F**king oversights.

Just realised I overlooked GKs ability to combat squad.

Yes, I think a Hybrid build is in order. It will certainly involve a Librarian. Read more!

More GK Tinkering....

Have at it:

HQ
Coteaz
100

Elites
8 Purifiers
2 Hammers
4 Halberds
2 Psycannons
Rhino
Dozer Blade
275

8 Purifiers
2 Hammers
4 Halberds
2 Psycannons
Rhino
Dozer Blade
275

8 Purifiers
2 Hammers
4 Halberds
2 Psycannons
Rhino
Dozer Blade
275

Troops
6 Death Cult Assassins
3 Acolytes
2 Melta Guns
Flamer
Rhino
167

9 Acolytes
2 Melta Guns
Flamer
Rhino
101

9 Acolytes
2 Melta Guns
Flamer
Rhino
101

9 Acolytes
2 Melta Guns
Flamer
Rhino
101

5 Acolytes
Razorback
Lasplas
100

5 Acolytes
Razorback
Lasplas
100

Heavy Support
Dreadnought
2 Autocannons
Psybolt Ammo
135

Dreadnought
2 Autocannons
Psybolt Ammo
135

Dreadnought
2 Autocannons
Psybolt Ammo
135

2000

Got everything covered, I think. Fights well in combat, and has good shooting (: Read more!

So I've been messing with the new GK book....

And I've been trying to make henchmen work. So, this is what I have at the moment:

Coteaz
Inquis w/Rads
2x8 DCA + 3 Meltacolytes + Lasplas
9 DCA + 3 Meltacolytes + Lasplas
3 acolytes + Lasplas
2x3 Acolytes + Twinlas
2 Redeemers w/MM
Crusader w/MM
1932



So, at first I saw the combat options for henchmen and went "Bah! S3, sucks." However, Coteaz has Mind Blades and Hammerhand (+1S and -1T), basically making his unit S6. The other Inquis has rad grenades, meaning they're basically S5 (still enough, those assassins are putting out around 15 wounds). The other unit, well, it has more attacks and I can aim it at troops. Now, this is very much a beta as I'm still playing with the build, but it has ranged support, 3 raiders and a hell of a combat punch. Only problem is the staying power of the troops. Obviously, I have some points to play with here, I could "maybe" add in some storm shields, but I'm not convinced I wouldn't just be better with more assassins.

The meltas are there because I can see them being handy. As a note, this list will pretty much play as: 3 Raiders and 4 Razors run into midfield. The 2 Lasplas sit back. They demech some stuff and then it dies horribly to the assassin units. Protecting those assassins will be absolutely critical, as they die really really easily. With the remaining points I have to shuffle, I'd like to get a few extra bodies (maybe up the razorback squads to 5 or 6 apiece) and get some powerfists about. Also, Psychotropes and a combi melta for the Xenos inquisitor. Dunno, we'll see how it goes.

But anyway, what're your thoughts on the list?

HQ
Coteaz
100

Ordo Xenos Inquisitor
Rad Grenades
40

Troops
8 Death Cult Assassins
3 Warrior Acolytes
3 Melta Guns
Lasplas
242

8 Death Cult Assassins
3 Warrior Acolytes
3 Melta Guns
Lasplas
242

9 Death Cult Assassins
3 Warrior Acolytes
3 Melta Guns
Lasplas
257

3 Warrior Acolytes
Razorback
Lasplas
92

3 Warrior Acolytes
Razorback
Twinlas
92

3 Warrior Acolytes
Razorback
Twinlas
92

Heavy Support
Land Raider Redeemer
Multi Melta
255

Land Raider Redeemer
Multi Melta
255

Land Raider Crusader
Multi Melta
265
Read more!

Well, the new GK book stuffed henchmen, have some templates.

So guys, the new GK book stuffed henchmen. And Mordrak. Looking like purifiers are the only competitive build in the book.

Damn.

However, this came up in conversation, the "armies i'm afraid of" in 5E. Basically, these are the 4 "generic" armies that worry me. Obviously, there's other things that phase me, but if your opponents army looks like one of these, you should be in for a rough game.

