E-Mail In : Space Marine Drop Pod List.

E-Mail In :

Dear Mr Chaotica,


I've just bought a sackload of Space Marines from a friend for next to nothing (I'm not joking about the 'sackload' thing either, they were all in two massive refuse sacks together with a load of sprue bits) and after sorting through them I've found a shit-load of tactical Marines (about 50, I think They're mostly 'Black Reach' ones), four Black Reach Dreadnoughts (and bits of a 5th that I might be able to throw together with some improvisation, a few Rhino's, half a dozen Drop Pods (in a terrible state paintwise, but otherwise intact) and what looks like another 3 or maybe four undercoated but still on sprues, various HQ looking guys (one's a Techmarine and there's a Libby as well) together with a couple of Whirlwinds and what may have been a Predator at some point before It got dumped in a sack, lol. The obvious choice is to make a Drop Pod army but is it viable with just Dreadnoughts and Tac Marines or do I need other stuff as well? We play at 1700 points around here so can you make something up for that points value please. My friend says that Drop Pod armies 'are shit and don't work' (his words) so a tactica might be some help as well.

Thanks, 

Reply :

I'll do you a list based on what you have though I must say that 1700 points is a value that's new to me, but since you don't say where your from I'll presume it's a local thing. A Tactica on Drop Pod armies will take longer to put together than the list will so you may have to wait a bit for that ;-)

If you can indeed resurrect that 5th Black Reach Dreadnought and the Drop Pods that are on Sprues are complete enough to make those other four Drop Pods then you can make an entirely viable 'Drop' army. I'll presume your right about about them being 'Black Reach' Marines which should mean that the unit is armed with a Missile Launcher and a Flamer. Taking that into account you seem to have all the elements for a pretty standard Drop Pod list without having to buy anything new at all. Thank goodness there's a Techmarine in there as well.....

The list,

1700 Pts - Space Marines Roster

HQ: Master of the Forge (1#, 100 pts)
   1 Master of the Forge @ 100 pts
      1 Servo Harness

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

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

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

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

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

Troops: Tactical Squad (11#, 205 pts)
   9 Tactical Squad @ 205 pts (Flamer; Missile Launcher; Drop Pod)
      1 Sergeant (Bolt Pistol; Bolter)
      1 Drop Pod (Drop Pod Assault)

Troops: Tactical Squad (11#, 205 pts)
   9 Tactical Squad @ 205 pts (Flamer; Missile Launcher; Drop Pod)
      1 Sergeant (Bolt Pistol; Bolter)
      1 Drop Pod (Drop Pod Assault)

Troops: Tactical Squad (11#, 205 pts)
   9 Tactical Squad @ 205 pts (Flamer; Missile Launcher; Drop Pod)
      1 Sergeant (Bolt Pistol; Bolter)
      1 Drop Pod (Drop Pod Assault)

Troops: Tactical Squad (11#, 205 pts)
   9 Tactical Squad @ 205 pts (Flamer; Missile Launcher; Drop Pod)
      1 Sergeant (Bolt Pistol; Bolter)
      1 Drop Pod (Drop Pod Assault)

Total Roster Cost: 1670


If you decide you want more Melta, then with the 30 points left over you can give two of the Tactical Squads a Meltagun and a Combi-melta (on the Sergeant) so you have another anti-tank unit or you can give 3 of the Sergeants Combi-Flamers and have 3 anti-infantry units. Generally you'll drop the 5 Dreadnoughts in your opponents face on turn one and follow up with Tactical squads on subsequent turns. You can also 'Combat Squad' the Tacticals when they first arrive giving you 8 objective holding units or mix the first wave between Dreadnoughts and Tactical Squads if you so require.

I'll start work on a Tactica for you at some point this week if I have the time.

On a less serious note, I am unfortunately completely unable to take deep striking seriously since I found this on YouTube,



Those of you who have played Dawn Of War : Soulstorm will recognise the terrible voice acting from that game.

The list should be fine though ;-)

House of Paincakes Article No. 27

Tuesday House of Paincakes article can be found here.

Tuesday Eye-Candy will this week be on the subject of who looks best in a skin-tight black outfit.....

Kate Beckinsale.

Sienna Miller.

Michelle Pfeiffer.

Pamela Anderson.

Rhona Mitra.

 

Scarlett Johansson.

For what it's worth, my vote would probably go to Kate Beckinsale and Scarlett Johannson in joint first with Rhona Mitra and Sienna Miller in joint second place ;-)

Primarchs - Fulgrim

Lets get stuck in then,

Fulgrim's Legion was initially quite small due to yet another one of the Emperors fuck-ups (I mean seriously, how did this guy manage to create anything let alone a bloody empire with all those screw-ups) for some reason and as a result spent a lot of his first years as a Primarch hanging around with Horus which in retrospect probably wasn't the best idea the Emperor had ever had considering what happened during the Heresy.

