A Sneak Preview of Imperial Armour 11

Games Workshop gave us a little sneak preview of Imperial Armour 11 that I thought was worth a look for those of you who may have missed it.

E-Mail In : Help with Chaos Daemons

E-Mail In :


Hey Gmort.

I'm a long time follower, first time writer, and also first time Daemons player. I'm working on a very heavily themed army that is built around a solid Fatecrusher core.

The list is
1850 Pts - Chaos Daemons Roster

Total Roster Cost: 1843

HQ: Fateweaver, Oracle of Tzeentch (1#, 333 pts)
   1 Fateweaver, Oracle of Tzeentch, 333 pts

HQ: Bloodthirster (1#, 275 pts)
   1 Bloodthirster, Unholy Might, Blessings of The Blood God 5

Elite: Bloodcrushers of Khorne (4#, 200 pts)
   4 Bloodcrushers of Khorne, 1 Fury, 1 Icon, 1 Musician

Elite: Bloodcrushers of Khorne (4#, 200 pts)
   4 Bloodcrushers of Khorne, 1 Fury, 1 Icon, 1 Musician

Troops: Plaguebearers of Nurgle (8#, 120 pts)
   8 Plaguebearers of Nurgle,

Troops: Plaguebearers of Nurgle (8#, 120 pts)
   8 Plaguebearers of Nurgle,

Troops: Pink Horrors of Tzeentch (5#, 100 pts)
   4 Pink Horrors of Tzeentch, 1 Changeling, 1 Bolt

Troops: Pink Horrors of Tzeentch (5#, 95 pts)
   5 Pink Horrors of Tzeentch, 1 Bolt

Heavy Support: Daemon Prince of Chaos (1#, 200 pts)
   1 Daemon Prince of Chaos, Daemonic Flight, MoT, Bolt

Heavy Support: Daemon Prince of Chaos (1#, 200 pts)
   1 Daemon Prince of Chaos, Daemonic Flight, MoT, Bolt


I know you recommend the Bolt Herald/Fiend combo, but personally, I'd like to try this first. I wanted to have a solid close combat force with the two units of crushers, Fateweaver and the Thirster, while still having a potent shooting element in the form of MSU horror squads with Bolt and the Bolt Princes, with the wings allowing the princes to pull double duty in CC, and have Plaguebeares to objective camp. My original version of this list had no Unholy Might on the Thirster, units of 6 crushers, one unit of horrors, and just general bells and whistles distribution. 

My main questions are

1) Are the Crusher units big, scary and killy enough?
2) Do I have enough shooting to be useful? Or is it just unfocused?
3) Am I mobile enough? Would I be able to survive losing Fateweaver

Thanks! 
Sean


Reply :


I'm not a massive fan of the 'Fateweaver Bubble' type of army as it is often fucked over by the stupid way Daemons are forced to deploy and the 33% of the time that you end up with the wrong wave. However if that's what you want to do I'll start with answering your specific questions and then look at the list ;-)


Q1) Are the Crusher units big, scary and killy enough?
A1) Four Bloodcrushers are plenty killy, however the likely-hood of you having four Bloodcrushers at the point at which you charge is optimistic at best I'm afraid to say. If your going to take Bloodcrusher units that you wan't to survive then you'll most likely need to go bigger. You can also save some points by dropping the upgrades as they don't really need them. The Rending from 'Fury of Khorne' will so rarely be useful that I never bother, 'Instrument' is unnecessary as you'll either win or won't and the Icons become irrelevant the 33% of the time that you get the incorrect wave.


Q2) Do I have enough shooting to be useful? Or is it just unfocused?
A2) In the current world of 5th Edition Mech (and I've no reason to believe that 6th will be any different) you need those Bolts of Change. My current Daemon list has seven which isn't much better than your five in principle but makes a big difference when your actually trying to dismantle a MSU mechanised gun-line, lol. Unfortunately 2 of your 'bolts' are only BS3 whereas all of mine are at least BS4. I'm not sure we can do much about that if you want to maintain your theme but we'll see if we can scrape together some spare points.


