Tarots and Peas

I'm bringing a new character on board my never ending inquisitorial soul train, next stop, purgation station, get your palms read for a paltry pittance, your blasted warp beasts banished for a buck: a daemon hunter inquisitor with emperor's tarot. I had the perfect model sitting in front of me the whole time, but I was thinking I was going to use him as an acolyte instead. Nah. I'd rather get a leg up on first turn. Plus he can hang out and still get love from the chirurgeons (don't tell him he's just an ablative wound after 1st turn). I still added another acolyte to the witch hunter's retinue, gave the seraphim VSS an eviscerator, and switched over to the callidus assassin. Pick side, go first, word in your ear. Not a bad 2k army I think.

Cannoness
blessed weapon
inferno pistol
mantle of Ophelia
cloak of St. Aspira
jump pack
book of St. Lucius
frag grenades

Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor Lord
liber heresius
psychic hood
carapace armor
2 chirurgeons
2 acolytes
carapace armor
3 gun servitors
3 heavy bolters

ELITES

Ordo Malleus Inquisitor
emperor's tarot

Callidus Assassin

3 Death Cult Assassins

TROOPS

10 Sisters of Battle
meltagun, storm bolter
vet. sister superior
book of St. Lucius

10 Sisters of Battle
meltagun, storm bolter
vet. sister superior
book of St. Lucius

Infantry Platoon
Command Squad
Junior officer
bolter
2 plasma guns
lascannon team
Infantry Squad 1
plasma gun
lascannon team
Infantry Squad 2
plasma gun
lascannon team
Infantry Squad 3
plasma gun
lascannon team

FAST ATTACK

8 Seraphim
2 hand flamers
vet. sister superior
eviscerator

HEAVY SUPPORT

Exorcist
extra armor
smoke launchers

Exorcist
extra armor
smoke launchers

10 Retributors
4 heavy bolters
vet. sister superior
book of St. Lucius

Saim Hann Redux #527.2

After their first 2000 point game last week against c2’s chaos, I want to playtest a new arrangement with my Saim Hann army that changes the warlocks to shining spears and the farseer to an autarch. In order to use the warlocks’ destructor ability, they really had to get in close, which meant getting assaulted by any decently fast unit, which in turn meant they went squish after maybe two turns. Even wounding on 2’s, they just couldn’t get the job done with only 1 girlyman attack each. The spears’ higher initiative and high strength power weapons might work out a little bit better, plus they’re even a little cheaper. Sure, the power weapon effect lasts only for the initial assault, but hell at least they can hit and run! I figure I have enough anti-tank and a decent amount of anti-horde, so I wanted to throw a different kind of threat in the mix. I think assaulting is more fitting to the wild rider theme than a farseer and warlocks anyway. The autarch can ride with the spears, buffing their leadership, adding attacks, and getting the hit and run ability in return. Or, if necessary, he can break off and melta something to slag.

I’m going to use my warlock models for shining spears, rip one of the arms off and replace it with the jetbike autarch’s right arm to make the exarch’s star lance. Then I’m going to take the farseer off his bike, mount a fusion gun under the canopy, and put the metal autarch on there with another dire avenger spear arm to represent his laser lance. Other than his singing spear, I wasn’t really digging my farseer model anyway; the flow from Eldrad’s body to the jetbiker arms and legs was sort of weenie looking. I’ll keep him around for later. I know the vypers are fragile and expensive, but I figure by adding stones, fields, and cannons to them, stunned and weapon destroyed results no longer have a drastic effect, so instead of 50% chance of them being destroyed or neutered for each glance, there’s only a 25% chance. Maybe later if I get a hold of two more of them, I’ll drop all the upgrades and go for higher numbers of main weapons instead. So, without further ado:

edit: I added in two more vypers, dropped all their holofields as well as the shuriken cannons from the ones with bright lances, changed the shining spears' exarch to have a normal laser lance and a shuriken cannon, and changed the wave serpent's scatter lasers to shuriken cannons.

Autarch – jetbike, mandiblasters, laser lance, fusion gun

5 x 3 Guardian Jetbikes – 1 shuriken cannon each

10 Dire Avengers – Exarch with twin avenger catapults and bladestorm
Wave Serpent – twin-linked shuriken cannon, shuriken cannon

3 Vypers – star cannons, shuriken cannons, spirit stones

3 Vypers – bright lances, spirit stones

4 Singing Spears – Exarch with shuriken cannon, skilled rider, and withdraw

3 Fire Prisms – holofields, spirit stones

Painting Space Wolves

I wanted to change up a few units in my wolves army, which required me to scavenge a few different marine bodies and parts from my bitz. I figured I might as well document the process I use for painting these. I had a wolf scout, a wolf guard leader for the scouts, a wolf guard leader for the blood claws, a blood claw, and several grey hunters with plasma pistols and meltaguns. The blood claws' leader has a dark angel powerfist with the emblem filed down and a wolf tail added, and the wolf scouts' leader has a power armor upper body with a scout waist and legs.

First I go over the models with shadow grey, chaos black, boltgun metal, shining gold, sunburst yellow, bleached bone, bronzed flesh, and blood red. I'm not especially neat at this point, so most of the time I need to go back over things again and clean up the edges between colors.

The next stage is going back over with washes. Watered down brown ink for the gold and bone, flesh wash for the flesh, black ink for the metal, and extremely watered down blood red for the yellow. Again I usually have to go back over with some main colors, especially shadow grey, to clean things up before highlighting.

I mix up about 50:50 shadow grey:space wolves grey (SG:SWG)and go over all the armor except for the deeper recessed areas. Then I highlight edges and raised areas with 20:80 SG:SWG, then even thinner lines of about 5:95 SG:SWG. The skulls and things are drybrushed 5:95 black:bleached bone, then with bleached bone, then with white. The yellow eagles are highlighted back up to shining yellow from the red-stained yellow. The stained gold and metal areas are dry brushed up to their original color on the edges and raised areas. The faces are dry brushed with mixes of bronzed flesh and flesh wash, then highlighted with white and flesh. Eyebrows, bone, and some hair are highlighted with white.