Anyway,

This initial shortage of manpower led to Fulgrim having somewhat of an obsession with perfection as he presumable wanted to make as good an impression as was possible with the resources he had. His close ties with Horus made his choosing of sides pretty much a no-brainer when the heresy came along but having a Daemon Weapon probably helped the corruption along as well. For the purposes of his statistics I'm going to presume this is at the point of his Daemonic possession but before any actual physical changes had occurred (so no snake tail, four arms or any of the other daemonic upgrades that seem to come as standard during a Daemonic ascension). As to all intents and purposes he is possessed by the Daemon in his weapon I'm not going to give his weapon 'daemonic' status but rather simply consider it as a Power Weapon/Relic Blade or something similar.

As for his physical prowess well he carves Ferrus Manus into tiny pieces with practically no effort whatsoever and slits Roboute Guilliman's throat though that's after becoming a Daemon Prince*. He does however kill an Avatar of Khaine in single combat way before he's even fully possessed though...

* He's the only one of the surviving 'Traitor' Primarchs who isn't 'rewarded' with Daemon Prince status but rather has his body modified due to possession. It's also stated that Fulgrims personality is still buried in there somewhere. The idea of Fulgrim retaking his own body and then taking over his Legion again is one that appeals to me a great deal. Loyalist Noise Marines fighting against both Chaos and an Imperium that's still hates them is in the best traditions of 40K's 'Grimdark' storytelling ;-)

I had stated quite early on that I wasn't going to give any of the Primarchs 'tens' in any stats until I did the Daemonic versions much later. However the whole 'possession' thing gives me an excuse to give a Primarch ten in a stat without breaking my own personal rule.....Hooray for loopholes.....

I've also decided to include Noise Marine options as well. However in my humble opinion Noise Marines as currently written are a bit too expensive. I have decided to rectify that somewhat ;-)

Fulgrim the Phoenician, Primarch of the Emperors Children Legion.

WS 10, BS 6, S 6 (8), T 6, W 5, I 8, A 6, Ld. 10, Save 1+/3+inv.

Composition : 1 (Unique)
Unit Type : Infantry

Wargear:
Frag and Krak Grenades, Primarch Armour, The Laeran Sword*.

* The Laeran Sword - The Anathame is a weapon that formally held the Daemon of Chaos which now inhabits Fulgrims body. Though it no longer acts as a Daemon Weapon it's long association with the warp creature inside it has left it far more deadly than a normal weapon. The Anathame is treated as a Master Crafted Relic Blade (and therefore adds two to Fulgrims strength and this benefit is already shown on his profile).

Special Rules:
**Aura of Perfection, Acute Senses, And They Shall Know No Fear, Eternal Warrior, Independent Character, Infiltrate, Might of the Primarch, ***Perfect Warrior, Relentless, ****The Cult of Noise, Will of the Primarch.

** Aura of Perfection - Such is the regard in which Fulgrim is held by his Legion that any Emperors Children unit within 24" may use his Leadership score instead of their own. In addition any Emperors Children unit within 12" of Fulgrim gain +1 WS and the Furious Charge special rule to represent their desire to impress their lord with their own prowess.

*** Perfect Warrior - Fulgrim's quest for perfection has allowed him to master several different methods of combat. Fulgrim may select one of the following methods at the beginning of each round of combat.

Whirlwind Offence - Fulgrim attacks with all his skill and fury in a whirlwind of steel capable of destroying enemies by the score - Fulgrim gains D6 attacks this round of combat.

Impenetrable Defence - Fulgrim makes no attacks this turn but may re-roll any failed saves.

Unearthly Speed - Fulgrim strikes first in this round of combat regardless of any special rules his opponent or opponents might have.

Killing Strike - Fulgrim focus's all his skill into a single killing blow. Fulgrim makes a single attack that causes instant death should a wound be caused. In addition any invulnerable saves must be re-rolled. should this attack have a 'to wound' roll of a 5 or 6 it also ignores the 'Eternal Warrior' rule (his brother Primarchs are immune to this part of the rule with the exception of Ferrus Manus who would be killed instantly just like anybody else as you can't argue with fate now can you.....).

**** The Cult of Noise - Though still in it's infancy at this point in history there were nevertheless a significant quantity of 'Noise Marines' in the Emperors Children's ranks. Any Emperors Children army led by Fulgrim may include any number of Noise Marine units you desire however they must all be armed with Sonic Blasters and/or Blastmasters if the option exists. Sonic Blasters no longer have an additional points cost but are included in the base cost of the Noise Marine. In addition Blastmasters are reduced in cost to 25 points.

