Background for the League...

Running my Fleshtearers, and one of the requirements is having a background justification for the list...  So, here goes:

"War is delightful to those who have had no experience of it." ~ Desiderius Erasmus 

The Fleshtearers, answering the General Recall to Baal are moving quickly.  But we need to more so quickly that even our normal tactics of “Hit them fast and hard, kill them all and move on” are not sufficient.  Speed is far more important than casualties.  General tactics will be Scouts heading out to identify high value targets and call in the Assault troops.  The Schwerpunkt will involve an extremely rapid assault via Drop Pod (DN or Sternguard Vets) or Vanguard Vets assaulting out of Deep Strike.  The remaining forces will follow up the initial assault.  Holding our own objectives will be difficult, but we will take theirs instead or die trying.  An unfortunate reality of our situation is the Death Company.  As we lose more Marines to the Black Rage, we will direct them toward the enemy and let the Chaplain lead them to cause the most damage on their way out.

As we move back to Baal, we will on occasion fight with our allies.  For the current assault, our Scouts have made contact with elements of Bran Redmaw’s Great Company.  They are currently holding an Aegis Defense Line, and we will move to support them.  We cannot stop, but we will render aid to our Brothers, and by doing so may relieve some of the pressure on Baal. 

So, first draft of this one, the list I am looking at is:

 Reclusiarch (Jump Pack)
Death Company (Jump packs, 5 normal, 2 PF/Bolter)
DC DN (Drop Pod, beacon, H Flamer)
Scout Squad (9 Snipers, Heavy Bolter, SGT with P Fist)
Sternguard (6 Combi Melta, 4 Combi Plasma, Drop Pod w/ Beacon)
Vindicator (Siege Shield)

Allies:
Rune Priest
Grey Hunters (Razorback w/ TLAC, Flamer)
Long Fang Pack (3 Missile, 2 Heavy Bolter)

Aegis Line w/Laser Cannon

Thinking that the Laser Cannon will be interesting for anything but the IG horde out there...  We'll see how the lads do though...

So, on to the next week...

So, need to come up with the actual "fluff"...  But since I am playing Fleashtearers, and playing them as a Berserker drop/Fast assault force, it does seem a pretty good fit...  We are in a hurry, and speed is more important than casualties.  So, dangerous close in drops and direct assaults are the way we will be proceeding.  Scouts hit the field first and find/mark high value targets for the assault elements.  The rest drop or drive quickly to hit them and then fade away before heavier elements can pin my people down

Minus side, I NEED to get off my ass and get a Drop Pod or three built....  Templates, printed on manila folders I cut up...  One at the very least as my Sternguard seem to be a more or less permanent part of this strike force.  2 or even 3 would be better as I can get around the 50% Reserves rule with this a bit.  Scouts are deploying, but with Infiltrate and Scout, they should be able to get to higher ground and survive with Cloaks until the rest of the lads get there.  Pod hits, 1-2 Squads of Sternguard or a DC DN get out...  Furioso?  Maybe, the AV 13 is huge against Str 6...  Melta still just kills me though, and there is SO much of that out there that for the most part I can not count on a Close Assault DN surviving very long at all...  The DC DN is cheap enough and has a scary number of attacks that most people cannot simply ignore the Fleet HtH monster that is dropping into their lines, and since I am playing a "fluffy" FT force, lots of DC in any case...  Not a lot of "Regulars", pretty much the 'cruits go to Scouts, survivors hit the field as Assault Marines or get promoted directly to the Vet units...  The Specialist Ammo for the Sternguard is huge, and I can see why a lot of people really like playing any army that allows them as Troops (1 Marine Special Char IIRC).  But not a lot of long term folks in the Fleshtearers overall...  Dying out to the Black Rage as fast as they can recruit, and with the decision to hit the field early and often, well, the 4 Companies remaining will not last long at all in normal circumstances...  With the general recall to Baal, seems very likely that they will not return.  So, playing as somewhat desperate Berserkers completely unconcerned with casualties seems to fit...

So, Allies for the Fleshtearers?

So far my lads are 2-0...  First Blood being a common secondary VC, and dropping the Sternguard right into a gunline...  Well, not much survives their "special attention".  Since Jake and I killed a LOT of each other's armies, me going first and being hyper aggressive for the first kill points is the only thing that saved me...

So, with the 100 point tax on non flier armies in the form of the Aegis line with the quad gun in my armies now...  1850 league, but I am playing at 1750.  Though the Scouts rocked the gun line, killing the incoming flier and clearing some Thousand Sons off of an objective.

Thinking about bringing Eldar or Wolves as an allied detachment against some of the more Psycher heavy forces...  Jake had 4 Psychers, and the new complete lack of defense was really telling...  Though having a Demon Prince's head explode on box cars was cool, NOT something to count on...

With the Eldar, I can completely deny spells, I mean "Psychic Powers"...  For a time at least.  Thinking that if a GK force decides to off him, I am in trouble.  Pathfinders for the gun line/objective camping...  If they CAN hold objectives that is...

