Leviathan Siege Dreadnought Analysis

The Leviathan Siege Dreadnought. It's new. It looks cool. But is it worthit? Macca here, and today we take a look at the Leviathan, the newest Dreadnought from Forge World. Now, I will preface this article with the fact that 'worthit' is a subjective term. Rule of Cool always trumps in-game performance, and I do think this thing looks awesome, but we are going to look at this walker from a gaming perspective.

An Introduction To 30k For 40k Players

G'day guys, Macca here and today we are taking a look at the key differences between 30k and 40k from a basic list construction and regulation stand point. The Horus Heresy seems to scare people away, as well as making T.O's everywhere question the right of HH to be played in their tournaments or in their Friendly Local Gaming Store (FLGS). I want to sway you over today and assure you that the Horus Heresy is indeed a well balanced game and is easy to grasp, despite the subtle differences to the parent game.

Creating A Theme For A List

Wiseman here for my first post, with Act of Heresy coming in January I’ve been busy trying to work out my list for it. Not always the easiest unfortunately to do, finding something that will be competitive, without going too far above or below the power curve. It also needs to be something that will be fun to play with, for both myself and for the opponent to play against. I wanted to do something different as well, instead of my Imperial Fists, I figured it was time to get my Dark Angels done (it may have helped that I had also heard that the next book would have rules).

Unfortunately at this point, I was left with too many choices. One of the really great parts of the Horus Heresy is the construction of an army list. I do like that Games Workshop try to open options up to players, in fact, truth be told, I don’t oppose the idea of formations to create thematic lists, it's just that the execution of it feels rushed and does leave a bitter taste in the mouth when you look at free upgrades for buying certain models.

But Forge World have definitely taken this idea, and pushed it in a direction without stopping you from having to think. Though there is only currently 4 Army Lists (Crusade Army List, Mechanicum, Solar Auxillia, and Imperial Militia and Warp Cults), the options that they have created inside of these really do allow you to run any variety of army you like, with 18 legions, 3 styles of Mechanicum Armies and  9 different Provenances you can mix and match for the Militia list.

If this wasn’t enough the Legions have Rites of War to tailor it even further in the direction that you would like to go, you love the image of falling from the sky to rain down fiery death, Salamanders Orbital Assault has you covered. A shield wall marching down corridors of a ship, clearing it room by room, that's what your Imperial Fist Stone Gauntlet is for.  On top of all this there is then the alternate force organisation charts, Onslaught opens up more heavy support, Leviathan allows you to see how an army would go bringing down a Titan, or you can be the master of your fortress with the Castellan force organisation chart.

While this may seem like the game set in the 41st millennium, Forge World have taken this variety and tempered it with making you think about what you want to do, Pride of the Legion may sound awesome because it allows you to take Terminators and Veterans as troops, but is that so great when you are left with such a small number of models on the table that will not only gift your opponent extra VP if you lose them all, but prevent you from bulking out your army with cheap expendable troops by cutting off your option for allies?

You really need to sit there and plan out your list before you start, and this is what I’ve been enjoying most about preparing for Act of Heresy, I wanted to do a Dark Angels army, and when I read about the discipline of the First Legion making planet fall by Drop Pod onto Macragge, I knew that was how I wanted mine to approach the table. I’ve always enjoyed playing armies that have minimal deployments and this is something i wanted to carry into my new army. Deep Striking all my units on where they were needed.

There were some units I knew I needed to field in the list, because they’re just too cool not to: Jetbikes; Dreadnoughts; Deathstorm Drop Pods; a Caestus and a unit of Javelins. Though fitting all these in together while still getting troops was not going to be easy.

The first place i looked was the Orbital Assault Rite of War

Effects

*All units in the army eligible to take a Rhino as a Dedicated Transport may instead select a Legion or Dreadclaw Drop Pod as a Dedicated Transport

*Legion Dreadnoughts may take Legion Drop Pods as Dedicated Transports (on a 1:1 ratio) and Contemptor Dreadnoughts may take Dreadclaw Drop Pods as Dedicated Transports

*Units and models in Terminator Armour gain the Deep Strike special rule

*legion Rapier Weapon Batteries may selection Legion Drop Pods as Dedicated Transports

Limitations

*Units that cannot be deployed via Deep strike either by having access to the rule themselves or because they cannot be carried in a transport vehicle that has it (Infantry in Drop Pod for example)may not be chosen as part of the army.

*You may not take a Fortification Allied Detachment

*All units purchased Dedicated Transport must begin the game within them.

For a deep striking army, this is always going to be the most obvious option, Drop Pods for Infantry and Dreadnoughts, nothing allowed to start on the table. The limitations for it aren’t massive limitations if you’re going for that style of theme.

As I looked at the though it didn’t quite give me what I wanted for my list, I couldn’t get enough onto the table in turn one without running the risk of losing it all if I went first (this has happened to me in the past in 40k when I’ve tried running Drop Pod armies before). Deathstorm pods and Dreadnoughts aren’t the most resilient when there is an army's worth of firepower coming their way. Also Deathstorm Drop Pods are an option as Fast attack in this style of list instead of being a Heavy Support Choice.

There were options to minimise this risk, Kharybdis Assault Claws with 20 Marines inside being the biggest of these, a large Terminator Squad teleporting in could also be an option but runs the issue of having the unit land in an area where they won’t mishap, and also being susceptible to blast weaponry, and while Cataphractii are more durable, they can’t run to make themselves more resistant to templates hitting them.

In the end I decided that Drop Pods for tactical squads while a nice option, wasn’t as great as the possibility of being guaranteed not going first. For this reason, I actually opted for the Onslaught Force Organisation chart, instead of the Orbital Assault.

Compulsory

*1 HQ

*1 Troop

*1 Heavy

Optional

1 HQ

3 Troops

4 Elites

2 Fast Attack

3 Heavy Support

2 lords of war

Rolling thunder:

Thanks to the thunder of their approach, the attack of an onslaught army is usually more then easy to predict. As a result, in any mission where the first turn is the result of a dice roll and unless the enemy force is also an Onslaught Force Organisation Chart this army never has first turn unless it can Seize the Initiative.

