Infantry Guard Army: Snipers and Mortars and Allies, oh my!

I was inspired by an excellent tactical review at "From the Fang" to dust off the codeci yesterday and have a new look at my Imperial Guard Army.  I have to say, I haven't written an army list in over a year now (for 40k anyway) and thanks to 6th Edition, all my standard references are up the swanny!  But that's the same for everyone.


Reading online, there seems a lot of heat about several key meta areas in 40k now!

• Flyers as vehicles
• Flying Monstrous Creatures
• Infantry over tanks
• Value of Snipers and Blasts
• Characters are awesomesauce
• The value of glancing

I'm very largely in favour of most of the changes in 6th Edition, lets face the facts, I'd stopped playing as 40k had become very stale compared to other games systems, and it wasn't just me.  The majority of games at the local club were made up of Hordes, Warmachine, Flames of War and even Infinity!

Foot Guard - are they better?

So what are my thoughts, well this list is based around what I've already got, a a few 'wishlister' based on the meta.  Overall I think my foot-centric guard force has really won out in 6th.  Let's look at my 'staples' and chew the fat!

Ratling Snipers - These little guys are now awesome, they are still super squishy, but a BS4 camo'd sniper - wicked.  Sniper doesn't just grant 'rending' on a 6 to wound, but on a 6 to hit you get to choose which model in the enemy unit you're shooting.  Not so good against Characters (including powerfist Sergeants) thanks to the 'look out sir' generic rule, but awesome against those pesky models holding flamers, plasma, missile launchers and the like.  I've got twelve, so 2x6 ratlings?

Vehicles - On the face of it, hull points have made vehicles more durable, but in reality they pop easier.  Every glancing AND penetrating hit will take a hull point, which means that 4 autocannons with bring it down can guarantee a rhino stops dead (completely ignoring the penetration rolls).  This is GREAT news for Guard!  While the +1 for AP2 Lascannons and Plasma on the penetration chart is welcome, rate of fire seems the best guarantee of glancing a vehicle to death ... And between the Chimeras, the Hydra's and the Autocannons ... we got it!

Mortars - I've always been a huge fan of mortars in guard forces, I think they are a key force multiplier, hitting and hurting a little bit every turn.  I have 15 mortar bases in total and love to field them.  The new rules are really kind to mortars.  Since pre-measuring is now in, there no more worries about being 'just' out of range.  The key to this is that the wound allocation is now directional, with the direction dictated from the centre of the blast.  Indirect fire and 48" range means that I only need to 'hit' with 6 hits to guarantee the death of that meltagunner, or 2 hits to start mincing those Ork dakkaguns (sounds a lot, I've got 15 shots!) ... I'm used to whittling down units to the powerfist and the special weapons expert ... looks like it'll be a boltgunner from now on!

Challenges - Now, this is less of a bonus, but still a very effective stalling tactic.  You can (I think ) call a challenge in the charge, this means that the Rough Riders sergeant (With I5) can 'call out' the Space Marine hero at I6, thus guaranteeing that more of his disposable brethren get their pointy stick into the enemies pointy beaks!  It also works well for the Imperial Guard blob, inhibiting the super ninja character from dishing the death mongering from YOUR player turn and allowing you to apply those power weapons (or sheer weight of numbers) onto his bodyguard.  It'll probably do nothing more than slow them down ... but that's the point isn't it?

Flying Vehicles - I like the Vendetta, it's awesome.  I just don't own one, 6th edition AND the snap fire rule makes Vendettas the 'must have' vehicle for delivering death to the enemy.  4 meltas in a vendetta is an evil combo and will attract a lot of heat, luckily that heat will need a 6 to hit and blast weapons can't snap fire.  So their problems are largely over.  Nice.

Flying Monstrous Creatures - Urkk, Tyranids that fly just got a huge bonus.  Something tells me they want to sell stuff with wings?!?  For my money the best bonus for a guard army is to have some Chaos Space Marine allies.  A few deathguard are never a bad investment, and If I happen to bring along some nurgle bikers (true T6! and jink!), plus my Obliterators and a Deamon Prince with wings and a magic spell for 160pts - bargain!

Now, as you can see from above, none of this is actually that expensive.  The Allies total 660, which still leaves me plenty for the following:

• Company Command Sq: Autocannon, 3 sniper rifles  (75)
• 6 Ratlings (60)
• 6 Ratlings (60)
• Platoon Command Squad: 4 meltas (70)
• Squad 1: Autocannon (60)
• Squad 2: Autocannon (60)
• Squad 3: Autocannon plus Commissar (95)
• 5 Heavy Weapons Teams, Mortars (300)
• Veterans Squad, 3 melta (100)
• 2 x Vendetta (260)
• Deamon Prince, Wings, Magic, Nurgle (160)
• 5 Plague Marines, Powerfist and 2 Plasmaguns (185)
• 3 Bikers, 2 melta (119)
• 2 Obliterators (150)

Total: 1754 pts.

Maybe a Hydra would be better than the Obliterators, but with three flying things, I should be troublesome enough??  What's your thoughts?

Salute 2011 ... and how I've spent too much money again...

Check out Anton's breakdown of Salute 2011 ... he's got all the bases covered...

What impressed me most was the chance to meet so many creative enterprises face-to-face. The amount of creativity in the room was extraordinary and very exciting.

Big thanks to Anton, Lee and Nick (Rick) for putting up with me at Salute 2011. It was my first time, and what an eye-opener to all things wargamer and non-GW... The show was extraordinary and while being quite well behaved I managed to scoop up a plethora of bits, such as:

1. WARHAMMER 40k

Forgeworld Llugft Huron in Terminator Armour. My one concession to 40k in a conference lacking in 40k. I love this model - it slightly scares me and it totally intimidating in the detail and lustre - gob smacking in every way - but I love it! Has anyone got any tips on doing FW models?


2: INFINITY

Infinity models at 4 for 3 - can't pass that up!

2 x Nasmats (two in a box): These little guys are tiny, but very very cool. For 3 pts, you get a little man who can do the doctoring on the front line in mimicry to a Doctor (or engineer). Just very cool. He's also a small target and has Mimetism (which is like Stealth) - awesome!


2 x Viral Rifle Lasiqs. I've run with the Lasiq sniper and found her to be pretty good value, these guys however can offer a lot more Mid range punch. Viral Rifles are nasty lethal to all medium and light infantry. Combined with their x-visor (increases their effective range) and their mimentism - a nice pair of trouble makers.


Azra'il with AP rifle, Flamethrower and Panzerfaust. This guy is a very well equiped deathmonger. The flamethrower and AP rifle are both awesome as anti-infantry work... the Panzerfaust combined with his BS is a nasty combo. This guys a bit of a rambo.


2 x MicroArts Infinity Holoboard walls (need to order more walls though...)


Harbadin IFV from Governance of Technology (so new it's not even on their website!) for Infinity cover/scenarios etc...

Before moving on ... I've spotted that Infinity have a very sexy new website - go check it out and be gobsmacked by the stunning miniatures and biblical gameplay. Also remember - you can download an army builder and the game rules and proxy a game. THEN BUY THOSE MODELS!

3: CUTLASS!

And Cutlass ... oh cutlass...


