User Content Friday - The 4 Things Every 40K Army Needs To Have

One of the sad side effect of the whole blogging thing is that posts often become disposable - even when they're really not.  The following bit from Sandwyrm and the boys at the Back 40k is most certainly not something to throw away.  It may be a healthy one year old, but the advice therein is the kind of stuff that'll be relevant for the entirety of 5th edition's lifespan.  Especially to the players who are less comfortable with list building.   In this day and age of list optimization and pissing matches between WAAC and FAAC, its real easy for the new guys to get lost.

Sometimes, you look at the army the other guy is putting on the table, and you just go "What the...?" That happened to my twice this week. So I thought I'd go over some of the things that every army needs to have in order to be effective.

Turnout was a bit light at BMG for the escalation league, but we still had 6 people show up. The league mission was Capture and Control with a Dawn of War deployment. Here's the list I took, which is identical to the one I took last week.
HQ
70 Primaris Psyker

Elites
65 Marbo

Troops
155 Veteran Squad w/3 x Melta, Chimera
155 Veteran Squad w/3 x Melta, Chimera
155 Veteran Squad w/3 x Melta, Chimera

Fast Attack
120 3 Scout Sentinels w/Autocannons
130 Hellhound


Heavy Support
150 Leman Russ Battle Tank w/Hull Heavy Flamer

Total: 1000 pts.

The First Whaaat...?

I got to the store at 6:00, hoping to get started early. But while there was a table open, there was nobody left for me to fight. So I decided to help with the rules for the two games that were already going on while I ate my Chinese take-out. At some point a new kid I'd never seen before walked in and started making an army list using Kriegle's newly painted Nurgle marines. I'd find out later this was his 5th game of 40K. I'll call him Tall-E.

Once Tall-E's list was ready, I unpacked and we rolled off. I won first turn and set up a single Chimera in the middle of the table to force him to deploy further back. The rest of my force would roll on, with Marbo in reserve. Fairly straightforward.

It was when I saw Tall-E's army being deployed that I groaned. I really should have helped him with the list composition. He had:

1 Daemon Prince
2 Units of Plague Marines in Rhinos. One model had a melta.
2 Obliterators

And that's it.

I slaughtered him of course. The Oblits took out a couple of Chimeras, while the Daemon Prince shook a Hellhound. And hey, he killed Marbo. But that's it. Plague Smurfs are fine troops, but given enough shots I will kill them. What Tall-E really needed was more numbers and some better anti-tank ability.

And the Second...

After that game was over BlueMoon wanted to get in some tourney practice, so we pulled out our 1750 lists. Here was mine:

HQ
175 Company Command Squad w/4 x Melta, Astropath, Chimera (Hull Heavy Flamer)

Troops
155 Veteran Squad w/3 x Melta, Chimera (Hull Heavy Flamer)
155 Veteran Squad w/3 x Melta, Chimera (Hull Heavy Flamer)
170 Veteran Squad w/3 x Plasma, Chimera (Hull Heavy Flamer)
115 Veteran Squad w/Shotguns, 3 x Flamer, Demolitions
115 Veteran Squad w/Shotguns, 3 x Flamer, Demolitions

Fast Attack
130 Vendetta Gunship (Demo Vet Ride)
130 Vendetta Gunship (Demo Vet Ride)
120 3 Scout Sentinels w/Autocannons

Heavy Support
165 Leman Russ Demolisher w/Hull Heavy Flamer
160 Leman Russ Eradicator w/Hull Heavy Flamer
160 Leman Russ Eradicator w/Hull Heavy Flamer

Total: 1750 pts.

Now, BlueMoon has some pretty good armies already. He took his Eldar Mech list to the 'Ard Boyz Semis, where he made the second table for the last game. He's also been running a cool new Ork force lately that I have a lot of respect for. This time though, he wanted to play me with his new Marines in an Annihilation mission.

I rolled up another Dawn of War deployment and lost the roll for first turn. So I cooled my heels and waited to see what he put down.

I saw Termies... walking.

Huh?

