetorians and Crimson Fists, I have 2 REALLY good supporting forces for the Knight, and it even makes my Fleshtearers at least somewhat competitive against a less optimized Tau force...

Lots of new stuff hitting...  New Chaos Marine book...  Another two pages of rules, no major changes.  This is something I am not really a fan of.  On one hand, it is good getting new material, but for the price of the book?  For so very little new stuff?  Not really for me, but then nothing for any of the specific armies I play so...  Well, not a lot of new purchases for me.  The Knight itself, I think it was well worth it as it is a really nice kit, and the rules themselves are in the $4 White Dwarf magazine...  I would pick up the book if I intended to buy the 3+ to field them as an army, but one is my limit I think.  Looking like a Kill Team league for the next few months so my Knight will likely be assembled and painted in House Chappell colors...  But back to the essentially DLC we keep seeing...  The main reason I am not a fan is that while it does make the game interesting, it completely cuts out the local store.  I know GW would much prefer to sell direct, but I think that is not the model that will work in much of the US at least with our local group gathering and playing at the one local store that is nice, clean, has playing space, etc...  Yes, I could set up a table in my basement, and have at various times over the years when suitable game stores did not exist locally, or for whatever other reason...  Just that cuts the size of the group you can play against down by a LOT.  And frankly I really like the local store, so it annoys me when a company goes out of their way to cut them out.  Saying that, the greater range of options IS nice...  Seeing the Tau/Eldar combos over and over gets old and Tau/Tau or Eldar/Tau/whatever just gets really boring to play and play against.  Delicate balance there between keeping it interesting and killing it off with a flood.  Balanced would REALLY be nice as it does not look like GW has any interest in actively supporting their game or bothering to try to balance things out...  But, it is still for the moment the only really big system that I can almost guarantee finding a game of every week...

$280 would buy me a Star Trek fleet and probably a bunch of X-wing ships...  Since I inherited a pair of B-wings looks like I have that started already...  Would prefer Klingons, so if someone were to want a trade, more than happy to :-), but still, heavy fighters are fun...  Still have massive Cygnar and Circle armies, so Warmachine/Hordes is still an option...  Just do not have all that much time to actually game these days...  Still, I know there will be a few new ships adorning my desk soon...

Other stuff...  Selling my two motorcycles and looking to buy one Honda Goldwing from 84-87...  Right combination of engine power and such for me.  The Silverwing is a great bike.  But it is really good for in town and not suitable for Interstate highway travel.  Perfect for beginning riders or those of us returning to riding after a LONG break...  The Magna?  Powerful...  Too powerful for my needs.  Only a 750cc engine, but 4 cylinder engine tooled for a racing bike..  More efficient at highway speed 65-80 MPH...  Really fast, and I guess I am just too old for that to be something that I want...  Would be happy to trade of course, but...

Imperial Knights, DLC and getting too old...

Knight being assembled...  The kit looks nice, hopefully it plays well on the table.  A few test games in, it is powerful but definitely not overpowering I think.  D class weapons from Apoc just kill whatever, so the Void Shields are needed if you face a Warhound or Revenant Titan.  The 12 inch move is huge on the table, so it can close quickly or move away from slow threats...  IG is the natural Ally I think with a horde of bodies to protect the Knight for a bit, and to open up Void Shields for it with AC fire...  My Crimson Fists and Grey Knights work well, but protection proves difficult unless I use Strike Squads and go first...  I could I suppose go with Coteaz or whatever the name is...  I just really do not like playing Inquisition or what I consider overpowering characters, so have never played that one...  Lacking a lot of Intercept, a lot of those games went to the player gaining First Blood, so player one if he/she has a good first strike force like Drop Pods or the like...  Eldar have their d weapons, but other than the Wraith Knight, shorter range...  Most of the Knights I see locally are fielded with the ++ save, so not a lot of the Str 10, d weapons...  Iyanden is popular, so the Wraithguard and Wraithlord as Warlord is common...  My Knight Paladin seems the better one at the moment, but the 36" Melta is REALLY nice for an aggressive force...  Fleshtearers or GK perhaps?  30 or so Assault Marines starting around the Knight to start the rush...  On "go", we'll be in their DZ on turn 2 at the latest...  So, fast one way or the other, nothing subtle, no tricks...  Maybe.....  For the next two months we are playing"Kill Teams" for the local League, so gives me time to assemble and test I think...

Otherwise, "Codex: Legion of the Damned" hit...  One entry from the Marine Codex, and it can be your whole Army.  W T F?  So, dlc based on just cut and paste from another book with a few pages of new stuff...  Which looks suspiciously like it is not well tested...  The Warlord traits range from good to WTF are they thinking?  Seems rushed, and being digital, no real risk for the company...  Chaos gets one next, looks similarly unimpressive, especially when you consider the old Legions are being ignored...  Just seems like they are flooding the market with craptastic"content" with no particular concern about the long term effect this will have on their game and company..  Especially with so much not being available through the local game stores... Not a good situation I think, but surprisingly I was not consulted :-)... 

Was weird reading the interview on House of Pancakes with Stelek...  I know he can be a bit unpleasant, but really the stupidity of the comments there was just bad...  Shame really, I rather liked the interview.  He comes from a (what I consider at least) mass battles background..  The big bookshelf games with chits and tokens representing large units...  Neat, but I come from about the complete opposite direction...  I have commanded in combat operations units up to and including Platoon sized elements, and in war games Company to short Battalion sized elements...  Well, we were just doing a desperation defense, so the survivors of a BN, and mostly because I was the senior surviving Engineer directing the defenses my unit built...  But in any case, I do well commanding a Squad or Platoon, but going beyond that I am far less comfortable.  Why I think I like skirmish games, and I can understand why someone dealing better with the larger abstracts would prefer larger battle systems...

Random personal stuff, CPAP machine for me this week...  Apparently I failed my sleep test :-) and will be disturbing my beautiful wife's sleep for...  Well, I am given to understand this is a new permanent thing... 

Oh, and trying to sell my two motorcycles...  81 Honda Silverwing which is an awesome starter or in town bike...  Just not good on the Interstate with the 500cc engine...  The other is a 96 Honda Magna...  Other end of the spectrum with it being a 4 cylinder muscle bike...  Only 750cc engine, but REALLY fast and too powerful for my needs.  Looking for a 1200cc Honda Goldwing (so 84-87) or something in the 1100-1300cc range for a heavier cruiser...  Also have a few firearms I could get rid of if needed to get a nice bike..

Knights and D weapons locally...

After a few games against the D weapons, I think my objections are at least for me confirmed.  It turns 40K into a "short hand" game.  No point bringing anything but the cheapest, best troops you can alon g with some big Alpha Strike to try and deal with the source of the D shooting.  Warhound Class Titans are popular here as are the Baneblade variants...  I have yet to face an Eldar Revenant, so guessing only there, but with the speed that thing can move?  Hard for a lot of armies to pin down.  Drop or fliers really are going to be it...  Well, except for IG gunlines perhaps...  AC are cheap and between than and Chimeras, seems like a LOT of firepower going into the 900 point monster.  Just a boring game, and not one a lot of people can bring especially to a tournament.  So, the D class weapons do kill the Death Stars of various flavors, but in so doing how much more of the fun parts of the game do they kill or make irrelevant?  ALL of the fortifications are now completely pointless EXCEPT the Void Shields...  Those become a necessary tax in an environment with D class weapons...  Much like the Aegis line was at the beginning of Sixth facing fliers...  So, the 5th ed Fliers are not looking so bad now in comparison I think, though they may well have a new lease on life as the answer to "D Class Weapons".  The cynic in me says that this looks suspiciously like the game developers making all but the new stuff completely irrelevant and thus pushing new sales over allowing existing armies to compete...