So we have a near perfect killing machine followed around by a bunch of toadying sycophants desperate to get his attention.....Sounds perfect to me.

Editors Note : He's not particularly 'rules heavy' but I'm trying to avoid adding a bazillion rules when a few decent ones do the job ;-)

Thoughts and Comments are (as usual) most welcome.

Deathwatch - Brother Mortis Personal Log.

After forgetting to take an Auspex in the mission before last I had my character upgraded with an Augur Array (basically a built in Auspex) and the 'Security' Ability as apparently I'm brilliant at opening electronic systems but lousy with mechanical ones, lol.

Brother Mortis sat at the Workbench in his quarters making a few final adjustments to the twin-linked Bolter he'd acquired from a dead Chaos Terminator on the Slaaneshi vessel that he and his Kill Team had captured a mission ago. The Terminator in question had little to say in the matter having been torn apart by Bolter fire just before the re-allocation of his equipment had occurred...


Removing the heretical embellishments that had adorned the weapon had been a relatively simple task but much of the internal workings had needed completely replacing. The weapon itself was ancient in design having been at it's most basic level simply two Boltguns configured to fire from a single trigger and therefore lacked many of the advancements that could be seen in the Storm Bolters carried by their loyalist equivalents. Reconfiguring the weapon into a more acceptable form had taken substantially longer than Brother Mortis had accounted for but in his defence he and the team he was attached to had many demands on their time due to the corruption that had been discovered on the planet of Castiel.

After uncovering the corruption of the Imperial Governor they had returned to their own vessel and had almost immediately been forced to board a vessel of the traitor Legion known as the 'Emperors Children'. The   cruiser had been far more lightly defended than expected, though the reason for that had become apparent when they had returned to the mines of Castiel after the vessels capture. Mortis had learned much from interfacing with the Traitorous vessels onboard systems and he had been careful to install his own directives into it's machine spirit which would lay dormant unless he himself activated them. Some of this information had been passed on to his masters at the Deathwatch.....others he had kept to himself in case control of the vessel ever became important to him or his own brothers in the Night Reapers Chapter. On a personal level that mission in particular had taught him much about the limitations of the flesh, his own senses being much weaker than would have been provided by an Auspex. He had rectified this limitation by having an Augur Array fitted into his own systems, It was manufactured based on techniques passed down from Ancient STC designs taught to him during his apprenticeship on Mars though it had required the assistance of the teams Apothecary Brother Zahariel to tie them into his more fragile organic systems. Mortis had also spent some time plugged into the archives researching into the workings of the more mechanical security systems that they were likely to encounter as not all security systems were blessed with Machine Spirits and he wished to be ready if such devices were deployed to bar their progress.


The Augur array had served him and his team admirably during their trip through the mines and though it had detected the first ambush to late for them to avoid it, it had given them information on the numerical strength and locations of those who had ambushed them. He had dealt the killing shots to two of the attackers himself but the bulk of the killing had been accomplished by the teams Devastator (Brother Marcus of the Steel Wings Chapter) and their Assault Marine (Brother Ansum of the Black Templars). The latter of the two had christened his new Power Weapon in more worthy blood than the few pitiful humans he'd tested it upon earlier with the slaughter of two of the enemy Chaos Marines in spectacular combat. That earlier event had caused some tension in the team as Brother Ansum had acted against the wishes of several of his Brother Marines who had attempted to restrain him rather than allow him to slaughter these perceived innocents. The fate of such insignificant mortals meant little to Brother Mortis as he had grown closer to the blessed perfection of form which came with his gradual abandonment of his weak flesh in favour of the gift of technology.

Several failed ambushes later the team had taken an impressive tally of defeated Chaos Marines, Terminators and even a member of the Dark Mechanicum before finding the Emperors Children's true purpose at the complex. Though they themselves had taken damage they were fortunately all still at a state of combat effectiveness sufficient to take on their final foe which turned out to be a Sorcerer who through the sacrifice of innocents was attempting to bring to a state of wakefulness a foul Chaotic type of Dreadnought known as a Defiler. Though the Sorcerers psychic abilities seemed adept at defending from more mundane projectiles it's inability to protect him from Brother Ansums Power Sword was to prove his final undoing. The Defiler itself was crippled by Melta bombs and then buried in a pit by Brother Mortis's carefully laid explosives.


With the complex clear of Chaotic Forces, more mundane ground forces could be called in to retrieve those pieces of machinery that were left untainted and those devices that his team had located that could be reconsecrated into the service of the Imperium.