He was running a foot list with 2 Librarians attached to a 6-man TH/SS Termie squad, 2 Ironclad Dreds in drop pods. Two tactical squads without rides, and one in a pod. Plus 2 Speeders with MM/HF.

His basic idea with this force is to teleport the Termies around with one of the Librarians, while the Speeders, Dreds, and 1 Tac Squad drop onto the enemy. The other two tac squads get to stand around and shoot missiles.

Now, if there's three things that I LOOOOVE to fight as guard, it's:

1) Foot-Sloggers
2) Termies
3) Deep-Strikers

Foot-Sloggers won't make it across the field alive, while Termies are easily killed with concentrated firepower (Given enough wounds, he will roll 1's). And Deep-Strikers? They're basically jumping into my most lethal kill range.

So this was, in many ways, my dream opponent.

He left the 2 tac squads spread out in a long line in the middle of the table to force me back, deployed the Termies on his table edge, and deep striked everything else. I decided to not deploy and just roll everything onto the board on my first turn. He then drop-podded his two dreds about 9" from my table edge.

I deny-flank and roll on in a castle formation on the left side of the board right in front of his pods and open fire. One Dred and a Drop pod go down immediately to Chimelta/Vendetta fire while I whittle down the mid-field tac squad in front of me with the Russes.

BlueMoon then teleports his termies up near my line. One dies to a failed Vortex roll (Yay failed psyker tests!), while I kill 5 more with a flamer/demo charge assault from one of my Vendettas. It went downhill for Blue Moon from there.

Final score was 11-7.

And now to my point...

Both of these armies were missing some key elements that every army needs to have in order to handle all the threats it will face. These key elements are:

1) Long-range Light Anti-Tank

I don't care if you're Grey Knights or Nids. Every army needs a way to kill light armor (AV10/11/12) while it's still on the other side of the table. This forces some or all of your opponent's army to walk piecemeal into your guns, instead of swamping you all at once.

In a guard army, this is handled by autocannons and lascannons. With multi-lasers as backup for dealing with Trukks.

At 1500 pts, you need to be able to reliably kill at least 2-3 Rhinos on the first turn, and double that for Ork Trukks. If you can handle that you'll also have the weapons you'll need for taking down Daemon Princes and Tyrannid Monsters.

The only long-range AT that BlueMoon had was a couple of missile launchers on his tac squads and the multi-meltas on his speeders. That's 2 dead tanks on the first turn and one every other turn after I kill the speeders.

In my 1000 pt. force (listed above), the long-range AT is handled by the Sentinels and the Russ. Which will give me 1-2 dead Rhinos on the first turn. My 1750 point tourney force has the ability to take down 5-6 transports (including Land Raiders) on a favorable turn 1. I'll let you guess how. :)


2) Close-Range Heavy Anti-Tank

This might be meltas, or it might be the Power Klaws in an Ork mob. Either way, you need some way of popping any armor, Monsterous creature, or annoying hero that you meet in mid-field. Got a Russ or Land Raider to kill? Lascannons aren't reliable for this. Melta is.

This was Tall-E's major failing, as he had just one lone melta gun to threaten 8 armored vehicles with up close. That's not even good enough to take out a single tank reliably.

In both my forces, this is handled by the Chimeltas.


3) Close-Range Anti-Troop

How do you plan to kill a 20-30 boy Ork Mob that you meet in mid-field? How are you going to kill at least that many Termagaunts or Guard foot troops? What if they're in cover?

Flamers work wonders here. So do assault units and massed bolter fire.

BlueMoon had a TH/SS Termie unit for this. But that's still just one unit that can be overwhelmed.

Tall-E had his Daemon Prince, which is also vulnerable to being swamped or simply shot to death.

In my armies this is also handled by my Chimeltas. Helped in my 1K list by the Primaris Psyker and the Hellhound. The 1750 list has Chimeltas plus a Demolisher and 2 Eradicators. In addition, I can use the Sentinels in either list to tarpit problematic assault units for 2-3 turns.


4) Manueverability

More than any previous edition of 40K, 5th has become a game where the ability to move is critical. Whether it's seizing an objective, or just moving a tank to get/deny cover, effective movement will win you the game. While poor movement on your part will lose it.