New things coming up?  The Imperial Knights look really nice...  I plan on one certainly, maybe a second one if the new Dreamforge one is of the same rough scale...  But as good as they look and will probably be on the table, do they stand a chance against a D class weapon?  Not really.  6 Hull Points, so it might take 2 hits to destroy it, but the same NO defense possible thing really bites the Knights...  4+ inv save that cannot be used just annoys me.  Next being IG or whatever new trademarked name they come up with for the next Imperial Army iteration...  Rumors of a new edition as well..  Dunno, we are at version 6.5 now...  How much more before they kill their cash cow?  There DO need to be some fixes I think, but a new $80 rulebook?  Don't know how many of us will buy it honestly...   And having seen more than my share of good, fun games die to their developers mishandling things and pushing out new editions?  Well, I hope they do not kill 40K...  Seems a long way to go before that happens, so I am most certainly NOT saying 40K is dead, just that I am concerned about it, especially on the local level.  It just feels a LOT like Confrontation did at the 3.5 level when Rackham seemed like they were working REALLY hard to kill the game in order to have the player base clamoring for the new edition to fix it all...  Well, they killed it, and the new edition flopped...  Oops...  Le Roy est Mort, Vive Le Roy?

Locally, Eldar continue to dominate the tables even if unintentionally...  No good answers to the Wave Serpent that will work in a time frame allowing most players a chance to deal with it before they lose the game...  Not unbeatable, but just really good...  Facing 4+ is going to be difficult at best for almost any army.  Add in Wraith Knights and Jetbikes and possibly Beasts from the DE codex?  Well, even my otherwise well designed Crimson Fist list just dies...  Hard and stubbornly, but barring odd luck I do not see my last wining often in that fight. 

Hate to say it, but between the Eldar and Tau appearing massively overpowered...  Well, it is killing the new interest in the game locally.  The Tau with the Riptides and so many rule exceptions combined in a really good Codex make for a less than fun game that a majority of the locals would rather just not bother playing against.  Yes, part is due to the let's call them "hyper competitive" players using and abusing those rules/lists...  But they are technically legal lists...  Not just the Eldar locally, in fact the Eldar are by and large NOT the problem locally, despite the general feeling that they are over powered...  Lacking a real FAQ, very open to interpretation...  So, other games are becoming popular locally...  X-wing and the Star Trek version, Netruner, etc...

Rocs, Titans and Seventh...

So, looking like we are getting Knight Titans...  GMort has a really good overview here: http://gmortschaotica.blogspot.com/2014/02/knight-titans-no-longer-rumour.html
Looking good overall...  12" move, can fire at different things, move through cover, etc...  2 big problems I see are that it is armed with a D HtH weapon and that it cannot easily survive in an environment with other D class weaponry.  I'm looking more at the Paladin class with the rapid fire Battle Cannon (72" range, Str 8 AP 3, 5" blast and Ordinance).  Perhaps I am missing something with the USRs it has, but Strikedown and Smash seem to be completely wasted on something that is hitting with Str D in HtH...  3-4 Attacks I suppose could all miss, but with the silliness that Str D is, what survives?  The Warhound with 9 Hull Points seems like it is in trouble if it gets charged...  So, as with almost everything "D", hitting first wins.  So, essentially, stay out of HtH with the Knights, and 375 points for a 6 HP walker seems OK...  Well, until you run up against something D Str yourself.  Looking good and I know that there will be several seen locally...  And I AM looking forward to that...  Painting up a Knight in House Chappell colors to go with all of my Imperial forces...

Brings me to the discussion of "D" weapons...  For an Apoc game, it made sense and given the sheer size of the game, something like this that is essentially "shorthand" 40K is fine, but for actual 40K, it just does not seem like it fits.  Anything that just automatically destroys any building that it touches without having to actually defeat the armor or remove HPs, etc?  ALWAYS penetrates seems a bit much...  The same thing for most Vehicles and "normal" targets...  Seems out of place given the rest of the rules for the game.  Not sure how I feel about it really...  Locally, it looks like the death knell for the Tau Riptide overload and anything like a Deathstar.  On the other hand, it strips a LOT of the character from the game for most of the armies.  Why bother taking anything but massed grunts because it REALLY just doesn't matter when it gets hit by those weapons...  So, yes, it kills off the Eldar and Tau dominated uber armies but it also kills a LOT of the other things that make playing the game interesting...  I guess my concern is that the cure kills the patient here :-)  "The Man from La Mancha"...

Other than that, I was looking over the IA 2, second edition for stuff to bring into my armies...  The Roc pattern Storm Eagle is one that REALLY stood out.  With 7 shots/turn from the 4 weapons it can fire, all of them Str 8-9 and AP 3 or less...  The Transport capacity is almost irrelevant with the ability to almost guarantee a vehicle kill or a good chance to decimate a Marine Squad or the like...  Yeah, probably too good...  The Mortis DN is good, but not overly so I think...  Intercept is overpowered in this edition and something I think will change in the next one...  Overall, the book looked good, but really only a few pages of useful stuff, so...

On to Seventh Edition?  That seems to be a recurring rumor...  Do I think it likely in the short term?  Eh...  With the release schedule in hyper drive?  Maybe...  Honestly, the game is VERY different than when it was released, so I'd call it version 6.5 now...  Would I like a revised ruleset that actually answered things and cleared up some of the things that should have been cleared up or clarified a LONG time ago...  Right now, things are pretty much Tau/Eldar if you want to win...  A lot of other armies are "fun", but locally at least, not a lot of challenge for a well build top tier force...

AAR with Escalation vs Fleshtearers... and IA2, second edition...

So, played against my first Titan outside of an Apocolipse game...  Warhound class Titan with IG to back it up.  Not a lot to the IG with all those points tied up in the Warhound.  I think there were:

 2 Armored Sentinels
1 Platoon, more or less naked...  4-5 Squads, LT, pretty much just Las Guns
1 Platoon, 4-6 Squads, Heavy Bolters a few Melta Bombs?
Company Command Squad...

I brought:
CPT Tycho
Sternguard (7, Meltas, drop pod)
Assault Squad (10, 2 Melta, Jump Packs)
Sanguinary Priests (2, Terminator, Jump Pack)
Death Company (Jump Packs, 2 Power Axes)
DC DN (HF)
Storm Raven (TL MM, TL LC)
Bastion (Quad Gun, Void Shield)

Joe's Star Wars IG were impressive...  The AT-AT as a Warhound works.  Joe wound up winning the game (Emperor's Will) by getting "First Blood" as neither Warlord died, we both had Line Breaker and his one Objective held matched the Warhound's VP..  It was actually a pretty good game all around :-)...  The Death Company not being able to hold anything and my over caution regarding what happens if the Titan explodes cost me.  So, overall I am less concerned about the big nasties...  Honestly, sending 1-2 Death Company into each Squad of his Infantry meant they would usually kill a bunch and rout them...   Lacking the weight of attacks of a blob or the Power Weapons, etc...  No real threat, and I would have probably been better off with an Assault Squad doing that.  The DC DN did eat a Melta Bomb once, but being immune to shaken/etc., it really didn't notice.  Mostly, I lost due to it ending on Turn 5 before I could wipe out the remaining IG Squads...  The Lads were in close and wiping squads with an almost contemptuous ease...  So, IG NEED Special/Heavy Weapons or they are just speed bumps for an Assault force that is quick...  Like my FT...

What did I learn?  D Weapons are insanely overpowered...  I can certainly see why there are a bunch of people wanting them banned...  A single hit to the Fortification simply destroys it and kills everyone in it.  No rolls needed, it just explodes the building.  :-)  Yeah, I can see this being OK for an Apoc game of "more" points, but at 40K scale the oversimplification has gone too far I think.  Yes, it is the easy button answer to the Tau/Eldar/non flying MC silliness, simply erasing them from the board, but I think they could have done better NOT simply porting the Apoc charts into 40K.  It really does provide a disincentive to play the game really if you are not completely prepared for this.  In other words, do NOT but Fortifications, don't bother with special characters, etc...  Doesn't matter, they all die to the blasts of doom...  Or, bring lots of Fliers and Void Shields of your own.  I wound up killing the Warhound, not as easily as I thought, my Sternguard came in and did 4 Hull Points of damage, the Raven finished it off.  I got lucky and his first turn of shooting with the D laser was bad, I think he took down the Void Shield then missed the building...  Next turn not as lucky, but by then I had it down to the last HP or two.  Still, the mere threat of the D weapon and the explosion when it died was probably worth the 750-800 points.  Pretty sure it took down close to it's points value.  Next time, I know a single Sternguard suicide squad is not enough, so may just wait it out for the fliers to deal with the monster...  Seeing a few IG Super Heavies hit the tables locally, the Warhound and...  Well, one guy does have a Revenent Class Titan...  I do have my ancient Warhound and I have to say the rumored Knights are looking like they'll be fun if true...  But honestly, it becomes a VERY different game when you shoehorn an Apoc element into it.  30K has it right with the 25% rule.  Yes, for games under 2000 points it basically means no Superheavies or Titans.  Good.  So, people can play what they expect and not get blindsided by a one dimensional army built around the Titan with a few Infantry escorting.  Knowing it is coming, you can adjust your build and make it less of an issue...  OTOH, it would shake things up  a LOT at bigger Tournaments if the uber lists had to be prepared to face "I don't give a Damn" class D weapons...  I don't know, for a fun, local environment I think they are a bit overpowered, further expanding the divide between the top tier and the rest...

