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...

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...