Q3) Am I mobile enough? Would I be able to survive losing Fateweaver
A3) Your lack of Cavalry/Beasts is going to severely impact on your mobility. The reason why 'cavalry' is so important in a Daemon army is that it allows you to drop in (relatively) safe areas which are hopefully outside of 'rapid-fire' ranges of certain units and still be able to charge on the next turn. None cavalry (or wingless, I suppose) units often have to take two turns of shooting before getting into combat or have to be extremely brave with their deep-strike locations which isn't a nice situation to be in.
Fateweaver is not far off a 5th of your points value and is only useful to units that are 6" away from him and dedicated assault units will still kick his ass. In an army designed around a single unit the loss of that single unit is universally bad.


Okay. I'm sorry if those answers are a bit disheartening but I'm afraid being a Daemon player can be a bit of a chore, lol. 


Okay let's look at the list again then.

1850 Pts - Chaos Daemons Roster

Total Roster Cost: 1843

HQ: Fateweaver, Oracle of Tzeentch (1#, 333 pts)
   1 Fateweaver, Oracle of Tzeentch, 333 pts

Obviously essential in a Fateweaver list but I'm not a fan. You will have games where he fails a Leadership test and runs off screaming like a little girl and you'll also often find that the unit you really wanted him to protect lands too far away to benefit from his re-roll range and promptly dies to torrents of fire on turn one.

HQ: Bloodthirster (1#, 275 pts)
   1 Bloodthirster, Unholy Might, Blessings of The Blood God 5

Suffers from the same issue as all Monstrous Creatures do in the current competitive 'metagame' and that's a vulnerability to torrents of fire. At least he's fairly mobile with wings but keep him away from fearless hordes (or in the case of Orks 'pseudo' fearless) as the last thing you want is 275 points of your army stuck killing 3 Termagants a turn.

Elite: Bloodcrushers of Khorne (4#, 200 pts)
   4 Bloodcrushers of Khorne, 1 Fury, 1 Icon, 1 Musician

Elite: Bloodcrushers of Khorne (4#, 200 pts)
   4 Bloodcrushers of Khorne, 1 Fury, 1 Icon, 1 Musician

For the reasons discussed above, I'd drop all the upgrades as they're not essential. If you drop them all you can actually afford a 5th Bloodcrusher for the unit. If you've been following the blog for a while you'll know that I much prefer Fiends of Slaanesh in this role but if that's going to ruin your theme then you'll have to make do with the 'Crushers. Also, make sure to avoid Dreadnoughts ;-)

Troops: Plaguebearers of Nurgle (8#, 120 pts)
   8 Plaguebearers of Nurgle,

Troops: Plaguebearers of Nurgle (8#, 120 pts)
   8 Plaguebearers of Nurgle,

I'm guessing that these are your objective holding units. For that purpose I'd just take minimum sized units as they survive just fine sitting on an objective and going to ground whenever shot at. Assault units will kill eight without many issues so you might as well just have five and spend the extra points elsewhere. Alternatively split them into three units.

Troops: Pink Horrors of Tzeentch (5#, 100 pts)
   4 Pink Horrors of Tzeentch, 1 Changeling, 1 Bolt

Troops: Pink Horrors of Tzeentch (5#, 95 pts)   5 Pink Horrors of Tzeentch, 1 Bolt

Being only BS 3 makes them unreliable 'Bolt' platforms and even a re-rollable 4+ inv. save won't keep them alive for very long. Use the Plaguebearers as your scoring units and use these points to get more reliable 'Bolt platforms' elsewhere.

Heavy Support: Daemon Prince of Chaos (1#, 200 pts)
   1 Daemon Prince of Chaos, Daemonic Flight, MoT, Bolt

Heavy Support: Daemon Prince of Chaos (1#, 200 pts)
   1 Daemon Prince of Chaos, Daemonic Flight, MoT, Bolt


Though I understand why you've given these 'Daemonic Flight' as the rest of your army is somewhat lacking in mobility I'm not sure it's entirely practical given the hefty price tag. The points you'd save by dropping it from both would nearly pay for a 3rd Daemon Prince.


I'm trying to avoid sounding overly negative but there's a number of very good reasons why successful Daemon lists have evolved into a very particular format.

