Battle in the Eye of Terror • 3rd Chaos Mission

BRIDGE OF SIGHS

This is the third and final mission for a one day campaign that takes place in the Eye of Terror. Whichever player accumulates the most battle points total over the course of all three missions claims control of a pristine planet located in the very center of the Eye. The warp is very strong but also fickle and favors no one.

Note
These missions are only for Chaos armies (Chaos Daemons and Chaos Space Marines) - no other armies are allowed, not even as allies.

Background
The Bridge of Sighs is located along the very equator of a northern province on the main continent of the planet. The bridge was forged by the four Gods of Chaos from the many skulls and bones of slain enemies that fought on either side of the molten river that flows beneath it. It passes over the Rio Diablo and connects the New Prison to the sacrificial chambers in the Prince's Palace.

The view from the Bridge of Sighs was the last view of the former capital city palace that convicts gathered from across the entire galaxy saw before their imprisonment. The bridge name comes from the suggestion that prisoners would sigh at their final view of the once beautiful palace before being taken down to the underground containment cells. In reality all of the summary sacrifices were over by the time the bridge was completed and the cells underneath the palace were occupied by hundreds of thousands of crazed convicts. In addition, little could be seen from the bridge due to the vast towering gouts of burning ash belched out from the swollen burning river.

A local legend says that the last of the convicts revolted, lead by the fifth Chaos God Malal, erupting from the Bridge Of Sighs to lay waste to the entire city in one gruesome act of final revenge. The bridge collapsed under the sheer weight of bodies claiming their death as well.

Every other 10,000 years the bridge re-appears at sunset and the reanimated forces of Chaos assemble on either side to fight to the death for their dark Gods again (Night Fight is in effect the entire game).


PRIMARY OBJECTIVE
Place a bridge in the center of the table with a river flowing from one end to the other underneath it. Whomever controls the bridge at the end of the game wins. Keep playing turns (after the sixth turn if necessary) until only one army has control... Even if it comes down to the very last model. The bridge is worth 10 battle points.

The River Goliath
The ancient river is a vast daemonic entity created from the very souls of the last convicts that fell into it after the bridge collapsed. Nothing can cross the river by any means - except by crossing the Bridge of Sighs. Note that one of the Warlord Traits listed below is the one and only exception.

SECONDARY OBJECTIVES
None.

DEPLOYMENT
Dawn of War

- Special Rules -
• Units on either side of the bridge always count as having Stealth and are Shrouded as well.
• Psychic tests are not necessary.
• Daemonic units must deploy normally.
• All units are Fearless and gain Counter Attack while on the bridge.

CHAOS BOONS
If a unit destroys an enemy unit immediately roll on the following table (d3):

1 - The unit gains +1S and Rending.
2 - The unit returns to full strength.
3 - The unit enters Stasis for one entire turn - they are immobile and count as impassable terrain. If the unit is located on the bridge place them on their side the minimum distance necessary so that all other units can move onto the bridge. Once they leave stasis they count as being Slow and Purposeful and move as if in difficult terrain for the next turn.

Note there is only ever at most one roll for any unit on the table above even if a unit destroys multiple enemy units.

CHAOS ICONS
Select one that you chose from either of the first two missions. On a roll of 2 on 2d6 the icon has no effect the entire game. On a roll of 12 the unit with the icon also gains Move through Cover.

WARLORD TRAITS (d3)
1-  The Warlord gains +2W at the start of the game and has Endurance.
2 - The Warlord and any unit it joins can deep strike anywhere on the table at the start of that player's turn. If they land on the opponent's side of the bridge each model suffers a S6 AP - hit (Shred, Soul Blaze), they always scatter, are Blinded and are lost to the warp if they mishap that turn.
3 - The Warlord and any unit it joins gains Night Vision.

NUMBER OF TURNS
There are six turns - then continue to play another turn until only one army controls the bridge at the end of that turn. Any and all units can hold the bridge.

Battle in the Eye of Terror - 2nd Chaos Mission

DAEMON WORLD

The battle takes place on a pristine maiden world located in the center of the Eye of Terror. The Warp is very strong here.

Special Rules
- Psychic tests are not necessary
- Daemon units can deploy normally
- All units are Fearless
- Any HQ with 3+ wounds have Eternal Warrior, those with less gain +1W
- An number of units can be placed in reserve prior to the start of the game and d3 + 1 units can be redeployed up to d6" before the start of the game (within their own deployment zone)

Deployment
Vanguard Strike

Primary Objectives
There are three objective markers. One is placed at the center of the table and the other two are placed 18" on either side along the center line. The central objective marker is worth 4 battle points and the other two are worth 2 battle points each.