On to the IA2 book...  Pretty.  Not a whole lot of truly useful stuff from a gamer perspective though.  I'd say I am looking at 10-20 pages of REALLY good game rules, etc., and a whole lot of the "Jane's Defense, 40K" for the rest...  So, just a bit for me to scan/print to have the relevant rules for the things I plan on using.  Mortis Class DNs, Marines get 1/Detachment now (DA not limited so 3/Detachment if they want)...  The Interceptor rules are probably overpowered in the current incarnation, and I have had excellent luck with my "Warhammer" Class DN (Yes, BT ref) with the Las Cannons...  The Autocannons get more shots, but not ignoring Marine Armor I find them far less of a threat overall.  Besides, Str 9 AP 2 almost always hitting for 2 shots is enough to make most Vehicles at least pay attention.  And I regularly splash Fliers with my Legion one, so my Crimson Fists getting one will be most welcome.  Otherwise, the Roc class Storm Eagle is pretty insane, at least on paper...  2 * TL LC, a TL MM and a 4 shot Missile Launcher firing Krak missiles?  On a Flier that can transport 14?  Yes, loaded out like that it is like 320 points, so probably overpriced, but...  Strafing Run and PotMS mean I can pretty reliably tear up Vehicles and Marine armored Squads as I fly around...  No rules for the Raven's Combat Drop or whatever they called it, and I REALLY like that, but for the extra 2 real weapons to fire, I will happily give that up...  The Deathstorm Drop Pod has potential and I am glad to see it actually be something that may even work...  A little curious why you HAVE to buy the 25 point upgrade to Drop Pod Assault...  Without it, it lacks the Deep Strike rule, so is essentially a Vehicle/Bunker...  So, it is a 100 point vehicle :-)...  d3 hits from either the Whirlwind or the Assault Cannon to every Unit within 12" when it lands...  So Danger Close IS dangerous here...  Expensive and probably giving up a fairly easy "First Blood" to a lot of armies if you fail to kill something off on your turn, but looks like fun.  The Relic weapons look neat, but the penalty you must pay to FIELD a Relic is pretty steep.  So, mostly not something I will do outside of my Wolves perhaps...  All in all, "Neat", and my CF army gets a powerful boost in the form of good AAA and a potential gunship...  Wolves/BA/DA?  Not so much really...  So, Marines of most type got some new "now fully legal" toys, and while amusing, not a whole lot really changes except that I suspect more FW or their clones will be ordered here and there...

Local Tiers for 40K so far...

So, looking at the Armies as they are played locally at least…  I think I would put them into 3 tiers.  Rumor has Knights and IG being next up, and I think those have some potential to shake things up quite a bit...  Escalation and Stronghold Assault have helped locally more than hurt I think, but it is still new...  Long run, who knows...

Top Tier

Top tier are the ones that either do not really seem balanced against the others, or are simply problematic to face with anything but a specifically tailored list.  Here is where I would put the Eldar, Tau and probably Chaos Demons.  Though with the Demons, probably REALLY only the FMC (Flying Monstrous Creature) lists and/or the “Screamerstar”.  The argument to add the Necron “Croissants of Doom” list is a good one, but I think as time passes they slip more to the middle tier.  Right now I have a hard time explaining to a new or returning player with a Tyranid or Marine based army exactly how to deal with a min/maxxed Taudar list.  Any serious suggestions?  It is pretty much “Yeah…  You just lose against those armies, doesn't really matter WHAT you bring”.  Massed (current) Marine Grav weapons CAN take down the MCs and be a realistic threat to the skimmers, but it is a limited range and really, if the Eldar or Tau are expecting this it will not likely happen.  Beyond that, the Eldar’s massed high STR weapons (unnaturally accurate ones) combined with their basic weapons having a “Rending” rule means that 3+ armor and even 2+ is of very little use.  Both the Tau and Eldar have a significant number of “Ignore Cover” weapons/shots, so Scouts or anything relying on a Cover save (Orks, Tyranids) or massed numbers simply dies due to the high volume of shooting.   So, Orks with their 4^th Ed Codex are right out against the top tier.  Tyranids?  I suspect they will fare little better, but really have not seen them on the table locally since the new book came out.  They have SOME potential with the big bugs, and overall I think they look like a powerful and fun army…  Just that they cannot compete with the Uber lists.  Same can be said for most of the mid-tier armies…  MAYBE they can compete iff the top army essentially fumbles and they can take advantage of it…  Just doesn’t happen often and gets rapidly frustrating for the other player…

One of the bigger “problem” units is the Tau Riptide…  But let’s be completely honest, it is really only the “Earth Caste” upgraded one that is allowed to join up with ICs that is a really difficult one (s, typically it is NOT just one Riptide).  The rulebook specifies that ICs cannot join up with units that are bought as a single model (Non IC)…  Now, buying wargear that are “models” is the loophole used to allow this, but I would argue that the Riptide is BOUGHT as a single model unit, can only be upgraded and thus is NOT legally allowed to be joined by ICs.  Of course, I’m an Engineer, not a Lawyer thus my interpretation is not the currently popular one J…  I’m a big proponent of fairness, and any rule unequally applied I means nothing (my reaction to growing up near Chicago)…  If the Tau can do this, simply remove the restriction in the rulebook and allow ALL MCs to be joined by ICs, etc…  Wraith Lords would become instantly popular and the GKs Dreadknight would come back into favor I think…  Mind, this is NOT a serious suggestion really…  I would MUCH rather the current problematic thing simply be ruled on via FAQ/rule clarification.  Given the complete silence on this and other things, I am not holding my breath or out for much hope J…  So, yeah, the Tau with their silliness, and the fact that at least locally it seems to draw the “more problematic” players to play that army has perhaps made this more of a sore point locally than it might be elsewhere.  A LOT of players would rather simply sit out and chat than play if it puts them against this particular combo.  Arguments about wound allocation, part of the “unit” being behind a Void Shield, etc…  Just isn’t fun to play so most people don’t.  And this is the silliness I would anticipate if there was money on the table in the form of prize support for a bigger tournament, thus at least MY decision to not bother attending such an event.  Between that and reality being what it is, I doubt we could get a team of folks together.  A shame really, I know we could put together a really nice one with Dave and Steven’s Eldar as the base…  I just REALLY don’t want to play the way we would have to in order to de more than show up and die…  Besides, my RT era crap is amusing, but I wouldn’t want to try my luck at Adepticon subbing RT era “Ghost Warriors” in for “Wraith Guard”.  Really wouldn’t be fair for the other player with the wee tiny Ghosts dropping flamer templates of doom… 

Middle Tier

So, Top Tier being Eldar/Tau…  That leaves the middle tier.  Here is where I put the majority of what has been released in late 5^th Edition to the current 6^th Edition stuff…  A few exceptions.  DA simply do not even belong in the middle tier I think.  Coming from a DA player, there is simply not a lot I could field to compete against the Heldrake backed forces.  They simply eat anything “biker” based, and the Terminators I play  lack the numbers to be a serious contender against the weight of fire from a Tau/Eldar force.  They DO have a single now FAQ’d trick to allow a metric crapton of bolter shots…  “Eh”, and that is from one who played it.  Yes, it could erase entire Blobs, but then anything not threatened by Bolters?  Oh, well…  J

