Ravenwolfscar (1850) • Army List

+++ Ravenwolfscar 1850 (1840) +++

++ Dark Angels: Codex (2015) (DA Ravenwing Strike Force) (435) ++

+ HQ (155) +

Interrogator-Chaplain (155)
Power Fist - Space Marine Bike

+ Fast Attack (280) +

Ravenwing Black Knights (200)
4x Black Knight
Huntmaster

Ravenwing Darkshroud (80)
Heavy Bolter


++ Space Marines: Codex (2015) (Formation Detachment) (335) ++

+ (No Category) +

Chapter Tactics * [White Scars]

+ Formation (335) +

Librarius Conclave * (335)
Librarian (115)
Mastery Level 2
Force Axe - Melta Bombs - Space Marine Bike

Librarian (115)
Mastery Level 2
Force Axe - Melta Bombs - Space Marine Bike

Librarian (115)
Mastery Level 2
Force Axe - Melta Bombs - Space Marine Bike


++ Space Marines: Codex (2015) (Allied Detachment) (680) ++

+ (No Category) +

Chapter Tactics * [White Scars]

+ HQ (250pts) +

Captain (250)
Chapter Master
Artificer Armor - Auspex - Power Fist - Space Marine Bike - The Shield Eternal

+ Elites (245) +

Command Squad (245)
Company Standard
Mount on Space Marine Bikes
Apothecary
3x Veteran - Grav-Gun - Storm Shield
Veteran - Grav-Gun

+ Troops (185) +

Bike Squad (185)
Attack Bike - Multi-Melta
Biker Sergeant
2x Space Marine Biker
2x Space Marine Biker - Grav-Gun


++ Space Wolves: Codex (2014) (SW Company of the Great Wolf Detachment) (390) ++

+ HQ (180) +

Wolf Guard Battle Leader (180)
Relic: The Pelt of the Balewolf
Runic Armor - Storm Shield - Thunder Hammer

+ Elites (210) +

Iron Priest (135)
2x Cyberwolf
Runic Armor - Servo-Arm - Thunder Hammer - Thunderwolf

Iron Priest (75)
Runic Armor - Servo-Arm, Thunder Hammer

Part 3 - Death Stars and the Current Meta

There is some hate towards the Death Stars. It doesn't really make any sense though if you stop to think about it. It is another product of the rules. Death Stars are no worse than serpent spam, leaf blower or whatever else ails you. There will always be Death Stars because of how GW writes their rules. Here is a partilist of Death Stars from 3rd edition through 7th edition and it is by no means totally comprehensive:

3rd Edition
Flesh Tearers Death Company
Ulthwe Seer Council

4th Edition
Nob Bikers

5th Edition
DraigoWing
WolfStar
WraithWing

6th Edition
AdLance (not a true Death Star but should be noted)
BeaStar (Ugggggh)
BikeStar or Super Friends
Jetseer Council
ScreamerStar

7th Edition
DraigoStar
Green Tide

Many of these Death Stars dominated the game during the height of their power. Back in 3rd edition GW used to host a GT in England that was very competitive. Every year the top three armies were Blood Angels (huge Death Company), Ulthwe (huge Seer Council) and Iron Warriors. The Ulthwe seer council could take an unlimited number of Warlocks and double the range of their psychic powers - Mind War in particular was very nasty. It is interesting to note that Iron Warriors did not revolve around a Death Star build.

It was said that with the end of rhino rush in 4th edition the Blood Angels had been reigned in but by using jump packs in truth they became even more potent and Death Company numbering over 10 models including a Chaplain became possible plus this was when Litanies of Hate came about coupling re rolling missed hits on the charge with Furious Charge and 4++ Feel No Pain. A lot of people don't know it but Gav Thorpe wrote the notorious 3rd edition Blood Angels codex which introduced the rules for Feel No Pain and Furious Chsrgs.

I predict there will be new Death Stars such as the new Imperial Knight formation in which the Knights are an actual squadron - casting Invisibility on them with make for a unit much stronger than AdLance ever was.