There's still some work left to do with these guys; obviously the bases, as well as a few minor details. I also have four tanks and an attack bike to paint to get my latest 2k army up and running.

Which Hunters?

Out of friggin nowhere, here's a new witch hunters list I'm thinking of trying:

The Scourge of Zugarramurdi

In pursuit of a sophisticated den of heretical psykers called the "Sisterhood of Sol," Mother Belandra and the sisters of Banon joined forces with elements of the Tiefwalder 14th and investigated a rumored Sol citadel on Zugarramurdi, a carbon-mining outpost in the Ultima segmentum. When they realized the obscene taint of the witches was attracting barbarous xenos raiders from the entire segment, they immediately made plans to purify the central colony of Iberia with cleansing bolt and flame. In the hours just before the main attack, Belandra was contacted by Lord Inquisitor Xocratos of the Ordo Hereticus, and made to know that her forces would be augmented by his own personal cadre of assassins and cyborgs.

"Let nothing stand in His righteous way, God Emperor of Mankind!"

HQ

Canoness - blessed weapon, inferno pistol, cloak of St. Aspira, mantle of Ophelia, jump pack

Inquisitor Lord - liber heresius, psychic hood, carapace armor
2 Chirurgeons
1 Acolyte - carapace armor
3 Gun Servitors - heavy bolters

ELITES

Eversor Assassin

3 Death Cult Assassins

TROOPS

10 Sisters of Battle - storm bolter, meltagun
Veteran Sister Superior - book of St. Lucius

10 Sisters of Battle - storm bolter, meltagun
Veteran Sister Superior - book of St. Lucius

Imperial Guard Infantry Platoon
Command Squad - 2 plasma guns, lascannon team
Junior Officer - bolter
4 Infantry Squads - plasma gun, lascannon team

FAST ATTACK

8 Seraphim - 2 hand flamers
Veteran Sister Superior - power weapon, book of St. Lucius

HEAVY SUPPORT

2 Exorcists - extra armor, bulldozer blades

10 Retributors - 4 heavy bolters
Veteran Sister Superior - book of St. Lucius

* edit: I dropped the 3 imagifers, 2 of the seraphim, and a few other little things to bring in the death cultists. And a new crusade.

Reconsidering Jump Packs

I'm probably going to ditch the jump pack blood claws idea, at least temporarily, since I've managed to rustle up a couple of additional old model rhinos, which I wanted to match the rhino I have painted up already. If I put the claws in a rhino instead of giving them jump packs, I can save enough points to fit the attack bikes in and upgrade a few other units.

A blood ancestor of Hakr and Lors Varghoss, Alder Hurd's saga has extended for over 6,000 years. Hurd was a member of the original pack that eventually founded the Great Company of Sea Wolves. He spent the majority of his active duty as a Wolf Scout, leading packs of the most grizzled Sea Wolves into ambush attacks behind enemy lines. After his own body finally gave out defending one of the ancient territorial worlds in his 2000th year, his indomitable spirit was allowed to fight on in the armored sarcophagus of a mighty dreadnought. He still prefers to strike at the enemy's flanks, descending into hostile territory via drop pod.

HQ

Alder Hurd (Venerable Dreadnought) - assault cannon, heavy flamer, extra armor
Drop Pod

Dmitri Lutwig (Rune Priest) - frost blade, wolf pelt, runic staff, chooser of the slain, frag grenades

Hakr Varghoss (WGBL) - frost blade, wolf pelt, bolt pistol, frag grenades

ELITES

5 Wolf Scouts - 2 plasma pistols, 1 meltagun, 2 power weapons, frag grenades
Wolf Guard Leader - power fist, bolt pistol, wolf pelt

TROOPS

8 Grey Hunters - 2 power fists, 2 plasma pistol/ccw, 5 bolters, 1 meltagun
Wolf Guard Leader - power fist, bolter, wolf pelt
Rhino - smoke launchers, extra armor

8 Grey Hunters - 2 power fists, 2 plasma pistol/ccw, 5 bolters, 1 meltagun
Wolf Guard Leader - power fist, bolter, wolf pelt
Rhino - smoke launchers, extra armor

9 Blood Claws - 2 power fists, flamer, jump packs
Wolf Guard Leader - power fist, bolt pistol, wolf pelt, jump pack, frag grenades

FAST ATTACK

Landspeeder - multimelta, heavy flamer

Landspeeder - multimelta, heavy flamer

2 Attack Bikes - heavy bolters

HEAVY SUPPORT

Predator Annihilator - heavy bolter sponsons, extra armor, smoke launchers

Predator Annihilator - heavy bolter sponsons, extra armor, smoke launchers

Lupus Maximus

I was impatiently tinkering with the wolves list again today, and I thought I'd try ditching the terminators for an assault cannon/heavy flamer venerable dreadnought in a drop pod. He can help me get first turn choice, which means all the other units have a better chance at closing with the enemy or grabbing last minute objectives, depending on the situation. Plus it lets me buy two more blood claws, upgrade one of the wolf scouts to a wolf guard with a power fist, and fit the attack bikes back in. It does mean I have to run the 2 landspeeders as a single squadron, which sucks, but I think the extra firepower could be worth it. Still, 9 scoring units, 36 infantry... yeesh. Fairly low margin of error - any shooty army worth its salt could just go to town if I fucked up in the slightest.

HQ

Alder Hurd (Venerable Dreadnought) - assault cannon, heavy flamer, extra armor
Drop Pod

Dmitri Lutwig (Rune Priest) - frost blade, wolf pelt, runic staff, chooser of the slain, frag grenades

Hakr Varghoss (WGBL) - frost blade, wolf pelt, bolt pistol, frag grenades

5 Wolf Scouts - 2 plasma pistols, 1 meltagun, 2 power weapons, frag grenades
Wolf Guard Leader - power fist, bolt pistol

9 Grey Hunters - 2 power fists, 1 plasma pistol/ccw, 7 bolters, 1 meltagun
Rhino - smoke launchers, extra armor

9 Grey Hunters - 2 power fists, 1 plasma pistol/ccw, 7 bolters, 1 meltagun
Rhino - smoke launchers, extra armor

9 Blood Claws - 2 power fists, flamer, jump packs
Wolf Guard Leader - power fist, bolt pistol, wolf pelt, jump pack, frag grenades

2 Landspeeders - multimeltas, heavy flamers

2 Attack Bikes - heavy bolters

Predator Annihilator - heavy bolter sponsons, extra armor, smoke launchers

Predator Annihilator - heavy bolter sponsons, extra armor, smoke launchers

Sea Wolf Decals

By request, here's some pictures of the new decals on my Space Wolves. Most of them came out intact, but there were a few with little dings and whatnot that I might try to touch up with black later.