Marine codex was quite good, there are a large number of local players, many playing completely different forces.  White Scars, Ultramarines, my own Crimson Fists, an Iron Hands player…  Pretty sure there are more, just what I am remembering off the top of my head.  Decent armies, and really well balanced overall.  And you CAN build a lot of different forces out of that single book.  This should have been the model on which the other books were based, but…  Chaos Marines are actually not bad overall…  We have a few players actually playing them, and for the most part no more than 2 of the Heldrakes hit the table.  The rest of the book SEEMS lackluster when you compare it to the Drake, but overall they seem an interesting one allowing the players to build ALMOST what they wanted…  The players wanting to do real “Legion Based” things are still a tad bitter, but even they seem to be working well enough with the book as it is.  GK/Inquisition is pretty firmly here as well I think…  Decent to overpowered units (the GK book was what I thought finally broke 5^th ed…) that have been quite frankly passed by the new top tier…  Betting I could make a decent force to compete, and may well have to when the weather turns nice again and I am once again on my bike(s) I will be making forces that CAN fit into the single backpack or the luggage on the old bike…  So, some minor OP things, but nothing new, and people have learned to deal with them…  IG are good, but nothing really outstanding.  Betting again that I could bring a silly force to mess with the Taudar, but I’ve never really been a fan of bubble wrapped Artillery and Tanks…  They seem the big Escalation winners as they have access to a LOT of more tanks that some of the lads are starting to field…  DE and Tyranids I guess go here too, but haven’t seen either fielded much in 6^th, so really it is just guessing.  When Mike was here, I’d have put his DE against almost any army and if he went first, guessing he would do well…  Our battles were typically the bloodiest, so in the hands of a good player who understands his or her force, I think the DE would do well…  Tyranids I am less sure of, but I think they look like a good, balanced book…  Just nothing that can easily compete with the top tier…

Bottom Tier

 So, here is where I put the Wolves, Blood Angels, Orks and…  Wow, I guess that is pretty much it.  Kind of like seeing the great wheel turn J  At one time I felt bad playing the “maybe somewhat OP” Wolves or Fleshtearers…  Now, I am playing them, but more as a challenge than anything.  My Wolves led out by Bran Redmaw have some deployment tricks and the Bastion with Void Shield makes for a pretty good strong point to base a force on…  Guessing I will field my Fleshtearers in something like the same way.  They HAVE a flier, but the last few times I played them, we just got shot off of the table due to the low model count and insane number of shots the Necorn/Tau and Eldar can throw down range…

 I think I will field my “Shock” force just to see how badly it gets mauled…

CPT Tycho

Sternguard (7, 1 HF, 2 Combi Plasma, 4 Combi Melta, Drop Pod)

Sanguinary Priests (1 Terminator Armor for the Sternguard, 1 Jump Pack for the Assault Squad)

Assault Squad (10, Jump Packs, 2 Melta Guns, SGT has Melta bomb)

Death Company (5, JP, 2 Power Axes)

Death Company DN (HF, Fists)

Storm Raven (TL LC, TL Melta)

Bastion w/ Void Shield and Quad guns

So, the Assault Squad likely deploys in the Bastion, Combat Squadding if possible to use the HB’s AND the Quad Guns for some crappy long ranged firepower…  Turn one the CPT and Sternguard drop in and hopefully destroy something important J…  The Storm Raven is here to dogfight, the DC and DC DN will likely ride in that and be my linebacker…  Win or die by turn three usually…  I lack the ability to hold much or hold for a long time, but I can very nearly guarantee “First Blood” if I go first…  Then hope to kill enough quickly enough to slide in Pete Rose style for a narrow win :-)...  Or at least get shot to pieces while scaring them a bit...

Redmaw and Tactical Marines...

So, Bran Redmaw…  With the addition of “Monstrous Creature” to his Werewolf form, he might just be a bit overpowered…  Well, ASSUMING you can get him to HtH.  Looking at typically 6 Attacks, all hitting on a 3+, Str 6 AP 2, and he CAN go to Str 10 if he needs to crack open a Vehicle.  Still an IC, so he can join up with a squad of Grey Hunters or whatever, Fearless and FnP are nice, etc…  Had him run up against a DA force last night and he singlehandedly offed 2 Deathwing Squads with that insane number of AP 2 attacks at I6.

Did lead me to an odd Rule question, and I hadn’t found anything preventing a Monstrous Creature who is also an IC from joining an Infantry unit…  Seemed a bit odd with the giant Werewolf in the Squad of Grey Hunters, but hey, they have damn Wolf Cavalry these days, so really, how odd is it?  Not too familiar with the Tyranids, guessing they are the only other army with MC/IC interactions like this though…

Have to say, I was impressed by the Bastion with the Void Shield.  The Long Fangs being protected in the battlements being able to REALLY split fire and do a lot of damage was quite nice.  Well, the turns the Shield was up…  It got knocked down on Turn 2, I think came back on Turn 5…  Still, for the extra 25 points or so?  Was awesome…

Even so, I am not convinced that the Wolves can face one of the top tier armies.  Well, face and have more than a trivial chance of winning…  Yes, I can do some deployment tricks and have up to half of my army Flank or Behind Enemy Lines, but with Interceptor so cheap and the loss of the ability to Assault out of Reserve, I come in, shoot with the handful of short ranged Special Weapons and the bolters I have, then hope NOT to simply get shot off the table.  Killing 10-12 Marines in Powered Armor is not I think a challenge for the armies I am concerned about facing.  The Wolves senses are a relic of the old rule set, and so mostly useless in Sixth.  The Rune Priest’s weapon is the ONLY real Psychic defense left in the game really at this point other than perhaps the GK Aegis, but even that does nothing to stop boosting powers, etc.  So, yes, having the perhaps slightly overcosted RP is a good thing.  One of the VERY few Wolf things worth still taking I think, and that mostly due to the favorable loophole left with the Psychic powers.  Still no fliers, the Grey Hunters are still good for what they are, but really, they are still just basic Marines.

Was discussing some of the issues with an actual Ultramarine player last night…  He feels that his basic Tactical Marines are more or less useless, and I have to agree.  Even in my Crimson Fist army, I field Troops only because I have to, but Scouts for the most part, Powered Armor tends to be on Sternguard…  The Bolter is just complete crap as a basic weapon.  Yes, it is really good against IG type troops, but when every other race has a much better basic weapon?  Necron Gauss glances Vehicles, Eldar Shuriken Rends against “living” targets, DE have poison, Tau have higher Str AND Range, etc…  To be honest I have yet to see a Tyranid force on the field and haven’t really read over their stuff, so the Marines MAY have an advantage in basic weapons over at least one new army.  Of course, games are rarely won by the Infantry’s basic weapon, but it does provide a good idea of what the Army can do I think.  Necrons can wipe the Vehicles off the field trivially, Eldar can kill off any Living army, etc…  Marines with Bolters are fairly mediocre against everything.  And you HAVE to field at least 2 Squads of Troops of some kind.  For the Marines, it is Scouts or a tax to be paid as they will likely do very little good in the game on their own.  Even Scouts with their craptastic stats are a tax in and of themselves, but at least they are cheap and have the POTENTIAL to actually wound say, a Riptide or Wraithlord…  Doesn’t happen often of course, but…  So, Marine armies by and large fight at something of a disadvantage if they use basic Troops.  Yes, some things like the Centurions have the potential to be amazing, but really they have to in order to overcome the inertia/tax/whatever you want to call the Marine’s now completely outclassed basic weapon.  Sternguard with their different ammo types are great, and at least some of that should be more of a “General Issue” sort of thing for all of the Marine Bolters I think.  Something, hell, ANYTHING to make the Bolters a bit better to keep up with the stuff that has by and large passed them…

Eh, painting a LOT of Grey things these days, might have to actually paint up a few of the Fleshtearer things just as a break from the “All Grey All the Time” Wolf Legion/Chapter theme I have going on my paint desk…

Never WAS a Bran Redmaw model?

I remembered seeing something online when IA 11 came out, but then never really saw the mini...  Turns out they had one as a WiP and then discarded it.  So, no official models...  I guess I'll be fine using a "Standard" Wolf Lord mit axe and one of my ancient Rackham Wolfen to represent him in Lupine form...  Neat I guess :-)...  Am a bit curious what sized base is recommended for the "Monstrous Creature" form...  Not wanting to be unfair, and as he more or less is ONLY a HtH creature, the larger base would be an advantage I think...  As it happens I have a few...

Have to put a kilt on the "Wolflord" form as well I guess...