All four of us came together and purchased 2 bands, a leader model and a book each. After reading through the rulebook - this is a perfect addition to my 'year of the skirmish game'.

I bought Mad Jim Jones: turns out to be a close combat monster who automatically kills anyone who he puts down... nasty!


A flurry of Privateers, these guys are a healthy mix between pirates and the army (who I'll be facing on Thursday night!


Rogues. The scum of the universe and the pirating world to boot. Cheap and miserable, then fill a disgusting niche...

The rules are really clever. The crux of it rolls around two concepts:

1. The better you are, the big the dice.
2. The wrestle for control of the game turn.

Better=bigger dice

Let me explain. Unlike most games, where skills are all based on conventional stats like BS4 or WS6, the stats in this game are a bit more interesting. A poorly skilled/weak/poor shot would roll a D4. An uber-marksman would roll a D20. You get me. Everything moves up and down that scale.

It all revolves around dice and the multiple concurrents with them. So getting injured results in a -1 die level. So a D8 skilled guy rolls a D6. Taken out (ie on the ground) results in all tests on a D4. And that's the point, you can quickly modify all the players statistics through injuring him, so he'll have dexterity D4 instead of D6, Combat skill D6 instead of D8. You follow?

To follow this up, the player can get bonuses for carrying two weapons, allowing his to roll two dice in combat AND parry (if the weapon allows it)... Other modifiers like this can turn a good attacker into a really nasty one - and beautifully for a skirmish game ... getting hurt can turn a dangerous model into a vulnerable one. Which I've not really seen before outside of RPG.

This would seem overpowered, except for a genius idea. The die are open ended. This translates that the maximum score on any dice allows you to roll again and add the totals together. This is a great leveller, as the poor player with say D4 attack has a 1/4 chance of scoring a 5-7, or a 1/16 chance of scoring a 9-11 etc etc. Suddenly the guy weilding one D10 in attack ought to be careful...

The Wrestle for the Game Turn

Alike the Infinity, the game includes actions and reactions. Unlike infinity, the ability to react is not guaranteed, and the amount of actions taken is not a fixed sum. Most teams roll a D8 at the start of the turn. The player with the highest score goes first. At the point at which the opponent 'chooses' to react, if successful. He goes from being the inactive player to the active.

***

So player A moves 'Big Jim McGreedy' out into the Line of Sight of 'Lil Phil', Player B doesn't fancy his chances at taking down McGreedy with a brace of pistols, but is desparate. Little Phil (a deck hand) has D6 Reaction roll and must roll a 4+ to react. He does and rolls to hit, he has an Accuracy of D4, whereas Big Jim (a pirate captain) has the dex of D6.

The shot is at point blank range, so Lil Phil gets +1 die level and boosted to D6, however he's shooting dramatically with a brace of pistols, cancelling this bonus - but giving him two shots. Big Jim rolls a 2, while Little Phil rolls a 2 and a four. The four roll extends and he rolls a 3. Giving him a total of 7, +5 over Big Jim.

The 2 misses, but the 7 scores a critical hit - giving him 2 dice to roll on the damage table. 2D6 versus D8 for the captain's constitution. The captain is injured! Player's active turn now moves to Player B. With the captain at -1 level, Lil Phil attacks with his hand axe.

***

The players keep jostling for control and initiative until all the actions are resolved on both side. At which point you consolidate and restart with an Authority roll.

Cutlass ... the conclusion

This back and forth seems really exciting and has certainly got me thinking. I've got a game Thursday and will report how it plays. The core rules are written by Gav Thorpe, and I think are some of the most interesting I've read in a while. The real heart of the games is on campaign though, with Adam Clarke working in what appears a both delightful and exciting campaign, loot and experience system - which looks to be one of the systems biggest attractions.

Speaking of which, Adam Clarke's models are stunning, and the amount of work involved in developing and creating this new game falls squarely on his talented shoulders. Simply - Wow!

WIP Armoured Defiler

Happy New Year and all that jazz!

As those who have being paying attention will be aware ... my recent efforts to complete the Tyranids were inspired by a simple bribe a defiler. Now before I get into the nitty gritty of the Defiler conversion, a little background on the Swords of Alpharius is required! Bare with it, it's worth it - as it should feed into your feedback...

Swords of Alpharius Fact #1: Realspace Renegades not Warped Monsters

Alike to the Alpha Legion, this sub legion has never 'lived' in the Warp/Eye of Terror/Maelstrom or other Chaos affiliated space. They are not really 'true' chaos-marines, as they're affiliation to the gods of Chaos is weak. Visually this means that I've gone to lengths to remove all 'spiky bits' from models, making them less and less 'chaosy' in an attempt to keep them true to form.

Additionally they are a renegade Chapter, so their equipment comes from many eras, stolen 'modern' jumppacks and meltaguns against Rogue Trader Era beaky conversions.

*** SPOILER ALERT ***

The Alpha Legion only attacked the Emperor and supported Horus because they had hidden knowledge of the destructive decay and monstrous disaster a "so-called" victory would result in, in effect the 20th Legion chose to put the Imperium out of its misery - something they continue to do. They do so as a means to defeat the Chaos gods - who are fed by the very humans they seek to corrupt. Collapsing the Imperium would irradicate all mankind and leave those civilisations immune to the Chaos powers (Tau and Orks) and those in control-ish of their relationship to Slannesh (Eldar and Delder) to face the great Devourer. Destroying mankind effectively destroys 90% of Chaos.

Swords of Alpharius Fact #2: Technosourcery, not sourcery

As previously explained and demonstrated through multiple models and conversions, the Swords of Alpharius do not use Deamons or Deamonic powers directly. In this aspect I was inspired by Graham McNeill's book "Mechanicum". In that, Mars isn't struck down by a human/Deamonic invasion - but rather by a Deamonic corruption of the code. A sort of Deamon-virus. One idea really inspired me ... but more on that LATER.

Therefore, the Sorceror is a Master of the Forge utilising his technosourcery to corrupt communication or commune direct with the powered armour of his opponents. I was drawn to Huron for the same reason - half robot. In addition, the 'Lesser Deamons' of my army are actually human opponents implanted with necronic crystals as useful test subjects and battlefield fodder.

The Obiliterators are drawn to the Omega, the technosorceror for this same reason.

Swords of Alpharius Fact #3: They are fluffy, not particularly good.

Reading through the '3++' breakdown of the CSM codex, its clear I've bought a few turkeys along the way. I don't have a Deamon Prince (although if I did have the model, I'd necrotise him and use him as either my Deamon Prince, or my Greater Deamon), Although I have Oblits, I've stuck to mainly standard CSM Marines and a few Plague Marines. I've taken Chosen, Raptors and I've taken bikes ... all overpriced - but that is the cost of fluff - sometimes it just has to be done.

I believe they are a suitable 'Alpha' build with lots of hard hitting MSU and delivery options via Icons. Tactically, you could probably take them apart with a small screwdriver and they lack anti-mech punch and anti-horde impact.

But they are my prettiest army and the fluff is great - so why change.

And finally the fecking WIP, honest...