Secondary Objectives
First Blood, Slay the Warlord, Line Breaker (1 battle point each)

Chaos Boons
Each time a daemonic unit destroys an enemy unit in melee roll 1d6 and confer to the following table:

1- Oops! - Reroll on the table; if you roll a 1 again each model in the unit automatically takes a poisoned S6 AP - hit (Shred)
2 - Reanimation - The unit returns to its starting number of models and consolidates 2d6"
3 - Void Armor - The unit gains Iron Hide (3+ armor save) and a 4++ invulnerable save
4 - Vorpal Claws - The unit gains the Rending special rule for all attacks
5 - Sure Foot - The unit gains the Fleet special rule
6 - We'll Be Back Again - The unit is placed in Ongoing Reserves. They can deep strike upon re-entry and do not scatter. They must wait one turn upon re-entry to launch an assault unless they have the Hit & Run special rule.

Any daemonic unit can gain multiple boons from this table.

Chaos Icons
You can purchase one of the following icons for a daemonic unit:

Icon of Hate
The unit gains the Hatred Rule versus all enemy units.

25 points

Icon of Lingering Death
The unit gains the Feel No Pain special rule after destroying its first enemy unit and Fleet after destroying its second enemy unit.

50 points

Void Icon
The unit gains +1S and Shred for all attacks versus enemy units.

100 points

Daemon Warlord Traits
A Warlord with the Daemon special rule can roll on the following table:

1 - The Warlord and any unit to which it's attached gains the Shrouding special rule and can go to ground.
2 - The Warlord becomes a scoring unit.
3  - The Warlord gains +d3 attacks the first round in each melee.
4 - The Warlord can re-roll for every daemon weapon mastery test; if double 1s are rolled he can do nothing that turn and suffers a wound (no saves of any type).
5 - The Warlord and any unit to which it's attached gains Move Through Cover and can re-roll the distance to charge.
6 - The Warlord and any unit to which it's attached can outflank.

Bay Area Open (BAO) • 40k GT • March 2013 • CA

Ready to form Voltron! Activate interlocks! Dyna-therms connected. Infra-cells up; mega-thrusters are go! Form feet and legs; form arms and body; and I'll form the head!

Battle in the Eye of Terror Special Mission

BATTLE IN THE EYE OF TERROR

Hi everyone - your ever friendly neighborhood Blow Fly here again to brighten your lives !! This week I have a special mission I designed to play with my friends who also have Chaos armies.

Enjoy !!!

NOTE - Only Chaos armies can play this mission... and that means no human or xenos allies too.

The battle takes place on a pristine maiden world located in the very center of the Eye of Terror… The power of the warp is incredibly strong here – daemons and the followers of Chaos are enhanced as follows:

·       No psychic tests are required and daemons can deploy as normal

·       All Chaos HQ choices with three or more wounds have Eternal Warrior, all other HQ choices gain +1W

Each odd turn has Night Fight.

DEPLOYMENT

Hammer and Anvil

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE

Kill Points

Chaos Boons

Beginning on the second turn roll 1d6. An objective marker appears on the spot indicated in the figure above. If you roll a 5 then roll again. The objective marker then remains in play for two turns – if a scoring unit moves into base contact with an objective marker they gain control and are immediately granted a powerful Chaos boon – roll 1d6 and refer to the table below:

Roll	Boon
1	+1S
2	+1T
3	+1I
4	+1A
5	+1W
6	Objective marker immediately returns to the warp, one random model in the unit becomes a spawn

Chaos Boon Table

]  Only one unit can ever gain a boon from any one objective marker; however one unit can gain multiple boons.

]  If no scoring unit can reach the objective marker within two turns after it arrives then the marker returns to the warp – place the large blast over the center of the marker… It scatters 4d6 and leaves behind a S10 AP1 blast (Ordnance, Melta, Shred) before departing. If you roll a HIT use the small arrow to determine the scatter direction.

]  Note that one new objective marker appears at the beginning of each turn after the first. No more appear after the fifth turn.

]  The power of the warp is fickle as well… At the beginning of the 6^th turn any boons granted from the table above are immediately lost.

Chaos Icons

   Bound Icon      You can bind a daemonic troop choice to the icon. The daemons come in from reserve off the icon starting on turn 2 (roll for normal reserves). The bound daemons can assault the turn they arrive. You can sacrifice one member of the icon bearer's unit each turn to hold back the daemons.

50 points

Icon of Darkness
The icon creates a void of darkness the turn it's revealed during the movement phase. All friendly units within 12" + 2d6 of the icon are shrouded and terrain counts as both difficult and dangerous to enemy units. The icon bearer's unit also have Night Vision. This lasts until the start of the owning player's next turn. You can sacrifice one member of the icon bearer's unit each following turn to attempt to prolong the darkness... The icon will continue to function on a roll of 4+ on 1d6.

75 points

Warp Icon
The icon fills its bearer and his unit with raw warp power. The icon can be activated at the start of the assault phase. All members of the icon bearer's unit gain the Daemonic rule and +1S. At the start the owning player's following turns roll 1d6... On a roll of 3+ the icon continues to function. On a roll of 6 a random model in the unit is consumed by the warp.

