Imperial Knights, DLC and getting too old...

Knight being assembled...  The kit looks nice, hopefully it plays well on the table.  A few test games in, it is powerful but definitely not overpowering I think.  D class weapons from Apoc just kill whatever, so the Void Shields are needed if you face a Warhound or Revenant Titan.  The 12 inch move is huge on the table, so it can close quickly or move away from slow threats...  IG is the natural Ally I think with a horde of bodies to protect the Knight for a bit, and to open up Void Shields for it with AC fire...  My Crimson Fists and Grey Knights work well, but protection proves difficult unless I use Strike Squads and go first...  I could I suppose go with Coteaz or whatever the name is...  I just really do not like playing Inquisition or what I consider overpowering characters, so have never played that one...  Lacking a lot of Intercept, a lot of those games went to the player gaining First Blood, so player one if he/she has a good first strike force like Drop Pods or the like...  Eldar have their d weapons, but other than the Wraith Knight, shorter range...  Most of the Knights I see locally are fielded with the ++ save, so not a lot of the Str 10, d weapons...  Iyanden is popular, so the Wraithguard and Wraithlord as Warlord is common...  My Knight Paladin seems the better one at the moment, but the 36" Melta is REALLY nice for an aggressive force...  Fleshtearers or GK perhaps?  30 or so Assault Marines starting around the Knight to start the rush...  On "go", we'll be in their DZ on turn 2 at the latest...  So, fast one way or the other, nothing subtle, no tricks...  Maybe.....  For the next two months we are playing"Kill Teams" for the local League, so gives me time to assemble and test I think...

Otherwise, "Codex: Legion of the Damned" hit...  One entry from the Marine Codex, and it can be your whole Army.  W T F?  So, dlc based on just cut and paste from another book with a few pages of new stuff...  Which looks suspiciously like it is not well tested...  The Warlord traits range from good to WTF are they thinking?  Seems rushed, and being digital, no real risk for the company...  Chaos gets one next, looks similarly unimpressive, especially when you consider the old Legions are being ignored...  Just seems like they are flooding the market with craptastic"content" with no particular concern about the long term effect this will have on their game and company..  Especially with so much not being available through the local game stores... Not a good situation I think, but surprisingly I was not consulted :-)... 

Was weird reading the interview on House of Pancakes with Stelek...  I know he can be a bit unpleasant, but really the stupidity of the comments there was just bad...  Shame really, I rather liked the interview.  He comes from a (what I consider at least) mass battles background..  The big bookshelf games with chits and tokens representing large units...  Neat, but I come from about the complete opposite direction...  I have commanded in combat operations units up to and including Platoon sized elements, and in war games Company to short Battalion sized elements...  Well, we were just doing a desperation defense, so the survivors of a BN, and mostly because I was the senior surviving Engineer directing the defenses my unit built...  But in any case, I do well commanding a Squad or Platoon, but going beyond that I am far less comfortable.  Why I think I like skirmish games, and I can understand why someone dealing better with the larger abstracts would prefer larger battle systems...

Random personal stuff, CPAP machine for me this week...  Apparently I failed my sleep test :-) and will be disturbing my beautiful wife's sleep for...  Well, I am given to understand this is a new permanent thing... 

Oh, and trying to sell my two motorcycles...  81 Honda Silverwing which is an awesome starter or in town bike...  Just not good on the Interstate with the 500cc engine...  The other is a 96 Honda Magna...  Other end of the spectrum with it being a 4 cylinder muscle bike...  Only 750cc engine, but REALLY fast and too powerful for my needs.  Looking for a 1200cc Honda Goldwing (so 84-87) or something in the 1100-1300cc range for a heavier cruiser...  Also have a few firearms I could get rid of if needed to get a nice bike..

Knights and D weapons locally...