This is why every unit in my army is mobile. Nothing stands still. This gives me the ability to adapt more quickly to a changing situation than most of my opponents. I can chose to get up in my enemy's face, or I can chose to avoid him if need be. But what I won't do is hand him the initiative by standing still.

So bring on the Rhinos, Trukks, Chimeras, Speeders, and Vendettas! Get across that field and into my face with Power Klaws and melta weapons. That's how Farmpunk kills me with his Sisters, and how BlueMoon beats my face in with his Orks.

Real challenges are much more fun. :)

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Dave Taylor Miniatures Steel Legion Contest

Your chance is almost up to take advantage of the Steel Legion Apocalypse List Design force over at Dave Taylor Miniatures.  You have until the end of the year to send him a 3,000 point Steel Legion themed apocalypse list that can also be scaled down to 1,750 and 1,850 points effectively.  Make sure your list is mechanized and follows the Steel Legion background and then send it in.  Full details on the contest can be found here.  Unlike a certain other one of your favorite sites, rumor has it that his contest will actually have prize support.  Yippee.  Be sure to check out my own entry after the break.




Dethtron's Steel Legion 3,000 point Apocalypse army

HQ

CCS	4x meltagun	90
~Officer of the fleet		30
~Chimera	HHF	55

Elite

Ratling Snipers		30
Ratling Snipers		30

Troops
 

PCS 1	Autocannon, 2x GL	50
~Squad 1	Commissar, autocannon, GL	100
~Squad 2	autocannon, GL	65
~Squad 3	Autocannon, GL	65
~HWS	3x autocannon	75
~HWS	3x autocannon	75

PCS 2	Autocannon, 2x GL	50
~Squad 1	Commissar, autocannon, GL	100
~Squad 2	autocannon, GL	65
~Squad 3	Autocannon, GL	65

PCS 3	4x meltagun	70
~Chimera	HHF	55
~Squad 1	autocannon, GL	65
~Chimera	HHF	55
~Squad 2	autocannon, GL	65
~Chimera	HHF	55
~Squad 3	autocannon, GL	65
~Chimera	HHF	55

Fast Attack

Devil Dog	HHF	120
Devil Dog	HHF	120

Heavy Support

Leman Russ Demolisher HHF 165 Leman Russ Demolisher HHF 165

Super Heavy

Stormlord	Lascannon/TL HF Sponsons	500
Stormlord	Lascannon/TL HF Sponsons	500

Total Points: 3,000

Suck on that Net-lists- not a Veteran Squad or Vendetta in sight.  For apocalypse games Platoons 1 and 2 go in the Stormlords.  Anybody like super heavy vehicles with Vulcan Mega Bolters, 40 man transport capacities, and 20 fire points that also count as open topped for embarking/disembarking, but not vehicle damage?  As an alternative, you could also drop a single Leman Russ Demolisher to get the "Imperial Shield" data sheet and have 15 points to spare.  That thing is amazing too, because it gives you 3 really awesome strategems for free, but losing a tank would not be too fun.

Fluff wise, I think we're pretty spot on other than the autocannon thing, but there's no way I'll pay for missile launchers for IG if I can avoid it, so that is one concession to the fluff that I'll not make.  Other than that, We've got a pretty nicely balanced force with plenty of anti-tank shots (light and heavy armor) and more torrent fire than you can shake a lasgun at.  Seriously, In the apocalypse version there are two Vulcan Mega Bolters that fire twice if stationary, 15 autocannons, over 100 lasguns, and enough heavy flamers to roast an entire Waagghhh.

To reduce your points for regular games obviously drop the Stormlords.  Next drop platoon 2 and as many Demolishers or Devildogs as you'd like and you'll be in the ballpark of your desired points level.  If you have an odd amount of points left over in the end, consider grabbing more Ratlings for fun- the Steel Legion is known to use them, after all.

That's it for now.  Feel free to share your lists with us after you send them in to Dave Taylor Miniatures.

