Fun Drop Wolves

So following on from yesterday's post about the beauty of Drop Pods in 7e 40k (or whatever we are in now lol...) I want to talk about Space Wolves - you can see from the number of posts (right) that I love Wolves and have been taking them for donkeys years, but they are somewhat.. maligned right now on the tournament scene outside of a couple of EXTREME builds mainly focussed around crazy deathstar builds.

These are great and can be very fun to use - they also allow the use of forces that otherwise might not be seen such as Sisters and Dark Angels.

But in a more balanced sense they have dropped off (no pun intended!) the scene.
For a SEMI COMPETITIVE build though you can build some great and FUN SW builds.
Here is one example of a way to get in some of the flavour of the Sons of Russ and still be pretty decent.
This uses the Champions of Fenris list (like all of the decent Wolf builds these days) and is only using one detachment.
The idea behind this is simple - give me something to play at the club (Sons of War Cambridge - check us out on Facebook) that is not too crazy good as to piss people off!!

 

Rune Priest - Bike

Murderfang, the Curseborn - Drop Pod

6 x 5 man Wolf Guard with 4 CombiMeltas - Drop Pods

1 x 6 man Wolf Guard with 5 CombiPlasma - Drop Pod

3 x 5 man Grey Hunters with a Meltagun - Drop Pods

1 x FA Drop Pod

5 x Thunderwolf Cavalry stock

This allows me to drop in the Murderfang and a load of Melta turn one (or the plasma if I need it, situational of course) and bomb up the Thunderwolves with Rune Priest for a cool ass Turn 2 charge from a load of crazy Wolf bitches.

Murderfang is a cool model that I've literally never had the chance to drop on the tabletop - in a competitive army he simply doesn't have a place...this is a unit that is a perfect example of GW fun design philosophy - great in idea, weak in application.

I think Murderfang could be wicked fun IF, IF, IF the poor bastard survives a turn! He drops in, he heavy flames a unit, hangs out in cover near to some ground based units... as long as they are not the ubiquitous Eldar Scatter Bikes (cause they'll just leg it and he will do nothing all game lol)... the other SW kill any dedicated anti-vehicle they can to help him survive, then the first wave plus TWC charge all over the place whilst the remaining Wolf Guard and Grey Hunters drop in and take maelstrom and round up other units that are threatening.

I've found with combat squad space marines that dropping in with lots of little units mean that they get a spanking, but a lot of 1 or 2 man units running around can still be a pain in the arse!

I think this is quite a fun list - TWC are always good fun and Murderfang gives Rampage, Rage, Furious Charge, WS5 master crafted, shred AP2 lols to the list. I definitely fancy it!

What do you guys think? Sound fun to you?

War of the Roses England ETC Tournament!!

Off we go!
Today is the War of the Roses - an 1850, 5 game 2 day tournament run by the England ETC team (Big Mike in particular) and has basically no comp at all.
This will, undoubtedly, lead to some horrible armies and a sneak peak at some of the playtesting/lists for the England team - always interesting.
NOTE: With a toe or two still in the camp, I do know these already, but I refer to the general tournament attendees.

It's looking reasonably well attended with around 35 players.

That'll do me - this is, shockingly, my first 2 day tournament in OVER A YEAR! Wow!
The last one was the Caledonian Uprising 2014!
Man, that was SOOO long ago!
I ended up, officially 34/35th I think after a big ol' points deduction for a list change last minute, busting me from, in Battle points, high teens (out of 110 players).. which was a real shame, but ...my own fault!
I also won Most Sporting which was nice.

More recently, I took Best General and 2nd place overall at the recent LazrBlast single day event in Norwich.

I find myself quite excited! I've not gotten a weekend of geekery in for bloody ages and the chance to see top level play again helps to keep me excited and up for this game.

I'm running a SM Bike and Centurion Pod list using Flesh Tearers Strike Force.
(Again, I'm keeping some of the blog's Blood Angel roots alive! I really like the BA book and with Pods becoming a major focus for me over the next few months... we'll see more of it! Interestingly, note Torrent of Fire and Nick Nanavanti toying with an excellent unit - the Frag-Furioso!)

The other lists have not been published as yet and the first round match ups are not out yet, I assume they are being done on the day...today... I forget I'm writing this in advance!

My list is:

Khan (Warlord)

3 x 5 Bikes with double Meltaguns and a Combi-Melta

3 x 5 Bikes with double Gravguns and a Combi-Grav

2 x 3 Centurions with Grav Cannons, Hurricane Bolters, Omniscope

 

Mephiston

5 Bolter Scouts

3 x Drop Pods

This allows me to drop Meph and both units of Cents in on the first turn with the scouting bikes to create a truly lethal Alpha Strike.

Going second, I can scout/deploy the bikes out of sight or range and try and get the first strike myself using speed and pods.

Maelstrm is in use here and although you can only score 2 tactical cards per urn, the speed and positioning of the army allows me to maximise opportunities to score.

I was going to run Adamantium Lance with Astra Militarum allies, but as there is currently a vote in play to ban/allow Ad Lance and the iKnight codex from the ETC, I thought it would be better to run something that is more likely to be seen as practice for the England boys.

So - fingers crossed. I'm hoping for a Top 10, but that means pushing someone in the England set up out of the picture... so a tough, tough nut to crack!
Given my recent lack of experience at tournament level, perhaps I should aim for something more like going 3:2 over the weekend!

Wish me luck and I'll provide feedback on the lists and the games next week!

Demon Summoning - What's the deal now?

Yeah, yeah - I'm 6th month's late on this..
I didn't like the concept when it first hit.
Felt it was
a) too time consuming
b) not smashy enough (I like to smash - that's what she said! self-snowmobile whoot!)

However - I have a heavily comped tournament (only a 40+ player one day bad boy to be fair...) coming up and I am trying to create competitive lists within its constraints.
As explored the other day, this rules out new Necrons (which I love), new Harlies (love - too new) and several other highly competitive builds (Nids for example).

I tried a Demon Summoning list last night at Sons of War. Had a great game vs CentStar - wracked up 18-10 on Maelstrom (it uses Maelstrom Missions only)..

After a little tweaking after thoughts, the list is:

Lord of Change - Lvl 3, 2 Greater Rewards
2 Heralds of Tz, Disc, Lvl 3, 1 Exalted
3 x 10 Tz Horrors
2 x 3 Nurglings
2 Demon Prince of Tz, Lvl 3, Wings, Armour (one with 2 Greater, one with 1 Greater/1 Exalted
9 Screamers

The idea is to grab sacrifice on the Nurglings first turn and get another couple of Heralds for the Council.
Comp is max 2 of the same unit (outside troops/inc. however transports e.g. max 2 wave serpents) and max 15 power dice to be generated per turn... so no 4 heralds or 3 Tz Princes

In testing - I focus on Sacrifice to generate another pair of Heralds on Discs.
These can turbo boost the turn they come in which means I have a great shot at maximising Maelstrom points and of course can join them to the Screamer Council in subsequent turns.
it also gives me a shot at grabbing any of the powers I don't get during the pre-game roll off for Psychic powers.
For example, I did NOT get Cursed Earth at the start of the game, but I did when I got my 3rd summoned Herald in turn 2...
I didn't actually use it...
I used the Nurgling Swarms in the first turn to put a wound onto in order to generate a Herald.