This would allow me to take just one Tactical Squad, and then instead add in extra Tactical Support Squads if i needed them.The Tactical Squad would be able to arrive in a storm eagle coming in later in the game, and a Tactical Support squad with Plasma Guns coming in via Caestus to go where i need them most.

The lack of a 3rd Fast attack left me with a conundrum for the trio of Jetbikes, Storm Eagle and Javelins that i wanted to run. But adding a Jetbike to my Praetor allows me to give them to his Command Squad as well (the Legion Banner is also a nice addition), and a unit of Knights flying in from the sky is definitely a cool image, each one a hero about to issue Challenges as befits them.

This is exactly what i like about the heresy, is that with a theme in mind for how you wish to build your list, there's many different ways to go about executing it. If you think outside of the box, you can come up with some great combinations for your armies and create a really interesting list. The Rites of War are a great basis for this, but with a bit of thought you can tailor your list to get different effects and gaming styles.

Alpha Legion Rite of War: The Coils of the Hydra

G'day guys, Macca here and today I am bringing you a look at the most complex and difficult to use Legion and Rite of War so far: The Alpha Legion and the Coils of the Hydra. The Alpha Legion is one of the few forces that aren't just a 'pick up and play' army. They require a deft touch and a sly general to get the most out of them... just like the real deal.

The Alpha Legion lacks a lot of the style that other Legions do. There are no specialist melee units, no Palantine Blades, no Gal Vorback and no Suzerin. The units they have are in fact an unorthodox combination of Recon Squads meet Veteran Tacticals on one hand, and Terminators meet Tactical Support Squads. Their units are nothing special, and in a one vs one fight they won't hold out for long, but...

Death Guard

Greetings greetings, yes the resident Dice Wizard Brado here to have a small chat about the Death Guard legion.  Going to dabble into the Special Rules they get as a legion, their Rite of War and also the special units.

Iron Warriors Rite of War: Hammer of Olympia

Macca here, and today I want to talk about the Iron Warriors and their Rite of War, The Hammer of Olympia. I will preface this by saying that this is one of the BEST Rites of War, as the negatives are almost all positives.

So, where do I begin?

Legion Special Rules

• The Bitter End: Your opponent (not you) may force full 6 game turns rather than rolling for random length. Just like the Imperial Fists.
• Wrack and Ruin: Iron Warriors do not suffer morale tests from shooting attacks and may re-roll failed Pinning tests. All grenades and melta bombs gain Wrecker.

These rules are HUGE. The ability to ignore morale from shooting casualties and re-roll pinning makes the Iron Warriors formidable at holding objectives. Nothing short of their annihilation will move them off an objective. At Inferno III, one tactical squad suffered the sustained firepower of half a mechanicum force and endured for 3 turns on top of an objective in cover, scoring me precious Victory Points.

Legion Unique HQ

Warsmith: A free Praetor upgrade that forces him to be the Warlord if Perturabo isn't around and gives an extra VP if slain. In exchange, it gains Stubborn and gives up a Warlord trait for Shatter Defenses (lower a chosen terrain piece's cover save by 1). Can't use a Jump pack, Bike or Jetbike, but can be upgraded with Battlesmith + Servo-arm combo for 35 points.

Rite of War: The Hammer of Olympia - Masters of siege warfare and attrition tactics, the Iron Warriors favour the use of murderous firepower as their principal agency of war, and are renowned for their use of heavy armour and fortifications, spurning vainglorious ideals of personal combat and valour for the brutal determiation to achieve victory by any means necessary. this culminated in tactical formations such as that which became known as the Hammer of Olympia; designed to carry out an unyielding close range attack and shatter the strongest enemy defence line under a weight of armoured warriors and hurricane of fire.

• Hail Of Fire: After firing a Rapid Fire weapon, a unit with the Legiones Astartes (Iron Warriors) rule may declare an assault as long as they haven't used Fury of the Legion, counting as a Disorganized Charge. I love this tactic, you can shoot a unit, hitting them on 3's and wounding (generally) on 4+ whilst if you charged, you would only get 4's to hit. Also, 2 bolter shots is better than 1 bonus charging attack, and if you can wear your enemy down before charging them, you'll do better in the long run (especially against Raptors or Reavers who gain bonuses for outnumbering in assault). Bonus points if you rapid fire plasma guns from a tactical support squad and then charge...
• Sheathed in Steel: All Tanks and Walkers gain Extra Armor for free. Not only does this save points, but since some walkers can't take extra armour, it's even better. The best thing here is that you're getting an upgrade which is normally seen as "a good choice but maybe a waste of points", but since it's free it's excellent.
• Siege Engineers: Can take an additional Heavy Support choice, which is freaking fantastic. Seriously, 4 heavy support options? In a big game, that's a Basilisk/Medusa Squadron, a Deredeo and a pair of Sicarians, just waiting to fire ALL THE DAKKA.
  
  Restrictions:
  
• A Warsmith or Siege Breaker must be used as compulsory HQ choice - A Warsmith is awesome if the enemy is taking fortifications, and the option of a cortex controller opens up Castellax, Thallax, Vorax etc. as an optional Heavy Support option. Yes, you want to have a unit of darkfire cannon armed Castellax manning your Aegis line. Also, a Warsmith shattering enemy defences is always desireable.
  The Siege Breaker is a great option as he allows your Medusa Squadron to take phosphex shells, and he grants Wrecker and Tank Hunter to the ranged attacks of any unit he joins. I suggest attaching him to Siege Tyrants.
• Must take more Heavy Support units than Fast Attack units. As they say on 1D4Chan: "If you think this is a penalty then you shouldn't be playing Iron Warriors. Also, doesn't matter since you get 4 heavy slots. If you wanted lots of flyers remember Caestii, Fire Raptors and Kharybdii are HS too. If you took a normal Praetor, mount him in a jetbike along his Command squad (who use 0 slots), take Shrapnel Bolts and go make up for the lost Fast Attack choice."
• Must take an additional compulsory Troops choice. If you have Erasmus Golg in your force, this could be a Terminator squad, freeing up precious elite slots for more Siege Tyrants, Rapiers and Contemptors.
• Cannot take an allied SPACE MARINE LEGION detachment. Meh. You don't need them, worst case, take some Mechanicum allies, and laugh because you have cortex controllers, a Praevian and your army is now more machine than man, twisted and evil.

