This week, 1 month til the Tournament...

Well, knocking out more of my Fleshtearers...  I think the Scouts are 99% done with the Minwax and matte sealant...  Looking pretty good, just need to pus some debris on the bases to get them to 100%.  Getting a bunch of my Assault Marines knocked out as well and the Sternguard done...  Well, one squad at least...

Looking at bringing 2 squads of them in one of my variant armies.  My first army will be:

Mephiston
Chaplain (jump pack)
Sanguinary Priest w/Jump pack
Death Company (5, JP, 2 power axes)
DC DN
Scout Squad (9 Snipers, 1 HB, SGT w/ Faust)
Assault Squad (10, Melta gun, plasma or flamer pistol, SGT w/ PW and PP or Flame pistol)
Sternguard (10, Pod, 6 combi melta, 4 combi plasma)
DN (TLAC x 2)
Baal Predator (HB sponsons, flame turret probably, maybe the TLAC...)

So, uber Psycher, drop army, etc...  Move fast, hit hard...  With Mephiston being a rank 3 Psyker he can get a decent selection of powers, and Telepathy looks amusing...  Divination works pretty well as well...

Second variant:
Gabriel Seth
Sanguinary Priests (2, 1 Jump pack, 1 Terminator Armor)
Scout Squad (as above)
Assault Squad (As above)
Death Company (As above)
DC DN
Sternguard Squad 1 (as above)
Sternguard Squad 2 (Drop Pod, 7 troopers, heavy flamer, 4 combi melta, 2 combi plasma)
Baal Predator (As above)

So, an extremely aggressive army with Seth and the Terminator Medic dropping with the Sternguard Squad 2...  Scouts sit back and camp, Assault squad w/Medic backed by the DC and the DC DN are a roving reserve or Cavalry to go forth and rescue/support the Sternguard and Seth.  With the second Sternguard squad, the Heavy Flamer is really just there to discourage charges and fry things behind Aegis lines or in buildings...  With FnP, Fearless, Flamer and of course Seth there it should at least make people think seriously about charging...  Now, I do not have the second squad converted, but this may be the way I run the lads later on if this works out....

Now, you'll probably notice the armies are remarkably similar...  Since I am riding the ancient motorcycle, the army has to fit into the saddlebags and trunk :-)...  So, "limited space" is an understatement I think...

"Dipping" minis :-)

Finishing up my Scouts (Sniper, camo cloaks) and I have to say that the Min Wax treatment is certainly looking pretty good...  So, the lads are drying now, just need to finish the Heavy Bolter and put some foliage and rocks and the like for them then seal them with a matte I think...   Starting to hit the Assault Troopers as well, and I think the Sternguard are about ready to get hit as well.  Just detail work remaining like painting the combi weapons, packs, etc...  

Keeping a few odd things like one of the Sternguard has a Tac Squad marking on his shoulder pad...  I really want to keep the fluff of a dying Chapter, and the lads getting promoted REALLY quickly and with results mattering way more than the uniforms, etc...  Not sure many people not familiar with the Fleshtearers would understand it, but I like it :-)....  Getting closer to actually having a Drop pod as well...

Looking at what to play next week...  Mephiston may make an appearance (thanks to http://40kgiveaway.blogspot.com/ again!) along with:

Scouts (full squad, snipers, heavy bolter, SGT w/ PF)

Assault Squad (full squad, Melta Gun, Plasma Pistol, SGT w/PP and PW of some sort)

Death Company (5, jump packs, 2 Power Axes)

DC DN (Flamer, grapple maybe?)

Sternguard (full squad, drop pod, 6  combi meltas, 4 plasma)

Sanguinary Priest (jump pack, ?)

Then it gets to the "maybe":

DN with either 2 TLAC or the TLAC/Assault Cannon

Baal Predator with HB sponsons and maybe the flame turret...  Seeing a LOT of 3+ armor lads camping in the backfield, so flanking...

So, a bit more long range firepower, but overall a REALLY fast army to go camp on the other side of the table...  Should be fun to play at the least...  Not sure what o do for AAA, so that is a bit of a concern depending on opponent...  Meph has access to 3 powers if I go with the book ones, and Telepathy might work...  Hallucination or Puppet Master could be REALLY awesome against certain armies, and Invisibility could well be what gets a assaul unit across the table... Divination is another one that could be really nice...  We'll see what I end up facing...

A Fully Painted Army? Wow....