I of course stacked a load of dice on 4++ Divination power and talked this up as the "BIG" power to be getting off each turn to protect the council.
Of course it is... BUT, with Cursed Earth and Grimoire it's quite nice anyway..

it should be noted that another element of the comp is the limit to 2++ rerollable saves. They become the 2++/4++ reroll that is used by several tournaments. So actually, 3++/3++ is not all that bad...if I fail to get the 4++ or it gets stopped.

I only used "Summoning" three times and was stopped on one occasion - GK Cent Star has plenty of power dice too...

I did however, find summoning Screamers to be useful for the objective claiming/denial I mentioned with the Heralds. Their turbo boost can be wonderful to get to objectives.
They did give up a point once when my opponent drew the "Blood and Guts" card, gaining a point from killing a unit in CC.

I was very impressed with the board control, speed, objective claiming/denial and survivability of the list.

I was not impressed with the killing power. I found Flickering Fire to be..frankly, wank. Granted, I had mainly Dreadknights and Invisible CentStar to deal with ...so I just felt like killing stuff was fruitless - just put my units at risk and what not. I did kill his Strike Squads for easy "kill a psyker"/"kill a unit" points ... And I thought I could tie up the CentStar with the Screamer star of just summoned crap for a turn and pump all my denial dice into Gate. That'd keep them locked down and inactive...

As it was - I liked the way the Summoning/Mobile Demons worked for this game... I do wonder if I needed the fliers, but they were useful for Vector Strikes on Dreadknights and for drawing fire from the CentStar - he took two turns (over the game) to kill a Demon Prince ...

So thoughts please on Summoning Mobile Demons for a Maelstrom only tournament?
Think it's probably a really good shout, but damn...it needs some painting!!

The Voice - Building a better Marine list

Rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated. Ive just been really busy job hunting and looking after the little one.

So, Marines; its all about the bikes right?

Wrong

I won't lie i looked at the book and thought the same initially. With grav as it is and scoring cheap bikes the way they are, then surely that's your starting point with marine lists?  We'll this is what i thought and played some games...and its good, but its not great. If you don't go first it can be a problem. It was almost 2 army's, the one where you went first and the one where you went second and the tactics changed a lot depending on that. With Coteaz as an allie then i think it is a strong contender, but other wise its good but not tourney winning good (Hello Mr Sacket :P)

So what do i think marines should be doing. Well that depends, on one thing. The chapter tactics you use. This rule more than any other really does define how you should build your list, and, in my humble opinion, tactical marines tend to use them to the fullest.

I was a bit disillusioned with the tacs at first, they didn't get much of a buff and they were not cheaper (not really, when you consider their old free/cheap weapons upgrades). But add in the chapter tactics and the fact that a lot of the upgrades are optional and available for squads under 10 strong now and hoo nelly!. Suddenly tacs en mass can be scary.

Yes i said it, Scary

So what I'm going to do is go through each of the chapter tactics and show you a list , talk about it a bit and throw some ideas your way. I won't include allies out of codex as frankly thats an exercise that would take forever. Plus i think allies are kinda cheating :P

First off. White Scars:

Obnoxious List 6 - Jetseer Council Eldar w Dark Eldar

We all know this one don't we?
It's been around since the last edition of the Eldar codex and the Seer Council was made utterly internet famous years ago by Fritz over at Way of Saim Hann (or Fritz40k or Warmaster 40K or whatever it is now..the brother loves a rebrand lol) - well, for me it was Fritz... I have been reading his blog for something like 5 years now..

Before the new codex, Gaz Jones, fellow ETC player and all round top lad, was running it to great effect maximising use of fortune, invisibility etcetera...

More recently its enjoyed a limited resurgence - primarily Stateside. In the UK, we've not been using it that much - a lot of scepticism regarding its reliance on rolling Fortune...with just 6 rolls. But I like it and have toyed with it a few times now.
The "Deer Council" concept has been pushed to its limits by "GTA" part of Team Zero Comp at Frontline Gaming and there are numerous batreps and walkthroughs on their blog - check it out if you haven't already.

It's a simple concept - join us after the jump for a cheeky look at it and how it all works:

Obnoxious List Building 4: O'Vesa Tau 1850

Riptides are sweet right?
Riptides... some guys really hate playing against more than 1.. in fact many comments and blog posts around the blogosphere would say that 2+ riptides takes you away from friendly list building and straight into competitive territory. They may not put out as much damage for their points as Crisis Suits, but there is no denying that in the current meta they are super effective.
Well then, with that in mind... let's take at least 4 of them, just to mess with you!
I just smile when I write that.
4.
4.
4 Riptides!
Could be 5!

But that's just obnoxious!
Shit, wait, that's the point isn't it!?

Ven here, back with another obnoxious army that is ruining your day...globally! Whether you are here in the UK or in the States.. or somewhere else... like .... Lichtenstein... there are army's that you hate to play or just feel overwhelmed by.

This is number 4.
We have covered so far - Farsight Bomb, Screamer Council, TauDar and now another gem from the little fish men.. O'Vesa.

A simple concept, given life through the allies matrix and the Farsight Enclaves codex supplement. O'Vesa is a cool ass Riptide, part of Farsight's 8...his counsellors, confidants and general strategic bitches that he has picked up over his unnaturally long life. O'Vesa is an Independent Character (IC) Riptide and almost straight away we can see the fun here -  Take O'Vesa and throw him in a unit with another Riptide.

After the jump we'll talk about the benefits of this list, how it works and what it does.

Obnoxious List Building 3: TauDar 1850

As discussed yesterday, it's time to see what some of the tougher builds are in the ever-changing 40k environment right now.
There were a couple of key components that made an "Obnoxious" build - one that you feel you really will struggle to get the upper hand with. These were:
Hyper-Mobile
Hyper-Resilient
Long Range Effective
This on top of the other components of a competitive army make for a truly obnoxious (read: unpleasant wanker) army.
Today, we will discuss TauDar.
Tau Primary and Eldar Allied.
We go this way around because the Tau have some excellent and points efficient units and frankly, we only want a couple of components from the Eldar.

After the jump, I'll break it down into the 3 distinct areas and discuss why and how I feel this list is ....Obnoxious.

White Scars and Space Wolves - White Wolves 1500

...Until now! 