So when chosing my 'present' for a job well done, I decided on a Defiler. Other people suggested a Vindicator for the aggression, but a bloody lump like that didn't fit the Alpha ethos... alternatively it was suggested that Land raider was a good choice, but I was always intending to Deepstrike my Terminators and the same anti-fluff rule applied.

If I was being 'nasty' about it then 3 more Obilts would have been perfect. Giving me 6 anti-tank options. I compromised, and got one more Obilt and a Defiler.

Clickify to Bigify

Conversion

I was looking to firstly 'de-Chaos' the model, so the clipper came out and took off all the spikes. Additionally the 'chaosface' battlecannon guard when into the bits box and I fashion a more 'armoured one out of other parts. Next up, I collected the plethora of Chimera/Leman Russ track guards and went to work armouring the fella up.

The conversion was very easy. I next looked at the head, I liked none of the existing heads and was busy rummaging in the bits box and asking my wifes opinion when the answer presented itself, the 'skull' of the model was actually more 'mechanicum' and more true than a head piece.

So I left it. It was at this stage that the 'Mechanicum' assassin-robot came back to me, and newly inspired I started scouring the bitsbox for other things to make him look better.

I'm looking to extend the blades on the autocannons and with the addition of a 'sheaf' for the autocannon have a simple swap out of autocannon/Dreadnought CCW. After all additional weapons on this robot are pointless as you can only ever fire the Battlecannon alone as it is Ordnance.

So what do you think, does he fit the repaired/Damaged/Armoured up/De-Chaos'd/Renegade look, and what else do you think I should add to him? Fuel tanks/more armour?

I look forward to hearing...

Why Huron is pants and other Tyranid Questions...

Huron 'high cholesterol' Blackheart

Well I've been fielding Huron "the old" Blackheart for about half a dozen games so far and I'm mightily unimpressed. His most impressive feat so far is NOT getting punked by Lillith in a single turn, he did however fail to land a blow with his powerfist.

So am I playing him wrong ... well I don't think so. My application of 'warptime' could be more consistent (I keep forgetting it) ... but I don't see Huron as a 'stand back and support the troops' kinda guy ... he should be in there mashing face.

And that's where it falls apart. With only a 3+/5++ and T4 he's got "I love powerfists" all over him. The lack of Eternal Warrior on all the Chaos Special Characters really tells here. Additionally, although he's AT LEAST at bionical as Iron Hand Straken, he'd get punked in a fight hands down. Straken's got S7 powerweapon in initiative order ... that beat power weapon (albeit with a reroll to hit and wound) or powerfist at I1. Plus Straken's got a +1 to toughness ... where's Hurons?

At 170pts, he's seriously overpriced for his potential punch. Especially as he can be pick'd out and punk'd by the p'fist, yaknow?

Maybe I'm running him with the wrong crowd. The Deathguard were a tough bodyguard, but the I3 and blight grenade aren't really designed to 'encourage' the charge... the Chaosmarine squad he's with now is fine against guardsmen and gaunts, but desparingly squishy to anything with intent.

The problem is that beyond slapping him with Terminators, (and losing their deepstrike) ... there's really nothing in the codex offering the bulletproofing to Huron's (admittedly) lacklustre combat potential.

So my Huron will henceforth become "Chaos Lord with Mark of Slannesh and Lightning Claw", I'll get my reroll to wound every time, and save myself 50pts. I don't regret buying the model, but Huron, like most of the Chaos Special Characters, doesn't offer the cool 'tempering' options of the latest codici, moulding the codex about them in interesting shapes.

The lack of Eternal Warrior is the icing on the cake... enough said.

Tyranid Conundrums

In a vain attempt to distract myself from starting an Ork Army (and yes, I've already worked out that I can build 1500pts of Orks from existing models (and the 5 lootas I bought!) ... I'm turning back to my Tyranid Horde.

I really haven't given the nids the love they deserve. The new (now slightly tarnished) codex is great, although it broke a number of my old toys. That said, I'm giving it another go and importantly, I'm trying out new tactics (well slight variations on a 'take everything' theme)...

Tyranid Prime (Lash Whip and Bonesword, Adrenal Glands) 105

Parasite of Mortrex 160

Lictor 65

Zoanthrope x2 in Spore 160

Hive Guard x2 100

Tyranid Warrior Brood x 5, Lash Whips and Boneswords, Devourers and Mycetic Spore 265

Genestealers x 13 with Toxin Sacs 221

Genestealers x 13 with Toxin Sacs 221

Hormagaunts x 17 102

Termagaunts x 17 in Spore 125

Tervigon with Acid Blood, Catalyst, Adrenal Glands and Toxin Sacs 210

Tyranid Shrikes x 4, rending claws, deathspitters and toxin sacs 200

Gargoyle Brood x21with toxin sacs and adrenal glands 168

Trygon 200

Trygon 200

Points (2500)

Analysis

Just wanted all the best toys didn't I? Its an 'in your face' option, with the Genestealers infiltrating to dominate the tactics of the game. They either, area deny (go to ground) or pounce depending on opportunities. The Shrikes and Gargoyles escort the Parasite and attempt to flank across the board... from experience, both units offer average anti-mech and good anti unit attacks.

The Spore based units, Zoans, Termagaunts and Lash Whips Warriors and Prime, are there to provide serious distraction while the hormagaunts charge across the board... the Trygons, Elites and Tervigon are there to fill space and pop tanks...

It's a MSU and mixed list ... what's the thinking?

2000pts CSM v Dark Eldar

Anton's new paint scheme ... loverley!

My now ubiquitous list of deep striking nasties versus a surprise entry from Anton - he'd succumbed to the 'other' dark side and brought along soul eating death elves for tea! I'm not entirely sure of the validity of attacking a 'largely' slanneshi army with your death elves - but clearly there was a logic somewhere (Rick Priestly's head) so there you go!

Swords of Alpharius: I decided to leave the Mark of Slannesh on the Terminators at home and bring an additional lesser Deamon, allowing me to field two squads of 5 Deamons.

• HQ: Huron Blackheart [170]
• HQ: Chaos Sorcerer - Terminator Armour, Lash of Submission, Combi weapon (plasma) [130]
• Elites: 5 Chosen - Chump w. PF, 4 meltaguns, icon [175]
• Elites: 5 Terminators - 2 Chumps with Lighting Claws, Chainfist and Combi-melta, PF and Heavy Flamer, PF and combi-flamer, Mark of Slaanesh [265]
• Elites: Dreadnought - Plasma Cannon and Heavy Flamer [110]
• Troops: 9 Alpha Marines: Icon, Flamer, Rhino [185]
• Troops: 9 Alpha Marines: Icon, Flamer, Rhino [185]
• Troops: 7 Plague Marines: Icon, Chump with PF, 2 Plasmaguns, Rhino [271]
• Troops: 5 Lesser Deamons [65]
• Troops: 5 Lesser Deamons [65]
• Fast Attack: 5 Raptors with Icon and 2 meltaguns [130]
• Heavy Support: Greater Deamon [100]
• Heavy Support: 2 Obilterators [150]

Total 2001

Dark Elves with Splinter guns: this was an intro to the Dark Elves, so I was intrigued and a little bemused by the bunch of them...