6th Ed Wolves clarification, minor Tau Rant

It occurred to me after I posted last that I sounded a lot like I was just complaining and did not intend to actually run the Wolves in sixth edition…  Not true at all.  It is just looking to be more of a “challenge” than I had anticipated…  Frankly I am considering them and my Fleshtearers at this point.  The FT I think can compete more readily simply because they HAVE a flier and at least initially, the fast moving Deep Strike based force can surprise a lot of folks.  Wolves?  I guess I’ll see. 

The one thing I am far less sure that I can deal with is the Tau and the apparently completely legal ability to add an IC to a “unit” consisting of a Riptide and its wargear.  Because the “wargear” consists of drones and thus “models”, this means that the MC is no longer a “unit of one” and thus is apparently eligible to have IC(s) join it.  So, back to the 5^th Ed wound juggling and attendant stupidity.  And of course, there is the new Void Shield that may or may not confuse this situation…  This is putting me in a difficult situation as the League Organizer…  It is technically legal, just REALLY stupid.  Causing more arguments and more than one player just quit the game rather than argue the stupidity.  It would be one thing if this were something that were equally applied and EVERY army could do something of the sort, but right now there is really only one army that can do this effectively…  TECHNICALLY, the Wolves could do this with a Lone Wolf, his wolf buddies and then adding their uber-characters to the mix…  “Eh” at best there.  Most people shrug and ignore that…  The new MCs with ICs that would grant amazing bonuses that were CLEARLY never playtested correctly or accounted for in terms of the cost?  This is a game breaking problem.  The simple fix is that if a unit begins as a single model unit, it is ALWAYS a single model unit, wargear being a model or no has no effect on this designation.  Or declare that ICs cannot join MCs, no matter what.  Or alternately, let everyone do it.  I’m sure Wraithlords or Wraith Knights joined by Farseers or Grey Knight Dreadknights being joined by any number of their ICs wouldn’t be an issue J…  Or Tyranid MCs?  Yeah, so making it equal and closing the loophole being exploited seems the best case all around.  Will GW do it?  I doubt it.  I’m going to look at what the major TOs come up with and I guess our local group will use that as an official FAQ to house rule the game…  OK, I guess I was a bit sidetracked by a short rant there..

Got in an actual game last night with my Wolf Legion list…  How different than the 40K Wolves?  Not really sure…  My list was:

Praetor (Paragon Blade, etc., “Pride of the Legion”)

Forge Lord (Rad Grenades)

Primus Medacae (SP?  Centurion upgraded to Medic, AA and PS)

Cataphractii (10, Plasma Blaster and Reaper, various other weapons)

  Spartan (Cataphractii Transport, Ceremite upgrade)

Veteran Tactical Squad (HB, ML, SGT w/AA and PS)

  Rhino (Havoc Launcher)

Mortis DN (2 * TL LC)

Facing an old friend returning to the game after a long time away…  He brought an Iron Hands list with loads of DNs…  His Tac Squads were his Troops and they mostly stayed behind in Terrain camping objectives.  He had a Librarian in Terminator Armor with a Terminator Assault Squad (TH/SS) who combined with one of the DNs wrecked the Spartan…  Then the Cataphractii led out by the 3 ICs hidden in came out to deal with the new Terminators…  The Terminator suits were all remarkably resilient as I had one even survive to the end of the game.  I need to put more “real” weapons in the mix as the loadout with too many Power Swords and even Axes simply did not do well against an enemy DN.  We were locked in combat for a long time until the Chain Fist finally tore it apart.

Somehow we wound up drawing with him getting First Blood (my Spartan), both of our Warlords dying and I had Line Breaker.  We each camped one Objective and one was contested after 7 turns…  Good game, and glad his first 6^th ed game was against my friendly Legion list as opposed to a Tau or Eldar death list…

Did I learn anything useful for my 40K Wolves?  Yes, I think so…  Logan might be leading my forces out or Bran Redmaw with a load of Wolf Guard…  Logan makes them Troops, and the Special Rules he grants might be amusing.  The DNs are actually fairly good these days…  At least the ones with enough shots.  The 2*TL LC Mortis was amazing, coming in on turn 4, but killing a DN each turn until time ran out.  I cannot field that with the Wolves unfortunately, but it has me thinking…  If the Tau stupidity continues, allied Grey Knights with a Vindicare Assassin and the GK Rifleman might be amusing…  Or maybe someday soon my Wolves will be allowed to field a competitive list using the stuff the rest of the Imperium gets…

Wolves in Sixth?

So, looking at the Wolves codex again...  I do not think that I have ever really given it a long enough look in the Sixth Edition.  Probably not the best way to write this, but overall it is just bad. 

I'll start with what works...  At least until they get FAQ'd off the table.  The only things I see people bringing Wolves for are the Rune Priests.  Getting 2 for each HQ slot, they are the ONLY thing left in the game to stop Psychics and they still have non "book" powers that might be somewhat overly powerful against some things...  So, the Rune Priest is good...  And...

No real way around the basic facts and reality of the current game.  I will dig a bit deeper in a bit, but this was clearly written for a very different game.  Lots of things are too expensive and a lot simply do not work.

For instance the army wide rule for acute senses?  Neat when it worked against Night Fighting...  Which was itself rare, but now it only works for outflanking units...  Which I can have up to two if I take a specific HQ and buy the upgrade.  Yes, the Scouts still have the uber flanking.  But they have FAQ killed the ability to bring along a Wolf Guard to lead them.  Also the removal of the ability to Assault on entry from Reserve means they HAVE to be a shooting unit.  In 4+ armor.  With every army getting access to Interceptor, most with Twin Linked doubled up Auto Cannons...  Shooting 4 shots at Str 7 and AP 4 to effectively wipe out the 5 man Scout squad when it does show up.  Yea.  Not even touching the Tau with all of their Intercept.

So, Claw...  It seems to translate to "Craptastic" for this entire Codex.  Wolf Claw?  An overpriced Lightning Claw.  Blood Claw?  Craptastic Assault troops who despite being Marines are WORSE than the IG I see.  BS/WS 3 with restrictive rules making them act stupidity.  Oh, they can also have Jump Packs or Bikes...  Jump Packs are expensive and even more stupid.  There was a brief period where I could lead them out with a Wolf Guard a mitigate their stupidity, but that FAQ change was reversed long ago...  Bikes don't suck, but with Heldrakes even White Scar and DA bikes are unusable and cheaper/better...  So, there it is really...

Grey Hunters are still OK, but overpriced Basic Marines really.  Too many things are too good at killing Marines these days.  MSU was where the Jaegers were their best I think, and with First Blood being simple with just killing a Rhino Hull...  Not really viable.  I have had some success running a maxed out squad as a Flanker...  But really it is a single use trick that doesn't even work against Tau.  If I could shoot then Assault it might, but...  So, overall they have some useless special rules that are relics from the old editions unlike the Vanilla Marines who have a load of good and free updates.  More importantly they have no real way to survive the modern environment.  Too many Str 6+ massed shots, and too many things that ignore 3+ armor and/or cover.  The pendulum has swung too far away from the Marines as far as the game is concerned...

Experimenting with Imperial Armor a bit...  Bran Redmaw from IA 11 is expensive but allows me to do a bit more with a Squad of Grey Hunters gaining the Scouts rule for "Behind Enemy Lines" and Bran himself having the "Mark of the Hunter" which should allow him to flank and lead another unit in a regular Flank move...  Problem was until the Stronghold Assault rules hit, there was simply no way to keep the stuff I HAVE to deploy onto the field alive long enough.  Now I get to play with the Void Shields and the Defense Networks...  Probably NOT the way I had thought to run the army...  The AAA weapons are another thing out of the IA books that are a possibility and I HAVE a bunch of ancient resin missile turrets...  So, lacking ANYTHING in the AAA or Aircraft native in the Codex IA is pretty much the only option.  The Spartan class tank (I REALLY still want to call them Land Raiders) is one option...  Bringing Logan is another option with a lot of Drop Pods I guess...  Just so few viable options.  MAYBE a pack of actual Wolves as beasts to actually GET to HtH and the Wolf Cavalry?  Eh...  I just don't see it happening...  But, hey, maybe I missed something?