Part 2 - Death Stars and the Current Meta

So in a recap from the first article Death Stars help to create internal balance to the competitive meta. People are thinking the introduction of ranged D en masse spells the end of Death Stars. The psychic power Invisibility from the psychic lore Telepathy is the best counter to D weapons. Death Stars will still be a big part of the game due to this power. Here is an example of a new Death Star using two eldar CADs and Harlequins:

4x Farseers - jetbikes

Harlequin jetbike squad

This is superior to jetseer council for several reasons:

— Warlocks aren't all that good
— Harlequin jetbikes are fearless, have Hit and Run and are good in assault
— Harlequins add warp charge (not the jetbikes but a detachment or formation)

Let's call this combination the HarlieStar... Lol. It's the fastest with eldar jetbikes. Add in Fortune plus Invisibility and it becomes nigh unkillable. This is just one example of a new Death Star.

Part 1 • Death Stars in the Current Meta

Love them or hate them I think death stars will always be a part of the game as we know it. Here is my definition of a death star based upon my gaming experience -

A Death Star is a highly mobile unit that is nigh unkillable due to buffs such as psychic powers or wargear. Usually there are two or more linchpin characters attached to the unit that can tank a lot of damage or even restore wounds. Death Stars are often most powerful in the assault phase and can quickly eliminate multiple enemy units. There are also Death Stars that excel in the shooting phase. Meleecentric Death Stars seem to be the best though at the removal of enemy units via initiating multi assaults as opposed to being able to typically only target two enemy units per turn.

An interesting Death Star that is good at both shooting and assault is DraigoStar which is composed of the following units:

Lord Khaldor Draigo - Grey Knight Grand Master - Level 2 Psychic Mastery (Santic) - Special Character - Lord of War
Grey Knight Librarian - Level 3 Psychic Mastery (Divination) - HQ
Chief Magister Severian Loth - Red Scorpion Librarian - Level 3 Psychic Mastery (*) - Special Character - HQ
Centurion Devastator Squad - Red Scorpions (**)

* I choose the Telepathy lore for Loth - he can pick his powers and I choose Invisibility, Psychic Shriek and Terrify.

** I equip the Centurions with grav cannons and chest missiles. The sergeant has a twin linked lascannon and omniscope so DraigoStar can split fire.

To give an example what DraigoStar can do one game versus the previous eldar codex they first shrieked a terrified eldar jetbike unit deleting them, split fired the grav cannons into a wave serpent destroying it and fired the lascannon into a Wraithknight wounding it then multi charged the Wraightknight and another wave serpent destroying them both as well. Note Draigo had force up which made it easy to take out the Wraithknight. The Grey Knight Librarian took down the wave serpent with his Nemesis daemonhammer.

DraigoStar is highly mobile since Draigo has the Santic psychic power Gate of Infinity which allows the unit to teleport.

I write a lot about BikeStar here so I won't go into detail about them... Suffice to say BikeStar is also good at both shooting and assault.

Invisibility is the key to running Death Stars now as it protects them from ranged D weapons. As I said above some hate Death Stars and do not like them but they actually help to balance the game. Hit and Run or Gate of Infinity both help to prevent the opponent from tarpitting them.

Return of the Jetseer Council (JSC) & Necrons

Eldar
Here is a link to the new rules for Harlequins:

Harlequin Rules

They really have lots of nasty tricks up their sleeves.

I predict the return of the Jetseer council. Harlequin jetbikes have Hit and Run which JSC lost when the Baron was removed from the new dark Eldar codex. Hit and Run plus Fortune are the core rules for JSC. The Harlequin jetbikes have some solid mėlee buffs plus are two wounds apiece with decent shooting. JSC had some issues inflicting wounds in combat but the Harlequin jetbikes will fix that aspect for the council. Mark my words you'll see soon see JSC back on the tables and it will be more fearsome than ever before. I predict the standard build will be with up to four Jetbike Farseers (double CAD) and two or more Harlequin jetbikes. A new deathstar will be reborn and better than ever ! I don't have the Harlequin codex yet but expect to see some tactical articles here within the next week or two.


Necrons
Necrons are back and tougher than ever with their newly revised Reanimation Protocols (RP). In my opinion it's the best seventh edition codex yet. While some units and wargear took a few hits from the nerf bat overall they are stronger now overall.

