Knights deploy…

:-) Picking up the Codex tomorrow, so Monday I'll be fielding the new lads… Debating on a few different builds…

 

So, either a full 10 man Terminator squad with 2 Psycannon and maybe Psybolt ammo coming in at 470 points or Power armored squads… The Terminators can either deploy en masse to be a "deathstar" sort of thing with say, a Librarian to camp objectives or spearhead an assault or Combat Squad in non kill point missions… So, not nearly as outright "hard" as my Deathwing with the 3++ saves, but quite a bit more effective shooting within 24" than most things in the game currently…

 

PA troops, I think Rhinos or Razorbacks with the lads… We see WAY too much AP 3 or better here locally, so walking is not an option. Deep strike? Maybe… I think I got way too spoiled with my Flesh Tearers Vanguard Vets and Consecrators Deathwing/Ravenwing combo for insanely accurate, safe and effective drop armies… Knights don't seem to have access to either the long ranged AT firepower the Deathwing have or the "We're just here to kill them all" feel the FT have… So, they'll probably play the way my Wolves with what I consider a light Mech force… Since I run my Razorbacks as light tanks, I think the Fortitude power will make them a bit more effective… But in the end, they're still just AV 11 metal boxes (having lived in an aluminum box just like that for a few years, I can say with some confidence they are in fact just that)…

 

So, probably a Librarian, Infantry of doom and then what else? Thinking the 135 point "Rifleman" DN and/or a Dreadknight… Both of course would be what I prefer, but a minimum of 265 points, and of course "more" since I'd probably not field the DK without a heavy weapon and/or the Teleporter for the jump pack moves and 30" "I want to be over there NOW"…

 

So, now just to get the book and read it I'm guessing… We'll see what I can make work…

GK/GW thoughts…

While steadily drinking the tea that keeps me moving here at the office, a random thought occurred to me…

 

"Does GW have some sort of design imperative that requires them to put at least one named character in each codex that makes absolutely no sense under the current rule set, knowing that the rule sets will change? And that the changes may or may not greatly benefit the random character?" It certainly does seem so, but that is of course just my opinion as always :-) I could easily be wrong or just thinking about it too much… Or just be American in my thinking rather than English, as we do appear to be far more competitive and demanding in terms of clear rules and the like…

 

First case in point, my Wolves have a Blood Claw upgrade character "Lukas the Trickster" ("Loki" since apparently creativity is somewhat lacking for their staff writers…)… He has a "Pelt of the Doppelganger" which forces the opponent to re-roll all hits allocated to him in HtH. Problem being, he is not an independent character, and so HE never gets "allocated" hits until he is the last one standing in the squad… So, to balance his very real disadvantages and cost, he has special rules that do not work and a weapons loadout that makes absolutely NO sense whatever. A shame really, I bought the figure because I really liked it… But I do not like the Blood Claws in the current (and 3^rd ed) codex, so he'll join the Rackham Wolfen I have on shelves in the basement of doom…

 

The second case would be Castellan Crowe of the Grey Knights. Interesting concept, I'll probably end up playing him, but his rules really make no sense other than "balance". Specifically, he becomes in effect an additional tax to force players to actually think before simply taking the arguably superior Purifiers as "Troops" over the standard Strike Squads. I have not seen the model yet, but there is a pretty good chance I'll snag it if it is decent, as I think I can make Crowe actually work well enough in my lists, but there are serious disadvantages to him over a lot of the "normal" options. Not being an independent character I think is probably the worst one… No putting him in a squad to hide him or transport him easily means he'll likely get shot out of existence early on before he can showcase his exceptional melee abilities…

 

Anyway, those are just the ones that occurred to me this morning, I am sure there are others, but in codexes (codii? My Latin is not THAT good) that I am "less familiar" with…

GK 1000 point Teams…

Ok, we're doing a fairly non standard league here at the Armored Gopher (www.armored-copher.com), it's teams that share a Force Org chart but rules for one army do not transfer over to the other (ie: teleport homers and the like only work for one army)… Neat, and paired with Black Templars (good since the Knights are the specific exemption to the "no psychers" rule they have)… So, her tank hunting CML armed Terminators are a big portion of our AT firepower with me using the old DH codex… So, this will be a first draft with the new Codex…

 

Librarian (Might of Titan, Sanctuary, Shrouding)     165

Purifier Squad (2 Psycannon, 3 Halberd)        146

    Rhino    (Extra Storm Bolter, PBolt Ammo)    55

Terminators (Psycannon)                225

Dreadknight (Teleporter, H Incinerator, H Psilencer)    265

Dreadnaught (2 TLAC, PBolt Ammo)            125

 

Right, 19 points left :-) I'm sure I can spend them some place… Or free up some here and there since I'm not sure on some of the things I picked up…

 

The DK? Pretty sure it will be a lot like a Wraithlord, Demon (prince or greater) or an Avatar in terms of effectiveness… Big, scary and it will be shot to pieces before it does a lot. Yes, it costs more than double what the DN costs, but… :-) It should be fun to play and a horrifying "crowd control" piece. "One Riot, One Ranger" sort of thing (looking at the "power blobs" and the like), and I suspect with mobility through the jump pack move, the Hellhound template and 12 Str 4 shots backed by the pair of DN CCW's on a Monstrous Creature should make it fairly feared out there… Maybe even allowing the rest of the force to survive and get into firing position a bit better… :-) Who know, it might even work…

 

March Ends…

Mostly just random thoughts at this point…


Yeah, that was random and confusing...  Rewrite maybe...