Tyranids and the Local Group

So, the new Tyranid book hit...  While I AM happy for the two local players who actually played the army, I am less sure overall.  Of course, I haven't seen it in action yet as both local players have extremely busy work schedules and have little time for gaming at the moment.  Some things look pretty good and it seems like it is a fairly well written book...  Despite the massive cut/paste from the previous book and the obvious missing models that got cut rather than allow a third party model take the place of the non-existent GW model.  So, no Tyranid drop pods for the players. 

Psychics look good, and losing the crutch of Biomancy is probably a good thing...  AA is going to be an issue, but they have fliers of their own to dogfight.  No Allies is a problem.  The ability to break the Force Org chart is now REALLY unequally applied.  And the Tyranids are not I think powerful enough to stand against the current top tier uber lists...  Hive Guard might be able to deal with Serpent Spam, but I am just not seeing the answer to the Tau silliness.  Even the Eldar answer is by no means a guarantee against a competent opponent.  Now, it does seem very well balanced again say, Marines or anything else...  Just nothing to threaten the top tier.

Wound up picking up a Land Raider Crusader from one of the locals paring down their collection…  One of the original ones with the metal sponson guns, etc…  I’ll need to order more Grey paint I think as I have finally decided that all 5 of my LRs will be Wolves…  Or at least 4 of them with the last Spartan Class (Original, MK I) probably staying black for Fleshtearers Death Company/Consecrators (DA) use…  And since no one EVER expects Deep Striking Land Raiders J  Might be hilarious to drop on a Tau army…  So, back to painting and assembling my stuff I guess.  No clue what the real order of releases will be, but I’m pretty happy to be back working on my original Wolves again.  Found a number of truly ancient Rhino track parts and need to manufacture the internal hull parts to get myself another 4-6 Rhinos.  I have some “cash” in the form of a pre-paid Amex card that I’m going to be spending at the Gopher…  Guessing I will have no problem finding enough to spend it all between the one thing I’d like to order and maybe some Magic or Star Trek stuff…  Maggie (My Amazing Wife) has started playing MtG with me again, so perhaps we’ll make it to one of the casual events soon…  I still have a bunch of ancient cards and glancing over the costs of some of them, am frankly amazed J…  Not “I can sell this and retire now amazed mind, just way more than I had dreamed these things would be worth…

Looking at the local group I am surprised to see (NOT including my own armies in this):

2 Eldar players, one Iyanden and one more old school Craftworld/Ghost…  Neither really playing the uber lists, more interested in playing a fun game than a win at all cost sort of thing…  I have a huge collection of ancient Eldar, so could probably play most of the lists….  Just that I got sick of playing the now massively overpowered (IMO) army and feeling like no one really has much a chance against me…

2 Tau players…  One with the Riptides of doom, one more Broadsides.  Powerful armies, good players, so…  Well, I try to steer newcomers away from that J.  But the armies ARE beatable and not really the insanely overly optimized tournament forces you might see as a big event.

One IG tread head…  He is THRILLED to have the Baneblade legal now and loads of LR tanks make up the basis of his normal army.  A few other IG players, one who just found the store last night and with this on the short list for the next book out…

Tyranids…  2 I know of, but neither of them is playing much.  One works for the Public Works Dept, so drives a snow plaw…  Overtime is good I guess J…  Hoping they both get back at some point, good games are had against them…

Marines?  One ACTUAL Ultra Marine player with his stuff fully painted in the colors…  Honestly, other than my brother painting up a squad or so of them I have NEVER actually seen anyone play Marines as Smurfs J…  Is kind of nice to see though, was beginning to think they were a myth.  3-4 others who have various vanilla or at least Codex Marines lists.  Even Ted getting back in with his Iron Hands… 

One other guy playing BA…  Mostly Death Company…  So, pretty close to my Flesh Tearers.  ‘course, he is one of the Eldar players now, so this is being built/painted now.  Another guy now playing Tau who used to play BA, so potentially he could come back J…  But pretty much not an army you see on the table anymore.

Wolves?  One guy who sometimes plays them…  2 of us also HAVE the army and I intend to bring mine back to the table despite it being pretty much hopeless in the modern environment.

Chaos of all sorts…  One Demon player, 4-5 Chaos Marine players…  Pretty mellow group overall.  Mostly themed lists, etc., so more fun than win at all costs…

Necrons…  One, playing a Croissant heavy force.  Tough army, really good player, but always a good game against him in my experience.  Another old time player who no longer gets out, and his Tyranids I think will see the table first…

Grey Knights?  2-3 who at times do play…  One who plays mostly Inquisition, but he works in the local theater group who have a production going now, so have not seen him much recently.  But a LOT of nice conversions in his force…  Again, more themed than focused overall for this group as well…

DA?  Well, I have mine…  One other guy who played, but his job takes him on the road frequently.  Another person was building an army, but has not yet played in a League locally…  Looking forward to seeing more Terminators though J….

So, yeah, not really counting my: VI Legion, Wolves, Consecrators (DA), Flesh Tearers (BA), Crimson Fists, IG (Praetorians), Eldar or Grey Knights in that count :-)...  As my wife says I have too many armies...

So overall now that I have actually written it all in all we have a VERY diverse group of armies being played locally.  Most of us are actually pretty happy with 6^th edition and the expansions…  NOT being a very high stress/competitive place, we are actually growing with more people showing up and actually buying stuff ever week it seems…  May not be seeing the wider picture, but if there is a summer campaign, I would expect that we could get a fair number of folks in to play it…

1500 Wolf Legion list

So, getting the core of my force ready, playing locally against 30K and 40K forces…  Mostly 40K, but most of the locals are just fine with me running my weird ancient Marine lists.  So, VI Legion (Wolves) but pretty much just a generic setup.

Legion Praetor (Cataphractii Armor, Combi Plasma, Paragon Blade, Pride of the Legion)

Legion Veteran Tactical Squad (10, HB, ML w/Flak, SGT in Artificer)

  Rhino

Legion terminator Squad (10 Cataphractii, Reaper, Plasma Blaster, mix of weapons with a CF and LC)

  Spartan (Ceremite)

Mortis DN (2 * TL Las Cannon)

And…

 I had been running the Forge Lord with the Rad Grenades in my 1850 lists, usually with the Siege Breachers, but seems like it makes the Spartan nigh un killable at times.  I like the Apothecary (Medic) in the big squad, so would love to have one in the Cataphractii, so perhaps a Primus Medicae?  Honestly I’m not really sure what else to do with the 200 or so points…  Any thoughts?  Thinking that 1850+ is the place to play Legion lists…

Finally some model work...

Finally got in a bit of work on my armies...  5 Siege Breachers and 5 Cataphractii Terminator suits assembled tonight...  No pictures or anything, but getting used to using the wine corks Maggie gave me to hold the figures as I paint them.  The Spartan is getting cleaned up, next to assemble it.

Snowed in, so no League tomorrow.

Legion List at 1500...

So, with the League running at 1500 points, I will give these lads a try...  Using the "Pride of the Legion" Rite of War making Terminators and Veteran Squads Troops (Mandatory 2 at least).  The disadvantage being that if I lose ALL of my Vet/Terminators, I give up an extra VP.  But at 1500, I might well have only the two squads, so getting wiped out I've already lost...  Not a real disadvantage as far as I can see.  And with the FAQ giving the unit with Sniper rule wounding on 4+, Rending, picking Targets...  

Legion Praetor (Cataphracti Armor, Paragon Blade, Combi Plasma)

Veteran Tactical Squad (Missile Launcher with Suspensor and maybe Flak?, loads of Bolters otherwise), SGT with Artificer, attach a Medic?

  Rhino w/Havoc Launcher ?  Maybe...

Terminator Squad (10, mix of weapons)

  Spartan Transport, Cermite)

And...  Mkay, that comes to 1200 or so points...  Maybe a Mortis class DN for the Wolves?  The Las Cannon option is pretty powerful...  Maybe keep the Forge Lord and maybe try out the Medic?

Not sure, the Void Shield Generators in the Siege book seem pretty darn good... Thinking they might well be the one thing that stops fliers and the superheavies...  So may well be something that becomes semi required...  Will have to come up with some terrain to become a Shield Generator...

Stronghold Assault ideas...

