Considerations when choosing a force in HH games: Part 2

Welcome back. In Part 1, we covered the Legion choice, Troops, Heavy and Elite slots on the Force Org Chart. This time out, we will look at Fast Attack, the HQ slot, and some thoughts on Mechanicum Taghmata.

Note: This is an 'in my opinion' article, it's not saying you MUST or SHOULD, it only is saying that you can use what's written here as a reference. In the end, always do what YOU want with your army, because it's your expression.

Note: This is a BIG, WORDY article. Prepare to read and read and read.

Warning: Strong Language throughout. I'd apologise, but in a game of beer and pretzels, if you're old enough to build a Forge World army, read fluff about Slanneshi followers doing what comes naturally to them, then the word fuck shouldn't blip on your radar.

Politically correct warnings. Love it.

Fast Attack:

"I got a fever. The only cure, is more cowbell."

When it comes to selecting Fast Attack, you're as spoilt for choice as you are with your Heavy Support slots. The funny thing about Fast Attack in 30k, is that they can actually hit harder then most units in every other slot! Don't believe me? I have a mate who has a White Scars list with Jetbikes which will cause cancer upon seeing it.

Jetbikes: 2+ armour saves. Toughness 5. Armed with heavy bolters as standard, but able to take 1 in three bikes upgraded with either a Volkite Culverin, Plasma Cannon or Multi-Melta. Fucking badass. A full squad of 9 of these bad-boys with 3 volkites will put out 18 heavy bolter shots, and 12 volkite shots. Just season with a Primus Medicae HQ option on a Jetbike for an extra heavy bolter and Feel No Pain, cook on high in the oven for approx. 30 minutes, garnish with the tears of your enemies. (note: don't actually cook your minis. I accept no liability if you are dumb enough to season and garnish you minis..)

Ironic as this is a 'White Scars' thing, and the dude asking Conan the question looks like a White Scar. Just sayin'.

Legion Seekers: Tool em' up. Moar Dakka. Drop Pods. Marked for Death. Special Issue Ammo. These guys are pretty versatile if you use them right. I recomend it, as they get the Legiones Astartes bonuses, and can help take the edge off having lots of tanks and bikes.

Legion Outrider Squads: The less cheesy-tho-still-somewhat-cheesy option to Jetbikes. You take these when you want to win, but don't want to seem like an asshole when you do it. Pick of the guns is plasmas, and reliable since they are twin-linked, just be prepared to sell a kidney to get a set.

Legion Attack Bikes: Why take these when you have jetbikes? Ever?

Land Speeders: Fast, reliable. Usually dead by turn 2 or 3. Situational, not exceptional, especially as you don't have access to the typhoon missiles. Can squad them tho, so you can fit a lot into that one slot.

Javelin Speeders: Bigger, better, stronger, tougher. Just keep in mind, these are the size of a Rhino and float, not exactly easy to hide, but it can be done, and they go hard.

Planes, Trains, Automobiles: Storm Eagles. This category should begin and end here, but apparently Legions use Lightnings too. Take a pick, cheap flier, good at tank hunting and killing other fliers (lightning) or a armoured ceramite transport with MOAR DAKKA and a machine spirit (Storm Eagle). Both have their merits, it's up to you to pick what suits your list more. IF you already have a bunch of transport options, a Storm Eagle might be a waste. Conversely, if you lack transports and you want that multi-role flier, it might be for you.

Dreadclaws: Drop pods which take up a fast attack slot unless you have certain Rites of War. Can be useful, because they zoom zoom fly around after landing, (Kharbdis was left out of Heavy Slots in the last article, as it basically does this job, so I decided to put it here). If you want to max out on assaulting-from-transports, these units are great, but that turn after arriving, you are a big fat target. I'm neither yay or nay on these units, but a bunch of terminators in a Kharbdis zooming around when there are mortis contemptors with lascannons on the opposite side is a sure fire way of sending half a grand in points crashing to a fiery death. #ThingsToKeepInMind. #HashtagsAreForTools.

Tarantulas: Sentry Guns. Can take a skyfire option. Overall, a bit meh, but can be useful if you're wanting some support in the rear echelon for cheap.

Characters:

Situational, not exceptional perfectly describes most of the HQ options. These situational chaps, in my opinion, are: Stock Centurion, Chaplain, Champion, Vigilator, Forge Lord, Siege Breaker.

On the other hand, the Praetor, Librarian, Master of Signal and Moriat are badass.