Now, I made all those lists, and I think that GK list will be "the GK build". For the future. I'd damn buy it if I didn't need to get another 6 rhinos. I love builds that're good in the midfield. Especially close combat. :D

Crowe
4x8 Purifiers w/2 Hammers, 4 Halberds, 2 Cannons, Rhino
2x5 Purifiers w/2 Cannons (one unit has 1 hammer), Rhino
3 Dreads w/2 TLAC + Psybolt
2000

Njal
2x5 Wolf Scouts w/Melta
6 WG w/Fists + Combi Melta
3x7 GH w/Melta, Wolf Standard + Rhino
6 GH w/Melta, Wolf Standard + Rhino
2x5 GH w/Flamer in Lasplas
2x5 Long Fangs w/4 Missiles
5 Long Fangs w/4 Missiles + Lasplas
2000

Straken w/Stuff
6x Meltavets
3 Vendettas
2 Demolishers w/HBs
2000

Mephiston
Honour Guard w/Rhino, 2 Melta, 2 Flamer
2 Sangpriests w/LC + Combi
6x5 ASM w/LC, Melta, Infernus + Rhino
3 Autolas
2000

Just felt like sharing that. Read more!

An Update - More GK Shnazzle

So, with the actual book in stores now, some truths have been put out.

A big one is the Dreadknight is S6, T6, 4W, 2+/5++. Doesn't work for nurgle daemon princes, doubt it'll work for you son. Back into the broken dreams box you go.

I prefer infantry anyway, always have. They're much cooler. Speaking of which, here's list MKII

HQ
Mordrak
200

10 Ghost Knights
2 Psycannons
Brotherhood Banner
3 Hammers
7 Halberds
Psybolt Ammo
405

Coteaz
100

Troops
9 Henchmen
2 Flamers
5 Meltas
Chimera
Dozer Blade
156

9 Henchmen
2 Flamers
5 Meltas
Chimera
Dozer Blade
156

9 Henchmen
2 Flamers
5 Meltas
Chimera
Dozer Blade
156

9 Henchmen
2 Flamers
5 Meltas
Chimera
Dozer Blade
156

9 Henchmen
2 Flamers
5 Meltas
Chimera
Dozer Blade
156

8 Henchmen
2 Flamers
5 Meltas
Chimera
Dozer Blade
152

Heavy Support
5 Purgators
2 Psycannons
Rhino
180

5 Purgators
2 Psycannons
Rhino
180

2000

What do we think? Insane scoring potential, some good long ranged fire (6 psycannons is 12 autocannons, with rending), as well as Meltacolytes coming towards you, which are just Meltavets MKII.

Oh yeah, and Mordrak. His unit is AWESOME. :D Read more!

Lost and the Damned - Made a monster with the new GK "book"

So, I was messing around with the pdf, and I made this list.

Read more!

Centurion!

A very brief post here covering my biggest mistake, my favourite game, my greatest achievement and stuff like that.

Ok, so, to sum it up (very briefly, i'm doing a full version on 3++ soon)

My greatest achievement was....
I played Kirby round 3 and edged out a victory. As we had to end T5, it was very much in my favour. Could have gone either way turn 6, and it was most likely his game turn 7.

Favourite Game:
Round 4 against Dennis.... Jeez. Now, I want to say right here and right now, this was my favourite game of the whole event, and any bitter/hate/anger here is directed at me for fucking up, and not him. He played a fantastic game, and I honestly didn't deserve to win.

Now.... let me explain. My big mistake here is I misread my scenario sheet. I looked at it, and looked at round 5, because it was the 2nd last one on the sheet (out of 6) and it was my 2nd last game. Hence, I played for objectives. This is why I won the secondary. Dennis however played a very solid game in the midfield, and raped me for quarters, played well, and won. However, because I thought it was objectives, I threw turn 5 away as I already had it (or so I thought), and man... Ugh. At the time, I didn't see much of a way to get it back. Lemme explain the board corners at the start of my turn 5:

 Top Left
Dennis Had:
Prime, about 20 Gaunts (~200)
I had:
Trukk, Ork Squad (152)

Top Right
Dennis Had:
Tervigon, about 10 gaunts (~230)
I Had:
1 Trukk and 2 buggies (~120)

Bottom Left
Dennis had:
Zilch (0)
I had:
11 Shootas, 2 Buggies,6 Kans, Battlewagon (~600)

Bottom Right
Dennis had:
HT + Guard, 3 Hive Guard (these might have been top right, not sure), Mawloc, 2 Tyrannos (~1000)
I had:
10 Shootas + Nob, 2 Trukks, Wagon w/Mek (~300)

Now, when I realised what was done, I asked if I could play out my movement, thinking I could throw enough into the bottom right to win. Stupid really, even if Dennis had let me do it (he didn't, and I don't condemn him at all, I'd have done the exact same thing). What I should have done is move the battlewagon in my bottom left to the top left. Then I would have tied the primary, it'd have gone to objectives, and I would have won.