Strike whilst the iron is hot the phrase goes... White Scars are the sexiest thing to come out of Codex: Space Marines and we all know it by now.

If you don't or are unsure - they are.

Graviton guns (whilst generally a bit shitty on the majority of platforms - I agree with 3++'s Sir Biscuit on this one) are superb on the relentless biker chassis. The major range and mobility drawbacks of the Salvo weapon are mitigated completely they get to rock the meta in a big way.

Scout, Hit and Run, +1 Jink, +1S HoW, auto pass Dangerous Terrain plus cheaper bikers than Ravenwing AND cheaper HQ unlock than Ravenwing means these fuckers are here to stay and they are here to mess you up.

This article really is all about the meta. 

Let's consider a few months back and we all 'oohed' and 'aahed' at the Ravenwing Dakka Banner build with their sexy debuff grenades and such like... the Dakka Banner Wing build did what people needed it to at the time (and it still does dependent on how fast your meta environment moves) and that was to remove the vast swathes of infantry clogging up our delightful 6'x4's.

Now we have three things smashing the bejeezus out of us:
1) Riptides - not so utterly death dealing as a right PITA and contesting/line breaking wonderfully, that said they have some excellent solutions to armour and infantry alike as well as suitably smushing heldrakes on intercept...
2) Wraithknights - the Eldar construct that everyone hated and many still do. T8 and mobility keeps it alive and the 240 point stock build has some very useful applications in plugging gaps in...
3) Wave Serpent spam. Ignores cover, mega range, holo fields being pretty decent and av12 making it slightly harder for the S7 Tau spammers (yup, include me in that field lol)

The solution? Fast moving,massed shots, wound on 2/3's (for 1. and 2. respectively) AP2 bullshit. Oh and did we mention that per troop unit they will be spamming out 6 shots that on a 6 immobilise and strip a hull point from a vehicle? sweet. Now, this is not hugely game changing.. but there are other elements that bring this in. Context first - if you are planning on using this as an Anti-Meta tool, well it IS a big thing vs Serpents.. because it keeps the troops away from objectives and FORCES them out.. DAVU sure don't survive too well with snarling Scars around.. Next, Cover has been a real pain for most people when dealing with Serpent spam - primarily around the misinterpreted/whatevs 3+ fortification save from legs of Skyshields - this leads to cray cray saves on Wave Serpents with holofields and then BOOM they throw out their own ignores cover shit. PITA.
Now those tough big models... they drop like a rock to Grav weaponry. AP2 en masse and without the drawbacks of plasma..

But is this the future for ALL marines? I'm sure it isn't.. but remember when you all bought those Ravenwing Dark Vengeance models cause you really wanted a bike army? ...Yeah, I did that too :) Natch.

So whats a guy to do when we see these lovely new rules.......

1500 Battlefield Birmingham coming up and I for one was very unsure about what to run...I have another contender now! D'oh!

Khan - Moondrakken 

Command Squad - Bikes, 4 Meltaguns (I know this could be grav spam as well, but I like results...) 

5 Bikes - 2 GravMotherfuckers 

5 Bikes - 2 GravMotherfuckers 

5 Bikes - 2 GravMotherfuckers 

5 Bikes - 2 GravMotherfuckers 

2 Attack Bikes - 2 Multimeltas 

2 Attack Bikes - 2 Multimeltas 

Rune Priest - Bike, Runic Armour, Jaws (Grav's other beauty....concussive), LL, Chooser (can't fuck up the scout moves with Infiltrate)

Rune Priest - Bike, Runic, Jaws, Murderous

5 Grey Hunters - Flamer (cause shit son, you can't forget about the anti infantry amirite? lol) 

So the idea is we scout forward if going first and gang rape riptides and wraithknights - two major forces on the tournament scene at the minute, we also (again, in the same context) move up and melta 3 wave serpents.

Any low Init targets such as Broadies, Rips, Nid MCs, FMCs after they've been grounded and Concussed... they drop down Dual Jaws holes and the bikers move on and rape another section of the army.
Genghis Khan style baby, hit and run... expose the critical success areas in the enemy army, the areas of gravity and smite that shit.

Now.....

This is all well and good.....

But what about the massed armies without Grav-target rich environments? wounds on saves is no fucking good against those shitty 5/6+ saves...funny that the gun that destroys Wraithknights means less than a lasgun to the humble Termagant. Granted you are bricking it at Ap2... but that's what cover is for!

Now, you are rocking a Screamer Council... now what do we do? Sure, the Rune Priests stand a damn good chance of stopping the crucial stuff (i.e. Forewarning...well, every power is crucial in that list) but they can be sniped and shot off the board, because I assure you the Council has the firepower and the speed to remove the models they need.. and where are these Priests going to be? In the Command Squad at BEST, in Troop units at WORST (for the White Wolves player)..then it satisfies two roles for the Council player.

Same goes for the Dan Sackett style DE/Eldar Beast packs or the Demon army with all FMCs...or the Seer Council Eldar with 4++/rerollable...or the Kroot heavy Tau army (more Kroot Snipers coming your way soon)...

And of course.. As if the Dark Reaper Starshot unit wasn't coming out to play enough to kill off Wraithknights... (watch it rape a Wraithknight or Wave Serpent a turn with the Tau Buff Commander tanking saves up front..) now it'll be all over the place as it really will be a truly excellent meta counter.

Ignores Jink saves, S5, 2 shot AP3 sounds MADE to rape bikes.
Add in S8 ignore Jink FU-Holofields and say good bye to a Serpent per turn or a Wraithknight.
Whack it behind an Aegis with a Fast Shot Exarch and Lascannon and watch it the 2 TL, Tank Hunting shots smash into your Heldrake or Vendetta..

Granted this unit is extremely expensive for what it is.. But it is not SO expensive as to prohibit use.

So once again.. this article asks the question - the meta is shifting once again, with the speed that most of us on the tournament scene are gradually adjusting to, what will you do to counter the new White Wolves? 

Bear in mind I've just knocked this out in reference to Battlefield Birmingham and I've not even built and army that includes everything it needs... for example, the 1-- pt Thunderfire Cannon is an excellent addition here as well as the Storm Talons.. but this is what I'd like and enjoy to run and I also believe it has a place in the current environment. 

Deer Council - The next project!

Hi guys, So this weekend is the Death or Glory tournament in Ashtead, Surrey (I think it's Surrey lol) - an 1850, 40 man, 5 game bad boy and MY FIRST tournament since much earlier in the year where I HAVEN'T had to run Tyranids!

I ran the Nids cause I wanted a good performance at the ETC and was, well.. distinctly average. But I'm free now to have a good look at what I want to run over the next year and

 I'm running ...... Tau.

Allied with more Tau.

Yup. I'm a boring bastard - I love S7 and the shooting phase...always have, always will lol.