• Archon carrying nasty stuff with four incubi carrying nasty power glaves in a Venom
• Lelith (accompanying the Wytches).
• 5 incubi in a Venom
• 10 Warriors in a Raider
• 10 Warriors in a Raider
• 10 Wytches in a Raider
• 3 Reavers
• 3 Reavers
• 3 Reavers
• 2 Talos Pain Engines (left at home)

And that's about all I can tell you, they had some nasty guns ... but luck favoured the brave (or the ignorant over the inexperienced in this case).

The Deployment was Spearhead (which suited me fine) with the objective was seize ground (4 markers). These were spread out fairly evenly.

TURN 1: The Reavers and right hand side shot forwards, attempting to kill my Chosen which were deployed way out on the left flank in their deployment zone. The range was perfect, and although they managed to kill one raptor with Raider fire, they didn't get into close combat with my Chosen. The Reavers and Raiders made a main push down the right flank, targetting my Rhino's and Dreadnought with fire. Many shots later nothing had happened.

In return I went to work. The reserves rolls were VERY pleasent, giving me the greater Deamon, a squad of lesser deamons, and the Terminators. Huron and his Chaosmarines stayed away, as did an 'ace in the hole' Deamon unit.

The Terminators and little deamons (Li-mons?) bounced off the Chosen's ICON. Allowing them to position themselves perfectly. A quick LASH later and I could unleash multiple Heavy and Flamer shots on the bunched up Dark Eldar while 'shooting' at the Reavers behind them. The massacre was complete and no Eldar survived. Three of the chosens Meltaguns then barked at 12" and demonstrated that 1D6 + 8 is more than enough against a AP10 vehicle, and the doom of open topped reared it's head, at +2 on the chart the vehicle was doomed.

So the left flank was secure, but what of the right? Well the obliterators went to work on the Raiders and Venoms, although I failed to destroy a single vehicle, I did manage to roll lots of ones, which automatically went to 2 - which stalled the entire advance of the dark Eldar.

Three Reavers also flew like blazes behind my Rhino and Dreadnought on the right flank. They were met by the Greater Deamon (Gri-mon) who killed the PlagueMarine Chump (there's got to be a cheaper way!) and 4 Raptors. The Grater Deamon killed all the Reavers, while the Reavers killed a Raptor.

TURN 2 : Without being able to move or fire, and being too far away to jump out and charge ... the Eldar were left with limited shots and limited options. The non immobile Incubi raced after the marine squad in the centre (going after a central objective), jumped out and charged the rhino. At this point we realise that although Incubi have AWESOME power weapon death - they are fairly useless at using their standard issue tin openers. Even with autohit (the rhino had gone and immobilised itself) they had no dice.

In return I continued to pin the other vehicles while Huron and his squad plowed into the back of the rearmost Raider and the Terminators and Chosen realigned. Now was my time for an 'accident' as the flamer from my squad proved to only kill one Incubi. I Lashed them closer to the terminators, but Only had a few bolter shots to throw (combi-plasma on the Sorceror is useless if you're lashing every turn ... but is lash a shooting spell?) Down to three incubi, I charged in the Lesser Deamons (bouncing off the chaosmarine ICON) and met with an abject fail. Lesser Deamons suck in close combat! Against warriors yes, incubi - NO!

Huron and his squad come on from the back and manage to complete fail to wreck the Raider, although they do immobilise it.

At this stage, Anton's killed one raptor, and I've killed two (one through possession and one plaguemarine through a plasma overheat!) ... so I'm kinda winning on all fronts.

TURN 3: Anton manages to get both Incubi into combat. The first incubi group manage to charge my terminators and KILL ALL OF THEM. I5, S5 and power weapons ... hang on, thats a rough rider! They then rout the Sorceror and kill him. The Archon also discovers that haywire grenades only give ONE attack - which fails to pop my rhino.

At the back, Hurons less lucky. He manages quite well to survive a charge from Lelith. With only three attacks and S3, she only manages one wound. However Huron fails to land a punch (thanks to him NOT casting warptime). He loses all but three marines to Wytches and Warrior fire from the downed unit. However he ties up the wytches for a turn and with the warriors holding one objective, it all comes down to nullifying Anton's contestors!

The Chosen step up first of all and shoot down the Incubi with vastly overpowered meltagun shots (good job as they had a 2+ save, FNP and furious charge by this stage!). Meanwhile the last Reavers are attempting to contest my home objective (they would have been wiser to challenge my Lesser Deamon and Chosen held one!) ... and they get eaten by the Greater Deamon. The Dreadnought steps up and manages to kill 4 Incubi with a plasmacannon shot at point blank and kill the Venom with a heavy flamer shot. He then tries to punk the Archon, scores 5 instantkill hits to which the Archon rolls 5/5 2+ saves... doh!

The Raptors target the remaining Venom and kill it dead while the Oblits target the mobile Raider and stun it. The marines in the centre dive out of their tank to claim the central objective. Huron dies, but with only one objective in DE hands, and only the Archon able to contest my home objective, it's all over for the DE.

Final Score 2-1 to the marines.

CONCLUSIONS

The DE are a really fun army to play and play against. The biggest weakness is their AV10 vehicles, as despite their speed and their cover saves, their combination of AV10 and open topped meant that stopping them from moving AND firing and effectively nerfing the DE charge was too easy.

The Incubi in Venoms were nasty, but the DE really lack in close attack weapons which can crack open vehicles. Haywire grenades are not enough really. Overall, Anton's army lacked enough firepower to crack open three rhinos, and he couldn't even crack them open when stationary in close combat. Definite rethink needed there! Incubi are not something to attack in close combat, and the only proper solution is to shoot them down... at T3 and 3+ save - there are plenty of options there. I think Incubi are awesome against marines ... but against guardsmen, one battlecannon shot is all it takes.

Overall, Anton needs to work on his timing. His reavers are standard Saim Hann and cannon fodder to decent marine units. Against Guardsmen, those D6 S6 flail attacks will signal the end of many a Heavy weapon team and would be useful against Tyranid MC's. However they cannot take fire and should have danced at a distance instead of coming in close. The tricky thing with the DE is getting it all to hit at about the same time. It's very very easy to delay those AV10 skimmers ... and then mob the ones that do get through with flamers, terminators and other death weapons.

Overall I think this was a demonstration of how familiarity breeds effectiveness. The reserves rolls for me were perfect, allowing me to fully exploit the 'tempt and ambush' aspects of my army. Anton's DE were the perfect example as he was a little too keen to take the bait (as he was thinking about FNP bonuses through power through pain) ... as such I was able to take his army down piecemeal without the DE able to really threaten my core force. Ironically, this was exactly what he should have been doing to me.

If he'd held back and gone for an objective grab, he would have forced my 'ambush' units to deploy without a target, holding objectives... he could then have gone in at speed with all force. Using all three reaver units on the same squad (3D6 S6 hits) and followed up with incubi and wytches. HE could have had me so easily...

At the end of the game I'd lost 2 raptors, 5 terminators and the Sorceror, 5 Le-mons, 9 Marines and Huron. He'd lost a warrior squad, 2 venoms, 2 incubi units, lost all three Reavers units and lost a raider and had an immobile Raider.

Swords of Alpharius Nearing Completion...