The fucking fury I had at myself could not be described. Ask ComradeCowboy. I actually woke up in the middle of the night, sat bolt upright and went

"Fuck."


>_>


Anyway, as to the event, much more detailed shit coming up on 3++, but it was absolutely awesome, good opponents, some of the best games I've had in my life, Matt is possibly one of the soundest guys you'll ever meet, SneakyDan drinks like a fucking elephant, Cowboy got cunted by crons, Vince's Night Lords fill me with nostalgia (he's also the most chilled dude I've ever met... sorry about the blood bowl again >:), Kirby is a cunt (and really white, and a really really weird drunk), and generally just thanks to everyone who made the event awesome.


Oh yeah. FUCKING THIRD WITH FUCKING ORKS. An army I'd been playing for, I dunno, 8 hours before the event. FUCKING THIRD. 2nd if you count Josh's DQ. I don't though. He fucking deserved 2nd, played a really rough game and a small math error on his part shouldn't take ANYTHING away from that. And if anyone tries to belittle his achievement "aw no he cheated he totally didn't deserve it" then they CLEARLY didn't see him play. If I'm 2nd by formality, fuck off. I came 3rd.

With orks. Fuck you Kirby, stelek was right. ;] Read more!

More DH stuff! - The Intro

Well folks, here's the intro to the DH campaign i'm running later on today, at Centurion.

Carmen's footsteps echoed down the corridor. The pipes and wires a luminescent green amidst the amorphous black mass that was the rest of the hallway. A glimmering marked another pane of glass further down, to his left. After the last one, he didn't really want to look, but combat doctrine and human instinct made him. He had to know. He had a few inklings as to what must have been going on here. But even thinking of... those... those things, mankinds oldest enemy, it made his flesh crawl. He had never encountered them before, his life spent fighting Orks. He had only heard whispers, stories and myths. Thinking about it, those were definitely not myths.

He reached the pane of glass, and readied his hellgun. All clear. An empty room, no signs of movement. Not wanting to waste time, he swiftly made tracks down the hall, his steps ringing out on the mesh flooring. The auspex built into his helmet flared up, alerting him to electrical activity ahead. Hrm. The facility seemed to be shut down in its entirety. Although, he had tagged a few working panels and automatic doors, so it couldn't be completely down.

On closer inspection, he saw it was a door, half open, moving from three quarters shut, to half open, to almost shut, to half open again. Well, he didn't have a choice here, he had to get out. Lowering his weapon, he straightened out and eked through a small gap it was widening. Once on the other side of the door, he could see a light. Whispering thanks to the Emperor, he hastened his pace. As he neared it, he noticed lights flickering on cogitators, and small runes of activation silently flashing.

"Yes!" he thought, "The facility must be coming back online!". Clicking off his night vision, in his haste, he went past a pane of glass, and an open door. White noise erupted from a nearby vox unit, and something moved into the narrow corridor behind the Stormtrooper, completely unnoticed by him, blinded as he was by the fervour that had overcome him. The thought of freedom was all that was on his mind, as a shape in the dark shadowed him down the corridor.

As he turned the corner, what he saw stopped him in his tracks, unable to comprehend what he was seeing. It was just light, just a big light. But, he thought, blood running down from the newly opened gash in his throat, it was such a nice light. Perhaps this was the light of the Emperor, it certainly felt strong enough, like it was giving him some kind of sunburn.

And then, cold, alone, and dead on the hard plasteel floor, the Stormtrooper went to join the rest of his squad. Read more!

Old Stuff Day: Some Shooting in 8E.

So, an article I'd written in the aftermath of 8th edition, turned out to be an almost clairvoyant description of 8E. Gun+Magichammer! Wooooo!!!

See, it's just shooting and magic are what the game revolves around at the moment. Thing is in WHFB mobile shooting is generally not as good as pillbox obliterate from across the board shooting, which, unlike 40k, makes for a boring game. As while movement in WHFB may be higher, mobility is generally lower, meaning that "gunlines" do well. Which is boring.

Yeah, I kinda fell out with 8th edition...Sorry, have a read.

 

Shooting attracted a lot of attention to itself in 8th edition. With the ability to fire in two ranks you can effectively double the number of shots you can produce in fire lanes/areas with limited frontage (and in empire handgunner spam, that can be the whole table). In addition, gunlines no longer have to camp on hills to receive bonuses like this. So gunlines have been cropping up a lot more lately. My own skaven army is shooty. But this article is weighing up the important pros and cons of the shooting phase in 8th edition.