Brother Mortis finished adding his own additions to the Kill teams Report and returned to the weapon on which he had been working. The work had speeded up considerably with the precise adjustments that his new augmentative arm had allowed him to perform. His requests for more sophisticated augmentations that had been up till recently been politely refused had for some reason been okayed on his return from the planet. Perhaps his contribution to the missions had been noticed by those in command.....Those representatives of the Deathwatch who maintained the armoury had certainly become much more responsive to his requests for equipment and apparently several other members of his team had found certain of their own requests being seen in a far more favourable light.


Permission for the new arm had been granted with no hesitation, however his request for augmentation of his legs had still required some negotiation with the masters of the armoury and he foresaw the usual equipment supply issues for their next mission that always followed his use of Deathwatch facilities for his own personal quest for perfection. Such musings were forgotten as the final component slotted into place in his now fully functional reconsecrated Storm Bolter.....A test of the weapon in the shooting ranges followed by some routine diagnostics of his new bionics would pass the time until Kill Team Epsilon was next called to duty.....

By the end of the 2nd mission I'd reached a sufficient level of renown to be entitled to a free 'Exceptional' level bionic and could actually request a Storm Bolter. I took the Storm Bolter as 'Signature wargear' which basically means that for 500 XP it's mine and I don't have to give it back after missions ;-)
I've spent some of the next missions requisition (I can do that with bionics as it's not like I can give them back now is it, lol) on bionic legs as I have an agreement with our GM whereby I'm gradually dehumanising my Techmarine whenever I get a vague justification for doing so. As I almost died to a Power Sword swipe to the leg from a Chaos Terminator I think that should count as justification don't you?

After that lot I still have 1200 XP to spend which is a bit of a problem as there's no Rank 1 upgrades that I'm really interested in but I can't buy Rank 2 upgrades till I've spent enough points to get to that rank. I suppose I'll spend them on a characteristic upgrade of some description instead though I've no idea which one.

For what it's worth it's difficult to write a strategy article about an RPG so the Deathwatch stuff will mainly be progress reports thinly disguised under an excuse for some 'Fluff'. Plus I forgot to take notes so even the fluffy bits are fairly vague.

I'll make it up to you all with a Primarch post on Sunday night ;-)

Predicted Feature Failure Fails as Predicted

As I suspected I didn't have time to get an army photographed and the owner interviewed in time for today in order to start the 'Featured Army' set of articles. I did warn you it probably wouldn't happen this week so I feel less bad than I normally do when I miss a deadline I do however have one lined up for next week and have given myself plenty of time to get it organised for a change.

Though I'm not entirely innocent as I spent most of today playing Deathwatch.....

Games Workshop Newsletter - Storm of Magic

The Games Workshop Newsletter 25.06.2011 In this issue: Storm of Magic is now available to Advance Order!

Prepare for powerful magic and a host of fearsome monsters... New monsters have woken from their slumber, Arcane Fulcrums have burst up from the ground, and new wizards are learning to harness the Winds of Magic... Storm of Magic, the world-shattering Expansion for Warhammer, the Game of Fantasy Battles, is now available for you to advance order. Not only is this the most exciting thing to happen to Warhammer since, well, Warhammer itself, but we've shortened the wait between advance order and launch - so you can get your hands on the new releases even quicker. Head on over to games-workshop.com to see the new monsters, wizards and Arcane Fulcrums in all their glory - and play Warhammer like you've never played before. Its Warhammer Fantasy which I'm afraid makes it of no interest to me whatsoever but at least the models are pretty, lol.

2nd Company Progress - More Bloody Tactical Squads.....

So I managed to complete two more Tactical Squads of the configuration shown here, but I'm afraid only one of them has a fully painted Rhino/Razorback...

As I intend to do all the rest of the Tactical Squads transports as a single 'production line' job this isn't really an issue so I've put them to one side and started tidying up another three squads. For those of you who have been following my attempts to tidy-up some of my early Marines it will come as no surprise that these guys were also badly posed, covered in mould lines and had no detailing whatsoever.

These three units were to be configured like this...


Troops: Tactical Squad (11#, 205 pts)
   9 Tactical Squad @ 205 pts (Flamer; Multi-Melta; Rhino)
      1 Sergeant (Bolt Pistol; Bolter)
      1 Rhino (Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Storm Bolter)

...for use in various versions of 'Best-Of' Marine lists.


Well they're about half way done now as mould lines have been removed (I'll obviously have missed a couple so I can notice them at a later date and get annoyed), Base colour has been reapplied, Boltgun Metal added to the appropriate places and the shoulder pads have been re-edged. All the metal and the three cloaks have had a coat of Badab Black and as soon as that's dried I'll start on the details.