This Blood Claw's Grey Hunter's decal came out fairly well.

and let me add...

Thinking about improving upon the Wolves: among a few other changes, against my better judgement I think I will try out jump packs on the blood claws, and take the squad down to 8 total including a wolf guard leader with lightning claws. The foot HQs will now run with the grey hunters in Rhinos (just need to find an old model rhino to match the one I have). I think this list will test a lot of my previously held notions about some of the Space Wolf units, and it'll be just about as competitive as I can make it for a while. Here's the Sea Wolves of the Near Future:

Hakr Varghoss (WGBL) - terminator armor, pair lightning claws, wolf pelt
4 Wolf Guard Bodyguards - terminator armor, 2 assault cannons, 2 bolter-plasmas, 3 power weapons, 1 power fist
Drop Pod

Dmitri Lutwig (Rune Priest) - frost blade, wolf pelt, runic staff, chooser of the slain, frag grenades

Lors Varghoss (WGBL) - frost blade, wolf pelt, bolt pistol, frag grenades

6 Wolf Scouts - 2 plasma pistols, 1 meltagun, 2 power weapons, frag grenades

8 Grey Hunters - 2 power fists, 1 plasma pistol/ccw, 6 bolters, 1 meltagun
Wolf Guard Leader - power fist, bolter, wolf pelt
Rhino - smoke launchers, extra armor

8 Grey Hunters - 2 power fists, 1 plasma pistol/ccw, 6 bolters, 1 meltagun
Wolf Guard Leader - power fist, bolter, wolf pelt
Rhino - smoke launchers, extra armor

7 Blood Claws - 2 power fists, flamer, jump packs
Wolf Guard Leader - lightning claws, wolf pelt, jump pack, frag grenades

Landspeeder - multimelta, heavy flamer

Landspeeder - multimelta, heavy flamer

Predator Annihilator - heavy bolter sponsons, extra armor, smoke launchers

Predator Annihilator - heavy bolter sponsons, extra armor, smoke launchers

Tournament: Dragon's Lair 2-23-08

In the two or three days preceding Saturday's standard 2k tourney at Dragon's Lair, I made and applied my own decals to my Space Wolves using one of the Great Company emblems listed on the annulus in the codex, specifically that of Engir Krakendoom - the Sea Wolf. So I'm ditching my old fluff and reincarnating the army as Hakr Varghoss's Crushing Wave.

Wolf Guard Battle Leader Hakr Varghoss is next in line to assume the mantle of Wolf Lord in Engir Krakendoom's Great Company. "Sea Wolf" recruits originate from a single, barely habitable island called Ublyn. Perpetually besieged by the devastating waves and terrible monsters of the Fenrisian ocean, the natives of Ublyn pride themselves on the hard-won bounty of their unusual fishery: juvenile kraken. Their immaturity notwithstanding, these savage beasts can smash a hunting ship to pieces in the blink of an eye, and must be taken from several angles at once. Krakendoom's kin often use a brazen frontal assault to entangle their foes before pinning them in with drop pod assaults on the flanks and rear lines.

Wolf Priest - frag grenades, wolf pelt, healing balms, plasma pistol

Rune Priest - frag grenades, wolf pelt, chooser of the slain, runic staff, frost blade

WGBL - terminator armor, pair lightning claws, wolf pelt
4 WGBG - terminator armor, 2 bolter-plasma guns, 2 assault cannons, 3 power weapons, 1 power fist
Drop Pod

6 Wolf Scouts - 2 power weapons, 2 plasma pistols, 1 meltagun, frag grenades

9 Grey Hunters - 2 power fists, 7 bolters, 1 plasma pistol/ccw, 1 plasma gun
Wolf Guard Leader - power fist, bolter, wolf pelt
Drop Pod

9 Grey Hunters - 2 power fists, 7 bolters, 1 plasma pistol/ccw, 1 plasma gun
Wolf Guard Leader - power fist, bolter, wolf pelt
Drop Pod

8 Blood Claws - 2 power fists, 1 flamer

Land Speeder - multimelta, heavy flamer

Land Speeder - multimelta, heavy flamer

2 Attack Bikes - heavy bolters

Land Raider - extra armor, smoke launchers

Besides the new emblems, I switched out the wolf guard battle leader riding with the blood claws for a wolf priest with balms and a plasma pistol, and ditched the master-crafted upgrades on the wolf guard assault cannons and the rune priest's belt of russ. Generally as tournaments go, I know what to expect at Ninja Pirates, and I know what to expect at Battleforge, but Dragon's Lair is always a mixed bag and I never can predict what kind of a competition it will be. Of the 8 people that showed up, it was about half veterans, half new or returning from an extended 40k hiatus, and the factions represented consisted of 4 Eldar, 1 Chaos, 2 vanilla/Ultramarines, 1 Dark Angels, and 1 Space Wolves. I got to play against three very friendly players, and once again the Space Wolves did well against power-armored foes but horrible against Eldar. I went 2-1 but didn't place.