So I am going to basically ignore the situational chaps, because what they do, you can do better if you set your mind to it. Forge Lord? You're only taking this guy if you're an Iron Hand, Iron Warrior or a Salamander. In which case, why aren't you taking a Praetor with a servo arm and a bad attitude instead? Legion Champion? Oh, you mean 15 point cheaper Praetor with less wounds and wargear options? Vigilator? Oh, you mean Sniper Joe? The Alpha Legion have a better version of this called Exodus, I'd take him if I wanted to use this option, otherwise it's a waste. Siege Breaker? If you took him in a squad of Legion Heavy Support troops with Lascannons, then he's the most expensive way to get Tank Hunter ever. Chaplain? Zealot and a Power Maul. So, basically a Centurion, but you pay 15 for the power weapon anyway, so it's a 20 point upgrade that gives Zealot. Pfft, next. Stock Centurion= waste of this slot's potential.

Done and fucking dusted.

Now for the good HQ's.

Praetor: When you want to absolutely, positively win in a challenge without resorting to Special Characters and Primarchs, you take this chap, give him a thunder hammer or Paragon Blade, Iron Halo/terminator armour, Digital Weapons. Jetbike optional, tho it does pretty much mean immune to instant death except when dealing with thankfully rare S10 challengers. For bonus points, you take Salamanders or Imperial Fists, give him a Storm Shield, watch the lols as your enemies futilely swing against you. For bonus-bonus points, Take Kharn or Sevetar, for triple-bonus points, take Sigismund. See meme below for Sigismund's opinion on challenges.

Librarian: Simple, =Force Multiplier.

Moriat: You run Salamanders? I have bad news for you, you're missing out on one badass. Of course, your two-wound storm-shield terminators and tanks with invuls make up for this handsomely, so, whatever really. Two plasma pistols, jump pack or infiltrate him. Everything about his guy is asshole. He basically fires his two pistols, and for every hit, he gets to roll an extra shot. Cue 2nd ed chain fire, after about 30 seconds of firing, he has successfully paved the way for Tau in years to come.

Master of Signal: D3 5" large blasts, can I have them in S8 AP3 'fuck yo' marines' form please? Did you say "I want to take an allied force for an extra Sicarian and need to pick a HQ that doesn't break the bank?" do you see where this is going? 85 points baby.

Primus Medicae: When they wrote this entry, they basically said "apothecaries are an interesting choice for an Elite Slot, but we limited them due to the lack of Terminator Armour, Jump Packs and Bikes." They then remedied this by including the White Scars must-have (possibly any jetbike command squad too for that matter), this guy. What has two thumbs and gives no fucks? This guy. What wakes up in the morning and pisses excellence? This guy.

Another HQ option: the Command Squad. Do, or do not, there is no try. Yoda has it right, when it comes to command squads, you either go balls to the wall, or you don't do it at all. Jetbikes, power weapons of various kinds, Terminator Armour, whatever floats your boat. Also, some of the BEST conversions for the hobby I have ever seen in 20 years of wargaming are in people's Command Squads.

The Last Word on HQ's: Special Characters:

Special Characters in 30k are like their counterparts in 40k. They buff your army usually, tho their Warlord traits often are a bit meh. Notable examples are: Kharn, Sevetar and Sigismund, for the aforementioned character killing, also Eidolon, because he can actually swing his fuckhammer at full initiative and insta-gib most challengers, especially with sonic shriekers. Only down-side is his slip into Slaaneshi worship gives him the Lindsey Lohan treatment. Make of it what you will.

Other notable SC's worth taking are Alvarex Maun (auto-arrival from deep strike, none of your units within 18" of him after he is in play scatter when deep striking, so yeah, terminator spearhead, assault marines, destroyers, jetbikes, Thallax allies (fucking mechanicum deep-striking with precision whatever, fuck you) MASSIVE boon.), Abaddon, because, boons and quite killy, Cassian Dracos (Salamanders Super Dreadnought HQ. Think a Land Raider+Daemon Engine combined together, then inject it with hero steroids. I love him).

Of course, the point of note on all HQ's, regular and special is you have to pick them to amplify your force. If you're just taking them to fight challenges, then you sure as shit want to make sure they are going to get there for one, and two that if they do get there, the challenges are worth fighting. If you're a dakka-World Eaters force, why are you sending Kharn running across the battlefield on his own tooled up with Gorechild? For that matter, why are you dakka-World Eaters? Because... reasons? (meh, do what you want, it's just a game ~Macca)

Lords of War:

Another link back to the past. Here is the article I wrote on LoW. It's old, a few rules have changed, but I will show the article as it is, most of it is still relevant.