Saying that, I hope I haven't put you off Chaos Daemons as it's nice to see people using an army that isn't Space Marines for a change ;-)

Thoughts and Comments are (as usual) most welcome.

Games Workshop Newsletter.

The Games Workshop Newsletter 10.08.2011 In this issue: Divine intervention - the full Sisters of Battle range

Sisters of Battle: new Codex in White Dwarf, the full range of models online. Adepta Sororitas The Sisters of Battle, an elite Sisterhood of warriors, possess a fanatical devotion to the Emperor, and this month, their faith has certainly been rewarded. Not only has part one of the new Sisters of Battle Codex been published in White Dwarf, but they now have their own section on games-workshop.com. It's never been easier to buy the entire range of Sisters of Battle models. The Full Range Whether you're looking to start a new Sisters of Battle army, or wanting to add to your existing one, games-workshop.com has the full range of miniatures available to you. Head on over now to see the Sisterhood in all its glory. White Dwarf Don't forget to grab a copy of this month's issue of White Dwarf - it contains the first instalment of the new Sisters of Battle Codex, detailing the units and abilities of the Adepta Sororitas. Part two will be published in next month's issue. Robin Cruddace's Sisters of Battle Robin Cruddace, scribe of the new Codex, showed off his resplendent Sisters of Battle army on What's New Today, where he preaches the good word in the name of the Emperor. Check out why Robin is devoted to this inspirational army.

House of Paincakes Article No. 33

Another Tuesday blog article. lets see if this one can beat the number of comments gained last week (It was one if I remember correctly, lol).

Article can be found here.

As there a have been some publicity shots released of the new Catwoman from the up and coming new Batman movie I thought I'd look at a few others who have worn the costume over the years.

I thought I'd go in reverse order for no immediately obvious reason.....

Julie Newmar.

She was also played by Eartha Kitt at some points during the show but I'm not going to bother with any pictures of her as she was fucking ugly.

Michelle Pfeiffer.

Halle Berry.

And now Anne Hathaway.

But for me she'll always look like this,

Or this,

But mostly this ;-)

Enjoy.

Thoughts on Vulkan - Part 2 - HQ's and Elites.

So I've already given some of my thoughts on the advantages and disadvantages of Vulkan. Now I think it's time to look at what units he'd work best in an army with. I'm only going to discuss units that I think work and not the ones I don't. If you feel like I've missed out something important then that's what the unmoderated* comments section is for.

* I've never deleted a critical comment (other than a few links to porn sites that I deemed inappropriate) and have no intention of starting any-time soon ;-)

Let's start at the top.

HQ's.
Vulkan is a big chunk of points all on his own so adding a 2nd HQ isn't necessarily a great idea. there are (imo) only three choices that you could consider.

1) Master of the Forge - If your planning on a Drop Pod build to take advantage of all those super accurate short range weapons then the MotF becomes essential as soon as you want that 4th Dreadnought.

2) Librarian - Purely for psychic defence as he doesn't really have any other abilities complimented by Vulkan.

3) Captain on Bike - There have been a few people who make use of hybrid builds in conjunction with Vulkan as a Space Marine Biker unit can potentially have 4 melta weapons (Multi-Melta, 2 Meltaguns and a Combi-Melta) or 3 Flamer weapons (2 Flamers and a Combi-Flamer) in it which would work well in combination with Vulkans abilities in that area. Combinations are also a possibility but we'll discuss those more fully later.

Those options do however eat into our points allowances.

Vulkan + Master of the Forge (290 points)
Vulkan + Librarian (290 points)
Vulkan + Biker Captain (325 points)

It's also unlikely that you'll send that Biker out without at least a Relic Blade so the points for him can soon mount up.

Elites.
Well were spoiled for choice here. Lets start with Dreadnoughts then,

Dreadnoughts.

For 105 points we get a basic Dreadnought with a Power Fist and a Multi-Melta, for 10 more points we can add a Heavy Flamer and for another 35 we can stick it in a Drop Pod.