 

Macca's evil ideas:

So, you know you want to take an army big on firepower. Naturally, since you lack in melee, (except against buildings, seriously, melta bombs with wrecker is PLUS THREE to damage against fortifications!) you want to exploit your superior firepower to Tau like levels. I suggest using a unit of Siege Tyrants with a Siege Breaker attached, for maximum effectiveness, and two units of rapiers; one with graviton cannons and one with heavy bolters running shrapnel bolts. the idea here is simple, Grav Rapiers will screw any vehicle, and the leftover difficult/dangerous patch will bog down heavy infantry (especially Cataphractii type units who cannot run), the Tyrants will mince anything weaker than a Knight Titan, and the Heavy Bolters will fire 24 twin-linked S5 AP5 shots per turn with PINNING. You're a fool if you don't use that in an era with little pinning defence. (not good against Mechanicum or Death Guard, but, meh, chose your battles my young grasshopper, that's why you have Tyrants and 4 heavy choices...)

Which brings me to my next point... Heavy Support. I have suggestions, and they are:

-Predator Squadron with plasma exterminators, for killing heavy infantry,
-Sicarian Battle Tanks, for modest anti-air and excellent anti-skimmer and light armour destruction,
-Sicarian Venators, for when you really REALLY want to kill enemy armour (do note, don't use lascannon sponsons, since the main gun is ordnance, you're better off taking heavy bolters, which instead of two snap-fire lascannons will give you 3 separate heavy bolters if enemy infantry are too close. Bonus points for selecting Shrapnel Bolts for pinning),
-Deredeo, because there is NOTHING better for Anti-Air. (In a pinch, take one with an Atomantic Pavise and stick him with your Siege Tyrants giving them a 2+3++ invul save. Sure, you lose the missiles, which do wreck Rhinos and Fliers, but 2+3++ Tyrants is just pure evil);
-Legion Basilisk/Medusa Squadron. You only get one, so choose wisely.

I hear the voices in my head, "kill them all.."
Uh, no, not those voices, these ones: "Why no spartans for rushing Golg and Terminators up the table?"

Well, because our terminators aren't as strong as enemy terminators in many cases, and due to all the points you have spent on Heavy slots already, you won't be sending much up the battlefield. Instead, I suggest focusing on using your excellent firepower to get the job done. As for actually sending units up the table, Tactical Squads in Rhinos (with their free extra armour) are a great choice, and if the Primarch Perturabo is in the army, you can deep strike terminators anyway, and if your game is big enough, you can take the Tormentor, and you can add all that firepower plus the transport ability to the force.

Fortifications:

If you are taking Kyr Vhalen, you will WANT to take fortifications (he is also a Warsmith, so automatically fulfills two criteria for the Rite of War, as a Master of the Legion and a Warsmith). Kyr will give +1 ballistic skill to a unit of your choice and/or give you +1 to your cover save for one fortification. I suggest a Bastion, Bunker, Aegis Defence Line, or if you're a true bastard, a Plasma Obliterator or Void Shield array.

Really, fortifications are quite optional, but an Aegis line with +1 cover save in front of all your armour is going to make people weep, especially when they realise that they need to kill whole units off for them to no longer threaten objectives. Gotta love that 'no morale against shooting'.

In summary, this is how to use the Rite of War: BUCKETS OF BULLETS!!!

If you want more information on the Iron Warriors in general, check out the episode I guest appeared on of the Eye of Horus Podcast here.

~Macca

Getting To Know Your Graviton

Macca here, and today we are talking tactics. I recently took a battery of 3 graviton rapiers to the 2500 point Inferno III tournament. I was rolling a solid 6/10 list, as follows:

HQ
Siegebreaker
Praevian Narik Dreygur with 5 Vorax

Elite
10 Siege Tyrants
2 Contemptors with chainfist and graviton guns
3 Graviton Rapier Batteries

Troop
2x 10 man tactical squads

Heavy
Deredeo
5 Iron Havocs with Autocannons and an Augery Scanner

The list is on foot. It's slow. It has no real close combat muscle. It has no meltaguns, no plasmaguns, not a single fast attack unit. Yet for game after game the list held its own. Why?

Gravitons. (ok, and siege tyrants, but the tyrants rarely got their points back, the rapiers however killed 2 Sicarians, a Cerberus with Castraman Orth and a Spartan in one game alone.)

The trick with Graviton Rapiers is to place them in a position where they can dominate the enemy in the first 2-3 turns. The units you want to take out are their armoured assets, and damn are these good at that. I also had Gravitons on the dreadnoughts, but they are more situational, so I will be focussing on the rapiers.

The Graviton Rapier mounts a Graviton Cannon, a 36" ranged, S- AP4 Large Blast. It is haywire, always wounds a target if they fail their toughness test. Sound a bit boring? Well, it leaves an area of difficult AND dangerous terrain in play in the turn after it has fired, and this is the gold dust.

When fired at a group of tanks, it tends to scatter. Poor Nate had a carpark with 2 Sicarians and a Predator in our game in a single confined area, and the rapiers, with scatter, managed to kill both Sicarians and to punish the Predator. This is the average performance of these fearsome weapons. The best part is, if a vehicle does survive, it has to make a dangerous terrain move next turn, potentially damaging it, and this is fantastic for killing transports.

I can hear you all now, "what about flare shielded Spartans rolling a squad of Red Butchers and Angron?"

What about them? Flare shields don't affect haywire, the Spartan still has to go through the terrain patch left after firing and generally they never survive more than 2 salvos from the Gravitons, if they are lucky. What do you do however once the squad disembarks? You have no armour left to kill, and AP4 toughness test graviton won't kill terminators?