But as those super early battle reports, the first few posts on the Sons of Sanguinius will attest, it's an army I've run for years and I love suits.

It's sad when you have to justify your choice of army cause it's a bit good in the current meta. I read a post from Luke Nurser over at the Death or Glory blog and he opened his post with something like "I've run eldar forever, they were my second ever army and I love them" like you have to apologise for running something strong, relevant and current.

  Fuck that.

  I'm running Tau with Farsight Tau Allied in. Fuck y'all haha!

HOWEVER... I do also flit around and change what I want to run and I've dived AWAY from the Screamer Council as something that I'll be running (depsite loving the broken ass craziness of it... I mean LOVING it too BTW, loving it.) and I'd quite like to try and get the Eldar up and running in a NON-SERPENT SPAM kinda fashion.

  I love the mobility and antics that Eldar can bring to the table and one of my absolute favourite blogs ever was Way of Saim Hann - Fritz40k as it is now.

It is a wonderful site, run by a great guy and it was my first source of information on the blogosphere back in the day - when I first started playing again at the start of 5th ed and I was running Eldar myself. I principally loved his anti-meta jetbike mobility and 'Eldar Turn 5' shenanigans and that is what I'd like to bring back to my gaming.

Now, I appreciate I can do that with Allied Eldar into my Tau or vice versa, but I think I'd like to bring in the Dark Kin. Dark Eldar - yeah, for sure bitch! They are gorgeous models. You'll remember oh long time Sons fan, that I ran Dark Eldar to my first ever tournament win at the first Blog Wars tournament a few years ago and realy, the models have been shelved since. So, I'd really love it if I could bring them back to the table.

I'm thinking Deer Council.

Screamer Council: is it "top dog" at a tournament?

It's not just Shredder that is unkillable.....

It's one of the hot topics - now that Tau and Mech/Hybrid Eldar (or of course TauDar) are flooding the tournament boards, how do we kill them? How do we run an anti-meta list successfully?

I've been using (in random games when not prepping for ETC with my Nids) a Demon list that I first heard about a few months ago when the ETC lists were published to teams and we could peruse the other nations ideas...

The Screamer Council is BIG and it is COOL and it is NASTY!

You can have a read HERE if you are unsure what I am talking about. The linked post details how it works and what it does. If you want to try out the Screamer Council read THIS article and then just go to town!

Now, my plans for tournaments are this:
7/8th September is Death or Glory Tournament (1850)
5/6th October is Battlefield Birmingham tournament (1500)
9/10th November is GT Heat 3 in Warrington (1650)

I have invested a fair amount of time in reworking my old Tau army on the side of getting my Nids 'ETC Ready' and I really want to get them stuck in to tournaments. I appreciate that Tau/Eldar are the GK/Necrons of 6th edition but I think I want to run them.

Problem is - I know at least ONE Screamer Council will be present at each of these events.

MINIMUM. I am not 100% sure if there will be more, perhaps it is TOO soon after the ETC for this to have permeated through to the mainstream UK tournaments, but it is certainly a topic well covered on 40K Global by Big Dave Symcox and discussed with disgust by Franco M. So plenty of people know about it.

I've run it and I know HOW good it is. And just how hard it is to kill.... so what can I do IF I don't run it myself....

Max Air - ChaosCrons ETC Lists

Todays list is not as exciting as this picture... But it's not my fault... Boring European fucktards...

Next up in my little series examining the most popular builds at this years ETC ... Maxed out fliers.
This is not necessarily a new thing, nor a trend which no one saw coming...especially in this context - the ETC does not allow Forge World and therefore the ability to spam Sabre Defence Platforms means that fliers have a real chance to dominate.

Lets look at the tournaments in the UK - when FW is allowed at a tournament, fliers are not as much of a worry...when there is no FW allowed at an event - fliers abound.

The ETC follows this trend it seems, at Europe and in the States at least.

Germany, USA, Italy, Greece, France.. the list goes on and on...they are all rocking an extreme flier list.

What are the armies?
Really...
You need to ask?
Necrons and Chaos Space Marines.

Night Scythes and Heldrakes. That's pretty much the army list too haha!

Tau Farsight Bomb - ETC Lists

This week I'll be looking at the next "common denominator" in the multitude of ETC lists I've been scouring my critical eye over.
In the last week, since the release of the ETC lists submitted, I've been particpating in a team exercise to analyse the ETC lists and line up some playtesting against lists which we are unsure of.

Just like the post about Tzeentch Screamer Councils, here I am looking at another cross-border popular list - the Tau Farsight Bomb.

Personally, I think the Farsight Bomb too 'match-up sensitive' (in the context of the ETC) but we still need to look at how it works:

The list is, of course, built around Commander O'shovah or Farsight. He allows a 7-strong bodyguard of Crisis Suits. He also has a semi-OK assault element and a plasma rifle. Meh. But see above...7 Crisis Suits!
Wet.
Mech.
Dream.

The next elements is to add Commander Shadowsun - she grants Stealth and Shrouding to the Bomb and the immense Warlord trait - Ghost Who Walks (or whatever, I feel the Phantom's moniker fits well for it :) ) which allows a 3D6" assault move rather than 2D6". This allows the Bomb to drop in and scuttle away a decent distance to get to relative safety or simply to make the opponent have to work to get it killed. We'll discuss here other attributes later, but mainly she also has 2 very accurate Fusion Blasters which she can fire at two seperate targets.

In normal circumstances, this choice of Warlord with the list every game would provide for superb tactical manouevring. However, in the ETC Warlord's must be listed and set in stone when the lists are submitted...apparently the Europeans do not like decision making or thought...

In the case of the Farsight Bomb's... Farsight is listed as the Warlord in all the lists. Why? His Warlord trait means that the unit does not scatter if it Deep Strikes.

What does this tell us? It tells us the Bomb will be Deep Striking in and causing mass havoc from Turn 2. To further evidence the use of this strategy, the lists include the Aegis Defence Line with a Comms Relay - rerolling reserve rolls assuming there is a controlled model within 2/3". So yeah, the Bomb is Derp Striking for sure.

In that case, we'd best look at the rest of the list and see if we can table the fuck out of it in a turn!

Chaos Demons in 40K - One Box Fits All?

Hope mine can look half as good... lol

Hey all.
I'm taking a break from reading all the True Names and balancing it with some light Grimoire reading.
It may be heretical, but I think it's the job of any true Inquisitor to "Know Thy Enemy".

Cutting through the fluffy opening shit - it is important to know ALL the armies that are likely to be arrayed before you on the tabletop.

A good degree of that knowledge can only be acquired through stepping down off the path and wading through the mire.

This week I'm building my 'Demonic mire' - I want to learn more about Demons in order to further my play as a Tyranid player.