Did get to play an excellent game this evening, so that was good, and it is the last week with the ancient Codex. Partner played it pretty much as well as she could have, and we nearly pulled off the draw, but I think I made a few tactical errors in shooting and committing my Terminators too quickly and it cost us the win… Dave @ the Gopher ordered the few things like Codex and Dreadknight to get me started with the new army… I'll probably end up playing my Cygnar Storm Guard/Knights as stand-ins for the first few weeks until I get more Power Armor lads up and running. Terminators, at 1000 points, I probably have about enough, but of course going back to 1500… Well a few more lads are going to be needed I think… Making the "Rifleman" DN arms, so I should have a few of them up and running soon as well… Not 100% sure what I'll be fielding at 1500+ points, but at 1K it's going to be tight… I have one of the "Emperor's Champion" figs to convert to a Brotherhood Champion, changing the "LE" fig over to this should at least be interesting…

Grey Knights beginning…

Last week with the old codex… So, I'll probably run something like this as my part of the 1000 point teams league (2 of us, so 2k/side, and one force org chart…)



Grey Knight Brother Captain (Terminator armor, Psycannon)    91

Grey Knight Terminator squad (4 troopers, 1 Psycannon, CPT has Psycannon and Psychic Hood)    320

Grey Knight Land Raider (Extra Armor)    255

Grey Knight Squad (2 Psycannon, Justicar has Teleport Homer)    210

Grey Knight DN (Assault Cannon, Flamer)    120

996  



So, more troops on the table, lots of Psycannon out there… Oh, so ready for the new codex…



Speaking of which… I think the biggest thing will be the mobility and (for basic infantry) long ranged basic weapons. Yes, 24" ranged Storm Bolters are pretty much the same range as every other Infantry weapon in the game, but the ability to fire with them on the move gives me the tools I need. I tend to think a lot more in terms of mobile elements and having the ability to move my basic squads and fire with almost full effect (Psycannon are 2 shot on the move vs 4 shots standing still… TANSTAAFL). Other armies give me some of this, my Wolves have excellent basic Infantry in their Grey Hunters, and I've played them since… Um, well 89 or so? I can play mobile, aggressive and when I keep my eye on the mission, one that I can take against just about any other force in the game with confidence. My Fleshtearers are aggressive. And… Yup, aggressive pretty well sums it up. The only way I tend to win with them is by tabeling the opponent. Powerful, but pretty much one dimensional. My Guard? Set them up, shoot like you're voting in Chicago… Early and Often… Yes, they do move some times, and I use things like Air Cav (Vendetta for 130 points? Um, ok…) and Scout Sentinels to flank and cause a bit of havoc in the backfield, but by and large it is just standing still and shooting… Poor Praetorians are a bit bored…



But back to the Knights… Assault weapons everywhere, so I'm thinking that we'll be able to run and gun to be able to play the fluid style that I am most comfortable with. The Troops, both the Terminators and the Powered Armored lads will be able to at the very least compete with any army out there. Their psychic powers are absolutely awesome, and woe to the armies out there without any psychic defenses. A lot of the "easy button" solutions just won't work against the Knights, and I think some of the more common builds will be a hard counter for a lot of the "harder" armies, at least in our local scene.



Building and painting is going to be "time consuming" :-) Mike has a fairly large GK force already, I have "some"… Ordered a few new things, and hopefully the Dreadknight will be easy to put together and magnetize… Weapon options being what they are and all, I'll want to have all of those options to swap out. The more I look at them, the more I'm liking all of the options, so this should be interesting at least… I'll probably use the "teleporter" option because I REALLY like jump troops, I have flashbacks to falling out of aircraft myself, so am familiar with and very comfortable with the tactical options opened up by these lads…



Well, a bit of a ramble, but just getting some of my thoughts about these things in order for the next few weeks…

More hobby stuff…

Just a few more rifle pictures… Model Swedish Model 96 Mauser… The most accurate rifle I currently own, I was able to outshoot SWAT snipers with tricked out "uber" rifles with this off the rack GI (not really sure what the Swedes call their soldiers…) rifle at 3-500m with iron sights… Up for trade for the motorcycle of doom…

Getting some of the ancient Wolfen painted… So, kilted werewolves from a dead game :-) But they're coming along nicely, probably because there's no pressure to get them done whatever… Working a bit on my Grey Knights as well… Those lads at least will be used in an actual game soon…

Random stuff…

So, looking over the stuff in the Grey Knights codex… Thinking that I'm probably going to be running a number of things that "most" other people do not bother with… In other words, probably not the "Internet Approved" stuff overall, so no "Dakka" stuff for me… For instance, I'm looking at the "Brotherhood Champion" for a HQ choice. 100 points for a WS 7 2+/4++ (3++ in close combat) guy armed with a Nemesis Force Sword that also allows re-rolls on the "to wounds"… Down side, his "attacks" are much like the Menoth Paladin, or at least the 1^st edition version I remember… He gets a "stance", one where he gets re-rolled armor saves (Hello Seer Council level of survivability), one attack against everything in BtB, or an I 10 d3 (+1 for charging) attacks against a Monstrous Creature or IC that he's in combat with… Yeah, he's one wound and his "I won't die alone" power is kind of "eh" against a lot of armies, but still :-) Plan on sticking him with Purifiers and using the Land Raider or Storm Raven to roll them directly into combat… The Librarian looks good, the Grand Master is solid… The special characters seem hit or miss, all of them are powerful but expensive… An all of them pretty well define what your army setup will be. 'course, I'm just running the Knights, so not even really looking at the Inquisitors…



Job? Ah, Limbo is so much fun… Amusing hearing what other people are saying here and there, and the dawning realization on their parts that I am NOT subtle, I do mean pretty much exactly what I say, and politics can be played by those who talk, and those who do… I think of it more like "Klingon" politics, and apparently I can do that fairly well after all… Maybe next week something will actually break loose and be resolved…