So, looking at the Stronghold Assault book…  The Bastion got a LOT better with the ability to bring a Void Shield.  So, Icarus Las Cannon and the Quad gun both look good, and the new book has a “Fortification Network” which counts as a single Fortification.  1-3 Bastions, 1-5 Aegis lines, 0-1 Skyshield…  So a Bastion and an Aegis, each with an AA gun of some kind for the single “Fortification” slot choice.  So 75 for the Bastion, 25 for the Void Shield, 35 for the Icarus combined with the 50 for the Aegis and 50 for the Quad Gun.  235 points, so NOT cheap.  But it would I think be survivable for the people inside.  

My Crimson Fists with Tank Hunter would be brutal, even my Wolves with Long Fangs would be a very hard strong point to remove quickly…  Especially with Grey Hunters providing building security…  And with the “Behind Enemy Lines” saying they can come out from ANY board edge, that would include my own if my own lines get crashed…  So, I guess this becomes my AAA option for armies that do not otherwise have such options.  Thinking that I can go complete overkill with a Legion list and bring the Heavy Support Squad with Missile Launchers and Flak missiles. Would be a way to sweep the sky against the Necron/chaos air force army…  And not be totally useless otherwise…  Just not nearly so much so against the Tau MC lists…

So, my painting of Wolves goes slowly with Christmas and the like taking priority...  Spartan is on-hand now, so I need to assemble it and paint it up in my VI Legion colors such as they are (Grey with Bronze/Red trim).  Stripping and repainting a lot of old Lead figs, manufacturing Shields for use as Siege Breachers...  So a VERY Legion specific unit, but fun to play...  Maybe I'll get to play a game sometime soon...

So, is it 40K version 6.5 now?

So, here we are…  Looking for all the world like the mid-point for 6^th Edition.  Mind, I have no idea how far we really are into the current edition’s life span, but it really is feeling very much like we are at or about “version 6.5”.  The major rule updates coming out in Escalation and Stronghold Assault really ARE game changers.  On one hand, it has the potential to make the game silly/stupid with a Titan backed up with minimal “other” to make a legal army.  Is it bad?  On some levels, yes…  The local game store does not in general sell those things being Armorcast/Forgeworld or DIY/Home Made stuff…  CAN be amazing, beautiful models and has the potential to pull more people into the game…  Or it can look like crap, drive people away and deny sales to the FLGS… 

 I have to admit I am still on the fence about it.  On one hand it does seem like it will have a leveling effect IFF it serves as either an answer or a deterrent to some of the completely legal but horribly abusive lists.  I do not think you will find many people arguing that the “Screamer Star” or the “Jetseer Council” are NOT abusive lists.  They take things to an extreme, and while technically legal have the effect of simply killing all enjoyment of the game.  The same effect that the Grey Knights had on the previous edition I think.  The 4+ giant Monstrous Creature lists including, but by no means limited to the Tau silliness, Eldar mixed or the Flying Circuses of the Tyranids/Chaos.  Simply NOT fun to play against with a “normal” army anymore.  So, where does that leave us?  Everyone HAS to bring the same very small subset of “broken” lists or be relegated to just losing?  In the bigger events, the prize support, etc. makes this a game with money on the table in my opinion.  When there is money on the table, “friendly play” simply does not exist…  Eventually.  Sure, you will occasionally run across the equivalent of the gun toting Amish vigilante, but the reality is that the ones playing the most broken and obnoxious (to those of us who are just there to play a few games) lists are the odds on favorites to win it all.

I know that a group of the larger TOs out there are working to create something in a “Tournament 40K” rule set for lack of a better term.  Mike Brandt over at the “Whiskey & 40K” blog details that here (http://whiskey40k.blogspot.com/2013/12/better-mission-design-more-proactive.html) …  Will it work?  I don’t know.  I DO wish them luck and hope that it does.  As of right now I have less than zero interest in going to a major event with any army I would like to play.  There are only 2 times I very nearly lost my temper playing a game, once was when I played uber-competitive 40K back in 3^rd Edition.  Would have been very late 2001 or early 2002.  I was just out of the Army a few years, just married, etc., and playing in a RTT up in Joliet.  Wound up playing my Fleshtearers against his IG.  His Tallern IG painted up as Al Qaeda with “Bin Laden” themed and pictured banners…  Kid said he did it just to piss off his opponents…  Worked for me, don’t think I ever played a more brutally effective and vicious game in my life.  See, when I get pissed off, I get far more dangerous.  I was methodical, and to be honest, the BA were horribly broken in that edition, so the kid never really had a chance as I could easily Assault  his army on turn one, and with the Sweeping Assault rules, just keep going.  It was over by the bottom of turn 2, with him being completely wiped from the table.  Got chipmunked on my “Sportsmanship” score, but whatever.  Good thing an old friend of mine was there (Dennis Smith) and was friends with the TOs or it would have really screwed up my score.  So, “Best General” it was, not overall winner…  And that was the last big event I went to. 

I guess I saw where it would go in time.  And let’s be honest, from about the mid-point of 5^th Edition to now it seems that as a competitive game it just does not work.  The ideas about 2 different “Victory Conditions” and giving each player a choice is neat, but….  Well, I’ll wait and see I think.  The old Mob quote to the effect of “Every law they pass just creates more businesses for us” comes to mind.  Seems that we are all acknowledging that there are truly broken things, and to fix them we will introduce more rules and more potential for breaking things further.  NOT the intention of course, and like I said I really do hope that it works out and becomes a fun game again on that level.  This is probably the most frustrating thing about it all…  Forgeworld as part of GW actually I think HAS balanced the “Lords of War” stuff in the Heresy rules…  A single line of “no more than 25% of your points may be spent on this slot”.  And that’s it.  The things with the most potential to break 40K are all too expensive to be 25% of any list size we use in the games we play.  Yeah, doesn't help with what I consider the broken stuff but it combined with say “One Force Org Chart, allies and Detachments must adhere” and the silliness with the Taudar or 3+ Broadsides, etc. all goes away.  Does it hurt game balance?  I don’t know.  But why bother with the FOC or frankly ANY rule if it will not be equally applied for all parties?  Night Fighting is one that irks me now that it is in every mission I think.  Some armies simply ignore it (DE/Tau for the most part), some (Necrons) can cause it to only affect their enemies and for a longer time in the game…  Others still have lost their traditional keen senses that would allow them to deal with the night fight (Wolves)…  With the Wolves, I just feel there is simply no point bringing them to a 40K game unless I do something completely silly like a Bran Redmaw army or the like…  Depend on Behind Enemy Lines and Outflank to get my Wolves in close…  I have tried it before and it was mostly effective, but even still, NO defense against a flier, not much long ranged firepower, dependent on a “Hero Hammer” style of play to be effective.  I always liked how effective my basic Grey Hunters were, now in this edition…  Eh, they are just expensive casualties like the Guard.  But lacking all of the IG advantages. 

J  Guess that is why I started looking at the Legion stuff to be honest…  “This Battle is lost….  But there is time for another”…  The repaint project on my ancient ACTUALLY pre Heresy Wolves continues…  And I am building “Siege Breachers” out of some other Marines I have around to test that…  Needing the full 20 for the real sized Squads would be too expensive otherwise…  Mind, the FW resin are BRILLIANT minis and I’d love to have them…  But things like the broken furnace and other real life issues keep me from spending that kind of money on the game…

So, it is looking like there will be Tournament Ban Lists, etc...

?Looking over what the Feast of Blades folks are going to be the first to enact some of the bans and limits to the new Warhammer 40K environment.  The following is a quote from the 3++ site:

"
1.) The Grimoire of True Names from Codex: Daemons is banned
As of right now, this is the only true banning. We feel there is too much potential for abuse, and disagree with the effect it has on the army and the game.

2.) A few units will receive 0-1 status
For those of you who weren't around when 0-1 was a thing in codecies, means that a maximum of 1 of that unit may be taken per army. These are all units whose mass inclusion limits the potential lists in the game, and will thus be restricted. (As none of them are a problem on their own.) Rest assured that this will be a very short list, we are not interested in creating very restricted armies.

3.) Supplemental Codecies will no longer be able to ally to their base codex
There will be no more self-allying, no more cherry picking the best parts of a supplement while paying none of the costs, and no more force-org bloat from doing so.

4.) Dataslates will take an ally slot
Taking units from many, many different books and ignoring the force organization chart is too much. This change will make dataslates an interesting addition to the game, without allowing for truly bizzare armies.