150 points

If a unit with an icon is destroyed in melee by an enemy Chaos Space Marine unit before it is activated then that unit takes possession of the icon... On a roll of 1 on 1d6 every model in the enemy unit suffers a S5 AP- hit and the icon returns to the warp.

SECONDARY OBJECTIVES

First Blood, Slay the Warlord, Line Breaker

GAME TURNS

There are six turns then a seventh on a roll of 4+ on 1d6.

Cell Phone Numbers Go Public this Month

REMEMBER:

Cell Phone Numbers Go Public this month !!!

REMINDER:

All cell phone numbers are being released to telemarketing companies - you will start to receive sales calls.

Call the following number from your cell phone to prevent this:

888-382-1222

It is the National DO NOT CALL List.

It takes less than a minute.

It blocks your number for five (5) years.

You must call from the cell phone number you want to have blocked.

You cannot call from a different phone number.

WEBSITE:

https://www.donotcall.gov/default.aspx

Pre Heresy Angron by SkizO

This is from my good buddy SkizO located up in the great white north. He is one heck of a painter !

2nd set of mods to Khorne army (2k)

So I have gone back to the drawing board for the second set of modifications to my 2000 point Khorne army list. The end result is to produce a more well rounded force that is bettered suited for the current meta. The overall changes aren't drastic which I think is a good thing.


Primary Detachment - Chaos Space Marines

Kharn
6x Berserker /VotLW (Veterans of the Long War), Icon of Wrath
Berserker Champion /Lightning Claw, Power Fist

Land Raider /Extra Armor, Dozer Blades, Dirge Caster

7x Berserker /VotLW (Veterans of the Long War)
Berserker Champion /Lightning Claw, Power Fist

Land Raider /Extra Armor, Dozer Blades, Dirge Caster

Heldrake

Allied Detachment - Daemons

Herald of Khorne /Juggernaught, Unholy Might, Blessing of the Blood God, Fury of Khorne
5x Blood Crusher /Fury of Khorne

12x Bloodletter

Daemon Prince /Mark of Nurgle, Wings, Unholy Might, Iron Hide, Cloud of Flies, Noxious Touch, Breath of Chaos


The main change is dropping the third squad of Berserkers and their rhino to add a Heldrake and bump back up the number of Bloodletters. I have also included an icon for Kharn's retinue which allows the reroll for the charge distance... You really want to make sure they make it into melee.

This army is not altogether that much better at eliminating enemy flyers than either of the previous versions but I think the addition of the Heldrake will provide another good deterrent along with the Daemon Prince - their main purpose is to draw the attention of the opponent so they cannot initially focus on my ground elements. This should in turn leave my infantry more intact to win games in the later stages (turns 4 and on).

I could just drop the Daemon Prince and take a second flyer but I want a list that is more unique than what I think will be the run of the mill Chaos armies... You are going to see a lot of Chaos armies featuring a pair of Heldrakes and they are truly a bargain for the points. Also while pricy the Daemon Prince armed as above is versatile enough and very good in close combat versus most other dedicated enemy melee units - especially other monstrous creatures.

Batrep • Khorne vs. Chaos Space Marines

I played a game versus another Chaos Space Marine army this afternoon.

Army Lists

Here is my 2000 point army list:

Chaos Space Marines (Primary Detachment)

Kharn (deploys with squad of 7 Berserkers in 1st land raider)

6x Berserker /VotLW (Veterans of the Long War)
Berserker Champion /Lightning Claw, Power Fist

Land Raider /Extra Armor, Dozer Blades, Dirge Caster

7x Berserker /VotLW (deploys in 2nd land raider)
Berserker Champion /Lightning Claw, Power Fist

Land Raider /Extra Armor, Dozer Blades, Dirge Caster

7x Berserker /VotLW
Berserker Champion /Lightning Claw, Power Fist
Rhino /Dozer Blades, Dirge Caster

Chaos Daemons (Allied Detachment)

Herald of Khorne /Juggernaught, Unholy Might, Fury of Khorne, Blessing of the Blood God
5x Blood Crusher /Fury of Khorne

8x Bloodletter

Daemon Prince /MoN, Wings, Iron Hide, Unholy Might, Cloud of Flies, Noxious Touch, Breath of Chaos


Here is my opponent's Chaos Space Marine army list to the best of my memory:

Chaos Lord /Mark of Khorne, Juggernaught, Axe of Blind Fury, Sigil of Corruption

Sorceror (Level 3 Psyker) /Chaos Space Marine Bike, Black Mace, Sigil of Corruption

10x Cultist
10x Cultist

9x Berserker
Champion /Power Sword

9x Chaos Space Marine /autocannon, plasmagun
Champion

9x Chaos Space Marine /autocannon, plasmagun
Champion

4x Havoc / 4x missile launcher (flakk)
Champion

Land Raider /extra armor, dozer blades

Maulerfiend

Heldrake
Heldrake

Khorne Army Part 2 (modified 2000 point army list)

So I had time today to play a few games with my 'new' army during the holiday break... Khorne has always been one of my perennial armies that I keep coming back to again over the years. I played some 2500 point games so I could test out a flying daemon prince in the army as well... I really need to find a way to work him into my 2000 point list ! I am going to drop the chainaxes - they are pricey and not really doing anything for the army based upon my test play so far... that help will free up some points for a prince.