After a few games against the D weapons, I think my objections are at least for me confirmed.  It turns 40K into a "short hand" game.  No point bringing anything but the cheapest, best troops you can alon g with some big Alpha Strike to try and deal with the source of the D shooting.  Warhound Class Titans are popular here as are the Baneblade variants...  I have yet to face an Eldar Revenant, so guessing only there, but with the speed that thing can move?  Hard for a lot of armies to pin down.  Drop or fliers really are going to be it...  Well, except for IG gunlines perhaps...  AC are cheap and between than and Chimeras, seems like a LOT of firepower going into the 900 point monster.  Just a boring game, and not one a lot of people can bring especially to a tournament.  So, the D class weapons do kill the Death Stars of various flavors, but in so doing how much more of the fun parts of the game do they kill or make irrelevant?  ALL of the fortifications are now completely pointless EXCEPT the Void Shields...  Those become a necessary tax in an environment with D class weapons...  Much like the Aegis line was at the beginning of Sixth facing fliers...  So, the 5th ed Fliers are not looking so bad now in comparison I think, though they may well have a new lease on life as the answer to "D Class Weapons".  The cynic in me says that this looks suspiciously like the game developers making all but the new stuff completely irrelevant and thus pushing new sales over allowing existing armies to compete...

New things coming up?  The Imperial Knights look really nice...  I plan on one certainly, maybe a second one if the new Dreamforge one is of the same rough scale...  But as good as they look and will probably be on the table, do they stand a chance against a D class weapon?  Not really.  6 Hull Points, so it might take 2 hits to destroy it, but the same NO defense possible thing really bites the Knights...  4+ inv save that cannot be used just annoys me.  Next being IG or whatever new trademarked name they come up with for the next Imperial Army iteration...  Rumors of a new edition as well..  Dunno, we are at version 6.5 now...  How much more before they kill their cash cow?  There DO need to be some fixes I think, but a new $80 rulebook?  Don't know how many of us will buy it honestly...   And having seen more than my share of good, fun games die to their developers mishandling things and pushing out new editions?  Well, I hope they do not kill 40K...  Seems a long way to go before that happens, so I am most certainly NOT saying 40K is dead, just that I am concerned about it, especially on the local level.  It just feels a LOT like Confrontation did at the 3.5 level when Rackham seemed like they were working REALLY hard to kill the game in order to have the player base clamoring for the new edition to fix it all...  Well, they killed it, and the new edition flopped...  Oops...  Le Roy est Mort, Vive Le Roy?

Locally, Eldar continue to dominate the tables even if unintentionally...  No good answers to the Wave Serpent that will work in a time frame allowing most players a chance to deal with it before they lose the game...  Not unbeatable, but just really good...  Facing 4+ is going to be difficult at best for almost any army.  Add in Wraith Knights and Jetbikes and possibly Beasts from the DE codex?  Well, even my otherwise well designed Crimson Fist list just dies...  Hard and stubbornly, but barring odd luck I do not see my last wining often in that fight. 

Hate to say it, but between the Eldar and Tau appearing massively overpowered...  Well, it is killing the new interest in the game locally.  The Tau with the Riptides and so many rule exceptions combined in a really good Codex make for a less than fun game that a majority of the locals would rather just not bother playing against.  Yes, part is due to the let's call them "hyper competitive" players using and abusing those rules/lists...  But they are technically legal lists...  Not just the Eldar locally, in fact the Eldar are by and large NOT the problem locally, despite the general feeling that they are over powered...  Lacking a real FAQ, very open to interpretation...  So, other games are becoming popular locally...  X-wing and the Star Trek version, Netruner, etc...

Rocs, Titans and Seventh...

So, looking like we are getting Knight Titans...  GMort has a really good overview here: http://gmortschaotica.blogspot.com/2014/02/knight-titans-no-longer-rumour.html
Looking good overall...  12" move, can fire at different things, move through cover, etc...  2 big problems I see are that it is armed with a D HtH weapon and that it cannot easily survive in an environment with other D class weaponry.  I'm looking more at the Paladin class with the rapid fire Battle Cannon (72" range, Str 8 AP 3, 5" blast and Ordinance).  Perhaps I am missing something with the USRs it has, but Strikedown and Smash seem to be completely wasted on something that is hitting with Str D in HtH...  3-4 Attacks I suppose could all miss, but with the silliness that Str D is, what survives?  The Warhound with 9 Hull Points seems like it is in trouble if it gets charged...  So, as with almost everything "D", hitting first wins.  So, essentially, stay out of HtH with the Knights, and 375 points for a 6 HP walker seems OK...  Well, until you run up against something D Str yourself.  Looking good and I know that there will be several seen locally...  And I AM looking forward to that...  Painting up a Knight in House Chappell colors to go with all of my Imperial forces...

