Figured I'd post what I fielded this evening against Loq's BT force...  Since I'm back riding the bike, I had a pre-set army due to the limited storage on the motorcycle :-)  Nothing subtle, the Librarian and Medic ride in the Land Raider with the short Assault Squad to provide the big bubble of Psy defense, cover saves and a scoring unit to roll directly toward the enemy.  The 2 DC DN's are REALLY powerful and can easily overwhelm anything "marine like" when they get to HtH...  A little lacking in longer range firepower, and I found that I might need a Power Weapon or three in the Death Company to even things out a bit more...  Maybe drop the Medic since really not much needs the Feel No Pain, etc...  The Techmarine is really just there to give the Scouts a 2+ save in a ruin :-)  He ALMOST got to fix my Land Raider that hit terrain a bit hard... 

1800 Pts  -   Blood Angels Army

1 Librarian (HQ) @ 100 Pts
     #Psychic Hood; Shield of Sanguinius; The Sanguine Sword; Bolt Pistol (x1);
     Force Weapon; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Psyker

4 Assault Squad (Troops) @ 370 Pts
     Bolt Pistol & CCW (x3); Infernus Pistol & CCW; Frag Grenades; Krak
     Grenades

     1 Space Marine Sergeant @ [53] Pts
          Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Power Fist

     1 Land Raider @ [230] Pts
          #Power of the Machine Spirit; #Smoke Launchers; Extra Armour;
          Capacity: 10; TL Lascannon (x2); TL Heavy Bolters

1 Sanguinary Priest (Elites) @ 50 Pts
     Bolt Pistol (x1); Close Combat Weapon (x1); Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades;
     Blood Chalice

8 Death Company (Troops) @ 550 Pts
     Bolt Pistol (x1); Close Combat Weapon (x1); Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades;
     Jump Packs

     2 Death Company #1 @ [120] Pts
          Bolter; Power Fist (x1); Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Jump Packs

     1 Lemartes, Guardian of the Lost @ [150] Pts
          Bolt Pistol; The Blood Crozius; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades;
          Rosarius; Jump Pack

1 Death Company Dreadnought (Troops) @ 125 Pts
     Front Armour: 12; Side Armour: 12; Rear Armour: 10; #Smoke Launchers;
     Storm Bolter; Blood Talon; Blood Talon w/Meltagun

1 Death Company Dreadnought (Troops) @ 125 Pts
     Front Armour: 12; Side Armour: 12; Rear Armour: 10; #Smoke Launchers;
     Blood Fist; Storm Bolter; Blood Fist w/Meltagun

9 Scout Squad (Troops) @ 205 Pts
     Combat Squads; Bolt Pistol (x9); Combat Blade (x2); Sniper Rifle (x6);
     Heavy Bolter (x1); Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Camo Cloaks

     1 Scout Sergeant @ [51] Pts
          Sniper Rifle; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Power Fist; Camo Cloaks

1 Predator (Heavy Support) @ 135 Pts
     #Smoke Launchers; 2 Sponson Lascannon; Turret Autocannon

1 Techmarine (Elites) @ 90 Pts
     #Artificer Armour; Blessing of the Omnisiah; Bolster Defences; Power
     Weapon (x1); Bolt Pistol (x1); Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Servo-harness

1 Attack Bike (Fast Attack) @ 50 Pts
     Twin Bolter & 2 Bolt P. (x1); Multi-Melta (x1); Frag Grenades; Krak
     Grenades; Space Marine Bike

Models in Army: 34


Total Army Cost: 1800

Surgery, Wi-Fi and waiting :-)

Had my first actual operation today...  Weird thinking about it, been shot a few times, had more broken bones than I'd care to remember, etc...  But it is a cat bite that gets me enough to go to surgery :-)...  The little things that are going to kill me I am convinced...  Not sure how long the actual procedure lasted because I was completely out, but it didn't seem very long.  The wait for it on the other hand...  Scheduled for 11:00, and it ended up being 3 or so when I actually got knocked out :-)...  Oh, SO glad they had free wi-fi there and that Maggie and I both brought our laptops...  Great killer of time and I have a LOT of e-books loaded up and John Ringo's "Posleen War" series is most excellent, especially for folks who actually played Army/Marines in the past... 