I have had some recent comments elsewhere that this army is one dimesional... it is but that doesn't mean it is a bad list or uncompetitive. The main reasons why this army can win games being that it is obviously very heavy hitting in melee and is also highly mobile since the daemon component deep strikes onto the battlefield. The shift to shooting in 6th edition is also another important factor that can help a lot.

There are lots of armies out there now that are built to stand back and shoot behind an Aegis Defense Line... the bulk of the daemonic units drop in on turn one forcing the opponent to focus fire on them while the landraiders move into position. It is the classic application of assaulting the enemy via several waves of attack.

So here is the new army list...

World Eaters (Primary Detachment)
Kharn

6x Berserker
Champion /lightning claw, power fist
* Veterans of the Long War

Land raider /extra armor, dozer blades, dirge caster

7x Berserker
Champion /lightning claw, power fist
* Veterans of the Long War

Land raider /extra armor, dozer blades, dirge caster

7x Berserker
Champion /lightning claw, power fist
* Veterans of the Long War
Rhino /dozer blades, dirge caster

Chaos Daemons (allied Detachment)
Herald of Khorne /Juggernaught, Unholy Might, Fury of Khorne, Blessing of the Blood God

5x Blood Crusher /Fury of Khorne

8x Bloodletter

Deamon Prince /MoN, Wings, Iron Hide, Unholy Might, Cloud of Flies, Noxious Touch, Breath of Chaos


This list has pretty much everything I want and has even better speed now with the inclusion of the Nurgle Prince.

Teh Blakke Daeth (Prelude)

Eventually all great things must come to an end. It is the way of this world... It is the way of this universe to which we exist. We rise up then we drop back down again... The higher we stand the greater distance our fall. It is what it is. A balance is necessary to offset the order of the magnitude of our eventual decline. Balance keeps us on level ground. Nothing can continue undefeated forever. The enemy constantly waits for just one slip - just one mistake then they strike out. Entropy is the natural order of this universe... All the way down to the very subatomic level... It is inside everyone of us born to this world. Fight it as we may it is inevitable.

One moment time is on your side then the next moment the cosmic clock winds against you. The middle way is the true path.

Khorne Army - 2000 points

Here is a 2k army list I put together for Khorne featuring a dynamic duo I have always wanted to pair up for a long time...

Kharn
6x Berzerker /heavy chainaxes, Veterans
Champion /power sword, melta bombs
Land raider /dozer blades, dirge caster, daemonic possession

7x Berzerker /heavy chainaxes, Veterans
Champion /power sword, melta bombs
Land raider /dozer blades, dirge caster, daemonic possession

9x Berzerker /heavy chainaxes, Veterans
Champion /power sword, melta bombs
Rhino /dozer blades

Skulltaker /Juggernaught
Herald of Khorne /Juggernaught, Bless of the Blood God, Unholy Might, Fury of Khorne
4x Blood Crusher /Icon

16x Bloodletter

This I think would be a fairly competitive army and fits the background well. The land raiders are your long range fire power and a pair is going to be hard to deal with for a lot of the newer 6th edition lists you so often see now geared around lots and lots of massed infantry. The nice thing for me is I actually already have all the models and they are painted by none other than my good buddy GMM Studios !! Suck it all you anon losers !!!

Fred Reed's response to recent comments on BoLS article

This past weekend an interview I wrote about Gabe Dobkin and his award winning Death Company army at BeakyCon2 aired over on Bells of the Lost Souls. Here is a link to the interview...

http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2012/11/beakycon2-interview-with-gabe-dobkin.html#comment-713409606

An anonymous poster made a series of rude comments that Gabe did not paint either his Death Company army or his Cobra themed Imperial Guard army. The anonymous poster claimed that both armies are the work of Fred Reed, an award winning painter and former employee of Games Workshop, whom now resides in Florida.

I've known Gabe for a long time and these accusations did not ring true to me so I personally contacted Fred Reed to get to the bottom of this fiasco. Here is what Fred had to say in regards to whether or not he painted Gabe's Death Company army or Cobra themed Imperial Guard army:

Hi Steve
Gabe has also been a good friend of mine for 6+ years. We've been painting together since we met... have I helped him yes, have I taught him most of what he knows yes. As a result his techniques and results are very similiar to mine (not as good and it takes him much longer) but did I paint them for him... No. Anyone who doubts Gabe's ability should sit down with him and watch him work... they will see that he is a great painter and very capable.

Fred Reed

40k Editorial • 1850 vs 2000+ points for Grand Tournaments

Hi all !! Your friendly (heh) Black Blow Fly here tonight to discuss preferred points level for Warhammer 40k Grand Tournaments (GTs). This year we saw a lot of GTs that were run at the 2k level - it is important to note that 2012 saw a transition from 40k5 to 40k6. I think most tournament organizers chose 2k for their 40k6 GTs simply following the trend from 40k5 and to a certain degree that's to be expected.