Brings me to the discussion of "D" weapons...  For an Apoc game, it made sense and given the sheer size of the game, something like this that is essentially "shorthand" 40K is fine, but for actual 40K, it just does not seem like it fits.  Anything that just automatically destroys any building that it touches without having to actually defeat the armor or remove HPs, etc?  ALWAYS penetrates seems a bit much...  The same thing for most Vehicles and "normal" targets...  Seems out of place given the rest of the rules for the game.  Not sure how I feel about it really...  Locally, it looks like the death knell for the Tau Riptide overload and anything like a Deathstar.  On the other hand, it strips a LOT of the character from the game for most of the armies.  Why bother taking anything but massed grunts because it REALLY just doesn't matter when it gets hit by those weapons...  So, yes, it kills off the Eldar and Tau dominated uber armies but it also kills a LOT of the other things that make playing the game interesting...  I guess my concern is that the cure kills the patient here :-)  "The Man from La Mancha"...

Other than that, I was looking over the IA 2, second edition for stuff to bring into my armies...  The Roc pattern Storm Eagle is one that REALLY stood out.  With 7 shots/turn from the 4 weapons it can fire, all of them Str 8-9 and AP 3 or less...  The Transport capacity is almost irrelevant with the ability to almost guarantee a vehicle kill or a good chance to decimate a Marine Squad or the like...  Yeah, probably too good...  The Mortis DN is good, but not overly so I think...  Intercept is overpowered in this edition and something I think will change in the next one...  Overall, the book looked good, but really only a few pages of useful stuff, so...

On to Seventh Edition?  That seems to be a recurring rumor...  Do I think it likely in the short term?  Eh...  With the release schedule in hyper drive?  Maybe...  Honestly, the game is VERY different than when it was released, so I'd call it version 6.5 now...  Would I like a revised ruleset that actually answered things and cleared up some of the things that should have been cleared up or clarified a LONG time ago...  Right now, things are pretty much Tau/Eldar if you want to win...  A lot of other armies are "fun", but locally at least, not a lot of challenge for a well build top tier force...

AAR with Escalation vs Fleshtearers... and IA2, second edition...

So, played against my first Titan outside of an Apocolipse game...  Warhound class Titan with IG to back it up.  Not a lot to the IG with all those points tied up in the Warhound.  I think there were:

 2 Armored Sentinels
1 Platoon, more or less naked...  4-5 Squads, LT, pretty much just Las Guns
1 Platoon, 4-6 Squads, Heavy Bolters a few Melta Bombs?
Company Command Squad...

I brought:
CPT Tycho
Sternguard (7, Meltas, drop pod)
Assault Squad (10, 2 Melta, Jump Packs)
Sanguinary Priests (2, Terminator, Jump Pack)
Death Company (Jump Packs, 2 Power Axes)
DC DN (HF)
Storm Raven (TL MM, TL LC)
Bastion (Quad Gun, Void Shield)

Joe's Star Wars IG were impressive...  The AT-AT as a Warhound works.  Joe wound up winning the game (Emperor's Will) by getting "First Blood" as neither Warlord died, we both had Line Breaker and his one Objective held matched the Warhound's VP..  It was actually a pretty good game all around :-)...  The Death Company not being able to hold anything and my over caution regarding what happens if the Titan explodes cost me.  So, overall I am less concerned about the big nasties...  Honestly, sending 1-2 Death Company into each Squad of his Infantry meant they would usually kill a bunch and rout them...   Lacking the weight of attacks of a blob or the Power Weapons, etc...  No real threat, and I would have probably been better off with an Assault Squad doing that.  The DC DN did eat a Melta Bomb once, but being immune to shaken/etc., it really didn't notice.  Mostly, I lost due to it ending on Turn 5 before I could wipe out the remaining IG Squads...  The Lads were in close and wiping squads with an almost contemptuous ease...  So, IG NEED Special/Heavy Weapons or they are just speed bumps for an Assault force that is quick...  Like my FT...