Gaming?  Have to admit I'm burning out a little on 40K.  Chatted with Jamie Monday about the old Confrontation stuff, might look into breaking them out...  Been a long time since my Kilted (Clan Gunn colors of course) Wolfen have hit the table, and it WAS a very fun game in our little group here in Champaign...  We'll see if it takes of a bit, but in any case the minis are among the best I've ever seen, and it just looks so awesome on the table...

What I'll be bringing tonight...

:-)  Yeah, subtle...  But riding the motorcycle, I have a VERY limited amount of space to bring out my toys, so I've already chosen my list for the league, more or less...  Changed it up quite a bit for tonight, dropped the Terminators for a regular Assault Squad...  Don't get me wrong, the Terminators are REALLY powerful, especially backed with a Sanguinary Priest (Medic for us old timers), Librarian, etc...  But having the scoring unit sitting back in the Land Raider is almost as good, and doesn't expose my lone LR to  all that annoying Melta fire while they babysit an objective...  That and I'm wanting to try something a bit "less min/max" for my Fleshtearers.  The Death Company I bring are almost always well worth it, especially with the Chaplain to give them loads of re-rolls...  The Predator (AC/Las sponsons) is perhaps a bit too good being "Fast", but at 135, a staple item for the list.  My Vanguard Vets with 2 power fists pulling a heroic intervention are another REALLY solid choice.  Especially since the one GK player this league is not actually playing Knights, just an Inquisition list really...  So, no worries about deep striking right on top of the target...  Mind, I like to use my locator beacons from the Scouts and the Drop Pods to not HAVE any scatter, but with only 1d6, I'll usually risk it in any case. 

5 Death Company, 2 w/ power fists, all with Jump Packs...  Considered Lemartes, but I still dislike using "named" characters if I can avoid it (Warmachine/Hordes was one I did not jump into originally because of that), so I have a Chaplain kitted out with a power fist of his own to accompany them...  Might have Dave order Lemartes though since he would be just a few more points, and he is NOT an IC to be singles out, etc...  Something to think about at least..

Other than that, 2 Dreadnaughts, one Death Company with the Talons, Fleet, effectively Extra Armor, etc...  It runs behind the Land Raider or wherever...  The other DN is a Furioso, pretty much "stock" with the fists, I like to throw in the Heavy Flamer and Magna Grapple, and it deploys via Drop Pod (with Beacon)... 

My Scouts, full 10 man squad trying Heavy Bolter this time to accompany the Snipers...  Mostly because I HAVE 3-4 of the old Scout w/ Heavy Bolters and I just want to see what the weight of fire actually does, maybe I'll actually hit something with the lad this time...  Can't really complain about the Missile, it did get me a win a few weeks ago by offing a random IC that ventured out in a kill point mission...  Still, just testing the theories at this point...

Anyway, we'll see :-)  Still thinking that I should have simply kept to my Deathwing, but I'd get bored I think...

Just a quick post...

Just throwing out a quick post...  Days seem to get longer and longer with the new job of doom :-)...  Doing a lot, but still so much yet to do, just hoping to not completely drop anything.  Not really looking forward to the UC conversion, it's becoming a classic "charlie foxtrot"from my view in the cheap seats at least...

Painting up my Fleshtearers...  Getting the bulk of the 1800-2000 point force up and ready...  Still have to decide which one I'll use if we end up going to Adepticon next year...  Deathwing was my first choice, and I still think they will be a very powerful one.  The Fleshtearers might be fun, and I bet I could come up with a decent 1000 point "half"...  Grey Knights I think are a bit more difficult, 1000 points really is not enough to field a cohesive force, but it might be fun...

St Louis...

Yup, we're off in St. Louis with the wee ones...  I have loads of pictures up on facebook, I'll see if I can link, but if not they're up there...  Tiring, and loads of fun...  So, 2 more days here.  Maggie is happy, this is the first "real"vacation we've taken in a LONG time.  Mostly I'm tired, but I am glad the girls will have some fun and interesting memories...