Game 1 - Space Marines

Mike's marines detachment, called for the time being the Emperor's Lost Children, consisted of a flying chaplain with a small command squad, a commander with a large command squad on foot, both command squads including company champions and apothecaries, a lascannon venerable dreadnought, two 6-man tac squads with bolters in heavy bolter razorbacks, a 6-man scout squad with sniper rifles and a missile launcher, a 10-man tactical squad with bolters, a 6-man assault squad, and a devastator squad with 4 rocket launchers. I think all his marines had counter-attack and true grit. The mission was Recon. I set up my full land raider on my far left side and my bikes and land speeders on my far right. He deployed his forces in a straight line with the devastators and dreadnought covering the middle, the commander and small tac squads advancing on his left, and the chaplain and assault squads doing the same on his right. Taking first turn, he moved his jump pack units forward, and I was able to pull off a first turn charge with the land raider's passengers. It might have been nice if they had actually made an impact on their victims; the chaplain and his command unit suffered maybe one casualty, and my wolf priest and another one or two blood claws were were killed in return. It would take another two turns for the wolves' power fists to finally finish off their opponents, but only after the Rune Priest had also fallen. The blood claws jumped in the still mobile land raider and peeled off to get into his deployment zone. The first grey hunters drop pod came in near the middle and they immediately starting shooting up the large tactical squad nearby, with the return fire bringing both squads below scoring. The terminator pod came in nearby as well and after crippling the dreadnought with assault cannon shots to his posterior, helped the grey hunters finish off the large tactical squad as well as the devastator squad. The wolf scouts jumped from his left side table edge into the rear of the large command squad. I was just trying to tie them up a bit and prevent them from reaching my lines, but they dealt less casualties than expected and were quickly wiped out by the counter-attack. In the end I had the land raider, blood claws, a grey hunter squad, and the terminators in my deployment zone, compared to his command squad and small tactical squad. Space Wolves win, victorious slaughter.

Game 2 - Eldar

Nick was playing his Eldar army on Saturday rather than his usual Black Templars, and as both of us got the only slaughters in the first round, we were paired up in the second round with Seek and Destroy as our mission. His army was (approximately) Eldrad Ulthran, an Avatar, 5 or 6 fire dragons, 6 harlequins, 5 wraithguard with a warlock in a wave serpent, 10 dire avengers, 30 guardians with 3 bright lances, a viper with 2 shuriken cannons, 2 falcons, and 5 dark reapers with an exarch. Definitely not the most overpowered Eldar force possible, but still strong enough to quickly make utter mincemeat out of the Space Wolves. It didn’t help that Nick is a very able commander or that my horrible dice luck really got rolling, as it were, in the second round. I couldn’t roll over a 3 to save my life and suffered at least 2 overheat casualties, maybe 3. The land raider was destroyed first turn without having moved an inch, and though I had started the blood claws and priests on foot behind a nearby bunker, they were quickly dealt with by falcon, dire avenger, and fire dragon shooting. I veered around his right side with my land speeders to try and inflict some nominal casualties with their heavy flamers, but guardians and wraithguard jumped out and brought them down just by looking at them. When my terminators’ drop pod came in, one of them promptly killed himself with a plasma overheat, and even with 8 assault cannon shots the squad only killed a single dark reaper. The wolf scouts emerged from Nick’s table edge to finish them off, but the Avatar rebuked them for their folly. The 4 surviving terminators were wiped out by huge volleys of fire from the assorted guardian squads and grav tanks standing nearby, and that was that for the Wolves’ rear guard attack. The grey hunters both came in at the same time in the middle on my right, one squad wiping out the fire dragons with plasma and bolter fire, while the other tried to shoot up back of a nearby falcon but only succeeded in shaking it. Both squads were destroyed in the next Eldar turn and the Space Wolves essentially phased out (lolz). Later I heard Nick say my tactics had been sound, but I’m not so sure about this. I think tactically I might have been better off getting a lower margin of victory in the first round so I wouldn’t have been paired up against him at all! He’s a nice guy and I think he felt a little bad for having our game play out so one-sidedly, but it was no big deal. Once I saw the composition of his army, I pretty much knew what was coming (we both did), and the only thing that irritated me during the game was the two or three spectators (not tournament participants) that walked up on several occasions to ask really superb and tactful questions such as “wow, where’s all the space wolves?” Once again, I feel the need to put spectators on notice: if you walk up to a random game (especially between people who are strangers to you) and see that one side is losing tremendously, you can safely assume both players are quite aware of how the game is going and they don’t need any on-the-scene cub reporting, so pretty please just hush.

Game 3 – Chaos

* photo censored by the Inquisition *

Brandon had a big unmarked Chaos force, with some great dreadnought and terminator conversions. Our mission was Take and Hold, with the terrain being mostly mixed woods and ruins, with an especially large rectangular ruin piece in the center (if you've played at Dragon's Lair, you probably know the one to which I'm referring - the overgrown courtyard with the fallen statues). He had a terminator lord with a chainfist, a small terminator retinue with a heavy flamer and a couple more chainfists, a small squad of chaos raptors with a meltagun and a flamer, a dread with a plasma cannon and missile launcher, another dread with a twin-linked lascannon, two squads of 10 chaos marines with a meltagun each in rhinos, one of them led by a powerfist champion, a squad of 10 chaos marines with a missile launcher and plasma gun, a 8-man havoc squad with heavy bolters, a defiler, and 2 obliterators. We both set up the core of our forces hiding behind the big ruin piece, ready to jump out and start wading through the difficult terrain into what promised to be a big fight for the center. Still, he had a much larger line than me, so his heavy bolter havocs, the tac squad on foot, one of the dreadnoughts, and the defiler all spread out wide on either side of the ruin. The first turn consisted of both of us moving up slightly with few casualties on either side. I managed to wound both obliterators with the land raider’s lascannons but he made their invulnerable saves. Luckily his return fire wasn’t able to penetrate the big tank’s armor and I had another turn to shoot, this time bringing both of the hulking monstrosities down. One of my landspeeders went long to try and bring down the defiler, but missed with its multimelta, and the defiler responded by destroying the skimmer with its reaper autocannons. Later he popped around a corner and threw a battle cannon shell into a mass of my troopers, luckily only killing two grey hunters with the blast. The Land Raider responded by zapping it dead with a twin-linked lascannon shot. I tried to shoot up his tac squad on my far left with my attack bikes, but they were reduced by half by the return fire and I pulled the survivor back to chill out for a while. My scouts charged in from his deployment edge and attacked the havoc squad, killing 6 of them before the raptors counter-attacked and wiped them out. I dropped the terminators into the center ruins, their opening assault cannon volley shredding his lascannon dreadnought, and then moved the blood claws up nearby to back them up if necessary. One grey hunter drop pod landed right behind the center ruins, and the other landed late on my far left side, but as it was they were both too far away from the enemy forces to make much of an impact. Both of his rhinos full of chaos marines were approaching along one of the big ruin’s sides, so I sent my surviving landspeeder over to try and knock one out. I managed to destroy one of them with a multimelta shot, and the riders were entangled. Casting storm caller on my blood claws and priests, I charged them in and routed the pinned marines in assault. Back in the center, both of our terminator squads stood for a turn and tried to stare each other down. I moved mine forward and opened fire with the assault cannons and combi-plasma shots but couldn’t manage to inflict too much damage. In the following turn he shot down three of my five terminators with a ton of low AP shots before assaulting them with his own terminators squad. Bad move - since my squad went first, the last 3 traitor termies were cut to pieces by the battle leader’s counter-attacking lightning claws, and his own IC whiffed with all five chainfist attacks. He broke from combat, never to be heard from again. We had started the game a little late, so we only got to the end of the fourth turn before time ran out. I had my blood claws and one grey hunter squad occupying the center, and he had his raptors and one of the chaos marine squads contesting it. I ended up winning by around 205 victory points, just barely avoiding a draw. Space Wolves win, solid victory. Brandon was a nice guy and I hope he starts playing regularly around town. I think there were a few rule nuances he wasn't quite aware of and I hated to "spring" them on him, having been in that position many times myself.