I can easily see Jetseer Council and the new Necrons quickly climbing back up to the top of the meta in short time. Necrons will be one of the armies that can match up well versus JSC... CANOPTEK WRAITHS with RP and two wounds apiece plus T5 will tear through lots of armies.

Be prepared or be afraid - it's one or one of the other.

LVO less than one week away

Some people have asked which deathstar I plan to bring - BikeStar or DraigoStar. For now it's top secret. 270 people will be attending which is pretty crazy. I'm looking forward to it !

How to kill DraigoStar • Part 2

The first article in this series focused on the strengths of the deathstar so you'll know what you're up against. DraigoStar is currently hailed as one of the top Deathstars in competitive 40k. Here is an 1850 point list I designed we can use as a general reference:

- Grey Knights - (Primary CAD)

Lord Khaldor Draigo /Warlord /Level 2 Psyker

Grey Knight Librarian /Level 3 Psyker
Storm Bolter • Nemesis Daemonhammer • Liber Daemonica

9x Grey Knight
2x Psycannon
Justicar - Nemesis Daemonhammer /Level 1 Psyker

4x Grey Knight
Psycannon
Justicar - Nemesis Daemonhammer/ Level 1 Psyker

Stormraven
Twin Linked Assault Cannon - Twin Linked Multi-Melta - Hurricane Bolters /Level 1 Psyker


- Ultramarines - (Allied Detachment)

Tigurius /Level 3 Psyker

4x Scout
2x Shotgun - 2x Close Combat Weapon - Camo Cloaks
Sergeant - Combi-Melta - Teleport Homer - Camo Cloak
Landspeeder Storm - Heavy Flamer

4x Devastator Centurion (DevCent)
4x Grav Cannon - 4x Grav Amp - 4x Missile Launcher
Sergeant - Twin Linked Lascannon - Missile Launcher - Omniscope


There are 11 total warp charges. This might not be the best list for DraigoStar... It's based upon my limited experience playing the army.

As you can see the support units are rather limited. I opted for two squads of Grey Knights since they are more resilient than scouts in general and generate warp charges plus I like the daemonhammers as a deterrent to monstrous creatures. You can break the 10 man Grey Knight squad into two combat squads for a total of 12 warp charges.

DraigoStar is composed of Draigo, Tigurius, and the Grey Knight Librarian all attached to the DevCents. Assuming it's got Prescience and Perfect Timing up it can very reliably eliminate one enemy unit per turn. The 10 man Grey Knight squad can start in reserve embarked in the Stormraven and the scouts can outflank. Tigurius allows you to re roll reserves to help keep the bulk of your objective secured units units off the table as long as possible if need be. Also DraigoStar can Gate out of close combat. It can be very frustrating versus a lot of armies. So how do you beat it ?

The Orks' Greentide is an excellent counter and I've been told by more than one Ork player they had no problem versus this army. If you're really worried about it and play an Imperial army then take a Cullexus assassin - you can either infiltrate her close to the deathstar or embark the assassin in a Stormraven to shut down their psychic phase. Obviously not everyone can do these things though.

Tau can use their markerlights and interceptor to make it easier to hit the deathstar in the shooting phase and eliminate units coming in from reserve. Serpent spam can focus fire on the deathstar hoping the dice go their way. There's no doubt though most conventional armies are going to be hard pressed so you must play to the mission objectives, or maybe even just ignore the deathstar. If the primary objective is Purge the Alien well good luck with that but most often it's not the case so don't sweat it.

If you play an assault heavy army and can manage to assault the deathstar in one turn with several meleecentric units it should do some damage but that won't be easy to pull off unless you can somehow bait the deathstar. I think BikeStar could possibly do it if commandeered by a top player... Shoot it with everything hoping for some 6s with your grav and melta weapon then charge them with everything that can reach it.

Sometimes heavily psychic laden armies will have a poor psychic phase - if the deathstar should fail to successfully cast Invisibility then be ready to hit them with everything you've got available ! It will happen from time to time too so you must be opportunistic in your overall approach to beating DraigoStar. Save all your dispel dice every turn to deny Invisibility... You might get lucky and this is the power you really want to shut down.