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Dethtron's Imperial Armour 8 Elysian Codex Review- Heavy Support

Sadly we've now come to the very end of this- the least read, swearingest codex review of all time.  Hopefully those of you who have read this have gotten inspired or at least been able to see the wonderful job Forge World did in creating their first list in the history of the universe to actually feel like it might be balanced and suitable for wider play than just games for funsies with your pals.

...and now you know why I don't write army reviews. But anyhow, it's time to close this chapter in my life and move on. Plus I've just about run out of Apocalypse Now pictures that I feel are relevant to my uses.

The heavy support choices are a bit of a mixed bag. In my own list, I don't even use any of them. This is partially an issue with me not owning the models, but partly an issue with not finding that they heavy support did anything I needed, since there's lots of firepower all over the rest of my list. There is quite a bit of wasted space and needless repetition in this slot none the less.

Vulture Gunship
Arguably the only of the Heavy Support Choices that is worth considering for most games.

For 5 points more than a Valkyrie you get the same unit, minus transport and scout, but more heavily armed. Here let's see if you can apply the transitive property of equality to the following equations:
Vulture= Valkyrie +5points + more guns - transport - scout
Shit= Valkyrie +5points + more guns - transport - scout

Fresh from the factory it comes with a nose heavy bolter, a twin-linked multi-laser, two hellstrike missiles, a searchlight and extra armor. So all ready we have a decent amount of fire output, but save the hellstrikes, none of it is particularly good against vehicles. Plus, those hellstrikes have got to go.

Want a veritable cornucopia of options to choose from? Well you asked for it...

• Replace your multilaser with a twin-linked autocannon (price of IG power fist), twin-linked missile launcher (price of a power fist and a melta), twin-linked lascannon (price of 3 meltas), or 2 multiple rocket pods (price of 4 melta guns). Well finally, we can take an autocannon. Plus it's on a platform that can really move. Now if only you had scout, you could get those first turn side armor shots all day long. Not nearly as efficient as Hydras or heavy weapon squads, but it could help you out. Screw the missiles. Ditch the lascannon, vendettas do it better. Do you really need more rocket pods? Shouldn't you already have 3+ sets of those already on your transports?
• Replace hellstrikes with 6 heavy bombs (40 points), 6 hunter-killer missiles (costed as bombs), or 2 multiple rocket pods (priced as per Valkyrie). Bombs seem like a great idea, but FW forgot to put the rules in the book. Dipshits.  The rules are in the Apocalypse books, though so I guess that'll have to do.  Bombs look very powerful on paper, until you realize that they are random as fuck. They use that stupid hippy flower shaped template to determine hits. No peacenicks in my Guard. I can tell you from experience that that template sucks ass. You'll never hit what you want with them even in an apocalypse game with a board full of targets. Good luck trying to hit anything with a normal amount of models on the table.  Hunter-killers wouldn't be a bad bet, but don't forget your BS sucks. More multiple rocket pods. Well I guess if you fucked up your list and don't have any infantry killing stuff elsewhere, the prospect of 4 total rocket pods on a vulture is funny.
• Replace your multi-laser AND hellstrike missiles with twin-linked punisher cannons. At 50 points, this is pricey. You can't tell me that you don't want to roll and re-roll all those dice, though. But at the end of the day you've just got more anti-infantry fire. Do you need that?
• You can also take flare/chaff, armored cockpit, infra-red targeting, illum flare, and a distinctive paint scheme/decals. Flare/chaff lets you re-roll on the damage chart if you're immobilised- whoopee. Cockpit let you ignore shaken and stunned on a 4+- this is very useful. Infrared gives you acute senses... and I should care because? Illum flares are a single use and illuminate a target in night fighting so everybody can see it- so it's a fancy searchlight. You already have a regular one, do you really need to upgrade to the bat signal? Distinctive paint scheme lets one friendly unit within LOS re-roll a failed moral check. You don't take standards do you? This is no different.

Bottom line- this is a cool unit that suffers from the problem of not adding anything new that your transports and fast attack choices don't already do cheaper. Punisher cannons could prove useful in high points games as your efficiency changes.

Sentry Gun Battery
Great another crap unit with a ton of rules to explain.