For the next few Wolves games I'm probably going to switch back to the battle leader instead of the wolf priest (he never made that much of a difference to warrant the extra points), switch out the plasma guns on the grey hunters for meltaguns and add a second plasma pistol to each, and experiment using a predator annihilator with heavy bolter sponsons instead of the attack bikes. Not that I need another reason to have one besides the pure pleasure of painting a tank, I hear higher armored vehicles might be getting a power bump soon, and I thought I might try to get used to the movement and shooting tactics involved with a second one in the army. I was thinking in time I might even get a second annihilator and sub it in for the land raider in the 2k list, giving the blood claws a rhino instead. It would add another scoring unit and separate my main anti-tank from my assault troop transportation, even if it was at the expense of some durability and general badassitude.

Stealing Xmas

After another home game where the broodlord and zoanthropes underperformed, I've decided to switch them all out for 10 more genestealers. I also had to take away the 5th wound on both of the sniperfexes but I don't think it will have too much of an impact; they're 15 points cheaper and it still takes 3 T6 Sv 2 wounds to bring either of them below scoring. Thankfully I just happened to have 12 extra 2nd edition plastic stealers in an old box, already painted purple but thin enough to prime and paint over everything. The models do look different sitting right next to each other but in the mix of 48 genestealers I think the older ones will more or less fade into the background. In any case, maybe they'll give the broods a little more variety visually. I was left with a few extra points after the stealer switch, so I gave flesh hooks to the carnifexes to allow them to go simultaneously with most defenders in cover, should they ever want to charge. I also added enhanced senses back to the hive tyrant - I've really been missing those dependable 12-hit devourer blasts in my last few games.

As a side note, after I got some paint on him, I noticed that the elite carnifex that I converted up looks more like a big fat genestealer carrying devourers, so from now on I'm just going to think of him as some sort of giant über-hybrid.

The Megahive was specially bred by the incipient genestealer cult to subjugate one of the last loyalist holdouts on the doomed planet of Vivax. Together with scores of purestrain and hybrid genestealers, the Megahive launched devastating terror raids upon the defiant citizenry of Hullandose. After less than two months of sustained attacks, the cult's army had eroded all organized resistance within the complex and their "membership" had tripled. It would be the last real battle for the fate of the planet. The Tyranid splinter fleet, responding to the cult's psychic signal, arrived shortly thereafter and absorbed the broods into its own hive ships. The Megahive hybrid was presumed to have survived the battle for Hullandose.

HQ

Hive Tyrant - 2 twin-linked devourers, toxin sacs, warp field, enhanced senses, wings

ELITES

Carnifex - 2 twin-linked devourers, flesh hooks

TROOPS

6 x 8 Genestealers - extended carapace, scuttlers

FAST ATTACK

2 x 3 Tyranid Warriors - scything talons, rending claws, adrenal glands (+1 I), wings

HEAVY SUPPORT

2 Carnifexes - venom cannon, barbed strangler, extended carapace, enhanced senses, flesh hooks

Weekend Update

No real big news to speak of this week, other than the usual messing around with various conversions and army lists.

I thought modelling so many little identical bike squads in my SH army might be a little lame, so I've decided to ditch one of them for a 4-man squad of Warlocks with destructor, singing spears, and enhance. They'll all have panel steering left arms, dire avenger exarch right arms, new guardian bodies with greenstuff runes on the chestplates, and helmet-less eldar heads, with white kamikaze bandannas flapping in the wind behind them. I'm hoping they will really evoke the Wild Rider theme. And it's only right for a jetbike army to include Shining Spears as well, so I'm including them for now in my updated 2000 point list:

HQ

Farseer - jetbike, spirit stones, singing spear, doom, edritch storm, runes of warding

4 Warlocks - jetbikes, 3 destructors, 1 enhance, 4 singing spears

TROOPS

5 x 3 Guardian Jetbikes - 1 shuriken cannon

10 Dire Avengers - exarch with twin shuriken catapults and bladestorm
Wave Serpent - shuriken cannon, twin-linked shuriken cannon turret

FAST ATTACK

3 Shining Spears - exarch with star lance

2 Vypers - spirit stones, starcannons

2 Vypers - spirit stones, bright lances

HEAVY SUPPORT

3 Fire Prisms - holofields, spirit stones

I also did a little work on my bugs. I ripped all the guns off my tyranid warriors and replaced them with genestealer scything talon arms. I think they'll fit in pretty well in my newest tyranid 2000 point list:

HQ

Hive Tyrant - 2 twin-linked devourers, toxin sacs, enhanced senses, warp field, wings

Broodlord
6 Genestealers - extended carapace

ELITES

Lictor

Carnifex - 2 twin-linked devourers

TROOPS

5 x 6 Genestealers - extended carapace

FAST ATTACK

2 x 3 Tyranid Warriors - adrenal glands (+1 WS), toxin sacs, talons, rending claws, wings

HEAVY SUPPORT

2 x Carnifex - venom cannon, barbed strangler, enhanced senses, extended carapaces, reinforced chitin

3 Zoanthropes - psychic scream, warp blast

Cut and Paste

For some reason I glitched out and didn't realize there was a Saturday tourney at BFG this weekend; I hear there was a 3-monolith army there and no big bugs at all. Interesting shift in the meta, wish I'd been there.