A few of them also needed sand adding to their bases as apparently I never used to do that all the time either. The two Squads made up of Snap-Fit and/or Badab Black Marines have been distributed between the other units so they didn't look like a bunch of clones.....

Of course the downside to all this is I now have a selection of extra models in configurations that I'm unlikely to need very often,

I'm sure the extra Flamers and Meltaguns will come in useful but I can see the Plasma guys being on the side lines for quite a while. Also I can't see the six former Sergeants/Aspiring Champions armed with Storm/Twin-Linked Bolters and Power Fists going into battle particularly often. The 'Knights of Shibboleth' banner was from the dim and distant past when the Night Reapers were the war-band of the Daemon Prince 'Shibboleth' before I got delusions of grandeur and decided I wanted a Chapter of Marines instead ;-)

Well there you go. I've made some progress and there it is, lol.

Thoughts and Comments are (as usual) most welcome*

*and will probably come as quite a surprise as there's not a lot to comment on really.....

Warhammer Forge Newsletter #10

 
Warhammer Forge Newsletter # 10

Hi there,
            In this week's Warhammer Forge newsletter we unveil a sinister and monstrous creature known of in ancient lore and reputed to lurk in the very darkest places of the Warhammer World: the Carmine Dragon! As well of the news of this amazing addition to our Warhammer range, we also have a summary of all the events that the Warhammer Forge staff and products will be present at in the coming months.

Carmine Dragon
Carmine Dragons are strange and rare beasts even amongst their storied kin; born, it is said, when a dragon's lair is saturated by the Amethyst wind of Death, the power of Shyish gathering and magnifying within the heart and soul of the beast yet to hatch.

Carmine Dragons (sometimes known in dark legend as Encarmine Dragons) are named for their scales, which darken from a deep, ruby red when young to a purple so dark as to be almost black when they age, and many ancient tales hold them as spectres of death. Sinister, clever and deadly creatures, they are reputed to be found in murky swamps, ancient battle sites and the ruins of fallen cities - anywhere where the echoes of death and destruction on a grand scale will feed their power and the whispers of the dead will echo in the darkness of their lair.

The Carmine Dragon, model designed by Trish Carden, is a complete resin kit packed with intricate detail that stands a majestic 8" (203mm) tall. Poised to unleash the devastating power of its magical breath, the Carmine Dragon has a 5" (125mm) wingspan and makes an ideal centrepiece for any Warhammer army.

Warhammer Forge at a Games Day near you!
The full range of Warhammer Forge released so far this year will be on sale at Games Day Spain in Madrid on 3rd July, Games Day Chicago on 30th of July and Games Day Germany in Cologne on 7th August.

All three shows will have the Chaos Dwarf Hellsmith show only model available to purchase, and Mark Bedford will be joining Forge World model designer Will Hayes at Games Day Chicago. We'll be bringing you more details of the Warhammer Forge presence at Games Day Germany in future newsletters, along with news of more fantastic additions to our range of Chaos Dwarfs and Warhammer Monsters, and some exciting news about the first Warhammer Forge Expansion book, Tamurkhan: The Throne of Chaos, which writer Alan Bligh has recently put the finishing touches to.

Thanks,
Ead Brown
Customer Service Manager

Forge World

List Design for Beginners - Part 5 - Basic Concepts - Redundancy.

Let's start with an easy one that nevertheless is often completely ignored or disregarded by people when they write their lists, namely 'Redundancy'. At it's most basic level this is having multiple units that can do the same job in case some of them get destroyed or are otherwise incapacitated.

Statistically your going to go 2nd at some point and vs. certain armies with characters that can bend those rules governing turns it's going to be more than half the time.....

At this point a decent opponent will be looking at your army and prioritising what units need to be eliminated early. An Imperial Guard player with a mechanised gun-line is going to be targeting your anti-tank first whereas a horde Ork player is unlikely to give a shit about you killing an Ork a turn with your Lascannon but is going to become very interested in that unit with four Flamers. Even an opponent of less than average skill level is still going to have some idea of what he intends to kill first that turn, a skilled opponent on the other hand will most likely know what he'll be targeting and in what order for the next six turns.....

There are a number of ways too deal with this scenario,

1) Protect those units you know are important with everything else in your army.
2) Have duplicates of everything so it doesn't matter if one, two or even three units of a single type get blown to shit.

Or even better,

3) Protect the important units with the less important ones and have duplicates of everything so it doesn't matter if one, two or even three units of a single type get blown to shit.

This is where redundancy comes in but first we need a brief interlude to talk about Spam.

A Brief Interlude to talk about Spam.