Just a quick update to say that everything is nearly completed, finished and based. I completed the last chaosmarine squad (the 'converted'), my first CSM Biker and the lesser Deamons too. All that's left now are two rhino's and the two more Chaos bikers.

It's been a fun army to paint and my least 'difficult', amassing 2000 points of marines is pretty easy (it's the stopping buying them that's the problem) ... one thing that this army has taught me is the benefit of properly basing my models. Up until now I've been blindsided towards basing ... now I see it as an insult to a well painted model NOT to finish it properly.

It'll take time, but I'm going to revisit both the Tau and the Guard (and eventually the Tyranids) and base the bloody lot. That'll take until like next Christmas.

Not much to write about as all my spare 'blogging' time has been sucked down a fallout 3 timewarp... I totally dig this game.

The 'Converted'

Basically a bunch of RT era marines with light conversions that I had been using as a Death Watch unit early on. Couldn't bring myself to overpaint the hand-done insignias so I just left them. I guess this unit represent a selection of 'converted' marines who have seen the light of Alpharius and turned against the rotting Imperium.

The Converted show off their shoulder pads ...

The Lesser Deamons

All I can say is ouch?!?

I'm gonna have some fun with this ten! The Omega (Techpriest Chaos Sorceror) who is dabbling in Necron tech has decided to impregnate the most impressive human enemies with glowing stones. When I say impregnate ... I mean stab full of?!? The stones can then be used to rip the individuals clean through reality into the cusp of battle. The resulting mutations result in stronger and insane subjects, although their life are necessarily foreshortened.

First Biker

The last fella is a Chaos biker. All the armies I've collected so far have only ever included one fast skimmer (the Tau Piranha). After facing down jetbikes and marine bikers over the years, this is my first foray into the realms of 24" turbo boosting about the place! Should be fun!

Quick Battle Report: CSM V SM

Disclaimer: This batrep is short sharp and reasonably rude. Enough said ... you are warned!

So I took the newly minted Swords of Alpharius out for their first 2000pt outing last night... interesting times. Jack (furthermore known as JakJak) brought 2000pts of a 2500pt anti world eaters army. It ran something like this:

• Captain in Artificer Armour and Lightning Claws
• Chaplain in Terminator Armour with Storm Bolter and Crozius
• 10 Termite Thunder Chumps
• 1 Ironclad Judge Dread with unfriendly hairpins and 2 hunter killer missiles
• 1 Normal(ish) Dreader with a plasma bazooka and a giant hand
• 10 Smurfs with melta
• 10 Smurfs with plasma
• 8 Assault Marines
• Vindicaaaaaator
• 5 Laaaazer Cannon Deviators in a Razorback with heavy thumper

Which was an awful lot of tough, non squashy shit for a mere 2000pts. I would be fielding my normalish (and frankly ridiculously uncompetitive) list of...

• HQ: Huron Blackheart [170]
• HQ: Chaos Sorcerer - Terminator Armour, Mark of Slannesh, Lash of Submission, Combi weapon (plasma) [145]
• Elites: 5 Chosen - Chump w. PF, 4 meltaguns, icon [175]
• Elites: 5 Terminators - 2 Chumps with Lighting Claws, Chainfist and Combi-melta, PF and Heavy Flamer, PF and combi-flamer, Mark of Slaanesh [265]
• Elites: Dreadnought - Plasma Cannon and Heavy Flamer [110]
• Troops: 9 Alpha Marines: Icon, Flamer, Rhino [185]
• Troops: 9 Alpha Marines: Icon, Flamer, Rhino [185]
• Troops: 7 Plague Marines: Icon, Chump with PF, 2 Plasmaguns, Rhino [271]
• Troops: 9 Lesser Deamons [130]
• Fast Attack: 5 Raptors with Icon and 2 meltaguns [130]
• Heavy Support: Greater Deamon [100]
• Heavy Support: 2 Obilterators [150]

Total 2003

I'd dropped a lesser Deamon in favour of the Slanneshi Terminators...

We get Dawn of War (again ... yawn) and annihilation (again!), missions always seem to come in threes. I win the roll and go first (again!).

TURN 1: "Where is everyone?"

Deploying Huron and the Plaguemarines in a Rhino in the back field, I then decide to keep everything bar my Dreadnought and Obilterators in reserve to pick and choose my moments... The dreadnought arrives, goes bonkers and runs about a bit (this will be the apex of his contribution), the Obilterator on the left shoots plasma, the one on the right shoots plasma... despite mundo shooting only two marines die? I realise I have caught "ShiteDicealitis" from Mark ... poor rolling continues.

JakJak brings everything to the party. The uber-dread on the left with the big fist manages to unarm and immobilise the jogging Chaos Dreadnought ... effectively nullifying him. JakJak's Razorback drops off the Devastators, who start walking to the top of a high tower, Jump pack troops and the other dreader arrive on the left and start pinging anything they can see (although they miss the oblit), on the right flank 11 Thundertermiedeathstarstompers walk on the board from the edge and start a very long walk towards my lines... hidden behind a squad of Tacticals with the Captain attached...

...guess where I won't be next turn?

TURN 2: "Run rabbit run rabbit run run run..."

So I roll for my reserves, relishing the idea of dropping 4 meltagun shots into the side armour of that Ironclad Dreader ... and get nothing. Out of 7 units I get one unit arriving from reserve, the bloody raptors - ruddy marvelous!

The dreadnought stay sane and has a sulk, meanwhile the Plaguey-Rhino and Raptors move right towards the centre back of the board and away from the Terminator death. The Two obilts take potshots on the Demolisher and the plasma Dreadnought, but both are rubbish. My reserves have failed me and I'm facing a veritable horde - gulp!

JakJak gets the Devastators into a good position and starts potshotting my Deamons, Raptors and Armour from range... luckily for me nothing sticks! Oh good.

TURN 3: "And where were you?"

Ok, so not perfect, but a vast improvement... I get one Mariney-filled Rhinocake, a Greater Deamon (who can only kill the PlagueMarine Chump - grrr), the lesser Deamons and the Terminators (and Chaos Sorceror) and ... nothing else. Other Chaosmarines and Chosen are yet to arrive... grr.

The Greater Deamon burst from a rhino and runs at the tactical squad in front of it followed by 9 lesser Deamons, the ensuing combat results in a devastating win for the Deamons, but the Marines employ the "we're cheats and we mock your leadership system" rule and stick in there. Meanwhile the Obilt on the left does a cracking job immobilising the Demolisher meaning its only target in range is the deamonic close combat (Guffaw-guffaw). The Plaguemarines, Huron and the newly arrived rhinocake of mariney goodness line up in front of the Assault marines and pour bolter fire, flamer and Hurons heavy flamer into them...

(When I say pour, I actually mean lightly piss on their shoes - it was a shocking example of poor rolling), to add insult to injury, the Dreadnought goes mental shooty style and pour heavy flamer death on my Deathguard - doh! One dies.

The other oblit kills a couple of marines, as I manage to single handily give away killpoints. Firstly, I "lash of submission" the tactical squad plus enemy captain (let's call him Edward) and instead of pushing them away (and giving me a turn to arrange the charge from the Assault marines and Terminators), I randomly pull them closer, shoot a few ineffectual shots into them and then charge in my Raptors.