Why, little Billy, you shoot them anyway. Make their slow Cataphractii 'cannot run' asses wade through difficult terrain for 3 turns to get to you. Angron leaves the unit and runs at you solo? Even better, you can focus on just him now.

That's how you use graviton. You use it strategically.

Got trouble with the Mechanicum? Well, if they are rolling constructs, the haywire attacks cause a subsequent wound on any cortex units on a roll of a 6. It's not much, but it's a potential extra wound. You fighting Imperial Militia? Who cares, Large blast, AP 4, going to wound on 4's and leave them in dangerous terrain, what's not to love?

Against Superheavies like knights, these guns also rock. The poor player I faced in round 1 copped 3 of these and had to divert his shield to that arc. As soon as he did that, he had now opened up the other 3 arcs on the knight to my remaining firepower (which was quite considerable). When Nate took a run at these guys with his Castraman Orth pimped Cerberus Super Heavy, he found that even the Neutron laser and Lascannons combined were having trouble killing these Toughness 7 platforms in cover. Two turns was all it took for these guns to turn the pride of his army into a massive explosion. 

In summary: WHY AREN'T YOU USING GRAVITON RAPIERS? YOU ARE HERE TO TALK HOBBY AND WIN GAMES, AND RIGHT NOW YOU ARE DONE TALKING HOBBY!

Seriously, if you're Iron Hands, you're immune to bolter fire. If you're Alpha Legion... who the hell knows what you can do, something shadey that's for sure. If you're rocking these things, you can do a LOT of damage. Even if you don't take them with Grav, take them with Heavy Bolters for insane Imperial Fists accuracy, or Iron Warriors with a crapton of pinning. (Seriously tho, take grav)

~Macca

Knowing Your Rites of War.

I wrote a couple of articles a while back, on the actual units you may consider taking in a Horus Heresy list. The first two-parts can be found here:

Part 1.

Part 2.

Ok, so onto the crux of it, Rites of War. As most HH gamers should know, you should never let the Force Org Chart get in the way of a good, fun list. Rites of War are there to spice it up a little, they allow you to change how your army implements the FoC, as well as giving (and taking) rules from you. There are 4 main Rites of War listed in the HH book. These are unlocked by taking a Master of the Legion, typically a Praetor, Primarch (obviously) or some special characters.

Basic Rites of War:

Orbital Assault: This RoW basically lets you take drop pods and dreadclaws as dedicated transports instead of rhinos. The down side is, any unit that can't deep strike, or ride in a vehicle that can, can't be taken. Also, no fortification for you.

Armoured Spearhead: Rhinos become Land Raiders (for the right points..), if you tank-shock an enemy, their Ld is at -1. All infantry must be embarked on a vehicle at the start of the game. If you buy 12 marines and only brought them a rhino, I have bad news for you. If all tanks in your force are destroyed, your opponent gets a free VP. Oh, and no fortifications. Again.

Angels Wrath: All jump pack models gain hit and run. Rhinos now become Storm Eagles. Only jump units, fliers, skimmers and vehicles embarked on fliers may be taken. Oh, and a trivial side matter... no tanks at all, and no fortifications. Again.

Pride of the Legion: Veteran Marines and Terminators are troops choices, not only that, they MUST be selected to fill your compulsory troops slots. Command squads can take Land Raiders as dedicated Transports. Of course, the ever wonderful down side is if you lose all your veterans and terminators, your opponent gets an extra VP. You also can't take allies. Period.

As said in the past, RoW give you buffs, but they also take away options that can be quite hard. That's the penalty for fluff, and it's a fair one too.

Legion Specific Rites of War:

Here is where it gets interesting. I am not going to go into any great detail here, as they are varied, some haven't come out yet (we do only have 13 legions of 18 at the moment after all). The main thing to keep in mind when it comes to Rites of War for your specific Legion is that it's forcing you to play in a specific way.

The first example I will use in detail is my very own and beloved Raven Guard.

The long short of the Raven Guard Rite of War "Decapitation Strike" is that:

-all the models with the Legiones Astartes (Raven Guard) special rule get preferred enemies 'independent characters'.
-If this force is my Primary detachment, I may reroll for deployment and to see who goes first.
-Drop pods become dedicated transports for all the main foot-slogging units, i.e Tac Squads, Terminators etc. Deathstorm Drop Pods may also be taken as Elites, not just heavy. This probably has something to do with the limitations..

-You may only take a single Heavy Support choice.
-You may only take a single Consul as part of your HQ choice.
No Fortifications or allied Space Marines allowed. (but Mechanicum, Knights, Imperial Army etc. are A-OK)

So, what does this mean game play wise?

As you are limited in the HQ department, thanks to your single consul, and since you need a Master of the Legion to even run the Rite of War, my choice goes to Alvarex Maun. With the ability to have no-scatter deep strike and re-rolls for reserves in a force specialising in Drop Pod assaults, he comes in very handy.

Force wise, you are aiming to go for a lot of drop-pods, fliers etc. These can negate the loss of your heavy support elements by bolstering your firepower with their aerial prowess (Storm Eagles with melta/las are awesome for anti-armour whilst you machine spirit fire your missiles into infantry blobs). The key with Decap. Strike is to use it to take on characters and gain the bonuses of killing the enemy HQ. Against Mechanicum and Solar Auxillia armies, the loss of their general can be devastating, and I highly advise using a squad or two of dedicated character killers to 'off' them. A suggestion in this area might be to use Mor Dethyan snipers, and declare the marked target, for a turn of 2's to hit, 5's to REND preferred enemy sniping....

Characters and Rites.

Certain characters can have a massive influence on your Rites of War. Some restrict them, others can practically make the Rites of War redundant or allow you to essentially take two. Erasmus Golg of the Iron Warriors, for example, opens up Terminators as troops, making Pride of the Legion slightly pointless. Perturabo gives all of your Terminators deep strike without needing to take Orbital Assault as a Rite of War. It's good to know where these rules can stack, and combine. Michael from over at the Eye of Horus podcast uses the Stone Gauntlet Rite of War, which allows him to field toughness 5 breachers. Suddenly they are worthit, as opposed to being a 100 point more expensive and less effective tactical squad. By combining un-named characters into these units, he ends up with a list stronger than the sum of its parts. Keep this in the back of your mind.