Instead I was impatiently mucking about with jetbikes today, concentrating mainly on converting shuriken cannons to mount up to 6 jetbikes and 2 vypers. With the bikes, I first made a couple of cuts to the original weapon, sawed off the cone portions of the shuriken catapult mounts, and put the catapult barrel on one side and the ammo canister on the other. There were actually 2 different versions of the cannon but they both looked pretty cool underslung in this manner. For the Vypers, I put the cannon barrel in the place of the center stabilizer that normally barely pokes out from underneath the front canopy.

I also toyed around with an old cut up Eldrad model I had in the bitz box, sawing it up even further and attaching it to guardian rider legs to mount him on a bike. His sword arm was cut off and replaced with a guardian arm, and his staff top was replaced by the blade and handle-guard from the metal jetbike autarch model to make a singing spear. On the lower half of the staff I put the little power generator from the base of the bike autarch's laser lance. I cut in deep lines in his bike's wings to set his ride apart a little bit from the rest of the troops. I think he's going to look pretty cool, although I still have to dig out the dreaded greenstuff to clean up his robes.

So, yeah, I was thinking I'd put off the Wild Riders until I was done painting Tyranids, but it looks like that's going to be pretty difficult.

Here's the latest 1500 list I'm working with, updated after several helpful comments from visitors. It's got 11 scoring units, some good anti-vehicle and anti-horde, great on movement, and the big guns are generally resilient. At the very least it should be a lot of fun!

HQ

Farseer - jetbike, singing spear, guide, doom, runes of warding, spirit stones

TROOPS

3 Guardian Jetbikes - 1 shuriken cannon
Warlock - jetbike, destructor, singing spear

3 Guardian Jetbikes - 1 shuriken cannon

3 Guardian Jetbikes - 1 shuriken cannon

3 Guardian Jetbikes - 1 shuriken cannon

3 Guardian Jetbikes - 1 shuriken cannon

3 Guardian Jetbikes - 1 shuriken cannon

FAST ATTACK

2 Vypers - 2 starcannons, 2 spirit stones

2 Vypers - 2 bright lances, 2 spirit stones

HEAVY SUPPORT

Fire Prism - holofields, spirit stones

Fire Prism - holofields, spirit stones

Fire Prism - holofields, spirit stones

Eldar Jetbag

Today I finally got my first Apocalypse formation together: the Eldar Jetbag. GW is still putting the final touches on the formal datasheet, but from what I understand, deploying a full Jetbag lets you scatter all the pieces out across the entire board, and any model it touches is immediately dipped in brake fluid and scrubbed to its original pre-painted state. How cruel the arcane magicks of the Eldar are!

Obviously I kid. This is what 2 Windrider Hosts look like cut out of the sprues. Reassembled (over the next several months) they will constitute the larger part of my next project: Saim Hann. Below is my initial 1500 list that I will use to cut my teeth. I anticipate the learning curve will be fairly steep with such a small and delicate army, but I've always wanted to field a bike force and finally decided to go with an Eldar version. The 2000 list will most likely add Wave Serpent-ed Dire Avengers along with either Warp Spiders or possibly a small but expensive Warlock bike squad with enhance, multiple destructors, and singing spears. As an aside, I have a great T-shirt idea that I really need to put together on Cafepress. More on that later. Also let me point your attention to an interesting Saim Hann blog that I recently found and added to my links section in the sidebar. Nice guy, cool army, and great pictures from the Baltimore GT.

HQ

Farseer - jetbike, singing spear, spirit stones, runes of warding and witnessing, guide, mind war

TROOPS

6 Guardian Jetbikes - 2 shuriken cannons
1 Warlock - jetbike, singing spear, destructor

6 Guardian Jetbikes - 2 shuriken cannons

6 Guardian Jetbikes - 2 shuriken cannons

FAST ATTACK

2 Vypers - 2 scatter lasers, 2 shuriken cannons, holofields, spirit stones

2 Vypers - 2 bright lances, 2 shuriken cannons, holofields, spirit stones

HEAVY SUPPORT

Fire Prism - holofields, spirit stones

Fire Prism - holofields, spirit stones

The Horsley Chastisement Revisited

I rearranged my 2k Witch Hunters/Guard gunline list a bit. Basically I went back and took out a lot of the 'ard boyz experiments, bringing the seraphim back up to 10 girls, and dropping the russ in favor for the retributors and an extra heavy bolter immolator. In this edition I also took out any and all chimeras and rhinos, so my assault units will have less of a screen than before, but it allowed me to fit in more guns.

HQ

Canoness - jump pack, cloak of st. aspira, mantle of ophelia, book of st. lucius, frag grenades, inferno pistol, blessed weapon

Inquisitor Lord - carapace armor, psychic hood, liber heresius
2 chirurgeons
1 acolyte with carapace armor
3 heavy bolter servitors

ELITES

Eversor Assassin

TROOPS

10 Sisters of Battle - storm bolter, meltagun, imagifer
Veteran Sister Superior - book of st. lucius

10 Sisters of Battle - storm bolter, meltagun, imagifer
Veteran Sister Superior - book of st. lucius

1 Guard Infantry Platoon
Command Squad - junior officer with bolter, 2 meltaguns, lascannon team
Infantry Squad - plasma gun, lascannon team
Infantry Squad - plasma gun, lascannon team

1 Guard Infantry Platoon
Command Squad - junior officer with bolter, 2 meltaguns, lascannon team
Infantry Squad - plasma gun, lascannon team
Infantry Squad - plasma gun, lascannon team

Fast Attack

10 Seraphim - 2 twin hand flamers
Veteran Sister Superior

Heavy Support

1 Exorcist - extra armor, dozer blade

1 Immolator - extra armor, heavy bolters

10 Retributors - 4 heavy bolters, imagifer
Veteran Sister Superior - book of st. lucius

Paging Ka'Bandha! Ka'Bandha to hospitality!