5.) The number of psychic mastery levels in an army will be limited
This change will eliminate a great many power combos from the game, and will stop a player from making a lot of lucky rolls on the psychic power tables to effectively win the game before it begins.

6.) Strength D is out, Lords of Battle are in
We feel the the Lords of Battle are not overpowered on their own, the fact that they give the opponent some advantages (bonus to seize, and especially victory points) balances out their fearsome firepower and powerful endurance. Strength D, however, is too powerful. This is well-known by every apoc player (and I am one of them), and has been the case for the past two editions. (Yes, it was even overpowered back in 5th, and it was much worse then.) There is some debate still going on, but it looks like S:D will becomeS:10, ordinance, ignores cover. That still makes it very powerful, but more in line with the price paid for the superheavy as well as it's other weapon options. In addition, superheavies will have to start on the table.

7.) Super-forts are gone, or at least downsized
No AV15, it will be AV14 instead. Every individual fortification from Stronghold Assault is allowed, but the “network” choices are simply too big and unwieldy to allow for tournament play. (As a consolation, they're pretty terrible, so I think it's OK.)

8.) Dedicated transport flyers will be limited
Flyers are not the be-all end-all of this edition, but all-flyer and mostly-flyer armies change the meta in uncomfortable ways and are notoriously unfun to play against."

So a fair amount in there...  The big things being the Str D weapons being modified for play...  Probably a good thing overall, especially in concert with the other limits.  D Str was an answer to some of the silliness that abounds in the current unrestricted environment.  Bring the 4 Riptides if you'd like, but know that the first time you face a Revenant class Titan you just lose.   Of course the other limits remove the 4 Riptide list in any case...

Outright ban on one thing.  Not bad really overall...  We have only a single Demons player locally, and she hasn't used this so I have no real familiarity with it.  But given its use in one of the problematic combinations it is likely broken enough to need banning.

So...  That brings me to what I am seeing as a complete lack of play testing by GW.  I always wondered if they were playing the same game that we were over here.  There seems to be a split between complete crap units or even whole books like the Dark Angles or the recent fliers.  Mind, I think that overall the fliers that have been balanced against each other, or at least the ones actually created IN sixth edition.  The ones magically elevated to fliers, specifically the Necron fliers are probably the most difficult ones to justify.  But the ones in sixth like the Eldar ones or Marine Storm Talon have 2 hull points and are generally weaker than a lot of other things.  The recent Codices like Tau that have wholesale rule "exceptions" and the ability to customize your units to the point of list tailoring is pretty over the top. And of course the Eldar and all they can do legally...

I dunno, thinking whatever list comes from the FoB event will get VERY serious consideration locally...  Still digesting the new books...  Some interesting stuff there...  And my Legion stuff is coming along very nicely...  Pipeline from Stronghold book with a Tactical Support Squad w/ Flamers?  So, 9Torrenting Flamer Templates?  Yes please...

Works in progress... Siege Breachers

So, I have only a few actual FW Siege Breachers...  So, Green Stuff it is to modify some of my ancient Marines to become Siege Breachers...

Getting the basic paint scheme up there...  Grey armor, Brass/Copper trim and Red for the Shoulder Pad...  Stripped and repainted lead minis are coming along well.  Using Minwax to seal/give it some depth...  Seems like it is coming along well...

Wolves Rotating to the Front for Sixth? Well, for me at least...

Thinking about running my Wolves again...  But with the Codex so outdated, having to rely heavily on tricks and the like to compete...  Seems like it will be a LONG game for my lads.  Playing them as Legion VI, they have been doing quite well for me

Bran Redmaw as a choice allows me to take a Grey Hunter squad and use the Wolf Scouts deploy behind enemy lines rule...  Having them appear in the back field with flamers, Melta, etc....  Might be something unexpected...  Once.  Wolf Priest flanking with another squad does something similar as do the Scouts themselves.  So...  Something needs to deploy normally to satisfy the no more than 50% Reserve rule... 

Long Fangs with a Wolf Guard in Terminator Armor and Cyclone Missile Launcher accompanying them as they set up in or around terrain...  Potentially Aegis Line with AAA or the Bastion...  Lacking the AA missiles, they can do the massed fire, splitting as needed while providing some overhead cover.

Guessing I will have to bring Allies, probably my Crimson Fists.  Scouts in their Speeder and Scouting about, Centurions with Tank Hunter, perhaps lurking on the Bastion?  Tank Hunter and the Quad Gun is not bad at all...  Need a HQ I guess, so cheap as possible... Or go the other way and make my Wolves Allies I guess..  Kind of depressing thinking it through.  Kind of wanting a big Wolf Guard rolling forward in a Spartan, so guess that will happen ;-)  Maybe the Fists Librarian hangs out with Centurions or in the Spartan... 

League starting next week...

Mkay, so just setting down some ideas for the upcoming League…  Guessing I’ll be keeping It as simple as possible. 

1500 points

Standard Book Missions, the same ones for everyone each week.

Will have to come up with an alternate tiebreaker, though USUALLY with Primary and Secondary VCs there is a clear winner in most cases.  Guess it will be a straight number of points killed to be as fair as possible to everyone.

I’m kind of up in the air about allowing people to get in more “free play” games…  My initial thought is no, as it is inherently unfair to the people who can make it there only for the one night/game.  Of course, you COULD get in a few games on Monday, but the weather is likely to get bad again and of course the whole Holiday thing coming up will likely throw in some variance for folks schedules…

Otherwise, I guess the “Standard Local Rules” of FW/whatever being OK as long as it has the 40K stamp…  I will NOT be allowing anything with the “experimental rules” stamp though.  Have to admit I would be VERY much in favor of limiting people to a single FOC, regardless of Allies, etc…  Just getting sick of seeing the 4 Heavy slot armies, or the flying circus silliness… 

Interestingly enough the IA book one reprint is out there and a LOT of the 30K/Heresy stuff in there.  Will be ordering the Escalation book from Dave at the Gopher I think as I have enough of the armies listed in there to make it worth my having.  ‘Course, I’ll be scanning it to have on my wee tablet being one of those silly motorcycle riders.  And seeing things like the Spartan listed with the 40K “official” stamp is a good thing for me…  Ordered one so I’ll have a resin monster tank to be flanked by my ancient original Spartan class Land Raiders.  With the Ceremite Armor upgrade, it is a PITA to stop quickly for most armies…  And it will be painted up in the Grey/Bronze (or copper) with red markings for my VI Legion force/Wolves in 40K… 

In 40K, ironically, a few armies that have fallen out of favor are coming back at least as allies.  The Wolves Rune Priest being the ONLY actual psychic defense that can stop players from casting spells in a large area makes them at least desirable to have around.  Shame there is so little else from the book worth taking.  Grey Knights likewise have the tools necessary to be a good match up against the Eldar and Screamer Stars…  So, it could be that the cycle is coming full circle…

Change of plan, I am running next League... So a short one...

So, the next League will probably be pushed back to February...  So, I'll throw something together to keep the local excitement going I hope.  Looking like a few new books coming out and so a few changes perhaps...

In any case, I am looking at running it as a 1500 point event, I'll match up the participants as best I can and have a transparent long running "tournament" of sorts.  Keeping things pretty simple, I'll have a set mission, terrain setup and deployment so everyone is at least on terms as equal as I can manage.

Still digesting some of the expansion things, so at this point I am thinking that the Eldar/Tau builds are going to remain somewhat overpowered.  Looking over the FW reprint for their Imperial Armor Apoc book...  Looking like there are a LOT of the Heresy Era things that are coming to 40K...  So, Spartan will be fielded at least locally...  And I suspect it will become the norm if I attend Tournaments elsewhere...  No Flare Shield I did notice though :-)  So, the stupidly overpowered things look like they are going away...

Found a good reference picture for my Legion paint scheme...

 So, it appears as if I either saw something like this or simply stumbled upon my current VI/Wolf scheme...

 My own lads are looking frighteningly similar to that...  Just have to figure out the markings will be...  Thinking the red markings will be it.  I never liked the almost Mardi Gras Marine look of he 2nd Edition with the baby blue armor and bright yellow and red markings.  So, I had stripped a LOT of ancient Marines and repainting them like this...  Of course, manufacturing shields for me Siege Breachers to fill in the holes...  It is amazing comparing the modern minis to the ones I have from the 80's...  Damn, some of those ancient minis are craptastic...