Alternate Force Organisation Charts and Rites

So, you like the idea of running a Pride of the Legion force combined with an Alternate Force Org. Chart? Guess what? You cannot. Pride of the Legion only applies to lists built using the standard Force Org. Chart. I'm not going to tell you where it is written, but my challenge to you is to find it out for yourself, that way when somebody rocks up with a POTL list with 4 heavy choices you can shoot em' down.

Final Thoughts

Having a Rite of War is a great thing, it allows you a lot of options and gives you the ability to run really fluffy (and even competitive fluffy) lists, without having to proxy or make awful allied detachments. I recommend you play around with them and see what you can come up with, because there are some fantastic options.

All the photos in this post are from Inferno III, the full album is located on our Facebook page here.

~Macca

Headscratcher part 2: Iron Warriors

A couple of weeks back, I asked where are my Iron Warriors heading (located here), and since I have my next big FW order coming up I thought I would let you all know.

Needless to say, I took most of the advice on board, and I was almost sold on a Predator squadron... then I saw the sexual fantasy that is the Laser Destroyer Vindicator. So, I'm ordering not one, but TWO of them, for their combined low AP value and Anti-armour role, making them effective vehicle and Terminator killers.

I'm also buffing the army by adding a third tactical squad, and they will be bringing a Rhino along. Whether it gets games or not, I dunno, but it will at least be an option for me. Further to that, I have a project planned, a project which will add a nasty heavily armoured commander who will specialise in feasting on his enemies tears when they see his magnificence. He will also get a command squad of his very own at some point down the track too. I'm actually undecided on his loadout, but I'm thinking a Thunder Hammer and combi-melta, Cataphractii armour, servo arms (because rule of cool).

I will also be grabbing some Iron Warrior Rhino doors, but mostly because I want to make my own versions of the side doors and add them to other vehicles... again, the rule of cool rears its head.

Question is, where do I go from there? Heavy Support will be amply filled, however I really could use something in my Fast Attack (currently filled by... nothing at all, nothing at all) and some more of my Elite slots (only 2 slots are filled at the moment, by a Contemptor dreadnought talon and a Tyrant Terminator squad). Feedback welcome!

Narrative Armies: Macca On Tactica

G'day folks, I'm here today with a little bit of a wordy article. I thought it would be nice to take the opportunity to discuss your phone and internet plan and how we can best optomi-

Wait. That's not this page.

Ok, so if you're here, the title interested you in some way, my opening line made you roll your eyes, yet somehow you have stayed for this long. The point today is about army structure, and how people select their forces. Several times now, we here at the blog have given advice about how to make a strong list, or how to best utilize a specific unit. Today is all about how to reconcile your chosen force with things like units, and specialisations such as Rites of War.



Selecting your force:

When you initially selected your force, something about that force appealed to you. Maybe you picked World Eaters because you have been brainwashed into how cool they are by ADB, and that's cool, that's a valid reason, I would never speak ill of the man, he writes great Heresy fluff. Maybe you're a blue-vein eating dairy powered cheese monger who wants to win every game, make kids cry and grown nerds rage, so you picked Solar Auxillia (or potentially you're THAT GUY and you keep bringing Eldar along and suggesting people play them in 30k). Maybe you just like the colour scheme of a certain army. In any case, these are all valid reasons, in my humble opinion.

At the end of the day, you have to pick something you like, and if you're not enjoying it, maybe try something different. I know quite a few guys who enjoy 30k, love the hobby, but after getting into a force, they drop it after a few tanks and infantry units and move on to something that better suits them. If you ask me, that's a very rational approach, if you can afford it.

Problem is, what comes next?



What units? What Rite of War?

This is often the first slipping point. In several articles, we have discussed the tactics that might lead you to select something, but for me, I have a few little things going on in my head, they are subjective thoughts, and by no means are they universal to any players;

-Will it be fun to use?

This is the first thing I think of, will not just me, but my opponent enjoy playing the game? I ended up at a tournament facing off against my great mate Deano a couple of years back, my Raven Guard 40k army full of storm eagles, whirlwinds and template weapons went up against an ork foot-horde with only a pair of Dakka Jets and some Kans to stop me. Long short of it was, it wasn't fun. That's something I have actively tried to avoid ever since, now I never load up on a prevalence of one weapon or unit type. (Fun fact, mid-game the power cut out in the facility. The Raven Guard vanished from the table, but the orks glowed in the dark...)

-Will the units I take represent my army the way I think it should?

When I brought Raven Guard, I didn't buy tanks. I didn't buy bulk terminators. I brought lots of tactical marines, jump infantry/jetbikes, I brought a pair of Storm Eagles first order. I brought these units because to me, that was Raven Guard. That said, to another player, they might want to take bulk terminators, reasoning that there was a cadre within the Raven Guard dedicated to doing terminator stuff. You know what? We're both right. Pick the army that suits your ideas for the force.

-Will it be competitive?

If you take a Rite of War, and select units designed for use with that Rite of War, AND your army gives buffs to those units, then you're probably going to be competitive. Not always, but in most cases. In any case, this is one of the lesser worries of mine when selecting a force, I just pick a unit, like a devestator squad for my Iron Warriors, and I know that since they don't take moral tests from shooting, they are going to be a reliable fire support option in ranged combat. I don't need to look any further into it then that, the only exception being when I want to plug the missing gaps in my army, such as a lack of AP2, or a lack of anti-tank, but even then, I apply rules 1 and 2 above to my selection.

-What is the aim of my gaming with this force?

If you're a hardcore tournament player, list tailoring will be a big factor for you. I haven't really seen a lot of it in 30k, but some people are running very nasty lists that just suck the fun out of the room like a black hole. This said, if you're a beer and pretzels gamer, hanging out in the garage and playing on a home made mdf board, you probably just want to throw together a list that just meets the points, and allow the shenanigans to happen. Either way, this is a consideration when you pick the force. If you want to go to a tournament and take a fun and fluffy army, that's fine, but I will throw a little astrix up: *If you are going to a non-comp tournament where people are knowingly running massed cheese, then you can't expect a win, nor can you expect some fun games. It's not to say you can't have fun, but rather that people take losing badly, and it is something to be aware of.