What did I learn?  D Weapons are insanely overpowered...  I can certainly see why there are a bunch of people wanting them banned...  A single hit to the Fortification simply destroys it and kills everyone in it.  No rolls needed, it just explodes the building.  :-)  Yeah, I can see this being OK for an Apoc game of "more" points, but at 40K scale the oversimplification has gone too far I think.  Yes, it is the easy button answer to the Tau/Eldar/non flying MC silliness, simply erasing them from the board, but I think they could have done better NOT simply porting the Apoc charts into 40K.  It really does provide a disincentive to play the game really if you are not completely prepared for this.  In other words, do NOT but Fortifications, don't bother with special characters, etc...  Doesn't matter, they all die to the blasts of doom...  Or, bring lots of Fliers and Void Shields of your own.  I wound up killing the Warhound, not as easily as I thought, my Sternguard came in and did 4 Hull Points of damage, the Raven finished it off.  I got lucky and his first turn of shooting with the D laser was bad, I think he took down the Void Shield then missed the building...  Next turn not as lucky, but by then I had it down to the last HP or two.  Still, the mere threat of the D weapon and the explosion when it died was probably worth the 750-800 points.  Pretty sure it took down close to it's points value.  Next time, I know a single Sternguard suicide squad is not enough, so may just wait it out for the fliers to deal with the monster...  Seeing a few IG Super Heavies hit the tables locally, the Warhound and...  Well, one guy does have a Revenent Class Titan...  I do have my ancient Warhound and I have to say the rumored Knights are looking like they'll be fun if true...  But honestly, it becomes a VERY different game when you shoehorn an Apoc element into it.  30K has it right with the 25% rule.  Yes, for games under 2000 points it basically means no Superheavies or Titans.  Good.  So, people can play what they expect and not get blindsided by a one dimensional army built around the Titan with a few Infantry escorting.  Knowing it is coming, you can adjust your build and make it less of an issue...  OTOH, it would shake things up  a LOT at bigger Tournaments if the uber lists had to be prepared to face "I don't give a Damn" class D weapons...  I don't know, for a fun, local environment I think they are a bit overpowered, further expanding the divide between the top tier and the rest...

On to the IA2 book...  Pretty.  Not a whole lot of truly useful stuff from a gamer perspective though.  I'd say I am looking at 10-20 pages of REALLY good game rules, etc., and a whole lot of the "Jane's Defense, 40K" for the rest...  So, just a bit for me to scan/print to have the relevant rules for the things I plan on using.  Mortis Class DNs, Marines get 1/Detachment now (DA not limited so 3/Detachment if they want)...  The Interceptor rules are probably overpowered in the current incarnation, and I have had excellent luck with my "Warhammer" Class DN (Yes, BT ref) with the Las Cannons...  The Autocannons get more shots, but not ignoring Marine Armor I find them far less of a threat overall.  Besides, Str 9 AP 2 almost always hitting for 2 shots is enough to make most Vehicles at least pay attention.  And I regularly splash Fliers with my Legion one, so my Crimson Fists getting one will be most welcome.  Otherwise, the Roc class Storm Eagle is pretty insane, at least on paper...  2 * TL LC, a TL MM and a 4 shot Missile Launcher firing Krak missiles?  On a Flier that can transport 14?  Yes, loaded out like that it is like 320 points, so probably overpriced, but...  Strafing Run and PotMS mean I can pretty reliably tear up Vehicles and Marine armored Squads as I fly around...  No rules for the Raven's Combat Drop or whatever they called it, and I REALLY like that, but for the extra 2 real weapons to fire, I will happily give that up...  The Deathstorm Drop Pod has potential and I am glad to see it actually be something that may even work...  A little curious why you HAVE to buy the 25 point upgrade to Drop Pod Assault...  Without it, it lacks the Deep Strike rule, so is essentially a Vehicle/Bunker...  So, it is a 100 point vehicle :-)...  d3 hits from either the Whirlwind or the Assault Cannon to every Unit within 12" when it lands...  So Danger Close IS dangerous here...  Expensive and probably giving up a fairly easy "First Blood" to a lot of armies if you fail to kill something off on your turn, but looks like fun.  The Relic weapons look neat, but the penalty you must pay to FIELD a Relic is pretty steep.  So, mostly not something I will do outside of my Wolves perhaps...  All in all, "Neat", and my CF army gets a powerful boost in the form of good AAA and a potential gunship...  Wolves/BA/DA?  Not so much really...  So, Marines of most type got some new "now fully legal" toys, and while amusing, not a whole lot really changes except that I suspect more FW or their clones will be ordered here and there...

Local Tiers for 40K so far...

So, looking at the Armies as they are played locally at least…  I think I would put them into 3 tiers.  Rumor has Knights and IG being next up, and I think those have some potential to shake things up quite a bit...  Escalation and Stronghold Assault have helped locally more than hurt I think, but it is still new...  Long run, who knows...