I have some reservations about the use of 'Drop Dreads' as an overall strategy. Though at 2000 points it's possible to have a first wave of 5 Dreadnoughts (a somewhat scary proposition) an enemy who knows how to 'bubblewrap' can counter some or all of that and there are a great many competitive builds that will put a considerable dent in that pile of Dreadnoughts should they not manage to cripple the opposing army straight away.The fact that you have to drop half of your pods (rounding up) can also leave you vulnerable to opponents who play reserve games. That's not to say that walking Dreadnoughts don't have some issues of their own but they seem (in my experience anyway) much easier to protect. Heavy Flamers become somewhat less useful on a non-drop Dreadnought as the short range means you won't always get to use it. I'm a big fan of them but that Heavy Flamer is also the first thing I lose should I need 10 points for something.

So were talking about either,

Elite: Dreadnought (1#, 105 pts)
   1 Dreadnought @ 105 pts

Or,

Elite: Dreadnought (2#, 150 pts)
   1 Dreadnought @ 150 pts (Heavy Flamer; Drop Pod)
      1 Drop Pod (Drop Pod Assault)

Ironclad Dreadnoughts can be mixed in with those should you desire. Their slightly more survivable than a normal Dreadnought (but an average roll with a short range Melta weapon still kills them just fine), are effective at a much shorter range and are a bit more expensive once you give them some extra toys. My personal opinion is too stick with the standard one in a 'Vulkan' build but others may disagree.

Sternguard.

Now available in Finecast. I leave you to decide whether that's a good or bad thing...

If ever there was a unit made to compliment Vulkan than this is it. Options for Combi-weapons on every man, up to 2 Heavy Flamers and a host of ammunition types to deal with all those other things that you might come across. A Sternguard unit upgraded with Combi-Meltas and Heavy Flamers can pretty much deal with anything. They also have the standard Marine transport options giving you a fair bit of flexibility including Drop Pods which I still have reservations about in a number of areas which may be worth a blog post of it's own.......

Anyway.....I'd be looking at something like this,

Elite: Sternguard Veteran Squad (6#, 195 pts)
   4 Sternguard Veteran Squad @ 195 pts (Combi-Meltagun x2; Heavy Flamer x2; Rhino)
      1 Sergeant (Bolt Pistol; Combi-Meltagun x1)
      1 Rhino (Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Storm Bolter)

If you want bigger units then just add Sternguard with Combi-Meltas till your happy with the quantities. Three units like the above are a significant threat without needing extra men. This sort of unit needs a Rhino rather than a Razorback as doing a 'drive-by shooting' out the top never get's old, lol.

Terminators.
I'm sure you know which sort I'm going to be discussing....

No.....

Here's a clue,

I should really get around to painting and basing that Librarian/Sorcerer...

The Thunderhammer/Storm Shield Assault Terminator is arguably one of the most cost effect units in any codex though they have some inherent problems. Stick them in a Land Raider and their transport will more often than not be dead to your opponents 'suicide' melta units (or non-Marine equivalent) and torrents of fire can kill everything eventually. Deep striking is a tad unreliable and using 'Gate of Infinity' obviously requires a Librarian. However you get them into combat once you do they make short work of most things. Just be careful of Hordes bogging them down as enough attacks will down even a 2+/3+ save eventually ;-)

So we have the following options,

Elite: Terminator Assault Squad (6#, 475 pts)
   4 Terminator Assault Squad @ 475 pts (Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield x4; Land Raider Crusader)
      1 Sergeant (Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield x1)
      1 Land Raider Crusader (Extra Armor; Multi-Melta)

Expensive and pretty much the definition of a 'rock' unit.

Elite: Terminator Assault Squad (5#, 200 pts)
   4 Terminator Assault Squad @ 200 pts (Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield x4)
      1 Sergeant (Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield x1)

Deep strike and hope there's no mishaps. Probably best used in conjunction with a Homer of some description ;-)

HQ: Space Marine Librarian (1#, 100 pts)
   1 Space Marine Librarian @ 100 pts (...in Power Armour; Null Zone; The Gate of Infinity)
      1 ...in Power Armour

Elite: Terminator Assault Squad (10#, 400 pts)
   9 Terminator Assault Squad @ 400 pts (Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield x9)
      1 Sergeant (Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield x1)

An amusing unit but a scary amount of points to lose to a mishap. Also probably best used in conjunction with a homer of some description depending upon how brave you are, lol.