I'll get to the bottom line first- More FW shoehorning. You don't need these and you can't expect them to hit anything anyway. Continue reading if that wasn't convincing enough.

For the cost of a Sentinel you get a unit with the same Armor values. They have that ultra-amazing automated gun BS2. Good luck with that. They are immobile artillery. They get a pair of twin-linked Heavy Bolters and can deep strike. For the price of a melta gun you can upgrade to a twin-linked lascannon (2/3 chance of hitting, which is ok all things considered, but not really worth the points- You could just about get another melta Sentinel for the same cost). If you like throwing away points, you can also give these camo netting.

Before the game begins, you must choose a firing mode. Here are the choices:

• point defence mode- set up with a fixed 90 degree firing arc. You can shoot at targets up to 36" away. Not bad, but that arc could really limit your options.
• Sentry mode- 360 degree arc with an 18" range. The short ass range kills this one for me.
• Interceptor- this is a new one and only works in Planetstrike. Your gun fires as an interceptor and only as an interceptor, per Planetstrike's rules. This is useful. ~ hey Internet, that was sarcasm.

And as a last little fuck you from the designers, the model has goofy targeting rules. You must fire at a "preferred target" if possible. If no preferred target is available, you must shoot the closest enemy in range. A heavy bolter fires at non-vehicles and a lascannon will fire at vehicles and monstrous creatures. This will cause just about as many rules disputes as rage when determining things like who is the closest target. Well it would if anybody were dumb enough to take these anyway.

Valkyrie Sky Talon Transport Strangely enough this unit is a dedicated transport, but the rules say it is also a heavy support choice that doesn't occupy FOC slots. Weird. This guy costs 5 points less than a Hydra or Griffon. It has the same armor as a Valkyrie and is a fast skimmer. It can deep strike and it has the sky lift rule. Sky lift lets you carry a single Tauros or Tauros Venator. You can alternatively carry 2 Sentinels. Maybe you might want to carry in a heavy flamer Ford Tauros, but other than that skip it. Plus the arguably better Valkyrie can carry a Tauros, too. Why would I carry Sentinels that can deep strike? If I could take heavy flamer Sentinels, this might be useful, but as it is now- not so much.

It comes with a nose-mounted heavy bolter and two hellstrike missiles. You also get a searchlight and extra armor. The only option available is to replace the missiles with multiple rocket pods at codex: IG cost. If you're not already running a bunch of Valkyries this would give you some fire support. If you're not already running a bunch of Valkyries, why are you playing Elysians?

Bottom line- this could be an interesting unit, but unfortunately fails to contribute anything useful to the army. Not having scout kills its usefulness as a transport for fast, scout vehicles and deep striking vehicles. If you were playing Apocalypse, this counts as a flyer. That makes it much more useful as a transport. Hi, I just dropped a bunch of Melta Sentinels into your rear arc with no chance of deep strike mishaps on turn 1.

Imperial Navy Air Support Ooh shiny flyers outside of Apocalypse. Sounds broken. Well maybe if they weren't shitty, it would be. You can choose either a Thunderbolt or a Lightning. Both have the same armor as a Sentinel and are flyers. As flyers they are fairly difficult to kill. They have the 4+ moving fast save all the time, but Immobilised results kill you. Their mobility will also allow you to easily get side/rear shots on vehicles and can be used to shield you from assaults and block movement very effectively. The model size will, unfortunately add to the battlefield clutter (the Thunderbolt, in particular is god damn huge) and you'll never be able to hide the vehicle behind cover, so everybody should always be able to draw los to it.

The points costs on these are obscene. The Thunderbolt costs 180 points, while the lightning is only 15 points less. These are as expensive as Leman Russes and are more fragile and have less firepower. Their mobility makes up for this somewhat, but I can't see these being too helpful overall.

Either fighter can take flare/chaff, an armored cockpit, infra-red targeting, illum flares, and a distinctive paint job. As with the Vulture, you need the cockpit and can probably skip the rest. But the flare/chaff does become useful as it could avoid an immobilised result. Too bad it costs 20 points and stands a very slim chance of actually doing you any good.