I've played locally quite a bit vs demons, especially Allied with CSM forces. I've played a fair few tournament games in 6th against them, but half were against the old codex. So I need to know more... I've played against an ETC build and won, played against FMC Spam Demons and won - albeit very narrowly.

But I need to know how to truly beat them. And part of that process is, as I have said, playing them myself.

Swift sidestep to a second topic that links in very strongly with this - the local gaming club I run is currently on a Monday night (all through summer with our true 'home' is refurbished) and I'm coming straight from school - now, I'm a secret geek as I am sure I've said before - hence why I use "Venerable Brother" and not my real name more often than not..

Anyway...I'm a smuggler...

Mechdar!! that's Mechanical Eldar to you..is it going to be a thing?

Ok so the secret is out..apparently those very expensive transports - Wave Serpents - might be kind of good. Now I don't know if its everyone's cup of tea, but I like bucking trends. 6th edition it seems had the vehicle fall out of favor. But could the wave serpent be part of that elastic band snaping it right back?

If you follow the etc and the home nations you may have noticed that a fair few armys (Grey Knight and Guard mainly) have started creeping back to their old "hulls" style of play. Ie, i'll put lots of vehicles in front of you as you cant get all of them. This I feel is because of the so shifty meta nowadays and the preponderance of taking as much anti infantry as you can. Guys in the open or cover just are not as safe as they once were and a box covering your troops is a good idea.  Now this is all well and good in a team format, where you can, to a degree, choose your match up. But could it win you a tournament? Well Paul Burke won the Gt with a fair few hulls, but with Tau now on the scene and able to pump out massed amounts of fire power round that S7 sweet spot that scares most vehicles AND infantry. Is it still viable?

Personally I think yes it is, and if I may humbly put forward my proposal....I think Eldar can do it best...maybe.

This is because Wave Serpents are a bit pimp. A 60 inch ignoring cover d6+1 shots autocannon, probably twin linked...carrying, and coming out of, your troops allowance. Plus they have other guns too... Yikes. (Also a question mark is currently a hot topic on the subject of the ignore cover save usr. Does it effect vehicles? As it states that the rule can only be used on "wounds" but yet when taking cover saves vs glances and pens , they can be saved against "like wounds". But their not wounds, its just a mechanic that works "like wounds", so raw....I'm hoping, that those pesky marker lights cant somehow suddenly pick up a fast moving target...)

So Eldar have basically a heavy support vehicle in their troops section making all your squishy stuff immune to hell drakes and the like, while also pumping out the fire power. Whats not to like!!

So what would a list look like?

Well I have 3, cos I cant decide what I like. All variations of a theme and all tailored (kinda) to deal with Chaos Marines, Crons and Tau (so s8 ap 2 stuff for broadsides, oblits and wraiths with Destroyer lords, lots of rerolls to help hit flyers, lots of shots to hose infantry, lots of troops as blade storming battle focusing infantry are great when your fighting over objectives....you get the picture).

So firstly. We have this. The min max version with a bastion thrown in as Tau actually realy dont like av14 that much:

List 1

Farseer, bike (almost obligatory for the save, toughness boost and lets you jet round the back lines dishing out re rolls to hit (usually war walkers)

3 bikes (farseer bodyguard)

5 Dire Avengers in wave serpent, scatter laser and holo fields (so the basic build for a serpent with reroll dakka goodness and resilience)

5 Dire Avengers in wave serpent as above
5 Dire Avengers in wave serpent as above
5 Dire Avengers in wave serpent as above

10 guardians in Wave sepent with holo fields, scatter laser and star engines (  Ive thrown in a star engine for late game deployment zone boost. Its on the guardian unit as my sence of symatry doesnt allow it to go any where else)

3 warwalkers with 6 bright lance (lots of high stength ap 2 for popping t4 multi wound models be it paladins or broadsides - usually gets a reroll of the farseer)
3 warwalkers with 6 bright lance

Bastion with Icarus las cannon

3 dark reapers with exarch, fast shot (so basically there for a 2 shot, no jinks, b5 icarus lascannon...not bad AA. Small unit though, will probably say in the bastion and not on top of it untill turn 2 when the flyers actually start to turn up.

So that's the basic all comers list. As said I think it covers all the bases. Yes the scoring is a squishy but there is a lot of it, and with blade storm they are no slouches in a pinch. The first turn of shooting from this list is phenomenal. With Scout moves, battle focus and fast vehicles nothing should stay my wrath if I get turn one.  Return volleys are being ignored 50% of the time due to the jink and holo combo. If i go second then use cover and debate putting the war walkers on outflank.


List 2:

Where Gary worry's that the scoring is still a bit too light and see's how far he can push it. Also a sneaky plan as I also worry the bike/farseer unit with get punished by hell turkeys.

Farseer, bike

3 bikes
10 guardians in stc wave serpent (Scatter laser, holo fields)
10 guardians in stc wave serpent
10 guardians in stc wave serpent
10 guardians in stc wave serpent
5 Dire avengers in stc wave serpent

3 bright lance war walkers
3 bright lance war walkers


I then have 164 points. Now I have a few further options:

• A fire prism with holos and a shuri cannon and the bikes get a cannon too. Solid dakka all round

• Spend obscene amounts on a Night Spinner - holo fields, star engines and a crystal target matrix - this would allow me to go 36 inches turn one, get a 3+ cover save and torrent a S7 (s8 vs most tau or crons) , better than rending, flame template. Sounds pretty good to me!! Plus it should be one hell of a distraction to take the heat off of the serpents. If I can get a good angle it could also mean frying a lot of marker drones or other choice targets that thought they were safe or had an 2+ armored character tanking the front of the unit. The lovely thing about this tank too is that it has a barrage mode too, so it could just as easily hide at the back and try and snipe out that Ethereal and put some solid pie plate action in for a few turns and then redeploy 36 inches....and still shoot as its doing it.

• A Falcon with pulsar, scatter laser, shuri cannon and holos. Again yet more solid dakka but also with the option of putting some dire avengers in here. This leaves an empty wave serpent...which can carry 12 models....or 4 "very bulky" ones...yep!!! if i'm really worried about hell drakes I can just bung my seer and jet bikes in the back of an Eldar Transit van. I don't know why but this really pleases me, even though falcons are only ok rather than good. It just means I can be fully meched up.

• Take an Aegis with quad gun to shore up the AA a bit and then put Shuri Cannons on pretty much everything. More dakka!!! I haven't taken the cannon as standard as usually you'll want to move 12 inches to make the most of the mobility and that third gun will only snap fire. But its always a nice option to move 6 and then lead with the scatter laser and follow up with an absolute fuck load of medium strength shots. I'm not sure but I also think the serpents get a cover save from the wall if i'm forced to go second.