Top Tier

Top tier are the ones that either do not really seem balanced against the others, or are simply problematic to face with anything but a specifically tailored list.  Here is where I would put the Eldar, Tau and probably Chaos Demons.  Though with the Demons, probably REALLY only the FMC (Flying Monstrous Creature) lists and/or the “Screamerstar”.  The argument to add the Necron “Croissants of Doom” list is a good one, but I think as time passes they slip more to the middle tier.  Right now I have a hard time explaining to a new or returning player with a Tyranid or Marine based army exactly how to deal with a min/maxxed Taudar list.  Any serious suggestions?  It is pretty much “Yeah…  You just lose against those armies, doesn't really matter WHAT you bring”.  Massed (current) Marine Grav weapons CAN take down the MCs and be a realistic threat to the skimmers, but it is a limited range and really, if the Eldar or Tau are expecting this it will not likely happen.  Beyond that, the Eldar’s massed high STR weapons (unnaturally accurate ones) combined with their basic weapons having a “Rending” rule means that 3+ armor and even 2+ is of very little use.  Both the Tau and Eldar have a significant number of “Ignore Cover” weapons/shots, so Scouts or anything relying on a Cover save (Orks, Tyranids) or massed numbers simply dies due to the high volume of shooting.   So, Orks with their 4^th Ed Codex are right out against the top tier.  Tyranids?  I suspect they will fare little better, but really have not seen them on the table locally since the new book came out.  They have SOME potential with the big bugs, and overall I think they look like a powerful and fun army…  Just that they cannot compete with the Uber lists.  Same can be said for most of the mid-tier armies…  MAYBE they can compete iff the top army essentially fumbles and they can take advantage of it…  Just doesn’t happen often and gets rapidly frustrating for the other player…

One of the bigger “problem” units is the Tau Riptide…  But let’s be completely honest, it is really only the “Earth Caste” upgraded one that is allowed to join up with ICs that is a really difficult one (s, typically it is NOT just one Riptide).  The rulebook specifies that ICs cannot join up with units that are bought as a single model (Non IC)…  Now, buying wargear that are “models” is the loophole used to allow this, but I would argue that the Riptide is BOUGHT as a single model unit, can only be upgraded and thus is NOT legally allowed to be joined by ICs.  Of course, I’m an Engineer, not a Lawyer thus my interpretation is not the currently popular one J…  I’m a big proponent of fairness, and any rule unequally applied I means nothing (my reaction to growing up near Chicago)…  If the Tau can do this, simply remove the restriction in the rulebook and allow ALL MCs to be joined by ICs, etc…  Wraith Lords would become instantly popular and the GKs Dreadknight would come back into favor I think…  Mind, this is NOT a serious suggestion really…  I would MUCH rather the current problematic thing simply be ruled on via FAQ/rule clarification.  Given the complete silence on this and other things, I am not holding my breath or out for much hope J…  So, yeah, the Tau with their silliness, and the fact that at least locally it seems to draw the “more problematic” players to play that army has perhaps made this more of a sore point locally than it might be elsewhere.  A LOT of players would rather simply sit out and chat than play if it puts them against this particular combo.  Arguments about wound allocation, part of the “unit” being behind a Void Shield, etc…  Just isn’t fun to play so most people don’t.  And this is the silliness I would anticipate if there was money on the table in the form of prize support for a bigger tournament, thus at least MY decision to not bother attending such an event.  Between that and reality being what it is, I doubt we could get a team of folks together.  A shame really, I know we could put together a really nice one with Dave and Steven’s Eldar as the base…  I just REALLY don’t want to play the way we would have to in order to de more than show up and die…  Besides, my RT era crap is amusing, but I wouldn’t want to try my luck at Adepticon subbing RT era “Ghost Warriors” in for “Wraith Guard”.  Really wouldn’t be fair for the other player with the wee tiny Ghosts dropping flamer templates of doom… 

Middle Tier

So, Top Tier being Eldar/Tau…  That leaves the middle tier.  Here is where I put the majority of what has been released in late 5^th Edition to the current 6^th Edition stuff…  A few exceptions.  DA simply do not even belong in the middle tier I think.  Coming from a DA player, there is simply not a lot I could field to compete against the Heldrake backed forces.  They simply eat anything “biker” based, and the Terminators I play  lack the numbers to be a serious contender against the weight of fire from a Tau/Eldar force.  They DO have a single now FAQ’d trick to allow a metric crapton of bolter shots…  “Eh”, and that is from one who played it.  Yes, it could erase entire Blobs, but then anything not threatened by Bolters?  Oh, well…  J