The Thunderbolt comes with 2 twin-linked autocannons (YES!!! autocannons, I've missed you). It also comes with a twin-linked lascannon. That is actually pretty scary for something that can basically be anywhere on the board it wants to be. You cn also carry 4 hellstrike missiles, hellfury missiles, or bombs at a cost of 4 melta guns. Well the writers forgot to include bomb stats or hellfury missile stats in the book. I already talked about heavy bombs. The same thing goes for regular bombs, but they suck balls against vehicles. Skip these. I don't even know what the fuck hellfury missiles are. I can't find rules for them in anything I own. I'm assuming they are some kind of large blast anti-infantry napalm stuff. If you do know what they do, please leave a comment. As always, hellstrike missiles just don't seem worth the points.

The Lightning gets a long-barrelled autocannon with an AA mount with a twin-linked lascannon. The AA mount isn't important in most games, but the long-barelled autocannon gets you extra range. All said and done, you're losing a lot of shooting versus the Thunderbolt, for a pretty paltry points reduction. You have the same bomb and missile options as the Thunderbolt, but can also take 6 Skystrike missiles for the price of a Witch Hunters rhino (wow, expensive). As you might have predicted, there are no rules for these given, and I don't know what they do. Seriously, they didn't even put the rules in the fucking FAQ. How dumb is that? If I had to guess, though, I'd say they are probably AA mounted hunter-killers. This might not be so bad.

Bottom line- The Lightning isn't worth it. The Thunderbolt gives you a surprisingly good amount of firepower in a very mobile unit. It is quite expensive, though, and the gigantic model takes up a lot of space. Space is likely something you don't have to spare with Elysians as it is. This could be a problem.

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Dethtron's Imperial Armour 8 Elysian Codex Review- Fast Attack

Sweet, another section of the army where you're going to want to fill ever slot in the list. This is honestly my favorite part of the army and has several great units to choose from. Deciding what to take is going to be difficult.

Vendetta

Nothing at all new to report here. It's identical to Codex: IG. It still kicks ass against vehicles and you still need to give it heavy bolters to fight infantry. I will rage against the storm a little bit here since we're all familiar with this vehicle and I'll talk about my pet peeve instead of analyzing this. I'm tired of seeing people put special weapon squads or really any unit in these at the start of the game. This is only going to tempt you to move your Vendettas close to the enemy. Bad idea. You out range most things in the game, why put yourself at risk when you can snipe people from afar? I prefer to use the transport capacity on the last few turns to give somebody who lost their transport a lift to somewhere important- so you can drop that scoring unit on an objective 2 feet away.

Tauros Squadron

Here's a unique unit and a pretty cool one at that. You get a little highly expendable dune buggy to annoy your opponent with. This is the smaller version of the vehicle and is a solid anti-infantry platform. I personally like the larger version better, but this guy is still fun.

Special Rules

• Unit is fast, open topped. Yay for fast vehicles, but boo for being open topped.
• Squadron of 1-3. Uh oh, an open topped squadron, should be easy to kill. I sure hope you have some rules that fix this.
• Armor and BS as a sentinel. Well, you certainly are fragile.
• Scout. Looks like you can just about run the whole board on turn 1 and still shoot. I like that.
• All Terrain Vehicle- you can re-roll difficult terrain tests if moving at combat speed. Looks like if you're not hauling ass, you won't be killing your squadrons by immobilizing them. Awesome.
• Galvanic Motor- whenever it's immobilised, ignore the result on a 4+. Holy shit, you just got a lot more survivable. I'm much less worried about taking squadrons of you now.
• Sky Lift- basically this means that you can ride in a Valkyrie Sky Talon. It can carry 2 Tauros. This will get more coverage in the Heavy section.
• Dedicated Transport: Valkyrie- so this guy is also small enough to ride in a Valkyrie. Interesting, but do you really need a fast vehicle inside another vehicle? The rules also stipulate that if you have a squadron of Tauros in transports, the Valkyries carrying them must be in coherency while transporting the Tauros squadron. How many rules arguments do you think that will cause? There is no precedent that I can think of for putting a single unit in multiple transports. Multiple units in one transport you can do, but this...
• Costs the same as 4 melta guns. Not a bad price for what you're getting.