I'm excited about my matchup in this week's installment of the Horus Heresy campaign - the blooding of Signus. I was going to roll with the Witch Hunters again but I finally decided that they just weren't chaotic enough to represent the khorny minions of Ka'Bandha. So instead I'll be borrowing a couple mobs of muties from Aventine and teaming them up with my guard and chaos models to field a Lost and the Damned list, complete with a greater demon at the head. I'm going to scramble to try and put together some sort of captive blood angel to use for the demonvessel. My bloodletters will get to participate as well, but I'm going to use them as big mutants rather than the lame demon packs. We will actually have two weeks to fight this big battle out - this week's scenario is Firesweep from the Cities of Death ruleset. I know what one of my strategems will be! Can you guess?

HQ

Greater Demon

Chaos Aspiring Champion

ELITES

8 Big Mutants

TROOPS

10 Traitors - agitator, plasma gun, autocannon

10 Traitors - agitator, plasma gun, autocannon

10 Traitors - agitator, plasma gun, autocannon

10 Traitors - agitator, plasma gun, autocannon

20 Mutants - mark of khorne

20 Mutants - mark of khorne

FAST ATTACK

10 Traitors - agitator, plasma gun, heavy bolter
Chimera - multilaser, hull heavy bolter, extra armor

10 Traitors - agitator, plasma gun, heavy bolter
Chimera - multilaser, hull heavy bolter, extra armor

Hellhound - pintle heavy stubber, extra armor, dozer blade

HEAVY SUPPORT

Leman Russ - hull heavy bolter, sponson heavy bolters, pintle heavy stubber, extra armor, dozer blade

Basilisk - indirect fire, extra armor

The evolution continues

With my second place prize at the tournament last weekend I picked up a second carnifex, which I plan on equipping with a venom cannon and barbed strangler. The old screamer killer will go back to the bits box for a while until I put some devourers on him. Slow's ok for gunners but I want my assault units to be quick. That said, I'm going to forget about wings for the hive tyrant for a while and keep him like he is. I had to go down to 6 stealers for the Obeselord's retinue, but that will only make it easier to hide him 12" away from enemies. I also gave him acid maw; theoretically he'll deal 3 wounds on the charge slightly more often but he won't be as good in any subsequent rounds of assault. I just want to play around with it for a game or two.

So here's my newest 1500 list:

HQ

Hive Tyrant - 2 twin-linked devourers, toxin sacs, extended carapace, psychic scream

Broodlord - acid maw, 6 genestealers with extended carapace

TROOPS

10 genestealers with extended carapace

10 genestealers with extended carapace

10 genestealers with extended carapace

HEAVY SUPPORT

Carnifex - venom cannon, barbed strangler, extended carapace, enhanced senses

Carnifex - venom cannon, barbed strangler, extended carapace, enhanced senses

3 Zoanthropes - psychic scream, warp blast

In Defense of the Priory Scarlet: Witch Hunters 2000

I'll be taking this 2000 point Witch Hunters list to the second week of the Warhammer 30k campaign, being played at Battleforge. It's a pure list, focusing mainly on close quarters fighting, using all of the WH assault models I have - the Cannoness, Seraphim, Repentia, Engines, and Assassins - as well as some core troop and support units to back them up. It's the best I could do at representing a loyal crusader force about to be betrayed and viciously attacked by the Emperor's 8th legion, the Night Lords. With night fighting in effect, I have no worries that this one's gonna be a bloodbath!

HQ:

Canoness - blessed weapon, jump pack, inferno pistol, cloak of st. aspira, mantle of ophelia, frag grenades, book of st. lucius

Inquisitor Lord - liber heresius, carapace armor
Retinue - 2 chirurgeons, 3 heavy bolter servitors, 1 acolyte with carapace armor

ELITES:

6 Repentia
Mistress
Priest - power weapon

1 Eversor Assassin

3 Death Cult Assassins

TROOPS:

10 Sisters of Battle - meltagun, storm bolter, imagifer
Veteran Sister Superior - book of st. lucius

10 Sisters of Battle - meltagun, storm bolter, imagifer
Veteran Sister Superior - book of st. lucius

10 Storm Troopers - 2 flamers
Rhino - smoke launchers

FAST ATTACK:

10 Seraphim - 2 flame pistols
Veteran Sister Superior

HEAVY SUPPORT:

2 Penitent Engines

1 Exorcist - extra armor

10 Retributors - 4 heavy bolters, imagifer
Veteran Sister Superior - book of st. lucius

Task Force Manticore: Witch Hunters 2500

HQ

Canoness - inferno pistol, blessed weapon, cloak of St. Aspira, mantle of Ophelia, jump pack, book of St. Lucius, frag grenades

Inquisitor Lord - liber heresius, psychic hood, carapace armor, auspex, 2 Chirurgeons, 1 Acolyte (carapace armor), 3 Heavy Bolter Servitors

ELITES

Eversor Assassin

3 Death Cult Assassins

TROOPS

10 Sisters of Battle - meltagun, storm bolter, imagifer
Veteran Sister Superior - book of St. Lucius

10 Sisters of Battle - meltagun, storm bolter, imagifer
Veteran Sister Superior - book of St. Lucius
Rhino - extra armor, smoke launchers

Infantry Platoon
Command Squad - Officer (bolter), 2 plasma guns, lascannon
2 Infantry Squads - plasma gun, lascannon

Armored Fist Squad
Infantry Squad - plasma gun, lascannon
Chimera - multilaser, hull heavy bolter, smoke launchers, extra armor

Armored Fist Squad
Infantry Squad - plasma gun, lascannon
Chimera - multilaser, hull heavy bolter, smoke launchers, extra armor