Marine codex was quite good, there are a large number of local players, many playing completely different forces.  White Scars, Ultramarines, my own Crimson Fists, an Iron Hands player…  Pretty sure there are more, just what I am remembering off the top of my head.  Decent armies, and really well balanced overall.  And you CAN build a lot of different forces out of that single book.  This should have been the model on which the other books were based, but…  Chaos Marines are actually not bad overall…  We have a few players actually playing them, and for the most part no more than 2 of the Heldrakes hit the table.  The rest of the book SEEMS lackluster when you compare it to the Drake, but overall they seem an interesting one allowing the players to build ALMOST what they wanted…  The players wanting to do real “Legion Based” things are still a tad bitter, but even they seem to be working well enough with the book as it is.  GK/Inquisition is pretty firmly here as well I think…  Decent to overpowered units (the GK book was what I thought finally broke 5^th ed…) that have been quite frankly passed by the new top tier…  Betting I could make a decent force to compete, and may well have to when the weather turns nice again and I am once again on my bike(s) I will be making forces that CAN fit into the single backpack or the luggage on the old bike…  So, some minor OP things, but nothing new, and people have learned to deal with them…  IG are good, but nothing really outstanding.  Betting again that I could bring a silly force to mess with the Taudar, but I’ve never really been a fan of bubble wrapped Artillery and Tanks…  They seem the big Escalation winners as they have access to a LOT of more tanks that some of the lads are starting to field…  DE and Tyranids I guess go here too, but haven’t seen either fielded much in 6^th, so really it is just guessing.  When Mike was here, I’d have put his DE against almost any army and if he went first, guessing he would do well…  Our battles were typically the bloodiest, so in the hands of a good player who understands his or her force, I think the DE would do well…  Tyranids I am less sure of, but I think they look like a good, balanced book…  Just nothing that can easily compete with the top tier…

Bottom Tier

 So, here is where I put the Wolves, Blood Angels, Orks and…  Wow, I guess that is pretty much it.  Kind of like seeing the great wheel turn J  At one time I felt bad playing the “maybe somewhat OP” Wolves or Fleshtearers…  Now, I am playing them, but more as a challenge than anything.  My Wolves led out by Bran Redmaw have some deployment tricks and the Bastion with Void Shield makes for a pretty good strong point to base a force on…  Guessing I will field my Fleshtearers in something like the same way.  They HAVE a flier, but the last few times I played them, we just got shot off of the table due to the low model count and insane number of shots the Necorn/Tau and Eldar can throw down range…

 I think I will field my “Shock” force just to see how badly it gets mauled…

CPT Tycho

Sternguard (7, 1 HF, 2 Combi Plasma, 4 Combi Melta, Drop Pod)

Sanguinary Priests (1 Terminator Armor for the Sternguard, 1 Jump Pack for the Assault Squad)

Assault Squad (10, Jump Packs, 2 Melta Guns, SGT has Melta bomb)

Death Company (5, JP, 2 Power Axes)

Death Company DN (HF, Fists)

Storm Raven (TL LC, TL Melta)

Bastion w/ Void Shield and Quad guns

So, the Assault Squad likely deploys in the Bastion, Combat Squadding if possible to use the HB’s AND the Quad Guns for some crappy long ranged firepower…  Turn one the CPT and Sternguard drop in and hopefully destroy something important J…  The Storm Raven is here to dogfight, the DC and DC DN will likely ride in that and be my linebacker…  Win or die by turn three usually…  I lack the ability to hold much or hold for a long time, but I can very nearly guarantee “First Blood” if I go first…  Then hope to kill enough quickly enough to slide in Pete Rose style for a narrow win :-)...  Or at least get shot to pieces while scaring them a bit...

Redmaw and Tactical Marines...

So, Bran Redmaw…  With the addition of “Monstrous Creature” to his Werewolf form, he might just be a bit overpowered…  Well, ASSUMING you can get him to HtH.  Looking at typically 6 Attacks, all hitting on a 3+, Str 6 AP 2, and he CAN go to Str 10 if he needs to crack open a Vehicle.  Still an IC, so he can join up with a squad of Grey Hunters or whatever, Fearless and FnP are nice, etc…  Had him run up against a DA force last night and he singlehandedly offed 2 Deathwing Squads with that insane number of AP 2 attacks at I6.