If you find a unit that does exactly the job you want and compliments your army perfectly and your allowed to take three then I see no reason why you shouldn't. If you adopt this approach then certain people will get shitty about it...My personal opinion is that they can go fuck themselves but that's just me. What I will say however is that just because three units have identical stats doesn't mean they have to look identical in every way. Give the units different squad markings, add different types of pintle mounts to vehicles, vary your colour scheme slightly, add battle damage, etc. though you'd be hard pressed to make twelve Razorbacks all look different it should be easily manageable with three Vindicators or similar ;-)

Right now that's out of the way...

Anti-tank is important in 5th edition and I'm presuming will remain so in 6th as GW are unlikely to let go the licence to print money that is 'buy a vehicle and a unit to go in it' or the 1+1 as certain internet pundits call it. How much anti-tank to take is an eternal debate that I won't go into as I don't have a lifetime spare to argue about it but what everybody of any importance will agree is you need a lot.
Very few armies these days will appear on the table with less than four vehicles, most will have six to ten and a few may have twelve or even more. However an opponent with twelve vehicles on the table is highly unlikely to have all twelve of them possessing a high armour value, most will be in the armour 11 or 12 sort of range and that's where the majority of your strength 6, 7 and 8 weapons will be aiming. Those vehicles with higher armour values will obviously require higher strength weaponry to destroy but on the other hand you'll need less of that high strength fire-power as there's less for you to use it against. it would be nice to be able to cram your army with high volumes of high strength shots but unfortunately those weapons are usually priced accordingly.

The upshot of this is that if your army only has two anti-tank units in it and your opponent has a wall of armour then those anti-tank units are going to take the brunt of their fire-power. If on the other hand you have six of those units then your opponents choices become more difficult. Obviously the same basic principles apply to anti-infantry weapons as well.

This is why balanced armies>rock armies on most occasions.

There is no fixed formula for this but as a brief rule of thumb, in an ideal(ish) world you'll have,

1) At least three units capable of destroying heavy armour. As these will often be required to stop a heavy transport (such as a Land Raider) as far away as possible (so the cargo doesn't immediately disembark and kick your teeth in) these need to be either long range or expendable depending on your army.

2) The ability to fire effectively at at least three (but more is better) light transports per turn. For obvious reasons you need less shots if your firing strength 8 Missiles than you do if your firing strength 6 scatter lasers. Missile Launchers are ideal as they generally have an alternative anti-infantry fire mode.

3) Enough anti-infantry to destroy a tactical squad in a single round of shooting or to maim two or even three. Tactical Squads are the benchmark for troop units in 40K.....If you can't kill Power Armoured Marines then you might as well go home now.

4) Sufficient low AP weapons to cause problems for the 2+ save crowd. Missile Spam is wonderful till you face off against thirty Terminators and for those you'll need AP 1 or 2. Plasma is one of the most common weapons used against these sorts of enemies but there are many, many others that can do the job.

As an example here's a somewhat extreme example of redundancy that is nonetheless still effective.


2000 Pts - Grey Knights Roster

HQ: Castellan Crowe (1#, 150 pts)
   1 Castellan Crowe @ 150 pts

Troops: Purifier Squad (6#, 195 pts)
   1 Purifier Squad @ 195 pts (Razorback)
      1 Knight of the Flame
      2 Purifier (Psycannon)
      1 Purifier (Nemesis Daemonhammer)
      1 Purifier
      1 Razorback (Psybolt Ammunition)

Troops: Purifier Squad (6#, 195 pts)
   1 Purifier Squad @ 195 pts (Razorback)
      1 Knight of the Flame
      2 Purifier (Psycannon)
      1 Purifier (Nemesis Daemonhammer)
      1 Purifier
      1 Razorback (Psybolt Ammunition)

Troops: Purifier Squad (6#, 195 pts)
   1 Purifier Squad @ 195 pts (Razorback)
      1 Knight of the Flame
      2 Purifier (Psycannon)
      1 Purifier (Nemesis Daemonhammer)
      1 Purifier
      1 Razorback (Psybolt Ammunition)

Troops: Purifier Squad (6#, 195 pts)
   1 Purifier Squad @ 195 pts (Razorback)
      1 Knight of the Flame
      2 Purifier (Psycannon)
      1 Purifier (Nemesis Daemonhammer)
      1 Purifier
      1 Razorback (Psybolt Ammunition)

Troops: Purifier Squad (6#, 195 pts)
   1 Purifier Squad @ 195 pts (Razorback)
      1 Knight of the Flame
      2 Purifier (Psycannon)
      1 Purifier (Nemesis Daemonhammer)
      1 Purifier
      1 Razorback (Psybolt Ammunition)