Motorcycle, REALLY glad I picked it up.  Yes, it's not the fastest or the prettiest bike, but it is a fairly large bike and both reliable and efficient as hell... Just a few more tweaks before I really think of it as "my" bike...  Slight leak still with the rear tire, stereo/MP3 player and re-cover the seat...  Mostly minor things, a few hundred dollars worth...  Still have to sell off a bunch of my ancient firearms to pay for it, but that isn't as easy as it sounds...  But, the bike itself is going nicely :-)

Gaming:  I saw the Forgeworld "Heresy Era" DN's...  Now, since I actually HAVE 6+ ancient RT era DN's in my armies, I actually really like them.  Rules are a bit wonky, but I'd certainly play it...  Not the most overpowered DN, I think I already have a few of them in my Fleshtearer and GK armies...  These would just be fun...  More later, off to snag some Pizza with the girls...

Illinois Governor Guilty… Who Knew? :-)

Well, we as a State are now batting .500 with our last 8 Governors…  4 of them are in, have been in or are on their way to prison…  If you aren’t from Chicago, this might come as something of a surprise, but…  The Outfit and/or the Machine ran pretty much everything up there when I was growing up, and it does seem at least on the surface that the current Mayor and Governor are working hard on keeping that tradition rolling…  While the candor displayed by the open corruption at the State level with respect to the health care for us peons was somewhat refreshing, the message that seemed to be coming through was that it just did not matter.  They were going to do what they were going to do, the law doesn’t matter, the voters do not matter, etc…  Weird feeling, thought that it would stay the same, etc., but apparently this is the new reality in Illinois…

Motorcycle is going along well…  Weather seems like it has finally stabilized and looks like I’ll be able to ride in most days now…

Headed to St Louis this weekend with Maggie and the wee ones…  Should be interesting at least, and it’s the first actual vacation we’ve been on in years…

Gaming…  The Fleshtearers seem to be a VERY powerful force the way I am playing them.  The Fury DN dropping in, the Vanguard Vets all loaded out with Power Weapons (and furious charge if I am lucky) drop in directly to HtH with 4 attacks each…  My Death Company loaded into the Land Raider Crusader and the DC Dreadnaught followed along in the shadow…  Turns out that the first missile shot at the LRC immobilized it, and the DN was immobilized the next turn…  I think if I keep the same list next week, I bring it as a normal Land Raider…  The Las Cannons might be nice to have for a long range threat…   My Scouts anchored the line and camped on my objective to guarantee the draw at least…  Not sure they killed a single thing, but they DID win me the game…  Well they helped at least :-)…

Scouts… Just random thoughts….

Yeah, I used to work with them when I played Army, so they have always held a special place in my armies…  Another one of those things I like to MAKE work, especially since so many others write them off…  They are not the best and most effective “Troops” in 40K for the armies I play…  OK, Wolves are an exception, but their Scouts are not Troops, they are Elites who are tasked with sneaking about, kicking asses and taking names…  They are probably one of the more under-costed units in the game against armies that want to sit still and shoot (Tau, IG, etc…  Gun lines)…  I’ve been using mine in my Fleshtearers army, and they have been surprisingly solid for me.  I use a 10 man squad with one missile launcher, 5-6 sniper rifles and the SGT gets one along with a Power fist if I have the points, I usually do for this…  Worst case, the lads use the power fist as a hibachi while they camp out on an objective…  Best case, the power fist is a deterrent for deep strikers like Dreadnaughts and the like to at least make them think seriously about prying my objective campers off of the objective… 

Now, in the past I might have tried combat squadding them and running a flank, or even flanking to bring the lads in at a later turn…  And against some forces (All reserve types, drop lists), it isn’t a bad thing necessarily…  These days, with a “somewhat more aggressive” force like the Fleshtearers, having a small Troop or two to camp and provide some harassing fire…  Who knows, it might even pin something important :-)…  I’ve seen it happen…  Not something to count on, but a really nice bonus when it happens.

Kill point missions, I have on occasionally kept them as the full squad and simply reserved or flanked them just to play keep away with the easy kill point…  A BA drop force, or a mixed one like I run does not HAVE that many kill points to give up, so it is much to my advantage to keep them out of the way while the Death company berserkers go forth and do their work…

Just the start really, I don’t really have hard and fast “tactics”, more general guidelines that I follow and react to the situation as it presents itself…