I worry a little about Flyers with this list as i'm really just relying on the copious amounts of re rolls I can generate (unless I go the Aegis option). But I think it should be enough.

List 3: 

Whereby Gary wants to try a Crutch and try and abuse the warlord trait.

Ok so one thing I haven't mentioned is that personally I think that the Eldar Warlord traits are just ok, not great.  Ambush of blades is pretty good, fates messenger is kinda handy but eye on distant events is amazing in a mech list such as this. Basically its giving all your skimmers in range a 3+ cover save if they moved normally or a 2+ cover save if they boosted (and remember those Tau markerlights cant get rid of it) by giving stealth which stacks on to the holos and the jink save. So being able to get this warlord trait is very useful... so who has this as standard? Eldrad!!

Eldrad

10 guardians in stc wave serpent
10 guardians in stc wave serpent
10 guardians in stc wave serpent
5 Dire avengers in stc wave serpent
5 Dire avengers in stc wave serpent

3 bright lance war walkers
3 bright lance war walkers

Then I have 150 points, so its either a Fire prim with all the trimmings or shuri cannons on everything as usual and then it leaves 90 points. I'm debating here 3 Shadow weavers for the barrage s7 (s8 vs Tau and Crons) sniping. It also gives me a place to put Eldrad turn one before he dives in a Serpent to give his stealth buff turn one probably (as I need to be outside a transport to cast divination and guide to the war walkers turn one). It gives me a few options as other wise I may not be getting the most out of Eldrads powers. His redeploy is very useful too as its stops being out deployed. With careful deployment too it should help mitigate not going first as the warlord power is done in the enemy shooting phase, so I should be getting some nice cover saves even if I haven't moved turn one.


So anyway these are my ideas.

Whattdya think?

G

A more balanced Tau 1850...

I've been rocking my Missile Spam Tau (to which I've added more S7 lols with Missile Drones now - survive the alpha strike from a certain IG flier...) at the club and its been a bit too hot to handle.
I've had literally a DOZEN games with it and just find that it pumps out too many shots.

I read a line somewhere..think it was 3++... about bringing knives to a gunfight.. It is true.. you think you can get close and overwhelm, but then you can't charge and have to hang out and take it in the face, or you get up close and use terrain, only for Ignores Cover and No LOS req'd missiles to seriously damage units and a clustered Tau gunline Supporting Fire just rapes assault unit face..

It's not perfect.
It lacks mobility.
It lacks REAL Av14 with now just 2 units that can deal with it.

But for everything, there's S7 and S5 en masse.

And I feel like a dick.
I'm bringing tournament level armies to the club and whilst there are a few guys that really dig this and either rock that level or aspire to it, there are so many others that simply don't want it at all.

So today's post is about bringing in some subpar units or concepts, almost creating a balanced but somewhat fluffy force.
Now, I'm not going to purposely gimp myself to the point where I get butt raped every game, what's the learning point I take from that? Don't play shit armies? Nah.

So I'm still bringing plenty of S7, still bringing Markerlights..but I am also going to bring some other units around the theme of SUITS.

To me, this is what Tau are all about, using technology to pimp a little fish head til he's a bad ass that can fuck the Emperor's Holy Light right out of an Adeptus Astartes.

So this is what I think is a more "friendly", balanced Tau list that I don't feel bad for running at the club - new additions are marked out with italics and '!' before and after - NOTE: I wouldn't normally run these:

 

Crisis Commander - Missile Pod, PENChip, Iridium armour, Drone Controller, Target Lock, 2 Markerlight Drones

!Commander Shadowsun - 2 Fusion Guns, ATL!

!6 Stealthsuits - 2 Fusion, 4 Burst Cannons, Shas'Vre - 2 Markerlight Drones!

Riptide - Ion Accelerator, Interceptor

3 Crisis Suits - TL Missile Pods, Burst Cannon

6 Fire Warriors

6 Fire Warriors

10 Kroot

10 Kroot

Aegis Defence Line - Quad Gun

5 Pathfinders

!5 Pathfinders!

!Skyray - Blacksun Filter, Point Defence!

3 Broadsides - TL HYMP, TL SMS

3 Broadsides - TL HYMP, TL SMS

 Not changed up too many things, but the removal of the 3rd Broadside unit makes the army a lot less dangerous offensively - taking away 12 TL S7 and 12 TL S5 (Ignores Cover, No LOS) shots and replacing it with a few Seeker Missiles, SMS and a couple of Skylights (Networked, Skyfire Markerlights) makes a huge difference to my output.

Now there are benefits to it, I get to boost my shooting via markerlights, have access to lower AP, higher strength weaponry - effective against FMCs of the Demon and Nid variety (but then, I wasn't worried before with volume of fire).

I get access to a very cool unit in the "ShadowStealth Team" unit. They can infiltrate, move, fire 4 Fusion Blasters and light something up with a couple of Markerlights, then melt away into the shadows with Shadowsun's 'Ghost who walks' - the coolest named Warlord trait since 'Dust of a Thousand Worlds'...plus it's immeasurably useful in keeping them alive with 3D6 JSJ move in the assault phase.

The second unit of pathfinders would normally be Marker Drones for the Commander to use his Drone Controller with whilst he mans the Quad Gun and dakka's some bitches.

But, it is my hope that this is a more approachable Tau army than the one I have been using, and it gives me an excellent opportunity to try out a couple of units that I have been wanting to for some time - the Skyray, an excellent model I've had for literally years but never every used :( and of course the ShadowStealth Team...

I'm looking forward to Eldar and Allied opportunities to bring in Karandras led Striking Scorpions troops (fingers crossed Eldar in June) with the ShadowStealth Team for very thematic shenanigans.. purely for local lols though!

An Ode to the High Yield Missile Pod

The High Yield Missile Pod Poem:

Oh missiles I love you so,

For your range and your strength.

You aid in laying the enemy low,

Wherever they hide along the board length.

Your brother in arms,

Have great AP,

Often do fools succumb to the Railguns charms,

Given time the errors of their ways they'll see.

You have multiple shots... ah fuck it.

I'm no poet...

I've seen some people slagging the High Yield Missile Pod (HYMP) and raising up the frankly inferior Heavy Rail Rifle.

FACT: The HYMP is God in Tau form.

Deal with it.. HYMP is the new Rail Gun.. it WILL be rightly feared. It SHOULD be rightly feared.

If you don't agree... play against 3x3 Crisis Suits with TL MP and a MP and 3x3 Broadsides with full missiles on the cheap - HYMP & SMS.
Add in some more S7 in the Commander who mans a quad gun with Target Lock and Puretide Engram to an attached Broadside unit for Tank Hunters and the re-roll vs penetration is GOLDEN compared the extra point of strength.

No, the Hammerhead submunition is NOT as good as the 8 TL shots EACH broadside puts out.. especially with Markerlight support.