Troops: Purifier Squad (6#, 195 pts)
   1 Purifier Squad @ 195 pts (Razorback)
      1 Knight of the Flame
      2 Purifier (Psycannon)
      1 Purifier (Nemesis Daemonhammer)
      1 Purifier
      1 Razorback (Psybolt Ammunition)

Heavy Support: Purgation Squad (6#, 195 pts)
   1 Purgation Squad @ 195 pts (Razorback)
      1 Justicar (Nemesis Daemonhammer)
      2 Grey Knights (Psycannon)
      2 Grey Knights
      1 Razorback (Psybolt Ammunition)

Heavy Support: Purgation Squad (6#, 195 pts)
   1 Purgation Squad @ 195 pts (Razorback)
      1 Justicar (Nemesis Daemonhammer)
      2 Grey Knights (Psycannon)
      2 Grey Knights
      1 Razorback (Psybolt Ammunition)

Heavy Support: Purgation Squad (6#, 195 pts)
   1 Purgation Squad @ 195 pts (Razorback)
      1 Justicar (Nemesis Daemonhammer)
      2 Grey Knights (Psycannon)
      2 Grey Knights
      1 Razorback (Psybolt Ammunition)

Total Roster Cost: 1905*

* So we have a few points left over but this list is more to prove a point ;-)

The only difference between the units is that six of them are Troops and three are from Heavy Support making them slightly less of a priority in objective games. However your opponents target priority becomes irrelevant as every unit does exactly the same job...


So that's a brief guide to redundancy in 40K. Next time I think we'll look at duality with an appropriate army list to illustrate the point.

Thoughts and Comments are (as usual) most welcome.

E-Mail In : Grey Knights, Dreadnoughts and Razorbacks.

E-Mail In : 

Hello Gmort,


I've been playing around with the Grey Knights codex and have decided to strip down and repaint some of my substantial collection of Dreadnoughts and Razorbacks so I can repaint them in Grey Knight colours. After reading a couple of your posts where you've helped people optimise their lists without making them change everything so it ends up a generic netlist like they do at certain sites, I thought you'd be the best person to help. I'd like to use the twin-linked Autocannon dreads as I have already got some Forge World Dread arms and I'd also like to use my Razorbacks (they're set up as Heavy Bolter ones and I used so much glue I think that's how they'll likely have to stay). I've bought some normal Grey Knights and may be able to get a box of termys off a friend who decided to do something else. I've tried a few combinations myself but I either end up with not enough troops or not enough points to fit in the mandatory HQ in Termy armour or on several occasions just have nowhere to put him. Sorry if that's a bit of a ramble but any help you give would be much appreciated.


Name withheld by request.

Reply : 

I'm not sure why you'd have problems as the units you've mentioned are all fine units to put in any Grey Knights army. If what you want is Dreadnoughts and Razorbacks then that can be done quite easily. As for HQ's you don't necessarily need to have one in Terminator Armour unless you really want one and there are cheaper ways to do it than taking a Grey Knight Grandmaster or similar if you do. If you can get that box of Terminators from your friend then I'd suggest the following.


2000 Pts - Grey Knights Roster.

HQ: Ordo Malleus Inquisitor in Terminator Armour (1#, 89 pts)
   1 Ordo Malleus Inquisitor in Terminator Armour @ 89 pts (Nemesis Daemonhammer; Servo-skulls x3; Psycannon)

So this guy will most likely chill out with the Terminators giving them a 2nd Psycannon and use his Servo-Skulls to keep away pesky infiltrators.

Elite: Venerable Dreadnought (1#, 196 pts)
   1 Venerable Dreadnought @ 196 pts (Psybolt Ammunition; Searchlight; Twin-Linked Autocannon; Twin-Linked Autocannon)

Elite: Venerable Dreadnought (1#, 196 pts)
   1 Venerable Dreadnought @ 196 pts (Psybolt Ammunition; Searchlight; Twin-Linked Autocannon; Twin-Linked Autocannon)

Elite: Venerable Dreadnought (1#, 196 pts)
   1 Venerable Dreadnought @ 196 pts (Psybolt Ammunition; Searchlight; Twin-Linked Autocannon; Twin-Linked Autocannon)

4x Strength 8 Twin-Linked shots a turn per Dreadnought. The're almost impossible to stun-lock due to their Psychic Pilot's 'Fortitude' ability and have a good chance of avoiding terminal damage because of their 'Venerable' rule.

Troops: Grey Knight Terminator Squad (5#, 225 pts)
   1 Grey Knight Terminator Squad @ 225 pts
      1 Terminator Justicar
      1 Terminator (Psycannon)
      1 Terminator (Nemesis Daemonhammer)
      2 Terminators

This gives our HQ somewhere to chill out as well as being an effective unit in it's own right.