Second game, same lesson - raptors are shite in combat! Killpoint given away, I then consider if my brain is alright?

JakJak returns the favour with some cunning killpoint grabs. He starts massacring the Chaosmarine squad in prep for a charge by the assault marines, he goes too far in fact and thwarts his own charge as the surviving 3 marines stagger away from their blown up Rhino-cake. On the left the 'captains retinue' charges into the Terminators and discover that they are facing I5 lightning claw nasties. All die except the captain (who take a wound) and the sergeant. They kill one in return, but again deploy their 'we cheat' rule. Hmmm.

TURN 3: "Why won't you just fecking die, you fecking fecking fecker!"

So I'm locked in combat, I need to kill more dudes - what do I do? The reserves rolls are shiter than shiteness with bells on, in fact, in full knowledge of how shite they'll be, I completely forget to take the 2+ rolls and therefore pretty much forfeit the game. Ahhh hindsight!

The plague marines break from Huron (again, will I ever learn), and Huron and the Greater Demon (who was busy killing stuff) lay the smackdown on the Assault marines. They do fantastically well, but the sergeant survives and pwns Huron (AGAIN...?!?). Meanwhile the lesser deamons do nothing more than 'hump' the tactical sergeant armour (5 wounds, 5 saves, grrr) and the Captain, despite losing combat again and being surrounded by lightning clawed terminators and instant-pwn powerfists lives...

I do manage to kill 3 lascannons devastators, but poor positioning and good LOS blocking cover (I did the cover, yeah me! Oh, hang on?) denies me any shots on vehicles.

We then have to wrap up the game due to the late hour....

CONCLUSIONS

Null deployment ... well that backfired, didn't it. Parts of my army worked brilliantly - the Oblits continued to perform well, and the Terminators were lethal (ok against tactical marines, but look how good my raptors and lesser Deamons were?) ... the Greater Deamon added a nice touch and him and Huron are an awesome double team, BUT...

I'm lacking speed ... seriously, once I'm deployed, I cannot redeploy and respond easily. The Raptors help, but I'm currently using them like a complete pleb. I need to be more selective with my fights and engineer the combats better. I'm used to large armies which (mainly) defend, and the requirement to deliver surgical combat/shooting in new.

That said, I need to shot putting Huron with the Plaguey's, that's just dumb. I'm also hiving him off on his own (which is stupid). The chosen and the Raptors are both high threat and un-ignorable) as they offer lesser and Greater Deamon and Terminator delivery - I failed to use this.

Overall, I quite like the format of this army. Maybe more Obilterators or a Tank/Walker would add ranged threat ... but I've invested in a bike. I intend to have just 3, for objective contesting and haranging ... it might even work.

More work to do on this army type ... but it's great fun to play!

Army Showcase: Swords of Alpharius

Embarrassing Family Photo's, who needs 'em eh?

I'm at 2000 points already? When did that happen? Crikey, but space marine armies are too easy? You do a bit of painting every night, build a few mini's and bobs-your uncle, 2000pts...

The Plague Marines

Did I say it was a good army, well not really?

Here's the damage:

• HQ: Huron Blackheart [170]
• HQ: Chaos Sorcerer - Terminator Armour, Mark of Slannesh, Lash of Submission, Combi weapon (plasma) [145]
• Elites: 5 Chosen - Chump w. PF, 4 meltaguns, icon [175]
• Elites: 5 Terminators - 2 Chumps with Lighting Claws, Chainfist and Combi-melta, PF and Heavy Flamer, PF and combi-flamer, Mark of Slaanesh [265]
• Elites: Dreadnought - Plasma Cannon and Heavy Flamer [110]
• Troops: 9 Alpha Marines: Icon, Flamer, Rhino [185]
• Troops: 9 Alpha Marines: Icon, Flamer, Rhino [185]
• Troops: 7 Plague Marines: Icon, Chump with PF, 2 Plasmaguns, Rhino [271]
• Troops: 10 Lesser Deamons [130]
• Fast Attack: 5 Raptors with Icon and 2 meltaguns [130]
• Heavy Support: Greater Deamon [100]
• Heavy Support: 2 Obilterators [150]

Total 2016

Chapter Background

The Alpha [Huron] leads his Alpha Marine legion into combat

The Swords of Alpharius are a chapter seeded within the Eastern fringe. As an autonomous splinter of the greater Alpha Legion, this new chapter was born of the nefarious deeds of the Alpha Legion on Ghorstangrad. Over near to three centuries the Alpha Legion seeded subconsciously en scribed rites and indoctrination on the sects and gangs of Ghorstangrad. Such was the pervasive success of their infiltration that many of these gang members were wholly unknowing of their hidden corruption as they aspired to inception in the Emperor's Swords loyalist Chapter on Ghorstangard.

Chesney Hawkes leads the Chosen in another burst of "I am the one and only", much to the chagrin of the terminators...

When the Alpha Legion struck, it was with complete skill and utter destruction. Utilising all their subconscious and indoctrinated triggers, they turned loyalist marines on each other. Ghorstangrad fell as the Swords of the Emperor were divided and conquered. The Emperor's Swords were destroyed, Ghorstangrad razed and the geneseed stolen.

...but with all aspects of the most secretive of Legions, the end of the Swords was not obvious.

The Terminators and Raptors lead the charge, backed up by Obliterators and the Dreadnought called 'Relic'...

The Swords Reborn

One hundred years later, reports came of a new Renegade Chapter sporting the colours of the Alpha Legion but separate heraldry. The Swords of Alpharius had been embedded deep within an enveloping nebula and had been biding their time. Infiltration specialists from the Alpha Legion had twisted and reworked the rigid regime of the Swords. They were now a guerilla force in every aspect as potent as their master chapter.

Infiltration into the Imperiums upper echelons had resulted in the wholesale capture of materials, slaves and even intergalactic starships to further their unknowable goals.

The lot so far, a few smurf-boxes and lesser deamons to go...

The Leftovers

As you'll notice from the photo's, I'm missing 2 Rhinos (to be built), 10 Deamons (under construction) and 9 Alpha Marines (basecoated and so near completion). So a few more posts to follow.

A different Lash Sorceror and Razzle-Dazzle Rhino

Techpriest Enginseer?

First up is my latest Character model. He's running as a Terminator Lash Sorceror in order to boost the impact of my Slanneshi Terminators by drawing enemies into the web.

I've had the old Techmarine model knocking around for ages (I bought him as a cheap way to getting 4 servitors for my Guard), I've always like the model as Vanilla Smurfs go. I undertook a quick conversion in turning his backpack upside down and dremmeling off the upside down skullcogs... This then allowed me to extend a banner pole out of the trailing tendrils from his backpack.

In painting him, I wanted to keep him ALL techmarine and all Alpha Legion. The Alpha's aren't known for their psykers, so I think a 'super-techmarine' fills the bill perfectly. To add to the effect, I've painted the crystals on the banner red and green and given him green and glowing armour... looks like this Techno-sorceror has been plundering some Necron stones.

Thus his inimical ability to 'pull' others to him, is it Dark Mechanicus Viruses, Communication interception and misdirection, or more insidious Necrotic technology... I'll have to think on that!