Did lead me to an odd Rule question, and I hadn’t found anything preventing a Monstrous Creature who is also an IC from joining an Infantry unit…  Seemed a bit odd with the giant Werewolf in the Squad of Grey Hunters, but hey, they have damn Wolf Cavalry these days, so really, how odd is it?  Not too familiar with the Tyranids, guessing they are the only other army with MC/IC interactions like this though…

Have to say, I was impressed by the Bastion with the Void Shield.  The Long Fangs being protected in the battlements being able to REALLY split fire and do a lot of damage was quite nice.  Well, the turns the Shield was up…  It got knocked down on Turn 2, I think came back on Turn 5…  Still, for the extra 25 points or so?  Was awesome…

Even so, I am not convinced that the Wolves can face one of the top tier armies.  Well, face and have more than a trivial chance of winning…  Yes, I can do some deployment tricks and have up to half of my army Flank or Behind Enemy Lines, but with Interceptor so cheap and the loss of the ability to Assault out of Reserve, I come in, shoot with the handful of short ranged Special Weapons and the bolters I have, then hope NOT to simply get shot off the table.  Killing 10-12 Marines in Powered Armor is not I think a challenge for the armies I am concerned about facing.  The Wolves senses are a relic of the old rule set, and so mostly useless in Sixth.  The Rune Priest’s weapon is the ONLY real Psychic defense left in the game really at this point other than perhaps the GK Aegis, but even that does nothing to stop boosting powers, etc.  So, yes, having the perhaps slightly overcosted RP is a good thing.  One of the VERY few Wolf things worth still taking I think, and that mostly due to the favorable loophole left with the Psychic powers.  Still no fliers, the Grey Hunters are still good for what they are, but really, they are still just basic Marines.

Was discussing some of the issues with an actual Ultramarine player last night…  He feels that his basic Tactical Marines are more or less useless, and I have to agree.  Even in my Crimson Fist army, I field Troops only because I have to, but Scouts for the most part, Powered Armor tends to be on Sternguard…  The Bolter is just complete crap as a basic weapon.  Yes, it is really good against IG type troops, but when every other race has a much better basic weapon?  Necron Gauss glances Vehicles, Eldar Shuriken Rends against “living” targets, DE have poison, Tau have higher Str AND Range, etc…  To be honest I have yet to see a Tyranid force on the field and haven’t really read over their stuff, so the Marines MAY have an advantage in basic weapons over at least one new army.  Of course, games are rarely won by the Infantry’s basic weapon, but it does provide a good idea of what the Army can do I think.  Necrons can wipe the Vehicles off the field trivially, Eldar can kill off any Living army, etc…  Marines with Bolters are fairly mediocre against everything.  And you HAVE to field at least 2 Squads of Troops of some kind.  For the Marines, it is Scouts or a tax to be paid as they will likely do very little good in the game on their own.  Even Scouts with their craptastic stats are a tax in and of themselves, but at least they are cheap and have the POTENTIAL to actually wound say, a Riptide or Wraithlord…  Doesn’t happen often of course, but…  So, Marine armies by and large fight at something of a disadvantage if they use basic Troops.  Yes, some things like the Centurions have the potential to be amazing, but really they have to in order to overcome the inertia/tax/whatever you want to call the Marine’s now completely outclassed basic weapon.  Sternguard with their different ammo types are great, and at least some of that should be more of a “General Issue” sort of thing for all of the Marine Bolters I think.  Something, hell, ANYTHING to make the Bolters a bit better to keep up with the stuff that has by and large passed them…

Eh, painting a LOT of Grey things these days, might have to actually paint up a few of the Fleshtearer things just as a break from the “All Grey All the Time” Wolf Legion/Chapter theme I have going on my paint desk…

Never WAS a Bran Redmaw model?

I remembered seeing something online when IA 11 came out, but then never really saw the mini...  Turns out they had one as a WiP and then discarded it.  So, no official models...  I guess I'll be fine using a "Standard" Wolf Lord mit axe and one of my ancient Rackham Wolfen to represent him in Lupine form...  Neat I guess :-)...  Am a bit curious what sized base is recommended for the "Monstrous Creature" form...  Not wanting to be unfair, and as he more or less is ONLY a HtH creature, the larger base would be an advantage I think...  As it happens I have a few...

Have to put a kilt on the "Wolflord" form as well I guess...