Fluff vs Crunch:

This is the most important bit of all. In the past we have spoken about this in other articles, but it's up to you to decide if you want to play super fluffy and just pick what looks nice, fluffy but still have some competitive edge, (Spraggy on this blog), kick ass but fluffy enough, or balls out cheese-monger who goes to Games Workshop and challenges 10 year old kids, before destroying their hobby dreams, aka Keepy from this blog (we ALL saw your mechanicum 1000 point list, you asshole).

At the end of the day, anyone can manufacture fluff to suit their army, but it's sort of a done thing in 30k that fluff is what's in the books, and if you greatly deviate from it, you shouldn't try to make your own up. Just accept you are deviating for whatever reason, you opponant won't try and be a bitch about it unless you start telling them how in your 'alternate universe, Sigismund was a Sorceror' or some shit.

Note: This is an 'in my opinion' article, it's not saying you MUST or SHOULD, it only is saying that you can use what's written here as a reference. In the end, always do what YOU want with your army, because it's your expression.

I added that AGAIN, so you don't miss it, because there is always THAT GUY who misses that point and goes on to abuse the writer in the comments because they take offense to an opinion.

General Thoughts on the Taghmata:

I recently acquired a small Mechanicum army, around a lazy 1500 points. For a really in-depth analysis, I am going to leave the floor open to Keepy, as he knows all about the Mechanicum on the table top.

In my personal opinion, the Taghmata is nastier the lower the points limit, as there is less you can bring to the game to try and counter the high toughness, multiple wounds they can put on the board. At higher levels, your options open up and you can take far more units who will pump the Mechanicum.

For the Taghmata fans themselves, you have the advantage of cheap AP 2 and 3 weapons, and your high toughness means that your low armour saves aren't as bad as it would seem on the outside. The key to winning games is to target units that can hurt you at range, and that if you are going to get involved in combat, it's almost always better to charge first. If you don't the generally low attacks of the mechanicum, and paper armour of most units mean you will end up losing. Chain axes will end Thallax so fast you won't even have time to blink. If you play your army right, you will be disgustingly powerful. How disgusting?

Pretty fucking disgusting. If you don't get it, you don't want to.

Plus side is, most Horus Heresy gamers are blind to the Mechanicum. They know it's there, they just don't think 'what if I come across them at a tournament?'. They end up stacking up on Ap3 weapons, which whilst neat, rarely trouble T7 and T8 Monstrous Creatures with 2 up armour saves. That's when you have to think outside the box as the Legion player and figure out very quickly how to cheat make your bolter armed chaps anything other then cannon fodder.

Well, that's all I have for now, I will actually do up an article which focuses on the different Rites of War and how you must adapt your list accordingly.

Thanks as always bloggers, ~Macca

Considerations when choosing a force in HH games: Part 1

Previously on Game of Thrones.... wait, stop, no, this is A Galaxy In Flames! Ok, previously, I wrote an article on building a 30k army for cheap, based around a few simple choices. This article can be found here. Today, I thought I thought I would take a look at some key considerations when it comes to list building, and how to apply it to your army/Legion.

Note: This is an 'in my opinion' article, it's not saying you MUST or SHOULD, it only is saying that you can use what's written here as a reference. In the end, always do what YOU want with your army, because it's your expression.

Note: This is a BIG, WORDY article. Prepare to read and read and read.


Warning: Strong Language throughout. I'd apologise, but in a game of beer and pretzels, if you're old enough to build a Forge World army, read fluff about Slanneshi followers doing what comes naturally to them, then the word fuck shouldn't blip on your radar.

Ok, now that that's out of the way, lets look into this a little more.

Your Legion/Army.

In the past, I covered picking a Legion here, and I got some great feedback from the readers. When building any list, it's important to pick this first, as it will affect choices made later on, such as the selection of HQ's and specialist troops. If you want a more detailed look, suffice to say, follow the link and you will (hopefully) be satisfied.

The reason that knowing your Legion (if it has been released, curse you Forge World, give me my damn Thousand Sons) matters, is that it will define certain characteristics. If you are running World Eaters, you will be better at close combat, and this will give you an edge if you use it correctly. Conversely, if you're running Iron Warriors, you can take a Rite of War which lets you have an EXTRA heavy support choice... but only at the expense of letting your opponent take an extra game turn if they so desire.

Basics 101: Legion Troops

I do apologize, as this section is a bit wordy, but only out of necessity.

When picking troops, there are two things to keep in mind:
1) Is it Zone Mortalis?
2) Are you running a Rite of War which changes how your FOC functions?