Ok, let's start with the bad. BS reliant shooting. In 8E terrain barely hinders the game anymore, so people are in it quite a lot. In addition, units in the way provide hard cover. Finally, there's a lot more terrain on the board. What does this mean to you guys? Modifiers. Lots of them. Example. Unit in their deployment zone and in a forest. That means that your unit of Dark Elf Crossbowmen, or Empire Handgunners is hitting them on 6s. In their first turn they will move out the forest and hopefully in to/behind a nice terrain feature. In addition, against an army with a lot of BS reliant shots, I tend to put my 3 slave units (so that's 30 models wide) in a nice line in front of my army. Stormvermin are large enough to see over slaves (no, really) which means my whole army tends to get hard cover with no negative impacts other than a slightly hindered movement phase.

What this means is BS reliant shooting tends to need to be brought in absolute bucketfuls to achieve a significant result. Or be poisoned (which makes hitting on 6s a good thing). Or you could be Tomb Kings (whose archers actually gained by comparison this edition). Of course this isn't always the case, but it does mean an entire army of BS related shots isn't so good. Lookin at Woodies, for example. Dark Elves work out fine just cause they have the form of BS related shooting that IS good. Bucketfuls of it and...

Fast moving high BS skirmishers and fast cavalry (but the only good fast cav I can think of are dark riders and pistoliers). These guys are still good. Flamers, Shades, Gutter Runners, that kind of thing. These guys are good because they can march and shoot. This means they can get in to a position easily that doesn't suffer modifiers other than "moved". But by that point you wont be suffering long range, so it doesn't really matter. The ability to march and shoot really helps skirmishers with half decent/good ranged weapons, because now they're really really hard to catch, if they don't want to be caught. But they can still easily remain within short range and pelt your guys to death. You'll find these units tend to hit on 5s most of the time, with a lot of shots. Shades, being the cocky dark elf pricks they are, hit on 4s.

                                                             

Now, the shooting that really got buffed. We all know what's coming here. Yup, tequila. I mean, templates. This includes cannons, as that line is technically a template. More specifically I mean non ballistic related templates. The ones you just place and they go a random range. For example, short of a misfire, it's very hard to miss a monster/chariot with a cannon. And no amount of modifiers could save it. It could be 66" away in a ruin wearing a cloak made of shadow magnet trinkets and rings of darkness, while also being a single character and a skirmisher. Don't care, you're getting slapped by a cannonball, flying towards you which will wittily say "Buona Giorno" like Bradd Pit in Inglorious Basterds before scalping you and moving on to the poor block of infantry behind it.

Tangents aside, these kind of weapons are really really good in 8th edition. That's why my army has 8 of them. I can't really go in to this, but I can point out something important relating to army balance within your missile troops. As the number of enemy units decreases, the power of these weapons decreases. It's fairly simple, and you could work it out by looking at pictures of how these things fire, but it needs to be said. Moving on, because of that, as I found out, an army that uses templates and blasts to the exclusion of all else doesn't function so well. Because if you have a small cadre of elites left they'll munch your units anyway (4 chaos warriors or something like that). So, what can we do? In this hour of need who do we turn to?

Well, it's the underdog. The downtrodden unsung hero of 8th edition. No, not you Korhil, get back in your cage. BS-reliant shooting. BS reliant shooting doesn't change in effectiveness in relation to the size of the units you're shooting. They can shoot a unit of 50, 20, and 2 guys with the same effectiveness, all along the watchtower. BS-reliant shooting stands up tall, among the horde of template weapons you brought, holds his head high, swings his sling around his head and breaks the faces of that unit of 4 swordmasters you just can't get a good template hit on, before receding back in to the folds of mediocrity, and the bards shall laud that shot that did save your general from certain death for all of history.

Hope you guys enjoyed the article.

Read more!

"Aim Directly For His Crooked Brow, And Look Him Straight In The Eye!"

So, taking the bull by it's horns here folks. At the moment I'm putting up a kind of mishmash of articles relating to whatever crosses my mind, which I'm fine with.

Is there anything you guys would like my opinions/advice/thoughts on though? I might actually do something email related (no promises it wont end up on 3++ though). Dunno, feeling lost for direction since I fell out with 8th ed. (Rockethammer was an apt name, as shooting each other is the name of the game, and magic).

<3 Read more!

Dark Heresy Stuff.

Guys that wanted to do DH/were interested (That is Dathbryce, eathos and Wonna). I need you to get into contact with me like, ASAP, so we can discuss what nights of the event we can do this. Otherwise it's off. >: Read more!