RAZZLE DAZZLE RHINO

Go buy it and read it ... it's like a who's who of brilliance and deviousness - and you discover what Ian (and his brother Peter) Fleming did during the war ... and where BOND came from.

I've been reading a brilliant and inspiration book over the last few weeks called "Churchill's Wizards" by Nicholas Rankin. Within this is an excellent work on the birth of Camoflage in WW1. A we are all aware, Space Marines generally have an understanding of camoflague equal to the early WW1 years.

Razzle Pattern Rhino...

Razzle was a technique employed in WW1 and WW2 which follows the principles of the Zebra. By introducing bright contrasting lines in contradictory patterns across a target, it can decieve the viewer (especially from a low trajectory, like a periscope) and make them think the ship is travelling in a different direction. To paraphrase, "it makes the enemy think you stern is where your bow is"...

Razzle Pattern - Image from Wikipedia, check out their great breakdown on Razzle Camoflague

This inspired me to adopt a 'razzle' pattern on the Rhino. I was aiming for something a little more unique than the standard "I'm bright blue, I'm an ultramarine!" approach ... and also harking back to the late 80's of space marine design ... when pagentry colour marines would hunker down inside highly camoflagued landraiders...

Camoflagued Landraiders ... well if there was ever a vehicle that didn't need it!

What do you think?

Painting Update: Plague Marines

Finished and based the Deathguard last night. The Swords of Alpharius are looking as follows:

• 1 Huron - complete
• 1 Chaos Sorceror Conversion - converted, nearly finished.
• 5 Terminators - 3/5 painted, 2 are being painted by my 3 year old daughter and 1.5 year old son ... interesting.
• 5 Chosen - complete
• 9 Chaosmarines #1 - complete
• 9 Chaosmarines #2 - 60% painted
• 7 Plague Marines - complete
• 5 Raptors - complete
• 1 Dreadnought - complete
• 2 Obilterators - complete
• 1 Greater Deamon - complete
• 10 lesser Deamons - bought and to be built
• Rhino #1 - built and basecoated
• Rhino #2 - to be built
• Rhino #3 - to be built

UPDATES

You will have noticed that two of the Terminators have laid their lives down for the Dark Gods (or Greater Good?) and become sacrificial test models for my daughter and son.

Another shot of the completed Plaguemarines ... note the blue fists as a nod to they allegiance to the Swords of Alpharius.

My boy is 18 months and my daughter 3 and they both love "paint'n monstas" first thing in the morning (circa 7am), so we have Monster 'E' and Monster 'Pt' for her and him respectively. See the results below, it's great fun painting them together, although I've been informed that I can NEVER OVERPAINT THEM by She who must be obeyed... oh dear!

Monster E and Monster Pt.

It's a lot of fun though.

Painting Update: Marines and Deamons

Out of Production, Small and perfectly formed ... he's almost a mini-monstrous creature and can quite simply hide behind a landraider!

Just a quick update ... the jury's still out (well at least for me) on the ideal shininess of models... but that aside, I've been taking some steps in painting. Currently the Chaos Marines stands as follows:

Huron leads the first two terminators

• Huron - complete
• Chaos Sorceror Conversion - converted, unpainted
• Terminators - 2/5 painted
• Chosen - complete
• Chaosmarines #1 - 7/9 painted
• Chaosmarines #2 - 60% painted
• Plague Marines - 1/7 painted
• Raptors - complete
• Dreadnought - complete
• Obilterators - complete
• Greater Deamon - completed
• Rhino #1 - to be built
• Rhino #2 - to be built
• Rhino #3 - to be built

Some basing required...

So there's a fair amount of work yet to complete ... next up are the troops ... Plague Marines and Chaos Marines look fantastic in their blue and green... much satisfaction.

But I'm lacking long ranged punch and a big 'boomer', the Vindicator, Land Raider and Defiler all bring different sort of long range punch ... but Obliterators give you the most variety and flexibility ... but deploying 6 Oblits is pretty dull... so what would you recommend?

BATREP - Smurf fighting with too few men!

We are Chaos! Chaos is HERE!

We will tramp across the board and ... sorry, did you say they are already here...?

The Swords of Alpharius got their first outing last week, challenging Marks Black Templar Biker army. After borrowing 5 Terminators, a Drop Pod and 2 Rhinos. The Alpharius' list was like this:

• HQ: Huron Blackheart (accompanying the Deathguard) 170
• HQ: Lash Prince Terminator Sorcerer (Accompanying the Terminators) 145
• Elite: 5 Khronate Terminators, 2 Chainfists, 4 combi weapons, heavy flamer. 255
• Elite: 5 Chosen Marines with PF Champ, 4 melta and an icon. 175
• Elite: Dreadnought with plasma cannon, extra armour and heavy flamer. 125
• Troops: 7 Chaos Space Marines, Champion with power sword, icon, flamer, rhino with combi weapon. 195
• Troops: 7 Chaos Space Marines, Champion with power sword, icon, flamer, rhino with combi weapon. 195
• Troops: 7 Plague Marines, PF Champion with icon, plasma gun x2 and Dreadclaw Drop Pod. 291
• Fast Attack: 5 Raptors, PW, Icon, 2 Meltaguns. 140
• Heavy Support: Obiliterators x2 150

Total: 1840pts.

In reply, Mark bought the following:

A lorra-lorra bikes (as Cilla would say)

• Captain on Bike with relic blade, thunder hammer.
• Chaplain on Bike with Crosius
• Biker Squad 1 (5 bikes, PF Serg and Multimelta Attack Bike)
• Biker Squad 2 (5 bikes, PF Serg and Multimelta Attack Bike)
• Biker Squad 3 (5 bikes, PF Serg and Multimelta Attack Bike)
• Scout Bikers 1 (2 Grenade Launchers)
• Scout Bikers 2 (2 Grenade Launchers)
• Assault Cannon, Flamer/DCCW Ancient Dreadnought

1850pts (or thereabouts)

'Evil' Command Biker Death Squad of Black Templarish Doom!

Mark won first turn and deployed everything to my right flank. The Scouts at the outer edges. I kept the Termies, HQ and Deathguard (in Dreadclaw) in reserve and castled up everything in the far left corner. The Oblits on the roof of a building with good fields of fire, the Dreadnought holding the right side and the squads (in Rhinos) in between. The Raptors were placed in a building in the centre to supply an ICON and distraction.

Castled up in the corner...

With barely 10 models on the board ... this was a long step back from Guard ... or Tyranids ... or Tau. And frankly a little scary. Mark scout moved his scouts to point blank range on the left and close to the raptors on the right ...

Turn 1.

His shooting was pretty poor as only the scouts on the left were in range (ie point blank), an Oblit ate a wound.

Oh ... hello boys?!?

Now I wondered what my boys could do... My raptors leapt towards the far right and shot and jumped his Scout bikers... Mark hadn't even noticed the crafty Alpha Legion Raptors (in their cunning camoflage of bright green and blue?!?) but I realised I was in trouble when the Raptors only managed to down a single T5 biker on the charge (despite melta shots and bolter shots and CC) thanks to the T5 AND the 3+ turbo save. Gulp! They lost a Raptor in return.