I'm getting close to a fully painted 40K army for the first time since I threw the minimum "3 color" standard on my 3rd ed Fleshtearers force to have the "We're just here to kill things" army list to take to the tournaments...  It did really well on the field, looked pretty bad, but it WAS technically fully painted...  This time though, I've got a more or less completely different army, have stripped and repainted a number of things....

10 man Sniper Scout Squad, check, needs a bit  touch-up, shading and "bits" to go on the bases

10 man Sternguard Vet Squad, check, as above, but weapons all fully WYSIWYG converted

Death Company, Check.  Various weapons, Jump Packs, Chaplains, etc...  Could use some base work, but...

Assault Marines, check...  How many?  "More" as Taleni Pahulu would have put it (4 numbers, 0, 1, 2, 3 and more)...  Enough to field at least 2 full squads, one of which I have magnetized the Jump Packs for to allow them to enter "Fromage Grande" mode and get the discounted transports which are better for no apparent reason :-)...  Razorbacks are still good, Land Raiders are "eh", Melta will still everywhere and kill them easily...

What else now?  Well, I cut the patterns to make a simple Drop Ship with a wooden frame...  Foamboard is a possibility, and will probably also work, and since I have to make a few of them...  Otherwise I have some vehicles to finish up, and I have to decide what characters I'll be playing...  Mephiston, Gabriel Seth, Chaplains...  There are a few possibilities here and there.  I like the BA Librarians as well, but lacking any sort of Psychic defense...  Well, it is a bit difficult :-)...  Have to paint up my Aegis line I guess...

So, very close, just a bunch of small details...

Modeling for advantage?

Not sure how best to put this...  What are the general feelings out there regarding the rules for Power Weapons?  I had heard the term "Modelling for Advantage" somewhere, and saw it for the first time tonight...  Now, Power Lances were never a Marine weapon AFAIK, but since there are no real limits, if you build/model it, then it is... So, looking at putting Power Axes on a few of the Death Company at least in place of my traditional Power Fists...  15 points instead of the 25, and both AP 2.  The Power Axe on the Charge gives me 5 attacks at Str 6 compared with the 4 attacks at Str 9.  No real difference between 8 and 9, so the furious Charge is "eh" for this, but the Axe is 10 points cheaper...  Not sure if I will end up doing this for my other Power Weapons, but it is looking like an option for mixing in stuff...

Lost badly this evening, but I think it highlighted a major problem with my list...  The Drop Pod for the DN is I think a failure.  And since it goes out unsupported, I have nothing really to deal with the big nasty characters...  Or even really powerful HtH units...  The Las Cannon on the Aegis line is pretty good, well worth the 35 points, but I think I had a lack of long ranged AT weaponry...  So things like the Predator have to come out to play.  The Vindicator was "eh", and I know I jumped it out too quickly, but barring it coming in from reserve, it wouldn't have lived in any case...  It killed a Rhino and 2 Wolf Cav, so it almost paid for itself...  But that is just running in place really, trading chess pieces and not really winning me any battles.

Something to think about for later in the week or next week :-)

Heavy Support for the Fleshtearers...

So, debating on the Heavy Support slot...

Not really a fan of the Dev squads, even with the ability to move and snap fire most of their weapons this edition.  So, Predator or Vindicator I guess...  With the Vindicator, I can ignore terrain, have the AV 13 on the front...  Oh, and the most powerful gun in the game on a Fast platform.  So 12" move, 24" shot, coming from behind a building is a pretty devastating thing...  But it is a one shot thing, the Vindicator comes out and gets a shot off, then dies to the inevitable counter shots.  There is the danger that I come up against an army like Noah's IG with really NO high value targets for the "cruise missile" to hit...  Predator allows me to do a bit of hit and run from a MUCH greater range.  The weapon mix here is another one.  TLLC turret is expensive, but would almost always put the Str 9 AP 2 hit on target.  In general I use the AC turret though, 2 shots is almost always better...  Unless of course I run into AV 13+...  The Las Cannon Sponsen is a solid choice, but the Heavy Bolters would allow a LOT of shots....

Storm raven, well I do not currently have one, frankly looking more like an eventual purchase though...  Do wish more than BA and GK got to use it though.  Frankly that was one of the main reasons I did not get one before...  Perhaps we will see an expansion in this area though,was kind of disappointed that the 6th Ed book did not do this...  We'll see I guess...

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...