1) If you are running a game in Zone Mortalis, Void Hardened Armour matters. Legion Breachers are not the most points effective unit in standard table top games, although thanks to their special weapons slots, they do have their uses. In ZM however, they come into their own, not succumbing to the regular devices meant to slaughter marines by the dozens. In Zone Mortalis, Terminators and Dreadnoughts are key tools, with damage and survivability massively increased compared to the troops around them. A key example of this, (and tying in with knowing your Legion) is Death Guard Death Shroud and Contemptors. If you run chem-flamers on these units, they will absolutely decimate units in this environment. Try it out some time, test the brutality for yourself.

Anyway, ZM games aside, I ALWAYS recommend at least two Tactical Squads, with 10-15 the best size (personally, I think 20 is just a bit unwieldy in a game where everyone spreads out to avoid instant pie-plate related death..). Again, here is where knowing you Legion comes in handy: f you are running World Eaters, I suggest, for example tooling one or two of your Tac Squads up with chain axes. Nothing will break that close combat stalemate with Mechanicum Thallax like AP 4 weapons.... no armour saves champ.

Next, I always suggest taking 1-2 tactical support squads. These don't have to be big, but my golly, a few special weapons here and there can really help the war effort. What arms would I pick?

No, not Soviet Russian bear cavalry.... I prefer Volkites and Plasmas. Flamers can also work, again, armies like Salamanders salivate over that shit, but beware, if you play AGAINST Salamanders, they STILL salivate over that shit.

"Mmmmm yeah, +1 Strength on my flamers, -1 Strength on yours, yeah, that feels soooo good."

Bet you didn't know that about Salamanders...

Lastly for stock-standard troops, Legion Recon Squads. These guys CAN be potentially brutal. Take them in a regular army, give them carapace armour for infiltratey-goodness, equip their SGT with artificer armour and stick him out the front for 2 up save lols. IF you're Raven Guard, you can infiltrate anyway, and Alpha Legion can choose to take Infiltrate as a free special rule, so in that case, fuck it, take power armour anyway, enjoy extra cover saves from cameleoline (or just from being Raven Guard badasses with stealth as well..) and watch as your frustrated opponent can't kill you anywhere near as easily as he could otherwise.

2) If you run non-standard FOC, the lines start to blur. Terminator Armies for example and bike-related shenanigans ensue. I am NOT going to cover it here, as it's a whole article in its own rite (get it, RITE instead of right? lolz).

There you have it, the troops section done.... for now.

Heavy Support.

After picking your troops, this is the next most hotly contended entry. Why not HQ's? Because you can only pick 2 HQ's, half the time one is a special Character, and the rest of the time he is just along for the ride, only doing his killing in CC which makes him less important the the kill causing, damage absorbing badasses that live in the Heavy Support section....

For a run-down on the tanks, you can see my point by point pros and cons here. This of course is another opinion based article, but it does have some real merits.

If you like fliers and infantry, then feel free to go with Legion Heavy Support Squads, just tool them up appropriately, I find a 5 man squad specialising in one field is better then a 10 man point sink asking to be target number 1. Volkites, Plasma and Lascannons are the guns of choice, but an argument can be made for Autocannons and Heavy Bolters (more popular in 6th edition thanks to vehicles being made of glass. With people making a move to 7th they are a little less common.) Fire Raptors round out your heavy options, but beware, they can be a point-sink, and are more situational then exceptional. (Yes, in 30k, fliers cost POINTS. We're all looking at you, Necrons.)

Elites.

Ok, this is ALWAYS hotly contested. Basically, you MUST read your Legion special rules, look at your Rite of War, and balance up your fluff vs crunch.

READ YOUR DAMNED RULES PEOPLE, OTHERWISE THIS SHIT HAPPENS!

If you are going World Eaters, MAYBE Red Butchers are for you. They excel in close combat, and they are tough as nails. But maybe you already have plenty of CC oriented units. In that case maybe some scoring terminators, just buffed by your Legion special rules are a better choice. In any case my choices for Elites usually comes down to two choices: Dreadnoughts, specifically Contemptors, and Destroyers.

The merits: Contemptors are insane dakka beasts if you use them right. Take them with Kheres Assault Cannons or Lascannons in mortis form, and it's bye bye fliers. Conversely, drop pod or better yet, dreadnought drop pod them, and load them with a chain fist or two and a pair of heavy flamers, and watch your opponent cringe in fear.

The not-so-merits: Cost. Both $$ and points when doing dread-pods and full talons can really hurt.