Troops: Grey Knight Strike Squad (6#, 171 pts)
   1 Grey Knight Strike Squad @ 171 pts (Razorback)
      1 Justicar (Nemesis Daemonhammer)
      2 Grey Knights
      1 Grey Knight
      1 Grey Knight (Psycannon)
      1 Razorback (Psybolt Ammunition; Searchlight)

Troops: Grey Knight Strike Squad (6#, 171 pts)
   1 Grey Knight Strike Squad @ 171 pts (Razorback)
      1 Justicar (Nemesis Daemonhammer)
      2 Grey Knights
      1 Grey Knight
      1 Grey Knight (Psycannon)
      1 Razorback (Psybolt Ammunition; Searchlight)

Troops: Grey Knight Strike Squad (6#, 171 pts)
   1 Grey Knight Strike Squad @ 171 pts (Razorback)
      1 Justicar (Nemesis Daemonhammer)
      2 Grey Knights
      1 Grey Knight
      1 Grey Knight (Psycannon)
      1 Razorback (Psybolt Ammunition; Searchlight)

Troops: Grey Knight Strike Squad (6#, 171 pts)
   1 Grey Knight Strike Squad @ 171 pts (Razorback)
      1 Justicar (Nemesis Daemonhammer)
      2 Grey Knights
      1 Grey Knight
      1 Grey Knight (Psycannon)
      1 Razorback (Psybolt Ammunition; Searchlight)

In any other army your Heavy Bolter Razorbacks would be a bit of a liability. Fortunately Psi-bolt ammo makes them Strength 6 which is a bit more useful. The unit inside each one is (I'm afraid) pretty 'netlist' standard but it's a good configuration none the less. There's four units of them because my personal experience of Marines of all colours is that 15 Marines across 3 units just isn't enough past 1500 points and to be honest is a bit tight even at that points level.

Heavy Support: Dreadnought (1#, 136 pts)
   1 Dreadnought @ 136 pts (Psybolt Ammunition; Searchlight; Twin-Linked Autocannon; Twin-Linked Autocannon)

Heavy Support: Dreadnought (1#, 136 pts)
   1 Dreadnought @ 136 pts (Psybolt Ammunition; Searchlight; Twin-Linked Autocannon; Twin-Linked Autocannon)

Heavy Support: Dreadnought (1#, 136 pts)
   1 Dreadnought @ 136 pts (Psybolt Ammunition; Searchlight; Twin-Linked Autocannon; Twin-Linked Autocannon)

I hope your Dreadnought collection is as substantial as you claimed ;-)

Total Roster Cost: 1994


The reason I've included searchlights on everything is because 'Dawn of War' can sometimes allow fast killy things to get closer to you than you would have liked. At least with searchlights once you've hit it once then the rest of your army can unload into it and finish it off. If you can find something better to spend them on then by all means do ;-)

You have 5 scoring units which is a decent enough quantity and more than enough fire-power at a wide variety of threat ranges to get the job done.

Anyway I hope this helps. If you want to thank me click on a couple of adverts ;-)

Thoughts and comments are (as usual) most welcome.

House of Paincakes Article No. 26

It's that time of the week again.

My house of Paincakes article can be found here. This week attempting to find the line between 'Competitive' and 'WAAC' gamers.

As for the usual Tuesday Eye-Candy...

Television and Movies like to remake things that were previous successes so they don't have to task their brains thinking up something original. Though on many other blogs this would turn into a comparative article comparing the original film with the remake here on 'Tuesday Eye-Candy' were going to compare the original girl with her recent replacement and I'll leave you lot to decide whether progress is a good thing or not.....I may still chip in with my opinion though...

Star Trek.
Original Uhura vs. new Uhura...

Well even with 'Original' Uhura wearing the outfit from the 'Mirror Mirror' episode I still think the new version wins by a fair margin.

The Addams Family.

Original Morticia vs. new Morticia...

Well in this case I think the original would get my vote....

The Dukes of Hazard.

Original Daisy Dukes vs. new Daisy Dukes.

The original had a very strong effect on me as a young man whereas I'm pretty indifferent to Jessica Simpson. I'll leave you lot to debate this one.

Nikita.

A three way battle this time...

There's been a few of these with the latest version being the most woodenly acted piece of crap I've ever watched and at the same time manages to contain some of the worst choreographed fight scenes it's ever been my misfortune to sit through....on the other hand Maggie Q is quite hot if your into skinny chicks.....

I have no real opinion either way though I'd avoid voting for Maqqie Q on the basis that she's the least convincing assassin in the history of television, lol.

If any of  you have any of your own suggestions of then feel free to comment.