Introduction - WarGamesCon versus Comikaze
I played in only two GTs this year - the first one was WarGamesCon in Austin, Texas run by my good friends from Bell of the Lost Souls (BoLS)... This was a 2k GT using 40k5. The other GT was Comikaze in Los Angeles run by my good friend Reecius and his crew Team Zero Comp... This was a 1.5k GT using 40k6. I had one game in Austin that only went four turns and it was versus a Space Wolf player whom told me he was in the process of reacquainting himself with 40k... This game happened to be my only tie and if it had gone just one more turn I believe I would have won. This particular opponent spent an long long amount of time thinking out each and every part of the game before he ever actually did anything such as moving his modeis or shooting... It got to be a bit frustrating towards the end but I took it all in stride. It's very interesting to me that all my games in Los Angeles only ever made it to the fourth turn - several of these games were versus large Ork armies... None of my opponents at Comikaze were slow players and I really enjoyed my all my games versus these Ork armies - in fact they were simply fantastic people to play.

A Quick but Incorrect Conclusion
Based on these two experiences it would be very easy to draw a quick conclusion that the new edition simply takes more time to play but to be honest I don't think that's the case at all. I ran a GT here in Florida using 40k6 at 2k this past month and to the best of my knowledge the vast majority of the games made it to at least a fifth turn... In fact we monitored each and every game to check for slow play but none were reported by any of the players. I do know that a few of the games in the final rounds on the top tables only made it to the fourth turn but none of these particular players flagged their opponents for slow play (interesting).

Army Levels and Where Your Points are Best Spent
To me a big part of the appeal when traveling far away from home to play is the opportunity to bring a lot of my favorite toys and forge some very epic battles... Such as my Tyranids shooting down Draigo and his retinue of five Paladins in turn five for the win at WGC during the sixth round out of seven. In direct contrast I think 1500 points is a great level at which to design the base core of a competitive army but it's also lacking as the ultimate experience I'm looking for when it comes to playing in a large two day tournament.

Why do I say this... Well think about it for a moment - you still need a large number of scoring units to compete in 6th edition since most missions feature holding objectives as the primary win condition and to accomplish this on a consistent basis you will need at least three to four scoring units. If you only field up to three scoring units thst is cutting it very close as well so let's assume to do well you will typically need at least four scoring units (for many armies). This is a significant chunk of your army for many codices and not every army has access to dirt cheap troops such as Inquistorial henchmen or can quickly spawn huge numbers of gants on a whim. So at the 1500 point level there are many armies that will have a large percentage of these points invested mostly in their scoring units and as a direct result fewer points left over to field units from the other slots such as fast attack or heavy support.

The First and Second Jumps
The jump from 1500 to 1850 points is huge and opens the door to a much greater variety of units from other slots in the Force Organization Chart (FOC) besides troops... Which to me equates directly towards a better overall experience for my money. You have almost 25 percent more points available to build your army which is definitely a significant amount.

On the other hand the jump from 1850 to 2000 points is roughly an increase by a factor of only 10 percent - it doesn't seem that large of a jump and I'm not sold on the concept this reduction in points will significantly reduce the amount of time required to play five turns over the course of 120 to 150 minutes (i.e., two to two and one half hours). As I pointed out in the introduction I played in a 40k6 GT this year at 1500 points where the majority of my games (if not all) never made it past the fourth turn and we had around two hours per game. My conclusion here is the format plays a bigger role towards playing a fifth turn versus the specific points level.

Format
The format created for the TOs has a great impact on how fast a game can be played and the more complex the overall system is set in place will greatly impact how fast you can play a game in general. By its very nature 40k6 is much more complex than 40k5. Many new elements were added to the game such as rolling for your Warlord Traits and psychic powers. The assault phase is much more complex now in general as another example. The format we used at BeakyCon2 worked very well in terms of finishing games on time and for the most part there were no complaints in that regard. Also be aware that each round lasted up to 150 minutes and most of the few that overran this amount of preset time we granted the players up to 10-15 extra minutes of play time without significantly impacting the overall schedule... To wit I'm proud to say.

By excluding things such as Mysterious Terrain and the overall number of primary objectives you can drastically cut down on the time required to play a game. This additional gained time could nicely go towards allowing players to field larger armies (i.e., more points).

I think that a lot of other TOs that have not yet run a large 6th edition 40k GT are simply looking for the the simplest of means to shorten the time required to play at least five turns - and I think they will sadly discover this is not the best solution... Look at my results from Comikaze as a telling point... Smaller armies due to a reduction in points will not guarantee shorter game times - that is my prediction for 2013.