The merits: Legion Destroyers, oh, myy. I FUCKING LOVE these dudes. I take two squads of 10. I don't take them for the fact they will tear the asshole out of anything with power armour, but because they will tear the mechanical asshole out of the Taghmata lists. Why? A little thing called Rad Missiles: AP3 blast weapons which wound ANYTHING (except Mortarion) on 2's, with re-rolls to wound, which if a multi-wound target cops a wound against it then plays on with MINUS 1 toughness. This effect, until FAQ's otherwise, is cumulative. That's right, drop two of these babies on Angron with his 3 up save, or on Castellax and watch the lols as they take the punishment and drop to more manageable toughness levels. Then you finish them off with a little tender bolter fire.

The not-so-merits: Legion destroyers, are by their nature, kinda brittle, and they cost a lot of points. But as always, fuck it, rule of cool, rule of pain, done.

Terminators make a solid choice, as they are scoring. Most Legion-specific units also score, but you have to weigh up the rule of cool and the rule of pain when picking. For example, Rampagers from World Eaters are better then Palantine Blades, (but Palantine blades LOOK really really cool...) so in a one on one fight, it might be against you to try and take on Rampagers with Palantine Blades. Of course, if you follow my method of operation, those Rampagers already ate fucking Rad missiles...

Rapiers: Good, but only when your mobility is not an issue. Wasted in long-ranged games, come into their own up close. Go for Grav-weapons or laser destroyer arrays. Thud guns and Heavy Bolters are a waste here, as you have units in your heavy slots which do that job better.

Legion Veteran Tac Marines, these guys see some use, but are sorta niche. Frankly, they aren't cool enough to displace Legion-specific special units, and they aren't the powerhouse units that Contemptors and Destroyers are. Take them if you're into that sort of thing, but don't expect them to be exceptional.

This brings me to the end of Part 1. In Part 2, I will cover Fast Attack, HQ's, and some general thoughts on Taghmata.

~Macca

Continued in part 2...

Simple Rust Effects

Macca here with a simple How-To on rust effects..

Here is a small container and some drums of fuel from the old Anphelion base. I started with a dark red base coat, and then I sponged random splotches of orange acrylic paint and Rust Orange weathering powder over the drums and container.

Next, I coated the entire piece in gloss varnish, followed by a coat of hair spray. (If anyone mentions it was my Mrs' hairspray, I will find you, and I will kill you. I can't stand the whinging..) I then made up a simple mix in a mix bottle of two shades of green, and then coated the model piece by piece.

Once coated, you then get a drybrush or stipple brush, and make sure it has a bit of warm water on it. The warm water breaks down the hair spray, and the more you rub, the more paint comes off, exposing the rust beneath.

After the container, I repeated this on the drums and jerrys.

After completing the rust, I then finished off the little bits and bobs around the base, as well as adding some wet effects to simulate leaking fuel.

Simple as simple, this can now go on my Armies on Parade board,

~Macca

Imperial Knight support loading vehicle.

Hey all, just a quick one today, I have just finished up work on my Imperial Knight loader conversion. This tank is obviously based on a Leman Russ, I basically chopped away the turret ring, and built up a crane setup using the side sponson of the Russ. The paint job and markings are designed to echo my Imperial Knights, completed waaaay back the very week the kits were released, as well as making it onto the White Dwarf daily as the feature of the day.

These models will all be on my upcoming Armies on Parade board, so if you see my army... y'know, feel free to vote...

HH Thousand Sons concept drawings FW open day / Amsterdam 2014

Gday Guys,

I dont have too much to post for this one, but Eamon managed to get pics of the only two bits of HH Thousand Sons stuff at the FW open day in Amsterdam. I know fans of 1k Sons have been hanging out for ages, unfortunately no dates as to when any of their legion specific stuff will be released. Estimates so far have been mid to late next year in a book 5.

Only two photos, but I would rather get a teaser then nothing at all. Unless I am out at a certain venue... but that is a story for another time.

Enjoy!

Like I said, not much here but at least you can go to be knowing that they are being worked on and they will be released... One day.

Keepy

New Mechanicum from FW open day / Netherlands 2014

Gday Guys,

Keepy here with another post regarding FW updates. Eamon has been kind enough to grab some more pics for us of the new Mechanicum models, namely the new Magos and the Urthrax. No more talk. Pictures!

So what are your thoughts on the new Mechanicum? Let us know in the comments below!

Keepy

New Solar Auxilla models from FW open day / Netherlands 2014

Gday guys,

Keepy here with a hot off the press exclusive! It is not very often that an Australian blog gets information and images first, but we had a man on the ground in Amsterdam sending us pictures live from the Forge World open day event! The most exciting thing about this is the unreleased Imperial Army models.

Enough talk. Photos!!

Hope you enjoyed the pictures, big thanks to Eamon for grabbing them for us!

So. What are the crowd's thoughts on these new models? I personally think FW have hit yet another home run. Tell us what you think in the comments below!


Keepy