Some last thought

At the end of the day, you have to do what seems right to you. If you are a competitive player, play competitive, if you are a fluffy player, play fluffy. Sometimes you can do both. Sometimes you're Eldar. Sometimes you're Matt Ward and you can just write the fluff that suits you and GW will print your fan-dex. End of the day, this is a hobby, it's our escape from the boring day-to-day lives we lead, so it deserves to be fun, no matter how you get that fun.



This was a wordy article, I know, I'm sorry about that, but overall, I think I condensed it down to bearable levels. If you have any thoughts, or questions, or even if you'd like to point out everything wrong about me and how I ruin everything I touch, then please feel free to comment below. I love feedback and interaction, it's the only human attention I get.

~Macca

Headscratcher: Where Are My Iron Warriors Headed?

 G'day folks, Macca here with some pondering and some questions for those who may be reading. For some time now, I have been working on my Iron Warriors project, and it is coming along pretty nicely. However, I have hit some snags.

The Background:

The force is based off the descriptions in Book III: Extermination about the battle of Paramar. Basically, a small Iron Warrior force, a segment of the 77th Grand Battalion, is ambushed by the Alpha Legion who are trying to conquer Paramar. The 77th having been isolated from their Legion for some time, are furious at the betrayal and commit their forces en masse to bolster Paramar against the Hydra.

As they were only a few ships and a small compliment of warriors, the Iron Warriors did what they do best: dug in and fortified the hell out of the planet, even as the vastly superior Alpha Legion moved in. During the land phase, the Iron Warriors emerged from concealed positions and engaged the Alpha Legion armour at point blank with dreadnought rush and with all the armour they had available. In the end however, the Alpha Legion won the battle, but Kyr Vhalen survived, dragged spitting blood and curses from his shattered command bunker.

Cool.

HQ:

At the time of writing this, I have Kyr Vhalen, a Siege Breaker (or Praetor), a Master of Signals (magnetised to also act as a Primus Medicae) and as of last night a Librarian. These are of course backed by a formidable command squad.

The commanders are probably the best organised segment of the army, because I find building and kitbashing HQ's to be immensely rewarding.

Elites:

With the elites, I am very well endowed, with a full squad of Tyrant Terminators, a small squad of Destroyers, and a pair of Contemptors. There is room however to expand here, as I doubt I will use the Destroyers much, and I would rather focus on my Dreadnoughts and Terminators here.

I would like to either:

-get more Dreadnoughts
-get some Rapiers
-both?

Troops:

The troops area is the most bland area. At the moment, it's just a couple of tactical squads. I will eventually add a third tac squad, and maybe a tac support squad or breachers, but for now, I am using them to provide numbers of line troops.

Fast Attack:

What is this slot?

Heavy Support:

I am pretty full on with ideas here, and it's where the real snags occur. I have two Iron Havok squads at the moment, one with shrapnel heavy bolters, and one with autocannons. The shrapnel heavy bolters suck, but the autocannons are amazing. The whole thought process here is that when Kyr deployed his troops, every heavy weapon he had was put on the line. I like the idea of these units, not their function in-game.

The problem is however, I now have TWO slots still to fill. What do I take? I don't want Artillery. It's Iron Warrior-y, but it isn't Paramar, they weren't pulling a Krieg here, they were sending all the grunts into the trenches and rushing the Alpha Legion with massed armour. I'm thinking:

-Vindicator, maybe two?
-Deredeo Dreadnought, maybe two, one with plasma, the other with regular dakka.
-Predator squad with plasma? I can't remember if I can take that or not in 30k...

My thinking here being that the army desperately needs AP2 options, as every ranged option so far is ap3 or worse. If the other guy has artificer armour, or terminators, I'm in the ouch zone.

Lord of War:

So far, I have just one: The Tormentor. It's cool and all, but not present in the battle, as Perturabo was busy team killing on Istvaan V. I'm thinking a Typhon would be the best fit here theme wise and game wise.

So, can anybody give me ideas? My poor Iron Warriors are in desperate need or more dakka!

2000pts Sons of Horus - Playtest and Tweak

G'day all, Keepy here with a quick revisit from the previously posted army list for the Sons of 
Horus. The original army list can be found here.

So I had my good mates Buzz and the Dice Wizard himself Braden (from the Dicewizard blog) come over for a friendly playtest game on the Istvaan III board (which is still a WIP.... why do I have so many half finished projects?!) and play test my SoH list as well as give Buzz's Dark Angels list a run.

Buzz's list went something like this:

+++  2000pts Dark Angels (using Stubborn) +++

HQ

145pts Legion Chaplin w/ Artificer Armour, Jump Pack, Power Fist, Refractor Field

145pts Primus Medicae w/  Jetbike, Meltabombs, Refractor Field

Elites

65pts Apothecarian Detachment (x1) w/ Artificer Armour, Power Weapon

Troops

380pts Legion Assault Squad (x9) w/ Combat Shields, Meltabombs, 2x Power Weapons, Sgt w/ Artificer Armour, Pair of Lightning Claws

240pts Legion Tactical Squad (x14) w/ Close Combat Weapons, Sgt w/ Artificer Armour

Fast Attack

170pts Legion Javelin Attack Speeder Squadron (x2) w/ 2x Cyclone Missile Launchers, 2x Mulitmeltas

300pts Legion Jetbike Sky Hunter Squadron (x6) w/ 2x Plasma Cannons, Meltabombs

270pts Legion Storm Eagle Assault Gunship w/ 2x Twin Linked Lascannons, Twin Linked Heavy Bolter

Heavy Support

135pts Legion Sicaran Battle Tank 

150pts Legion Vindicator w/ Combi-Bolter, Machine Spirit

+++ End List +++

Modus Operandi: The Chaplin would attach to the Assault Squad to make them Fearless and also give them hatred. They would look for targets of opportunity or go tank hunting with Meltabombs. The Medicae Primus would attach to the Jetbike Skyhunters, giving an already tough unit FNP. The Tactical Squad loads up into the Storm Eagle and provides aerial fire support as well as a scoring unit which can be used for last minute objective grabbing. The Land Speeder would outflank, and put some hurt on the rear armour of tanks or use Frag Missiles to hit squads. The Vindicator could move 12" and still shoot it's Demolisher Cannon thanks to Machine Spirit, giving it a heap of range, and the Sicaran was there for all round dakka / AA duty.