So..ideas then for Tau lists...I'm not throwing everything out there.. but here are a couple of thoughts:

A Broad Rip in your 'Sides 1850:

Commander - Iridium Armour, Target Lock, MP, Drone Controller, Puretide Engram
3 TL MP Crisis Suits
3 TL MP Crisis Suits

Riptide - Ion Accelerator, Interceptor
6 Fire Warriors
6 Fire Warriors

10 Kroot
10 Kroot
Aegis Defence Line - Quad Gun
6 Markerlight Drones
5 Pathfinders
5 Piranhas - Burst Cannon
3 Broadsides - HYMP, SMS
3 Broadsides - HYMP, SMS

3 Broadsides - HYMP, SMS



mmmm.. missiles.. mmmmm....Riptide! mmm...Piranhas..

Tau suck at scoring.
Suck that up, move on.
Kill everything that moves.
Except Land Raiders.

Need to deal with Armour?

1 Commander - Iridium Armour, Target Lock, MP, Drone Controller, Puretide Engram, 2 Markerlight Drones,
1 Bodyguard - TLMP, MP

3 TL MP, MP Crisis Suits (for 12 S7 shots)
3 TL MP, MP Crisis Suits
3 TL MP, Fusion Crisis Suits (for that Land Raider...or if you feel almost 80 S7 shots with Markerlight support across 4 units won't strip an AV13 vehicle or 2 per turn..)
6 Fire Warriors
6 Fire Warriors
10 Kroot
10 Kroot
Aegis Defence Line - Quad Gun
5 Pathfinders
5 Pathfinders
5 Pathfinders
3 Broadsides - HYMP, SMS
3 Broadsides - HYMP, SMS
3 Broadsides - HYMP, SMS

Fusion Blasters on a mobile platform that is effective at 24", but best at 15"... and for everything else...there's S7.


My new motto.. better than MasterCard. "For everything else, there's the Missile Pod" - it used to be my Tau 'live by' motto.. is still is.
Thoughts guys?
Questions?
Doubts?

New Tau Lolgasm - 3 Riptides & Dreadknight?

Lets get straight to it.
This is just pure fun.
This is for the connoisseur of massive mecha robots.
Now, will it work? well, I have to be honest, this is me trying to make a silly ridiculous concept into something that may actually work.
The biggest issue is troops.. they are a bit shit here to be honest.
Keeping the firepower as the primary offensive mechanism here is one thing, but with an inability to score.. well..just have to contest.

Yeah, we all know how well that is likely to turn out..

The list is built on a basic premise: Three Riptides and a Dreadknight.
Big.
Awesome.
Cool as fuck.
Here we go:

Crisis Commmander: Missile Pod, Target Lock, Drone Controller, Iridium Armour (T5, 2+), Puretide Engram Neurochip, 2 Marker Drones

Riptide - Ion Accelerator, SMS

Riptide - Ion Accelerator, SMS

Riptide - Ion Accelerator, TL Fusion Blaster

6 Fire Warriors

6 Fire Warriors

Aegis Defence Line - Quad Gun

3 Markerlight Drones

3 Broadsides - High Yield Missile Pods, SMS

3 Broadsides - High Yield Missile Pods, SMS

2 Broadsides - High Yield Missile Pods, SMS

Grey Knight Allies:

Coteaz

Dreadknight - Heavy Incinerator

8 Warrior Acolytes, 3 Storm Bolters

Note: Crisis Commander joins the 3 drones to make it  strong for Target Locked Markerlight support using BS5. It has to be this way because the purchased Commander drones are slightly cheaper.

Is it hardcore tournament strong? Fuck no.

Will you have immense fuck dicking about with it? Fuck yes.

Do I own the necessary models.... um, actually.. yes.. once those "pre-orders" arrive lol £35 for a Riptide with 30% off was simply too good..

Ravenwing 1850 Battle Rep: Never Give Up!

Just a very quick one highlighting a cool game from the Sons of War Cambridge gaming club (my club..what, it's a shameless plug for my club on my blog bitches! lol) this last week..

I was getting in a test game with my Azrael/multiWing/Blob list..

Mission: The Scouring,

Deployment: Hammer and Anvil

I was playing against a very shooty (anti infantry anyway) GK foot list - loads of Psybolts! Something like:

Coteaz
Grand Master - MC Sword, Rad, Psychotroke
Paladins x 6/7 Psycannons, Psybolts, Hammers, Halberds

War Band - Jokearo, 3 HB Servitors, 2 Plasmagun douches, 3 acolyte douches (they end up with Rending.. not bad)

3 x 10 Strikes - 2 Cannons, Psybolts

2 x Psyflemen

Dreadknight - Jump, Heavy Incinerator, Sword

I'm running the IG/DA Azrael Blob.. my extra Ravenwing bikes didn't arrive in time :(

Azrael

Libbie

Primaris Psyker
2 x 5 Deathwing - Asscannons
2 x 6 Ravenwing - 2 Plasmaguns, MM Attack Bike
5 x Assault Marines, 2 Flamers, Combi Flamer - Drop Pod
Platoon Command - Autocannon
50 man Blob - 5 Power Axes, Autocannons




It's fun.. but there are some elements I just wouldn't include anymore like the Termies or the Assault Squad.
MAWR Ravenwing!

Anyway, this is the story of the Blob and 2 Bikes.

The photo is of the start of the game at deployment, so obviously I haven't got about 605 points on the board with Deathwing and Assault Squad.

I've combat squadded the Bikers because he has a small number of high output units that will maul the bike squads.. so let's let him kill off 3 men with a full Strike Squad with Psybolts..this leaves the other half to do something next turn before they die too..

Anyway, Turn 1 he goes first and just Warp Quakes really.. in his end he has the "4" and both "3" point Objectives.. why move? The Dreadknight is scoring so I think he is keeping it safe for a last minute contest and mayhem later.

My Turn 1 I've scouted the bikes and now I bring my Bikes up, but not too close.. and drop in the Termies via DWA (obviously before the bikes move) and the Drop Pod comes in and... MISHAPS.. and dies after scattering 10" into his Warp Quake net work.. balls. First blood goes to him. The blob moves up and snap fires (with Prescience) the Autocannons one of his Dreads..and pens...explodes it.
I kill all bar one dude in a Strike Squad and then.....

Turn 2 he savages my Dark Angel elite... he kills all bar one Terminator from each group and kills all the bikes except 2 - 1 in each unit. This is despite me trying to block LOS to as many bikes as possible and having a 2+ armour save on Termies.. hmm.. I think I passed... 2. Feck.

My turn, the bikes turbo boost into the back field and I take 2 turns with the blob legging it up field and dealing with the Dreadknight.. yup.. the blob slaughtered the Dreadknight over a couple of assault phases..

The Blob then killed off the Paladins and Grand Master... depsite Rad and Psychotroke Grens..