FAST ATTACK

8 Seraphim - 2 hand flamers
Veteran Sister Superior - power weapon

2 Sentinels - autocannons

1 Sentinel - autocannon, searchlight

HEAVY SUPPORT

Leman Russ - hull heavy bolter, sponson heavy bolters, heavy stubber, extra armor, rough terrain modification

Exorcist - extra armor

10 Retributors - 4 heavy bolters, imagifer
Veteran Sister Superior - book of St. Lucius

The Purging of Tir IV: Witch Hunters 2000

HQ

Cannoness - jump pack, frag grenades, blessed weapon, inferno pistol, cloak of St. Aspira

ELITES

Inquisitor - hammer of the witches, liber heresius

Eversor Assassin

TROOPS

9 Battle Sisters - meltagun, storm bolter, imagifer
Veteran Sister Superior - book of St. Lucius

9 Battle Sisters - meltagun, storm bolter, imagifer
Veteran Sister Superior - book of St. Lucius

Infantry Platoon
Command Squad - junior officer with bolter, 2 meltaguns, 2 plasma guns
Squad 1 - plasma gun, lascannon
Squad 2 - plasma gun, lascannon

Armored Fist Squad - plasma gun, lascannon
Chimera - extra armor, smoke launchers

Armored Fist Squad - plasma gun, lascannon
Chimera - extra armor, smoke launchers

FAST ATTACK

Sentinel - lascannon

9 Seraphim - 2 twin flame pistols
Veteran Sister Superior - eviscerator, plasma pistol, book of St. Lucius

HEAVY SUPPORT

Exorcist - extra armor, dozer blade

Leman Russ - sponson heavy bolters, hull heavy bolter, heavy stubber, extra armor, rough terrain modification

Immolator - extra armor, smoke launchers

Toggog's Marauders Reorganized

From scuttlebutt and demonstration copies, I've put together a new list for Toggog and his buddies.

HQ

Demon Prince - wings, mark of khorne

Sorcerer - mark of slaanesh, bike, lash of submission, personal icon

ELITES

10 Terminators - champion with 2 lightning claws, 2 with reaper autocannons and chainfists, 1 with combiflamer and powerfist, 1 with combiplasma and power weapon, 5 with twin-linked bolters and power weapons, icon of tzeentch

TROOPS

10 Khorne Berzerkers - personal icon, 2 plasma pistols, skull champion with power fist
Rhino with extra armor

9 Thousand Sons - personal icon
1 Aspiring Sorcerer - warptime
Rhino with extra armor

FAST ATTACK

4 Bikers - champion with power weapon and meltabomb, 2 meltaguns

HEAVY SUPPORT

1 Obliterator

1 Obliterator

8 Havocs - 3 missile launchers, 1 lascannon, icon of chaos glory

I've read many many complaints about the new book but I think overall that change is good. Some units got screwed but most of the simplifications are quite refreshing. Of course you want that rhino with smokes and that vindicator with a dozer blade! Shit is like stock now. But not even out of the gate Lash of Submission is already making testes shrivel in fear all over ze world. Next year's GT winning armies are being scrounged together, double lash this, triple lash that, etc etc. Whatever. I'm still going to have one in my army, because it sounds like a very useful trick and the bike sorcerer is sick and slick regardless. Ideally the thousand sons and terminators are going to create a nice 24" no-man's land that I can lash folks into from time to time and shoot em up, assaulting the leftovers with the zerks. The oblits and havocs will rain down while the demon prince chases down tanks and bowls into static shooty squads. The new icon system makes deep striking such a large terminator squad a very viable tactic. That seems like it would be a lot to deal with at once... 10 terminators with a 4+ invulnerable and spiky/fisty as hell? Time will tell.

One thing I noticed - the new "assault vehicle" rule for the land raider says you can assault when dismounting from any exit point, including the side hatches. A very small detail but I can see how it might come in handy in some limited situations. This was probably already set up in the DA and BA codices but it was the first time I heard about it.

The Purging of Tartaron - Witch Hunters 2500

HQ

Cannoness – blessed weapon, cloak of St. Aspira, jump pack, frag grenades

ELITES

Inquisitor – liber heresius, hammer of the witches
Retinue – 3 heavy bolter servitors, 1 acolyte with carapace armor, 2 chirurgeons

Eversor Assassin

9 Sisters Repentia with Mistress
Priest – power weapon, laspistol

TROOPS

10 Sisters of Battle – storm bolter, meltagun, imagifer
Veteran Sister Superior – book of St. Lucius

10 Sisters of Battle – storm bolter, meltagun, imagifer
Veteran Sister Superior – book of St. Lucius

Infantry Platoon
Command Squad – Junior Officer with bolter, 2 plasma guns, lascannon team
Infantry Squad 1 – plasma gun, lascannon team
Infantry Squad 2 – plasma gun, lascannon team

Armored Fist Squad – plasma gun, lascannon team
Chimera – extra armor, smoke launchers

Armored Fist Squad – plasma gun, lascannon team
Chimera – extra armor, smoke launchers

FAST ATTACK

10 Seraphim – 2 twin hand flamers
Veteran Sister Superior – plasma pistol, eviscerator, book of St. Lucius

1 Sentinel – lascannon

HEAVY SUPPORT

Exorcist – extra armor, dozer blade

10 Retributors – 4 heavy bolters, imagifer
Veteran Sister Superior – book of St. Lucius

Leman Russ – sponson heavy bolters, hull heavy bolter, pintle heavy stubber, extra armor, rough terrain modification

Whereas I regard the 2500 Wolves army (see previous post) as probably fun but questionably effective, I look over this list and I think to myself: fucking hooray for Witch Hunters! 105 infantry, 5 vehicles, 6 faith points, TONS of heavy bolter fire (21 shots at BS4, 15 at BS3!), assault, counter-assault, anti-infantry, anti-tank, anti-psyker, and a good chance of picking my table edge to boot. Obviously the most questionable unit is the repentia squad, but I already possess and like the models, and thrown in with the eversor and seraphim they enhance an enemy’s dilemma of shoot my refused flank vs. shoot my gun line. Any 2500 point game on a 4’ x 6’ board is guaranteed to be a blood bath, but as long as my guns can deploy in cover, it will be a real bitch to get past my assault wing to dig them out.