As you can see the Dark Angels are very mobile, and can put out a fair bit of dakka whilst still being choppy. It wasn't until I put out all my models that I realised that the SoH list was missing something, I couldn't put my finger on it but it just looked light on the ground. I won't go into a full battle report, but the key points / events were:

• The Sicaran and Venator are nearly permanent choices in a conventional 30k list. The Venator popped most of the armour and the Sicaran drew a heap of fire, and also denied the Javelins jink saves which brought about their end. In saying that, Buzz rolled badly whilst trying to outflank them, and they turned up auto on Turn 4. Then he rolled up the outflank side with no one on it. Le sigh.

• The Seeker's Dreadclaw scattered onto terrain and went into ongoing reserves. They showed up on Turn 2 gunning for the Jetbikes who were Deathmarked, but they were locked in combat with one of my Tactical squads... so they intercepted the DA Assault Squad instead, killing all bar three and the Chaplin. There were no other targets available so they held an objective, the Dreadclaw went flying off to either flame units or act as an area denial piece for the Storm Eagle.

• The DA charged their Jetbikes into the first Tactical Squad which was holding an objective, the Medicae Primus and the Tac Sgt ended up in a dual for four turns and could not kill each other (many lols and angry shouting at dice). This left both squads tar pitted until it turned into a massive battle royale with both the remains of the DA Assault squad and the full strength second SoH Tactical squad charged in! It was pretty funny to watch and play with this mass of 50 or so bodies fighting around an objective.

• The SoH Landraider really didn't achieve anything and the cheap version I purchased didn't have the assault rule. So instead of saving me points for other things, my counter charge unit could not counter charge, making the command squad kind of redundant as they could not reach any combats without being shot to pieces first. 

So that was a general summary of what happened. SoH managed to get a win, but it was neck and neck until the bottom of Turn 5. It would have been a different game if those speeders came on. GG Buzz! Mucho fun. From the game I learnt a few things about my list and some glaring faults with it. After the game Buzz, Braden and myself sat around for a while and discussed a few options with how to improve the list. Some observations and changes were:

• The Command Squad in a Proteus Landraider is a very ineffective way to run them. Not only could they not assault out of the vehicle, but the 7th Ed FAQ also means that the Legion Standard does not effect models outside the vehicle like it used to. They need to be dismounted for others to benefit from the 6" Fearless bubble. The fix? It worked out for the command squad to ditch the Landraider and take Jetbikes was 25pts cheaper. Easy fix! This left a big points gap for the Praetor who had to upgrade to have a Jetbike, and while I was at it added a Powerfist. I will discuss where the points came from shortly, but the reason for the Powerfist is so that with a Paragon Blade, you have two specialist weapons and gain an extra attack, as well as a good anti-tank option for mulit-hits, unlike the single shot Meltabomb.

•  Legion Tactical Squads at full strength of twenty are rather unwieldy. They can put down a heap of fire and have excellent overwatch capability but it is not very often you have all twenty in rapid fire range or LoS of your target for maximum effectiveness for Fury of the Legion. The good thing was that if you took a few casualties, it was hardly noticed from damage output. Rather than keep the big squads, each one got cut by five men freeing up 100pts to use elsewhere (see Command Squad above).

• Legion Seekers did well but once the spent their combi-weapons they ran out of punch. It was nice to have BS 5 and preferred enemy on a chosen unit, but as soon as that target is unavailable or destroyed then they really don't have a job that they can do effectively. These are going to be replaced with a 9 man Legion Tactical Support Squad with Plasmaguns, mounted in a separate fast attack choice Dreadclaw. No BS 5 or Deathmark rule, but you can fire them all day until your hands melt off (which will no doubt happen on numerous occasions).

• Apothecaries were solid. They saved about 50% of the casualties that would have been thanks to some good rolls and really kept the Tactical Squads in the fight. With the Command Squad going to Jetbikes, it will cost too much for a Medicae Primus to attach to them, to do so would cost me a unit or vehicle which I am not prepared to drop at this stage. I also dropped two of the Augury Scanners from the the two Apothecaries that will be supporting the Tactical Squads. They are nice to have but they really didn't get used. Most things that turn up on Deepstrike / Outflank are vehicles, and bolters can only do so much. I kept the one for the Seekers / Support Squad as they may actually do some damage to tanks / terminators / flyers, unlike bolt guns. Apothecaries were also upgraded to have Artificer Armour to give a bit more protection.

• Vehicles were solid. The only upgrades that would be good would be Dozer Blades and Armoured Ceremite, but with only 5pts left to spare the Sicaran got a Dozer Blade to enhance maneuvering.

 Implementing these into the new list, it looks a little something like this:

+++ 2000pts Sons of Horus +++

HQ

215pts Praetor w/ Iron Halo, Paragon Blade, Powerfist, Jetbike

395ptspts Legion Command Squad (x5) w/ Jetbikes, 5x Combat Shields, 4x Power Weapons, Power Fist


Elites

170pts Apothecarion Detachment w/ 3x Apothecaries, 3x Artificer Armour, 1x Augury Scanner

Troops

240pts Legion Tactical Squad (x15) w/ Legion Vexilla, Sgt w/ Artificer Armour, Powerfist, Meltabombs

240pts Legion Tactical Squad (x15) w/ Legion Vexilla, Sgt w/ Artificer Armour, Powerfist, Meltabombs

310pts Legion Tactical Support Squad (x9) w/ Plasmaguns, Sgt w/ Artificer Armour, Meltabombs

Fast Attack

100pts Dreadclaw Drop Pod

Heavy

190pts Sicaran Venator Tank Destroyer

140pts Legion Sicaran Battle Tank, Dozer Blade

+++ End List +++

I am pretty happy with the tweaks, the Jetbikes for the Command Squad will make them much more
self supporting, speedy and most of all useful rather than a points sink that doesnt get used. Tac squads are a bit easier to use but still have a pile of wounds, and the bulk plasma in the Tactical Support squad should be enough to hurt nearly anyone. 