Total 40k6 versus 40k5.1
I do want to see the inclusion of 40k Approved units from Forgeworld and double FOCs next year. Cutting back to 1850 points in 2013 as the new standard level automatically eliminates the use of double FOCs and you will also have less points left over to field any of those dear Forgeworld units you've been planning to finally use. This is the wrong direction to travel and brings us back in time closer to something more akin to 40k5 in my opinion. Things like rolling for your Warlord Traits and psychic powers should require less than five minutes to complete at most. Definitely the new edition overall is more complex in many ways but on the other hand as players become more familiar with the new rules the game will eventually become less complex... Give it another year to shake out.

Conclusions
It will be interesting to see what comes to be. I'm an advocate for larger armies and the use of well defined formats to bring everything in line. This is all not to say I won't play in an 1850 point 40k6 GT, just stating what I currently prefer for now.

Horus Heresy Novel Review (Part 2) • Fear to Tread

So I finally finished reading the novel this week while I was out of the country... Maybe I should have entitled this review as Fear to Read... Just kidding - it wasn't that bad. I also read another Horus Heresy compilation consisting of several short stories and a few novellas. My feelings regarding the Blood Angels novel are mixed... It did seem to follow along the lines of established background and it also showcased the Legion and it's Primarch Sanguinius as one of the best at the art of war in the 30th millenium. Comparing the writing to some of the stories in the other book though I just found it lacking and think it could have been better done overall.

I give Swallow's effort a very generous rating of three stars out of five. If you are a big fan of Blood Angels then you should read it as there is some interesting development of characters such as Azkellion (commander of the Sanguinary Guard) and Captain Amit from the Fifth Company who was the original Flesh Tearer. The depiction of Sanguinius is okay but nothing really special in my opinion. I did find the development of the Red Tear, the Legion's flagship, to be very interesting. Overall by midway through the book the writing loses some of its flavor it had going for it in the first half and to a certain degree seems to just being going through the motions. It's okay read but definitely not one of the better Horus Heresy novels. I'd like to say I was hoping for more but knowing Swallow and his general depiction of Blood Angels I'll just finish by saying I'm glad it wasn't a total disaster as is so often the case.

Back from hte Dead again

Hello everyone ! I know it's been awhile since my last post. I was out of the country this past week, just returning this afternoon and didn't have much access to the Internet... Glad to be back home again !!

This week I plan to cover some topics such as mech and another article on my Grey Knight Allied Necron army.

That's all for now.

Part 1. Why my Grey Knights-Necron army works

Hello everyone !! This evening I'd like to talk about my current 6th edition army which is Grey Knights  (GK) with a Necron allied detachment.

Warning - This subject is quite troubling and stirring to some as there are those that do not particularly like this combination.

As an aside I had a 2000 point game today versus an Ork army using the double force organization (FOC) - it was optimized featuring four dakkajets, one Mekk Boy and two Warpheads. I thought it was a very fitting army for the Ork background and well designed. I was talking with my opponent while we unpacked our armies and brought up the subject of my 30k army I am working on now. I was a bit surprised to hear him say that Forgeworld isn't ready for prime time in local tournaments knowing that he won an RTT last weekend using the same double FOC list. I thought it was kind of funny that he is okay with the double FOC but not Forgeworld. I am more open now to the new things that have come along which should be obvious to you here that follow my blog.

Army List

Here is my current GK-Necron 2000 point list:

Castellan Crowe

Inquisitor Coteaz (Warlord)

Purifier Squad #1 (psybolt ammo)

Keeper of the Flame - Master Crafted Nemesis Warding Stave

Nemesis Daemonhammer

6x Nemesis Force Sword

2x Psycannon

Purifier Squad #2

Keeper of the Flame - Nemesis Halberd

2x Nemesis Force Sword

2x Psycannon

- Rhino/ Searchlight, Psybolt Ammo

Purifier Squad #2

Keeper of the Flame - Nemesis Halberd

2x Nemesis Force Sword

2x Psycannon

- Rhino/ Searchlight, Psybolt Ammo

Land Raider Crusader/ Psybolt Ammo, Multi-Melta

Stormraven/ Searchlight, Psybolt Ammo, Twin-linked Assault Cannon, Twin-linked Multi-Melta, Hurricane Sponsons

Destroyer Lord - War Scythe, Seminternal Weave, Mind Shackle Scarabs

5x Immortal - Tesla Carbines

Night Scythe

Doom Scythe

The army as it stands now is an expansion on the 1500 point core list I developed over the summer to play in a GT held in Los Angeles (Komikaze run by Reecius and his crew from Team Zero Comp). The main additions are Coteaz, 10 man Purifier squad and the Land Raider Crusader.

As you may notice the army does not feature any long range fire power except for the Mind Strike Missiles. This is offset though by the three flyers which have the ability to get where they need to be quickly and get the job done. In case you are wondering I typically deploy Crowe in the Stormraven, Coteaz and the 10 man squad of Purifiers in the Land Raider Crusader... the Destroyer Lord joins the Immortals in their Night Scythe.