The Blob then stand in the middle of his D-Z and take a mauling from the remaining GK units, one of which then charges the blob, only to die from Azrael and then the Power Axe serges...

In my final turn.. the blob (which is now actually only 4 dudes, 4 serges, Primaris and Azrael) slaughter Coteaz and his unit to claim the "4" point objective..

Remember those bikes? yup, well each of them was position exactly 27" from the two flanking objectives.. I killed off one GK Strike squad on one (the one that assaulted me) and therefore the bike claims it, then the other bike denies on the right flank.. whilst the Platoon Command Sqaud in my D-Z ...miles away from the action.. claims a "1" point Objective.. I get Line Breaker and Warlord too..

Tactical play wins the day!

Best decision of the day? Combat Squadding the Ravenwing and taking the extra 10 men in the Blob to round out the points..

Love games like this. The Blob ate everything. Brilliant.. Ravenwing needed more of them and a dakka banner..just so they can play support role with the blob rather than sweeping in and putting pressure.. if that pressure can come from range, then so much the better it is..

Going to try this...maybe tonight vs Bringer and his Demons/CSM with just 2 Heldrakes... lol:

Azrael
Libbie - Bike
Ravenwing Command - Bolter Banner, Grenade Launcher
4 x 6 Ravenwing w Bolters, MM Attack Bike
6 x Ravenwing w Bolters

Primaris Psyker (Biomancy) Force Axe
PCS
4 x 10 man Blob, 4 Force Axes

Less dakka in the Blob, but more bikers who can apply that pressure from afar.. although it is a funny one.. I kinda want to throw the RC forward to make use of the RGL's Rad Shell.... but that means putting everyone forward! And that'll end up like the above game! I coudl go Sammael in this list.. but then the Blob wouldn't have a 4++ and Furious Charge lol! Or potential FNP from Biomancy dude.. Plus, if he gets Enfeeble... I can do it from further afield..

Email in: 2k Necron lists

Sup everyone. Got an email in the other day from Eric K.

"...Venerable Brother,


First, love the blog and your battle reports. I am sure you get this a lot but I am seeking advice on a necrons list. Its at the point where I consider it fine tuning. Its a 2000 pt list meant to be an all comers competitive list. I am torn between two lists right now:

List One:
-2x Overlord w/warscythe, MSS, and Barge
-2x Royal Court w/veil-tek, abyssal-tek, and Storm-tek
-(5)Deathmarks w/Night Scythe
-2x (8)Immortals w/gauss
-2x (6)Warriors w/Night Scythe
-(5)Wraith w/3 coils
-(4)Wraith w/3 coils
-2x Annihilation Barge
List Two:
-Overlord w/warscythe, MSS, and Barge
-Overlord w/warscythe, and Barge
-2x Royal Court w/veil-tek, and abyssal-tek
-(5)Deathmarks w/Night Scythe
-2x (8)Immortals w/gauss
-2x (5)Warriors w/Night Scythe
-(5)Wraith w/3 coils
-(4)Wraith w/3 coils
-3x Annihilation Barge

I want to lean towards List Two but I feel uncomfortable dropping MSS on the Overlord.
Any thoughts?..."

First of, thanks for thinking of me Eric - I am more than happy to address your tweaks. I think it is important that we consider that for a second:

If these are "fine tuning" tweaks then I won't suggest any whole sale change, simply throw out some suggestions with some reasons behind it.. up to you if you take those on board or not.
OK.. so let's see if I get how you operate the lists. It's all pretty standard stuff with a few exceptions...

Ravenwing 1850

Before I finish my battle reports for Caledonian Uprising (just the final game on top tables to decide the tournament to come!), I really want to get some ideas down on here for the new Dark Angels book.

I am a little disappointed in the "green" section of the book, despite being flexible it is also a little dull. However, the Ravenwing and even Deathwing elements are utterly excellent, plus granted allies as well.. Wow, we can have some very 'balanced' armies on the tabletop that look and feel fluffy, representing a combined arms approach to Dark Angel warfare, whilst also being competitive.

I want to share 3 lists today. I want to share the list I've played twice now and enjoyed, my "Combined Arms DA" and then talk through some options for progression.

To start off with, I (like everyone else in the blogosphere!) loved Azrael and saw the potential behind Allied IG blob plus stuff.
Like everyone else I initially thought that the Warlord trait 'hold at any cost!' Granted FNP to friendly units, but the important distinction is between the shorthand version in the reference section and in the main trait table... It only works on DA units.
So Azrael grants 4++ to his unit, but not FNP. Still furious charge etc makes them damn decent.

But these needed time to get into the middle of the board for some orders fun and charges.. So you put pressure on early and keep the opponent pinned back/busy for a couple of turns.

I applied this pressure with Ravenwing and Deathwing entering via DW Asault off of the Teleport Homers on the Ravenwing.
The 12" scout redeploy move combined with 6" for no scatter deep strike is perfect for two deployments, wit only hammer and anvil providing respite for the pressure. Even then, I have been using assault cannons on my DW which as been great. TL on the turn they DWA is very cool and doesn't require them to be too close...but generally, a turn two charge is nice.
The Ravenwing provide support in the form of fast moving MM attack bikes and then TL bolter action. This takes care of a precise infantry strike, using speed to select a section of the army to target.
Anti infantry is shored up with a basic assault squad in free drop pod wielding 2 flamers and a combi flamer.. It's been great fun playing with these.. So cheap.. Even score sometimes too!
In this version, I've not been using the bolter banner, but I do try it out in later lists. I find getting the bikes into rapid fire range is strong, but it puts the bikes too close to the action.. Anyway..improvements after the first list:

Combined Arms DA 1850
Azrael 215
Libbie 65
2* 6 Ravenwing  -2 Plasmaguns & MMABIke =246*2
2* 5 Deathwing w 2 th/ss, Ass Cannon 250*2
10*Tactical Marines 140
5*Assault squad w 2 flamers, combi flamer, drop pod 105
IG CCS w Autocannon 60
PCS 30 w Autocannons
4*10 infantry platoon squads w 3 Autocannons 230

The tactical squad does bugger all in this list. I'm not really sure what I was thinking to be honest. If I was tweaking this list, they'd be the first to go.
I really liked the DW units, the ability to drop, shoot then soak some fire and charge turn 2 is
excellent. Especially as a deterrent to charging the bikes.. With termies around, is it worth doing? It's a dangerous prospect.

I'd also switch Autocannons on blob for Power Axes (to fall in line with more conventional online wisdom)

I would replace the assault squad. Whilst excellent fun, they are selective in their effectiveness. Versus many armies they struggle to impact before dying and whilst I don't care if they die...I need to up their effectiveness .. Rad grenades on their target perhaps...hmm..

 Ravenwing below...