On the art of rolling 1s

[cunningmatt]

I've seen Matt post here so he may see some relevance with his Ultramarines slowly coming on. For his benefit I apologise again as I start with a sport reference.

S.P.O.R.T? You what now?

So far I've not played Warhammer 40,000 - let alone my Ultramarines, so I guess I will find out the depressing truth soon enough!

[TkaiC]

Well, I have no playing experience but from what I hear on various forums...

Blood Angels are nails in close combat, bit pointless unless you like going RAAARGH at people.  If you do like playing sans tactics, they scrap better than the Dark Eldar close combat troops I have to choose from.  And Assault squads are core?   Legion of the Damned are definitely ace. 

Dark Angels look jank.  Just my opinion but the new Deathwing knights/Ravenwing flyer and bikes (and if you're not running something with Wing in the title you'll be Dead Angels) look, well, rubbish.  That's not got hide or hair to do with tactics but on a purely personal level I wouldn't play the models.  Ugly, ugly things.  Have I made my point clear here? Shame as the Dark Vengeance marines look really nice.  But they're just normal marines with a sculpted shoulder pad 

Space Wolves are fantastic.  They have the close combat heft to get the job done, and Long Fangs are wonderful.  The characters are ace too.

Vanilla marines seem just a bit, well, unloved.  As I say, I haven't actually played a game of 6th edition 40k yet but from reading the rule book/some battle reports they still have really good armour/BS/weapon options.  But...well...nothing as good as you can get in a Black Templars list.

[roland murat]

Father Brian

So after a short lived promotion Brian was back to the parish, well a lowly priest leading the Reiksguard anyway.

Today was a practice game using Sheffield comp as Ol gets back on the wagon with his 7th ed Dark Elf army.

He had Lv 4 (shadow) on peg with the pendant
Lv1 metal
Cauldron BSB

11 X-bow
10 corsairs
2 blocks of harpies
5 shades
chariot
2 hydras
black guard with assassin
3 x 5 dark riders

I had

Lector, lv 4 (light), bsb, lv 2 (light), Brian, engineer, 27 Halberds, 12 Inner circle, 10 archers, 10 reiksguard, 2 cannon, luminark, helblaster.

I got first turn and gunned down a hydra causing the harpies to flee and shot up the chariot. Ol suffered some pretty dreadful dice throughout and achieved pretty much nothing all game. Missed charges, poor power dice rolls and missed ward saves. Dark riders were shot down by archers or blasted through by knights and by the close of turn 2 it was all over bar the shouting (or drinking).

For the more observant you may have noted I only had 1 unit of normal infantry and they became home to the lector, 2 wizards and bsb. Only brian was mounted and the engineer joined the helblaster.

[roland murat]

A Storm Rises

Today was my first effort with the new warriors vs Lizards.

I used a couple of warrior blocks, knights, crushers, chariots and chaff. Ed took a couple of slann, temple guard, sarus, a sallie and various skinks.

Overall, chariots are great at clearing chaff and are resiliant enough to operate independantly, returning later to support the infantry. The knights did next to nothing and were quite disappointing - they just dont dish out enough pain for the points. The crushers were also less than fantastic but I see a greater potential than the knights.

The shock units need support as against determined ranked infantry they will bounce off if the enemy dont break instantly. With this in mind I think a warriors list should be built around khorne warriors and chariots with some shock element.

Time to get thinking.

[roland murat]

A question.

I'm thinking of running a lv 4 of TZ as my general and will be using a level 2 (unmarked) in a support role. I'm down to a choice between death and shadow. Which one?

I'm leaning towards shadow as the array of hexes and buffs should be more useful but I'm also worried about skaven magic ripping an all comers warriors list to pieces (plague and dreaded I'm looking at you).

Comments on a post card to the usual address or post below.

[roland murat]

A Storm Rises

So tonight was my second game with the new warriors. This time I was facing G and his dirty demons. Even so, despite knowing what letters do to a warriors army, I thought I had a chance.

I didn't.

We agreed G had rolled like a demon for his, well demons, particularly in magic. However, on reflection I think I lost for 3 reasons.

1) Magic

Lore of Light + Letters = carnage. With 2 loremasters (light and heavens) G always had the spells for the job required. Add constant channelling plus some big rolls there was nothing I could do to shit him down. The scroll was burnt turn 1 to stop a comet battering me as I advanced and it was only a matter of time after that.

My own magic did next to nothing. I didn't get glean on the level 4 and he had 2 scrolls.

2) Instability

My chariots (normal one on each flank and 2 gorebeasts up the centre) did a good job of getting in. On my let a lone chariot dismantled a 270 ish block of fiends but they didn't break. Mainly because the rules say they can't. My chariots won combat on both flanks and, if the flanks had broken it would have ben a different kettle of fish. Its of note that both LD tests were failed (certainly the one on the left which would have released the crushers against virtually any other army)

3) Lack of support

I didn't get my warriors in to support the gorebeast charge in the centre. This gave G the chance to add magic buffs and charge me. This led to my centre collapsing. Chariots, no matter how tough, cannot stand against ranked infantry. Must do better next time.

So where next?

They say you learn more from deeat than from victory. In this case I learnt very little. Chariots are awesome but need help. My level 2 (shadow) did nothing. I ailed to get the crushers into combat at all - which was a waste.

Im not 100% the crushers are a good investment to be honest. They add pace but do they carry enough of a threat? Should they be replaced by 2 more normal chariots, using the spare point to build up the weaker warrior unit?

Comments welcome.

FYI I was using unkillable lv4 on disc, bsb of khorne, lv 2 shadow, 4x5 vanguarding dogs, 20 khorne warriors w/halberds and command (movement banner), 15 warriors of khorne w/halberds and command (flaming banner), 2 chariots, 2 gorebeast chariots and a unit of 3 crushers with magic weapons.

My aim is to build a solid, competitive all comers list with a minimum of new models.

Until next time

[roland murat]

A Storm Rises

Another monday, another cruching defeat. This time it was Ols warriors handing out the kicking.

So what went wrong? A crucial failed frenzy test pulled my line out of order and a poor performance by the crushers saw the eventual collapse of my right flank. My centre and let did even worse. My unkillable sorceror lord had a fight with an unkillable choppy lord and, predictably, died.

Next up I'll  be making changes. My conservative approach to army building cleary isn't working. What will I produce? Only time will tell. The only certainty is it probably won't work.

[roland murat]

The Setting Dawn

So three games: a big loss; a big win; and a small (ish) loss. A bit of an improvement for the marines with guard allies. I don't think I've got the best out of the allies yet but it could be a good combo with some work.

Let me see your waaagh face

It will soon be that time of the month as a warhammer army takes the field for a battering or 3 but...what shall I take?

Warriors, Empire, greenines, dwarves? Or should I take a stab at throwing some Brets together (if I can find enough knights).

Decisions, decisions. Answers on a post card, or below.

[roland murat]

A Storm Rises

With a grand total of no suggests for the Waargh, I'm opting for warriors.

A quick run out this evening of my planned list (no sneak peaks, just in case) and a good win over Pete's skaven. Some food for thought and a couple o weaknesses are apparent but to correct them means a full re-write and changing the set up of the army.

I think I'll take the risk and see what happens

[cunningmatt]

Oops! Sorry go greenies!!