The army is a mix of MSU, flyers plus the brick of ten Purifiers in the Land Raider Crusader. The Purifiers are sheer death when it comes to any hordes... Cleansing Flame will invariably torch them if they reach combat. Most of the army is composed of ground forces along with what I feel is the right mix at this point level for an air force. I have done very well versus the new Chaos Space Marines handily beating them every time so far.

Here is how I break down the army into its individual components:

Ground Force

Coteaz - Purifier Squad #1 - Land Raider Crusader (Melee + Short Range Fire Support)

Purifier Squads #2 & #3 (MSU)

Air Force

Destroyer Lord - Immortals - Night Scythe (Melee, MSU + Long Range Fire Support)

Crowe + Stormraven (Melee + Long Range Fire Support)

Doom Scythe (Long Range Fire Support)

My three most heavy hitting melee units are Crowe, 10 man Purifier squad and the Destroyer Lord (Shiva). Shiva is the most potent in melee as they are not many units (such as MSU) that cannot deal with him... Shiva will invariably tie down an enemy unit and quickly grind right through them. Many say that Crowe is impotent but I have found he is another beast that excels in melee - You just have to go after the right targets.

Purifiers are in my opinion the best generalist unit now as they excel at both shooting and melee.

Aegis Defense Line - Must Take ?

This evening I'd like to talk about the Aegis Defense Line (ADL). I think it is the most popular choice to come out of 6th edition so far. If you stop to think about it you see it featured in a lot of batreps on the Internet. I have used the ADL one time since I started playing 6th edition... It was very useful for that one game too but obviously in general it doesn't suit my style. I have noticed a certain trend in losses that I think can be attributed directly to the ADL. Don't take this the wrong way - I'm not implying that every loss suffered by an army featuring the ADL was due to its inclusion - it is far from that which I want to make clear right in the beginning.

Advantages
Here are what I perceive as the main advantages to taking the ADL:

• Cheap for the points
• Excellent cover save with a wide arc that can be enhanced using other attributes of the game such as going to ground and snap firing
• Some additional benefits such as the quad gun, Icarus lascannon and comms relay

Disadvantages
So now we come to the meat of the discussion and I'll go into a lot of detail here. Let's first go back in time and compare 5th edition to 4th edition - in my opinion 5th edition was much more fluid than 4th edition and encouraged the use of mobility to win on a consistent basis. 4th edition on the other hand was a lot like 6th edition is now in many ways as it favored static gun line armies with heavy infantry.

An Example of a Winning Gun Line Army
My favorite 4th edition army was my Dark Angels - it featured all infantry (i.e., no vehicles whatsoever) and every infantry unit was primarily intended for shooting. I did have two Librarians in terminator armor, both with a terminator command squad (2x assault cannon per squad)... These were my counter assault units and their secondary role was to deal with dedicated enemy melee units that got through to my battle line, which they did very effectively. This was the tactical height of Dark Angels and I think they were one of the best ever shooty Space Marine armies - squads in power armor were intractable which meant they never had to take any leadership tests other than pinning due to losses from enemy shooting. Terminators (aka Deathwing) were stubborn which was even better. You could stand still (sometimes the entire game) and blaze away with all your guns never having to worry about failing any break checks due to enemy shooting.

On top of all this back in 4th edition the tactical squads were a brilliant top troop choice as you could take a five man squad with a lascannon and plasmagun (combat squads were not necessary). The current 5th edition requirement to field ten Marines per tactical squad in order to field a heavy weapon and special weapon was the demise of this unit - combat squads are not very effective for most Space Marine units plus it cuts down on the overall number of these ranged weapons you can field. Vanilla Space Marines as they stand now don't have any really strong troop choices other than bike squads which are points heavy to field and suffer from enemy shooting. Compare a standard tactical Marine to a Grey Hunter or even a Blood Angels assault Marine - there really is no comparison.

Don't take this the wrong way though - I'm not lamenting - I'm simply pointing out what I think are some key differences between editions and what I think works the best for each... To do so you should look at both the good and the bad for each edition.

Why the Differences Between Editions Are So Important
So as I pointed out in many ways 6th edition seems to be a direct throwback to 4th edition on many levels. I think that 6th edition currently encourages players to design static armies that shoot a lot and this can be exploited by shrewd players. One good example that immediately comes to mind and features a big difference between 4th edition and 6th edition is victory points versus holding objectives. Static gun lines were highly effective in missions that featured victory points but not nearly as much for holding objectives.

I remember the first GW GT in Las Vegas to which I brought my 4th edition Dark Angels army. It turned out that the majority of the missions were based upon holding objectives or table quarters and I didn't do so well - in fact it was my worst ever performance at any Grand Tournament I've attended. I intended to sit back and shoot my opponents' armies off the table but had to play missions that required a lot of movement to win and as a result I suffered. I next took the exact same army to a GW GT in Chicago that featured mostly missions centered around victory points and finished on one of the top tables obliterating a Chaos Space Marine army in the last round.