Okay I think that'll do for now. I'll cover the rest in the next day or so.

Thoughts and Comments are (as usual) most welcome.

Forge World Newsletter 280

Hi there,             This week’s newsletter sees the release of the first in an exciting new range of scenery from Forge World. Originally unveiled at the Forge World Open Day back in April, the Realm of Battle Imperial Strongpoint is now available to order. Realm of Battle Imperial Strongpoint  Comprising a power generator, two reinforced defensive positions, dragons-teeth tank traps and huge, armoured blast doors dug into a central hill, theImperial Strongpoint Expansion is a fortified stronghold that will make a great feature for your armies to fight over in games of Warhammer 40,000, and is fully compatable with the Citadel Realm of Battle Board available from Games Workshop. Perfect for representing critical objectives such as a command and control facility, or a fortified artillery pit, the Imperial Strongpoint can be used in games of Planetstrike as a unique Bastion or to represent a huge variety of stratagems, strategic assets and other rules in Battle Missions. It is also a great addition to Apocalypse games and other Warhammer 40,000 battles, plus it can be used as part of a Games Day Armies on Parade competition entry. The Imperial Strongpoint, designed by Stuart Williamson, is cast from a hollow resin as durable and sturdy as the plastic Realm of Battle Gameboard tiles from the main Games Workshop range, and is available to order now for immediate despatch. This tile is the first in a wide range of planned Expansion tiles designed for use with the Citadel Realm of Battle Gameboard that Forge World will be releasing over the coming months, and as always we’ll be bringing you more information in future newsletters. Forge World Events News – Games Day Germany Warhammer Forge sculptors Steve Whitehead and Keith Robertson, as well as graphic artist Sam Lamont, are soon to embark on their journey to Cologne for Games Day Germany on August 7th, alongside the rest of the intrepid Forge World team. We’ll have limited numbers of the Imperial Strongpoint Realm of Battle Expansion Tile available to purchase on the day, alongside our MkIII Armoured Boarding Space Marine and Chaos Dwarf Hellsmith Event Only miniatures as well. We look forward to seeing you there! We are excited to announce that several other new Forge World and Warhammer Forge kits will be exclusively on sale at Games Day Germany. First revealed at Games Day Chicago on 30th July, the Exalted Vermin Lord, designed by Mark Bedford, and Skaven Brood Horror, designed by Trish Carden and Steve Whitehead, will both be available in limited numbers from the Sales stand. Joining these detailed resin kits are three new Contemptor Pattern Dreadnought weapons, designed by Will Hayes. The Contemptor Plasma Cannon, Heavy Bolter, and Kheres Pattern Assault Cannon will all be available in limited numbers, in advance of their general release. If you placed a reservation order with the GW Germany Customer Service team, you will receive an e-mail over the course of this week containing your order number and a confirmation of the total price you will need to pay when you pick up your order at the event. You must bring a copy of this e-mail with you to claim your order. Thanks, Ead Brown Customer Service Manager Forge World

Shameless Filler Post.

The 2nd part of the 'Thoughts on Vulkan' series is taking a lot longer than I thought it was going to so that won't be appearing till tomorrow now. I've also done a brief outline of a couple more 'List Design' posts that should appear early next week.

My posting has been somewhat erratic of late due to a combination of real life, parenting commitments and sheer bloody laziness. I hope to rectify that but I'm not promising anything, lol.

I'd also like to thank the 65 people who bothered to click on adverts and the 2 people who bought stuff from Wayland games via the banner at the top.

If anybody else would like to follow their example it would be much appreciated. I'd also like to thank the rest of you who have stuck with the blog despite my somewhat random posting schedule ;-)

See you all tomorrow......hopefully.....

House of Paincakes Article No. 32

Article can be found here.

I was at a loss for an appropriate 'Eye-Candy' this Tuesday so I just went with an easy one...

Megan Fox in Transformers.

In Jonah Hex.

In Jennifer's Body.

She certainly knows what to wear to draw attention away from the fact that most of her films are (let's be honest) fucking awful, lol.

And a few that just caught my eye.

And finally a picture before she got all those tattoo's.

Enjoy...

Hopefully I'll have some actual Warhammer articles for you all this week, lol.