Wolves, being Battle Brothers can mix in a bit better...  Grey Hunters in a Razorback or Rhino, the Rune Priest, maybe a Wolf Priest?  Oh, and Long Fangs maybe :-)...

Something to think about...

Fleshtearers for today...

Well, I'll either be fielding my army that I brought last week or:

Reclusiarch (Jump Pack, PF) 170
Death Company ( Jump Packs, 2 PF/Bolter) 295
DC DN (Fists, Magna Grapple, pod w/ beacon) 185
Scout Squad (10, 8 sniper rifles, HB or ML, SGT w/PF sniper rifle) 175
Assault Squad (hand flamer or PP, SGT w PF/hand flamer) 370
  Land Raider (MM)  (225)
Sternguard (10 in Drop Pod, 6 Melta, 4 plasma combi, pod has beacon)  350
Sang Priests (1 BP/PW to run with Assault Squad, 1 basic to run with Scouts) 115
Whirlwind  90

Aegis line and AAA  100

The Whirlwind is just there because I had 90 points :-)  Could I suppose go for Speeder or a pair of Attack Bikes in the future...  Basically, going to abuse the Aegis and the Scouts with Camo Cloaks to get really good cover saves, the Sang Priest can man the AA gun for the BS 4.  WW can sit behind a building and chuck Ord...  Weak Ord, but Ord, one round that ignores cover saves....  Between that and the Sternguard's rounds that can, thinking that I can pin/destroy important things hidden away on the weaker armies like IG and...  Well, OK, IG :-)  Maybe Tyranids, but...  Sternguard can either suicide in, or set up in cover and shoot special rounds...  Land raider?  Well, mostly just to scare people who think AC/ML are going to work for AT...

:-)  Might even work, who knows...  FAST, aggressive, and fits my play style, so I think I can make it work against a fair number of things...

Next week's list....

Well, last week I brought a fairly random list, but playing against a new guy and spending more time teaching the game than worrying about the game...  Guessing this week will be against one of the regulars...

Playing around with the idea of an Infantry horde...

Librarian (jump pack, powers?)
Chaplain (jump pack, power fist?)
Death Company (7, 2 with PF/bolter, jump packs)
DC DN armed with ? The Cuisinart Claws or the DN CCW...
Scouts (10, snipers and a heavy bolter or ML, SGT with PF)
Sternguard (10 combi weapons, Drop pod w/beacon)
 Sanguinary Priests (2, 1 jump pack, 1 storm bolter)
Dev Squad ? (HB, 2 ML)

Aegis line with AA guns...

Might need a few more pods :-)  Think that this would do OK against some of the horde lists....  We'll see I guess...

So, Maggie and the girls are in the Frozen North...

So, I have a bit of time on my hands....  In some ways, kind of sad, but I got a LOT of painting done...  No parties, I don't drink anymore...  But getting a fair amount of painting done :-)

Pics follow:

So, a bit of conversion work getting the Chaplain and Scout SGT WYSIWYG...  Fair number of the assault troops as well, but those I mostly just converted to me own fighting style...  The knife in the left hand rotated and facing out, resting against the forearm to keep the blades out of the way...  Edit:  And, yes, the guy with the hand flamer IS flipping the enemy off :-)  Keeping the lads attitudes about the same as my own...  They are nae kilted, but I understand the whole Berserker thing :-)

But the lads are coming along nicely...  Now to get to work on the vehicles I guess...

More building....

Not a whole lot going on, Maggie and the girls are up North for the week...  I'm getting wild, painting toy soldiers and working on my motorcycle.

So, a little painting, but mostly working on modeling.  Chaplain swapping out a bolter for a power fist and getting ready for the jump pack magnet mount.  Not sure if I NEED to, but guessing that having at least a squads worth of the lads to field as either Jump troops or riding in a Land Raider...

Working a bit on the Death Company DN as well...  Looking like that will remain a part of the army for the 125 points. If it gets its charge off, 6 Str 10 AP 2 goodness?  Yes, thank you...  Yes, the Str 7 Cuisinart mode claws is amusing, and might even be amusing against say, a horde...

Other than that, the Scout SGT got his camo cloak, and some of the other lads got a bit of paint....  Guessing I start making combi weapons and basing...  Oh, and build the bloody Drop Pod :-)

Yes, tired and free form rambling...  Dealing with hordes, not so sure...  Against IG, I have the Sternguard dropping in...  Depending on how well hidden his Command Squads, Heavy Weapon Squads and Artillery are, well that will dictate the target selection....  The Ignore Cover rounds are still AP 5, so they should kill off IG easily, and the Melta shots should deal with vehicles...  Tyranids, I have the Hellfire rounds for the wounding on 2+, Melta, etc...  Still not sure for AAA, so I'll probably bring the Aegis line for my Scounts, or maybe be cheesy and have Gabriel Seth or the Librarian shoot the bloody gun for the BS 5 twin linked Heavy 4 shots...  Not sure I can deal with dual Storm Ravens or squadrons of Valkyries/Vendettas with the Str 7 shots, but thinking the AV 10 DE fighters or AV 11 Marine fliers are in trouble.  But, will deal with that when I have to I guess :-)