6th edition in general is centered around holding objectives - in fact only one of the six missions in the rulebook feature kill points as the primary win condition and this is actually the main point of this article. As I pointed above citing the example of my sub optimal performance in Las Vegas with one of best ever armies, static gun lines have some serious issues winning these types of missions on a consistent basis... Believe it.

Another Important Observation
As a TO for a large event I have recently witnessed games between some of the top players in the final rounds featuring primarily static gun line armies attempt to win solely by shooting enemy units off the objectives. It's not a good game plan and a highly mobile army ended up winning first place. It might at first sound a bit ironic but in fact it was the most highly probable outcome. While a lot of people don't like armies such as Necron flyer spam they are one of the most competitive armies for good reason.

The Role of Vehicles in General in 6th Edition
Vehicles have been deemed by many to be more of a setback now in 6th edition - they are now tagged as not nearly resilient now due to hull points plus they are much easier to hit in melee. I don't think it's true though and in fact vehicles in general now have been gifted with some major advantages over both 4th and 5th edition - say for example the ability to simply move a rhino flat-out in the shooting phase. So what if your enemy has a much easier time destroying an AV11 chassis... If the rhino can move a scoring unit onto an objective in many ways it has fulfilled its primary role.

Conclusion
So this all comes back to the ADL... While it's very enticing I think it most often creates an insurmountable deficit in these overly static types of armies as a whole that cannot be overcome through the sheer force of simply shooting as much as possible. I've beaten opponents many times simply because they held back a significant portion of their army so it could benefit from the cover save granted by a short wall - it was too late by the end of the game to better utilize their cowering units to grab objectives. As I so often like to say it is what it is.

So if you happen to be an intrepid soul then I encourage you to explore designing an army that doesn't feature the seemingly ubitiqious Aegis Defense Line... You'll be glad you did.

New Heresy List - Sons of Horus

This is my second attempt at building a 30k Legion army list. It's over 2000 points but would be fairly easy to bring it back into that range. The theme is still Sons of Horus as they are my favorite legion in the book and have the most appealing builds to me. I've always been a big fan of terminators and this is one of those lists that does it for me.

I finally realized that terminators (not just the sergeants and HQ) have access to Volkite chargers and they are much better en masse - this should help a lot versus horde armies as unsaved wounds generate more shots (i.e., deflagrate). Note that Volkite chargers are assault 2 have a range of 15 inches.

I decided to go with the Cataphractii pattern terminator armor - mostly because I love the Forgeworld model... The armor looks really awesome in my opinion. The invulnerable save is a 4++ but they are Slow and Purposeful (S&P) versus Relentless. It's also interesting to note that 30k terminators do not normally have the option to deep strike but I don't see that as a major detriment.

So the net effect between the two (15" range plus S&P) is slow short ranged infantry army but as the terminators close in they can generate a lot of fire power. The list does feature two Land Raiders and that will help a lot to shuttle troops where I need them most. It will be interesting to see how it plays out once I start to playtest the army.

I have found land raiders to be highly survivable in 6th edition and the Spartan assault tank is one really tough mother. The land raiders coupled with the Rapier weapon batteries should be solid defense versus enemy flyers and any flyer that should move into range of the Contemptors will be in store for a rude surprise - Kheres pattern assault cannons are 6 shots each (S6 AP4 rending). If the dreadnaughts are deployed centrally then it's going to be hard for flyers to avoid them.

This is a rather defensive list in nature and I think that is a good strategy for 6th edition. Deployment will be key in any objective based games.

HQ

Praetor (100) /202

- Cataphractii Terminator Armor (35)

- Master Crafted Paragon Blade (35)

- Volkite Charger (7)

- Grenade Harness (10)

- Digital Laser (15)

- Pride of the Legion (0)

Command Squad - 5x Cataphractii Terminator /253

- Plama Blaster (15)

- 4x Volkite Charger (28)

- 4x Lightning Claw (20)

- Thunder Hammer (15)

- Grenade Harness (10)

- Legion Standard (0)

Librarian (50) /152

- Level 3 Mastery (60)

- Volkite Charger (7)

- Force Stave (0)

[Heavy Support]

Spartan Assault Tank (295) /365

- Armored Ceramite (20)

- Flare Shield (25)

- Multi-Melta (20)

- Dozer Blades (5)

Land Raider Phobos /250

Troops

5x Cataphractii Terminator /258

- Plasma Blaster (15)

- 4x Volkite Charger (28)

- 4x Lightning Claw (20)

- Thunder Hammer (10)

- Grenade Harness (10)

5x Cataphractii Terminator /258

- Plasma Blaster (15)

- 4x Volkite Charger (28)

- 4x Lightning Claw (20)

- Thunder Hammer (10)

- Grenade Harness (10)

Elites

Contemptor Dreadnaught (175) /205

- 2x Kheres Pattern Assault Cannon (30)

Contemptor Dreadnaught (175) /205

- 2x Kheres Pattern Assault Cannon (30)

3x Rapier Weapons Battery /165

- Laser Destroyer

So who out there has read the book? If you have which Legion do you like best?