Higher Point Levels…

OK, time to start thinking about what the Deathwing can bring at a 1500 point level… And what I can actually have assembled (at least) by the 19^th for the Tourney at the Gopher… Not sure whether to sell out and go with 2 Deathwing squads mounted in Land Raiders or the other way and bring what my old friend Taleni would call "more"… Taleni Pahulu was another SGT in my old company, Samoan… Used to joke that his tribe had "only 5 numbers, but they were a very happy tribe… Their numbers were zero, one, two, three, and more"… My Deathwing are annoyingly difficult to dig out when they hunker down in cover on an objective. Does kind of go against my normal "Attack like you're voting in Chicago… Early and Often" mode… Dropping the 20+ Terminators out there, all of them (except Belial himself) being "Troops" backed by Ravenwing for scouting bikes and teleport homers, and of course meltas… Well, that might be difficult for most armies to face…

More toys being built…

Mkay, so building more of the lads… Experimenting with the rare earth magnets and various weapon and arm load outs… With the Dark Angels, I can field a good mix of Assault weapons (Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield and Lightning Claws) along with the more "traditional" Storm Bolter/Power Fist and even one of the heavy weapons… The Cyclone just got useful, but to be honest I was going to be using one anyway. Assault Cannons are OK, and they'll probably always be the weapon I break out by default since they were the first ones I used in the old days, but they really require me to roll a LOT of 6's to really hurt Marines or vehicles… The Cyclone, average or even a bit below works fine…

 

Anyway, with the DA, I can field the Cyclone on a Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield Terminator for the 3++ save, "I don't care" class weapons in HtH and shooting out to 48" range… Now, I call them "I Don't Care" class because overall it doesn't really matter what you're hitting, barring odd cases like an Eldar Seer Council, 2++ saves, or other Terminator class armor… Well, it all goes splat. Still trying to find the best mix of weapons with the Deathwing, but it is fun to play it, even if… Well, actually especially because it is NOT the most "competitive" build I can field. It surprises a lot of folks, and it is really just rock solid. Not subtle at all. But fun…

 

Also breaking out another thing I found in the basement of doom… An ancient MK I Land Raider, in pretty rough shape, but one of the 2 I picked up in the first box set WAY back in the late 80's… 2 Land Raiders came to a box for $20, and 3 Rhinos for the same price… I'll be combining it with a wrecked MK I Rhino for another Spartan Class Land Raider, but this one I'll be using the magnets on the weapon mounts to allow the swapping of the options… Should be interesting when I finally get it back out on the table… Just hope I can make this one look as nice as the other one from way back then…

Second Stage of the League

Mkay, made it through the first stage of the League (the 750 point level) with one win and a draw… Now we're up to the 1000 point level. So, I can bring more than the 2 squads and Belial out to play… I've also got to remember to just play the mission. Wound up with a draw because I broke cover with the one squad to engage and destroy a Rhino full of basic Chaos Marines. Well, that I ignored my rule of "Missile Launchers shall ONLY fire krak missiles"… With the updated rules for the Cyclone, I can get the 2 shots/turn, and while I was able to cover 7 of them with frag templates and do 5 wounds, I went away with NO kills. Compared to the potential just kill 2/turn, I would have wiped the squad much quicker had both squads maintained fire discipline and just shot from the objectives…

 

Anyway, more magnets picked up, more Thunder Hammers and Shields ordered, so I plan on making more swappable Deathwing models… So, next week, I'll be running something along these lines:

Belial (TH/SS)     130

Deathwing "Command Squad": Cyclone, Apothecary, mix of TH/SS, LC, SB/PF     265

Deathwing Squad: Cyclone, mix of weapons    235

Ravenwing Squadron: 2 Plasma Guns, Attack bike with MM, PF on SGT 225

Dreadnaught (Plasma/Missile or TLAC/Missile) 135

 

Might work out better…

Deathwing Resurgence

Well, with the FAQ released today, my new army just got a WHOLE lot better… Storm Shields, Cyclones, Typhoons, Medics and the like all moved to the current standard types to match the regular Marine equipment… So, I'll try the random picture posting…

Escalation League, starting at 750

Escalation League, starting at 750

 

Starting out my Consecrators from scratch, going for a Deathwing force, we're running an escalation league at the FLGS, so seemed like a good place to start this:

 

Belial            130

Deathwing (AC)        245

Deathwing (CML)    235

And then ? Probably a gunboat DN (ML/PC or ML/TLAC or Mortis if allowed), or maybe a really small Ravenwing squadron to flank and use the homing beacon for the Termis… 750 is a bit "tight" to field an effective force, but it's where we're starting the league…

Starting a new army…

Yes, was apparently bored, and so I decided to take on yet another army… Looking for something that was NOT overpowered like all of my other armies… OK, except the Eldar I guess… So, a Dark Angels force, and I'm doing them as Consecrators (http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Consecrators) since I just happen to have a bunch of the old RT era stuff, and that's pretty much what they're known for. The old Legion color scheme, black armor with the red helmet stripe…



Anyway, an old buddy got wind of this and is shipping me a box of stuff… Because I apparently didn't have enough stuff, so the extra 30 or so Terminators will fit in nicely… So, the big box o' tanks, Termis and more troops should arrive next week, and I'll be sending him a crate o' ammo :-)



Started painting up some of what I have and have played a few games with the Deathwing stuff, seems OK, and it should be fun to play in the January/February league at the Armored Gopher (http://www.armored-gopher.com/)... Escalation league, and at 500 points I'm fielding a REALLY small army…

Hmmm...  So, last week at 1850, so which army would be the most fun....  Ran my Eldar for the bulk of it, and they're fun and all, but not really competitive...  Played my Praetorians for a few weeks, and they are the other end of the spectrum...  WAY too powerful, even in the Light Infantry version I was playing...  Good dice, but it tore apart a pretty good Mech Eldar list and Chaos Marine list...  I'm just worried my Wolves and Fleshtearers will be even more powerful... 

Maybe it's time to break out the Mech Fleshtearers list again and see just how annoying I can be with them...