How to kill DraigoStar

DraigoStar is composed of the following units:

- Grey Knights -
Lord Khaldor Draigo: Gate of Infinity (Santic)
Grey Knight Librarian: Level 3 Psyker • Liber Daemonica • Divination Lore


- Space Marines (Ultramarines) -
Chief Librarian Tigerius: Level 3 Psyker • Telepathy Lore

Devastator Centurions (DevCents): Grav Cannons • Grav Amps • Missile Launchers
Sergeant: Twin Linked Lascannon • Omniscope


Tigerius
Tigerius is there for Invisibility, Shrouded and Psychic Shriek plus he allows you to re roll your reserves so it's just like having a comms relay for free.

Grey Knighy
The Grey Knight Librarian is there for Perfect Timing and Prescience plus the Liber Daemonica allows him to roll once on the Santic Lore hoping for Sanctuary so Draigo will have a 2++ invulnerable save. If you roll Forewarning on the Divination Lore then DraigoStar has access to a 3++ overall invulnerable save.

Grey Knights must be your primary force so you can field Draigo (Lord of War) - therefore you can take a second Grey Knight Librsrian as a backup for the Divination and Telepathy lores should you fail to roll Invisibility for Tigerius or Perfect Timing for the first Grey Knight Librarian but like I said above don't want to invest too many points into DraigoStar. The GK Librarian can also potentially be a backup for Gate of Infinity if you take the Liber Daemonica to roll on the Santic lore.

DraigoStar with Invisibility, Perfect Timing and Prescience can reliably drop one enemy unit per turn and potentially even two since the DevCent sergeant can split fire his lascannon. Versus transport heavy armiez such as Serpent Spam once you've immobilized a transport move onto the next target. Shrouding is an excellent backup to Invisibility for this Deathstar. DraigoStar is the definition of overkill - it's so good at what it does.

Missile launchers are well worth the points for the DevCents. They provide the following major advantages versus their stock hurricane bolters:

- Better range (assuming you don't Gate any particular turn)
- S8 is an excellent deterrent versus Imperial Knights
- Dropping twin linked blast is potentially better versus infantry

Severian Loth vs. Tigerius
If you use Forgeworld you can field the special character Librarian Severian Loth from the Red Scorpions Chapter. He has access to a 2++ invulnerable save should you need it plus can automatically choose his psychic lores which is a huge advantage as it eliminates the chance you might not roll Invisibility. Personally I'm not a big fan of Forgeworld chapter tactics since most everyone always chooses the Red Scorpions so they can take Loth... It's a quirk of mine and lots of people are of the opinion if you're going so far as to field DraigoStar then why wouldn't you take Loth.

Support Units
The number of DevCents is typically three to five... Four being a good number since you'll need to have enough points left over to field solid support units so you can score objectives. If you dedicate too many points to DraigoStar the army will suffer as a whole and you can't count on it to win games all by its lonesome. These units will either make or break you... DraigoStar is the ultimate eraser but not every game is going to be Purge the Alien so it definitely needs the support to take objectives. Don't max out on the DevCents and you really don't need a second GK Librarian to be quite honest.

You'll need a good number of objective secured units (four I think is optimal) to make sure you have at least two left by the end of the game. Keep them in reserve as long as possible to keep them alive - this is where the Stormraven can play a vital role. While fragile objective secured transports such as drop pods and rhinos help you put more of these units on the table when you need them. Remember that Tigerius lets re roll successful reserves so you can keep them off the table longer.

Your Space Marine troop choices (tactical and scout squads) should have teleport homers which become vital towards the end game when you teleport DraigoStar via Gate to lock down objectives. I also think a Stormraven is an excellent choice with a locator beacon which is very helpful to prevent scatters during the midgame plus it can transport a troop hopefully keeping them safe inside until you need it to grab an objective. If you run a full Strike squad both combat squads can paratroop from the Stormraven independent of the other which is very powerful for late game objectivd grabbing.

Next article I'll follow up with this Deathstar's weaknesses.