AMBUSH! 10,000 years of evilness, only to be bested by scouts!?!

The Oblits and Dreadnought targeted the front biker group with 3 Heavy Plasma shots and only managed to down a couple of Bikes (one from each squad). I rushed up my Rhinos and Dreadnought to face the incoming Multimeltas and maybe block their charge. Squad One jumped out of their rhino and hosed down the Scout Bikers, also managing a single kill ... this was getting a bit rubbish.

Turn 2.

Turn two, the rearmost biker horde bought my cunning decoy (otherwise known as Raptor pate) and zoomed right to support the scouts. A poor show of combat resulted in a further dead biker and the raptors bought it. Maybe Nurgle raptors would be worth it?

The Dreadnought holds the right as the Terminators arrive on the left.

The bikes to the right rushed up to the Rhino's, at which point Mark displayed his Achilles heel. His skill at shooting with multimeltas is phenomenal. Over the entire game, he failed to kill a single vehicle with any one of maybe 7 multimelta shots. It was silly. Rhino's survived, Dreadnought survived and it got interesting. The Scouts on the left ignored the Oblits and plowed into the Chaosmarines with bolter and chainsword. Despite the WS3 and 4+ save, their T5 proved a real pain and my guys were cut down to just the serge ... although they did manage a few casualties in return.

Squish ... twice in one night ... how demoralising!

In reply, my Terminators and Sorceror appeared, bouncing of the lone serge's icon. They immediately joined the Dreadnought in shooting up the right flanking bikers trying to melta the Dread. In a shock moment the bikers fell like flies to Plasma, flamer and TL bolter. The Oblits lined up more plasma cannon shots and hit home this time, felling a few more bikes. Meanwhile the second squad of Chaosmarines were 'recycled' from the casualties in squad one and attempted to shoot up the command bikers ... they failed.

The Chosen (hiding at the back), slung their meltas (they wouldn't fire all game) and charged in with the lone sergeant to kill the bikers. The Chosen Sergeant's powerfist was devastating, but couldn't save the lone sergeant from having his head squished by the Scout Serg's PF.

The Dreadnought was equally effective and charged the biker gang in front of him. Immediately he demonstrated how useless Krak grenade and PF are against a Chaos Dreadnought ... he was awesome - reducing the squad to an attack bike and single sergeant.

Turn 3.

'Sacrificial Squad 2' got eaten by the command squad, although they did manage to down a bike with a power weapon before being trampled. The Command Squad then consolidated out of charge range of the Terminators - which was unsporting by easily remedied.

The Dreadnought continued to munch bikers, easily finishing off the attack bike and sergeant. Meanwhile the rearmost Scouts moved up and the Dreadnought was almost in range of the Terminators. The middle Biker group also placed themselves on the charge.

The Dreadclaw drop pod arrived and smacked down behind the Scouts. Huron and the plasma packing deathguard made short work of the Bikers, with only the Sergeant surviving. The Oblits stopped messing about with plasma and blew the assault cannon off the Dreadnought (blasted 'reroll the penetration' Ancient dreadnought). The meltaguns of the chosen blazed and blew away a couple of bikes. The Rhinos passed their difficult terrain rolls and crossed the board, further blocking lines of attack, while the Sorceror cast 'Lash of Submission' and brought the enemy command squad back into range.

Lash of Submission plays the 'get over here' card on the Command Bikers.

The clash of close combat was destructive, but signalled the start of the end for the Loyalist marines. Multiple turns of chainfist and powerfist hits were simply shrugged off by the Smurf Captain under his stormshield (aptly named), but the bikers all bought it, as did the chaplain, and the chaos dreadnought chewed him up.

The last biker bites it as the Chaplain, Loyalist Dreadnought (sans arms) and Captain decide who to attack

Huron broke away from the Plaguemarines and dispatched the last scout biker with ease. Meanwhile the now-armless loyalist dreadnought managed to break a rhino - cheeky bugger. Huron got jumped by the Loyalist Captain and a PF/Stormshield, Relic Blade, Invulnerable fight ensued.

The game ended on turn 5 at 6KP all.

However, when played to the death, the dreadnought and plaguemarines proved too much for the bikers and the loyalists quickly crumpled.

Learning Experience

I'm not sold on the Dreadclaw. A drop pod is helpful, but this is effectively a flying brick. I'm not convinced about its usefulness as a tactical instrument when you consider that it doesn't benefit from the turn one autoarrive that the Marine Equivilent gets.

On the back of a solid performance, I've invested in the first five Terminators... did I say first five?

The Sorceror served his purpose, his efficiency in combat was questionable, but the Lash is an essential requirement for the slow and cumbersome Terminators. The terminators performed well, although power weapons proved 'hopeful' against T5. On review combi-weapons are cool, they also proved pretty useless en masse. I'm more convinced about the threat rating of Lightning claws combined with the bonus attacks of being a Champion Khronate nasty. 6 attacks on the charge combined with rerolls to wound would have certainly hurt the command squad. Without storm shields, Terminators are very vulnerable to enemy power weapons. This is where lots of rerollable attacks is essential.

Against this opponent I would even consider taking the cheaper Slannesh upgrade over the Khronate attack bonus. I5 would have seriously helped, giving them on par attacks with heroes.

Hurons a great model with brilliant rules, but VERY vulnerable on his lonesome. I bottled it slightly, trying for multiple power weapon hits over an instant kill powerfist hit. If I'd trusted to my PF, he could have won. The threat of his Heavy Flamer AND reroll to hit and wound on the PF or PW makes him a particularly tasty customer.

Secondly, Hurons 'ability' with warptime is a mixed bag. Brilliant on the charge, but Deathguard are made to 'be charged' and not charge themselves. Outside my turn, Huron was pretty basic - still hard, but basic nonetheless. He'd probably better work with a unit of WorldEaters... hmm.

Overall, I really enjoyed the first outing with the marines. T4, S4, 3+ is a much more forgiving territory than I've known with the Guard, Tyranids and especially Tau. Now, in addition to the Rhino, do I need more Terminators ... or a Landraider?

Here's my thoughts on an updated list:

• HQ: Huron Blackheart (accompanying the Deathguard??)
• HQ: Lash Prince Terminator Sorcerer (Accompanying the Terminators)
• Elite: 5 Khornate Terminators, 1 Combimelta and Chainfist, 1 combi-flamer and powerfist, powerfist and heavy flamer, 2 Champions with Lightning Claws.
• Elite: Dreadnought with plasma cannon, extra armour and heavy flamer.
• Troops: 7 Chaos Space Marines, Champion with power sword, icon, flamer, rhino.
• Troops: 7 Chaos Space Marines, Champion with power sword, icon, flamer, rhino.
• Troops: 7 Plague Marines, PF Champion with icon, plasma gun x2 and Rhino.
• Fast Attack: 5 Raptors, Icon, Power weapon, 2 Meltaguns.
• Heavy Support: Obiliterators x2
• Heavy Support: 5 Havoc Marines with PF Champ, 4 melta and an icon

Do I keep Huron with the Deathguard? A Landraider? Khorne Beserkers? More Terminators? Deamons?

What are your thoughts...?