So... What do you think about the changes? I would love some feedback guys.

Till next time

Keepy

2000pts Sons of Horus Army List

Gday all,

Keepy here after a bit of a hiatus from all things blog. I have a few things in the works regarding the Istvaan III build and a few other projects, so today's post is a good break from those and exercise my poor under nourished brain a bit.

I have found my love for the Sons of Horus again, and have shelved the Mechanicum for a while. Just a bit tired of playing them I think, and need a change to keep my interest up.

This is a bit of a play test to see what units I paint first, but also to see what I can get for 2k worth of points. This list is supposed to be a bit fluffy, but with a kick to it:

2000pts Sons of Horus

HQ

150pts Praetor w/ Iron Halo, Paragon Blade
195pts Legion Command Squad (x5) w/ Combat Shields, 4x Power Weapons, Power Fist
200pts Proteus Land Raider (Dedicated Transport)

Elites

150pts Apothecarion Detachment w/ 3x Apothecaries, Augury Scanners

Troops

290pts Legion Tactical Squad (x20) w/ Legion Vexilla, Sgt w/ Artificer Armour, Powerfist, Meltabombs
290pts Legion Tactical Squad (x20) w/ Legion Vexilla, Sgt w/ Artificer Armour, Powerfist, Meltabombs

Fast Attack

400pts Legion Seeker Squad (x8) w/ Combi Bolters, Dreadclaw

Heavy

190pts Sicaran Venator Tank Destroyer
135pts Legion Sicaran Battle Tank


Modus Operandi: Apothecaries split up with the two Tactical Squads and the Legion Command squad, they are equipped with augury scanners so they also give these units the Interceptor special rule if my opponent plonks down a pod or somthing in range... And of course gives them all FNP. The Command Squad mounts up in the Land Raider and will sit inbetween the two Tactical Squads acting as a counter-charge unit as well as giving off a 6" Fearless bubble from the Hull of the Land Raider thanks to the Legion Standard. Tacticals also have Legion Vexillas as a backup in case out of Fearless range. This combined blob is the core of the army and provides a massive footprint on the table to dominate / hold ground with.

The Sicaran and Venator will both work the flanks picking targets / transports to pop for the Seekers, as well as acting as a defensive / cut off unit for fast movers. Seekers drop down in the Dreadclaw T1 and smoke a high value / threat target (for example, a Jetbike squad) with a mixture of Combi Plas/Melta. If they survive longer than two turns then they can load up in the Dreadclaw again and hit something else a bit more squishy with their special ammo.

There are plenty of hobby things I would love to do with this list, the main one being a Land Raider with a massive Sons of Horus banner on it, like this image from Visions of Heresy:

I am pretty sure this has already been done, but it is something I can see tearing around the battlefield insipiring troops to crack on and fight through!

The Sons of Horus command squad is the other project, with instead of being modeled with big combat shields, placing the small  buckler style shields you see in the generic legion command and on 40k terminator Sergeants. And of course, plenty of SoH iconography and parts.

While writing up this list I thought of several alternatives you could do that would also be great hobby projects. If you ditch the Land Raider and give the Preator and Command Squad all Jetbikes, it comes in 10pts more expensive. You lose FNP due to no Jetbiking Apothecary, but you get speed, toughness and alot of heavy weapons fire with some chop to it as well, not to mention a Jink save. Seekers can also be replaced with a 9 man Tactical Support squad with Meltas / Plasmas for the same cost as the 8 man Seeker sqaud, you gain consitant plasma / melta fire but at the cost of BS4 and no Death Mark special rule for Prefered Enemy against a target. If you wanted to free up some points you could also cut 5 legionares from each Tactical Squad, making them a bit less unweildy and freeing up 100pts to play with.

Anyway, what are your thoughts? Good? As bad as a Macca rant? I would love to get your thoughts on this and discuss!

Keepy

Macca's Mechanicum Army3

G'day folks, Macca here with an update a long time in the making. Today I have for you the first playable Mechanicum forces from Calleb Decima's force. The detachment uses a combination of the rules from book I and III, and it is very legal. The only downside is Decima himself hasn't arrived yet, so *unamed techpriest number 4400036827* is taking his place for now.

The colour scheme is supposed to represent burnt and battle damaged automata, to contrast with the rich reds and bronzes of most Mechanicum armies. Unfortunately with this exposure on the camera, it's quite hard to see the battle damage as pale silver on pale white does tend to blend.

On this Thanatar, the damage is far easier to see. I am still undecided on if I will weather the decals, although I probably should for realisim...

Every Thallax has the same hand-painted tarnished metal on their bodies, as well as heat-tempered engines and thrusters, with varying shades of blues and purples suggesting the heat they put out.

Believe it or not, this plasma mortar is mostly painted with washes, that's because I couldn't decide how I would get a glow effect. The base was laid down with an airbrush of Guilliman blue, then drybrushed a couple of times, and washed again. I think it's a neat effect.

I just love the secret weapon bases, I have gone on and embellished them in order to help break them up, in this case I added shell casings, barbed wire etc. The tutorial on it can be found here.

Of course, if you think the army lacks colour or power, as a mate Eddie said, "what about the knights?" Well, I have 3 of them so far, so that adds a teeny tiny tad more muscle to the army... because y'know, Thanatar and the Krios are sooooo terrible...

Lastly the objective markers are straight out of the packet from Secret Weapon Miniatures. They fit the feel of the army I think.

That's all for now, I hope you enjoyed seeing this army. If you have any suggestions on what you think I can improve, let me know in the comments below!

~Macca