ThunderLightning Star

Hi everyone !!!

The last list I posted was not legal so I've gone back and fixed the errors. So far my play testing has gone very well including top eldar builds. Again I present only the core. You can add on Grey Hunter drop pod units and|or White Scar biker squads to your style... You can run both bikes and pods as troops which is going to be the most well rounded. I am using the Space Wolf formation that makes Thunder Wolves WS5. The theme is 13th Company.

- Thunder -
Harald Deathwolf & 1x Wolf

Wolf Lord
Thunder Wolf Mount - Runic Armor - Storm Shield - Power Fist - Fell Claw - 1x Wolf

Wolf Priest
Bike - Runic Armor

4x Thunder Wolf
4x Storm Shield - 2x Wolf Claw - 2x Power Fist
Thunder Wolf Leader
Storm Shield - Wolf Claw

Iron Priest
Thunder Wolf Mount - 3x Cyber Wolf

Iron Priest
Thunder Wolf Mount - 3x Cyber Wolf


- Lightning -
Chapter Master
Bike - Artificer Armor - Shield Eternal - Thunderhammer


Here is how I run the Grey Hunters:

6x Grey Hunter
Power Axe - Meltagun
Wolfguard
Terminator Armor - Storm Shield - Power Fist - Meltabombs


Here is how I run the White Scars bikers:

3x Bike
2x Grav Gun
Attack Bike
Multi-Melta
Sergeant
Combi-Grav - Meltabombs

Whatever happened to the Deathstars ?

Remember when a couple of completely tooled out Wolf Lords riding gigantic wolves accompanied by Thunderwolf cavalry could single handedly win a GT ? They had no ranged shooting !! I was a Draigowing player. Fifth edition really catered to the deathstar going all the way back to Nob bikers in the very beginning. Sixth edition on the other hand is very balanced. For instance any unit can ever hold just one objective. If you're trying to run a deathstar army now then you are bound to fail.

On the other hand there are some units in sixth edition I often refer to as a quasi deathstar (QDS). They are very strong and can go a long way to winning but they can't do it all by their lonesome. I love a unit of tooled Purifiers lead by Inquisitor Coteaz at 1850 points - to me that's a great example of a QDS. A level 3 Librarian leading a squad of five Paladins at 2000+ points is another QSD. I have learned that the QSD is best selected from a non scoring unit - this puts a lot of pressure on your opponent to not focus on killing your scoring units which in turn makes your scoring units all that much stronger. The new Tau Commander is going to be another QSD... He bounces back and forth between various units buffing them to wreck ultimate havoc. I would definitely invest 200+ points in a Tau Commander now - he is just that good in my opinion... Potentially better than any named special character in the new Tau codex if you're willing to pay the points.

Shooting is the king in sixth edition. Can you name one sixth edition deathstar unit that has won a major event ? A blob that sits behind an Aegis Defense Line (ADL) and continually goes to ground is not a deathstar... They are flame bait at best. Deathstars are all about killing lots and lots of enemy units each and every turn. Only if a tournament organizer specifically tailors their missions to a deathstar can they win a big event and that answers my own question I asked above... please pay attention - maybe you just might learn something useful. ; )

A true deathstar might eventually emerge in sixth edition but I don't see it happening any time soon in sixth edition unless the developers majorly screw up. Many a broken unit were due to GW not taking the necessary time to thoroughly review their newly written rules and properly play test them, so what's new... Well it just seems like now GW now will FAQ to death anything that is potentially broken... With a few exceptions like alien robots, heh! Nobody is perfect, right ? No new codices from Mat Ward so far either... He is really busy on the Fantasy side of the game. It will be very interesting to see what eventually emerges.

Psychic powers are really off the hook now - only Eldar and Space Wolves have a strong counter. That's why I love the level 3 Grey Knight Librarian casting three Divination psychic powers each turn... Divination mostly buffs shooting. For example remove the cover save and that annoying blob hunkered down behind the ADL is toast.

That's all I have to say for now on this subject.

New Blood Angels Assault Unit

Hi everyone ! Thanks for following my blog. There has been some recent growth following the Sanguinary Guard Project articles and that's a great feeling. Always feel free to comment if you'd like to share your thoughts.

I have recently been experimenting a bit with a couple of new HQs for my DoA Blood Angels army and I'm liking it so far. After all the hard work on my Sanguinary Guard I decided to drop Commander Dante and his golden boy retinue to finally test the Librarian with a squad of Honor Guard.

Blood Angels death star vs. nob bikers

Here is my optimal assault terminator deathstar (mounted in a Crusader, 16 slots):

Recluisarch (1 slot)
Librarian/terminator armor, stormshield, psy powers: Sanguine Sword & ??? (2 slots)
Corbulo (1 slot)
6x assault terminator/4x pair of lightning claws, 2x thunderhammer & stormshield (12 slots)

Corbulo has two wounds so he can help soak a wound that gets through. I also typically will use his reroll for a failed save on a stormshield. Here is a breakdown on the total number of attacks this unit can generate on the charge at each initiative step:

-I6
Librarian: 4 attacks @ S10/WS5
Recluisarch: 5 attacks @ S5/WS5
Corbulo: 5 attacks @ S6 (rending)/WS5

14 attacks

-I5
4x terminators w. lightning claws: 16 attacks @ S5/WS4

16 attacks

-I1
2x terminator w. thunderhammers: 6 attacks @ S9/WS4

6 attacks

So 14 + 16 + 6 equals 36 attacks total. Let's put this up versus a squad of 10 nob bikers (incl. Painboy, cybork body & 3x power klaw) lead by a warboss with a power klaw. Assume the BA deathstar charges from a Crusader:

-> I6
• Librarian moves into b2b contact with the warboss and puts all of his attacks on the enemy HQ. At least one wound should get through & insta gib the warboss.
• Recluisarch swings into the squad. 5 attacks, 3 hit plus 1 for rerolls - 4 hits & [i]2 wound with no save[/i].
• Corbulo swings into the squad. 5 attacks, 3 hit plus 1 for rerolls - 4 hits & 2 wounds, both saves are made.

-> I5
• Terminators with lightning claws swing into the squad. 16 attacks, 8 hit plus 4 more for rerolls - 6 wounds plus 3 more wounds for rerolls - 9 hits, 5 wounds plus 2 more for rerolls, [i]5 wound with no saves[/i].

-> I1
• Terminators with thunderhammers swing into the squad. 6 attacks, 3 hit plus one more for rerolls - [i]4 wound & no saves[/i] - all insta gibs.

So the nob bikers lose the warboss, four bikers are insta gibbed & they lose one biker plus the remaining 5 each have taken a wound. Most likely the nobs will break and cannot regroup. Suppose the 3 power klaws survived to swing back...

9 attacks, 6 hit and 5 wound. 2 saves are taken on the terminator stormshields & both pass. Another save is taken on the Librarian's stormshield and passes. 2 wounds get through the stormshields & the lightning claw terminators fail both saves.

This shows the brute strength of the unit and what it can do to another deathstar.

G

Blood Angels Death Star for Ard Boyz

Here is my current Blood Angels deathstar I have been messing around with lately:

Lemartes
5x Death Company/jump packs, 4x power weapon, power fist & infernus pistol
Death Company dreadnaught/heavy flamer
Stormraven/extra armor, twin linked lascannon, twin linked multi-melta

Remember that if the gunship moves 12" or less then the DC dreadnaught can disembark for 2", fleet up to 6" & then assault another 6" - that's a grant total of 26"!

This bundled unit has come about based upon playtesting & talking to others. I fondly refer to it as the BBF pattern DC unit. It can drop just about any unit including a large squad of Thunderwolves lead by a Wolf Lord with Saga of hte Bear. That's really saying something too. I am not an advocate of Blood Talons because the good old DCCW can instagib TWC & you have a huge advantage versus other walkers.

The beauty of the Stormraven is you can deliver this unit right where you want it.

My second unit is Astrorath leading a squad of Sanguinary Guard (chapter banner, 2x infernus pistol & power fist) with a Librarian Furioso. The mechanized psyker has Blood Lance & Wings of Sanguinius. The SG unfortunately don't benefit from FNP but they can also cut through just about anything. The BBF patterned DC are the heavy hitters though for sure.

I encourage others to try out these units. They are tons of fun!

G

Some things that set 5th edition apart from previous versions

Here are a few trends I have noticed in 5ed that set this version apart from previous editions. These are related to the rules moreso than how we currently play the game but it all ties together.

* The Ubiquitous 3++ Invulnerable Save
This is a really big one. Space Marine armies now have access to stormshields that confer a 3++ save versus both shooting & close combat attacks. Space Wolves & Blood Angels now also have access to this wargear. The combination of the stormshield with a deathstar unit (see below) is extremely powerful and has completely changed the game and how we play. I have had my share of games where my opponent made an inordinate amount of 3++ saves; one good example was in a team game one of our opponents made over 20 3++ saves with his Wolfguard Battle Leader over the course of several rounds of close combat & destroyed an entire unit of Blood Crushers. If your opponent is rolling very hot you are going to be in for some long drawn out combats while they soak up all your damage. I'm not against the 3++ save but in terms of game effect I think it tends to be a bit too good at times. There is a geometric leap when you go from a 4++ to a 3++, just like 4+ versus 3+ but even better since it's always there.

* Deathstar Units
A deathstar unit is one that can basically take on an entire army and win. I think it started with Nob bikers, people then saw the potential and figured out how to apply it to other armies. Sure these units cost a lot of points but they are well worth it in terms of effectiveness alone. Most deathstar units consist of fully complex units with multiple wound models. They are fantastic in close combat and due to their nature they can absorb an ungodly amount of damage and keep pounding you hard. A deathstar unit does not have to be built around a fully complex unit, for example:

Captain Lysander + Vulkan + 5x assault terminator (thunderhammers & stormshields) + Landraider Crusader

Lysander & Vulkan can soak wounds from shooting, saving the terminators from potential unsaved wounds. Vulkan master crafts all of the thunderhammers plus Lysander has 4W, is an Eternal Warrior & has a S10 thunderhammer that inflicts +1 damage on the armor penetration table. You will have to score many wounds to get through all the stormshields & they are pounding away on you with those master crafted thunderhammers. I've watched this unit tear through entire armies.

I play another deathstar unit in my Khorne daemon army - the Skulltaker on a juggernaught, Herald on a juggernaught plus a large squad of complex juggernaughts. I phased out a Necron army with this deathstar with one charge. This is one of the best deathstars in the game (my opinion). I have seen another player who added two more Heralds also mounted on juggernaughts as well. This is one of the slower deathstars but since you can deepstrike off of an icon that's not such a big issue.

* Feel No Pain Across the Army
Blood Angels can do it now. So can Tyranids & you are in for some serious problems when a horde army has an additonal save that is better than their armor save... It's really crazy! The developers are handing this one out like candy too.

* Fully Complex Multi Wound Units
This has already been partially covered above in the entry for deathstars. Again you have a unit that can soak up vasts amounts of punishment. As already stated when included as a feature of a deathstar unit you have one really nasty unit!

So SW have access to Thunderwolves, fully complex with stormshields & joined to a multi wound character that is just vicious in close combat. Obviously Thunderwolves are extremely popular and thank goodness they don't have access to Feel No Pain.

If you are a competive gamer you must be able to effectively handle units such as deathstars. I think for the most part deathstars came about in 5ed. These features are extremely challenging. Basically the only effective way to deal with them is to inflict a high number wounds which is often not an easy thing to do. I am currently very much back into Blood Angels again and while they don't really have access to deathstars. (besides the Sanguinor & Mephiston) my basic counter to deathstars is to bring highly mobile combined units that have a very high offensive output. Hit the deathstars with so many attacks they are bound to fail some saves. If you do it right you can kill the bulk of a deathstar before it can counter attack.

Lastly I feel I must touch on IG mechanized armies. This is an army that is currently dominating the game. Most of us have heard fearsome tales about the Leaf Blower IG list. It's kind of cool but then again I know it's only a matter of time until some dimension in the game is modified & then IG Mexh will no longer continue to dominate. Everything changes if you wait long enough.

G