So what are some things that are great about the unit off the bat. Well, it's really small, like just about sentinel sized. This means that like Sentinels, getting cover isn't a problem. With all of the ways to avoid immobilized results, you are a little more survivable than comparable vehicles. You're also really maneuverable and totally expendable. Hello movement blocking, something the guard hasn't really had before. These guys are looking a lot like Vypers to me. Your speed could also get you into side shot position for many vehicles.

Now we'll move on to options:

• It comes with a heavy flamer. If you leave this on it, maybe a fast transport dropping you off isn't such a bad idea after all. Scout the Valkyrie/Sky Talon forward and get out on the first turn and still get your full move. This will give you an extra 12" of movement more than normal. If your opponent isn't meched up, they'll quickly regret that decision.
• For the price of a melta bomb, you can upgrade to the Tauros Grenade Launcher. It is Heavy 2 and fires Krak or Frag grenades 36". This is kind of awesome. Again, this is looking like a Vyper, but you get blast templates if you need them.
• You can also take a hunter-killer missile, extra armor, a homing beacon, smoke launchers, and camo netting. Hunter-killers could be good to help with your alpha strike if that's your goal. Meh to extra armor. If you need a homing beacon this is the best place to put one. It can quickly get into position and will allow your troops to land where you want them. Smoke launchers are a must if you have a flamer and no transport and you can blow camo netting out your ass. It's a waste.

Bottom Line- Cheap, expendable, surprisingly survivable, and annoying. Use them like a Vyper, but don't expect to threaten vehicles much other than blocking them.


Tauros Venator Squadron

Here is the big brother to the tiny Tauros. The rules are all the same as the Tauros, but you cannot take a regular Valkyrie as a transport. You also get the front armor of a Rhino, but the side and rear stay the same. The cost is the same as a Witch Hunter Rhino. Pretty much everything I said so far about the Tauros applies to the Venator as well, but the Venator will destroy armored units as well if you pay the price.

Here are your options

• Comes with a twin-linked multi-laser stock to make sure that you get the most out of your hyphen key when writing about them. This can be upgraded to a twin-linked Lascannon at the cost of an IG powerfist and the opportunity cost of not getting to type as many hyphens in one unit entry- quick get the hunter-killers. Do you need anti-infantry or anti-armor shooting in your list? Arm to suit. Both options are good, although the lascannon makes these a bit pricey. On the other hand, if you do it right you can have similar fire output to a Vendetta for a little higher cost, but presenting more targets. Intriguing, no...?
• You can take up to two Hunter-killer missiles, extra armor, a homing beacon, smoke launchers, and camo netting. 2 H-Ks- Fuck YES!! Do want. Welcome to Alphastrikeville population: you. Add that to a pair of lascannons and you'll give most vehicles something to be very scared about. Also you're fast and scouting to boot, so side shots here you come. Skip the armor. Take a homing beacon if you need it, but keep in mind that you don't need to get a Venator close to enemy lines, since your range kicks ass. You can most likely skip the rest of the upgrades.

Bottom line- although they can get pricey, these little fuckers can put out a lot of damage and are highly maneuverable. They can do anything the little Tauros can do as well, so blocking and all that is still possible. Think about these as a reliable way to replace or supplement Vendettas. If nothing else this could help you avoid cluttering your board with too many Valkyrie sized models without sacrificing much firepower.

Cyclops Remote Control Vehicle

Not sure what these are doing here. Not selling enough models FW? Regardless, it got shoe-horned in here, so we need to talk about them, briefly.

Costs the same as a Sentinel with the same armor value. It's crewed by a single guardsman who can control up to 3 Cyclops operating independently (not a squadron).

Rules

• Operator- Deploy cyclops in coherency with operator. Then you can move them any direction you want. If the vehicle is ever over 48" from the operator it stops functioning until the operator moves back into range. If the operator dies, the Cyclops stop functioning. Wow, what shitty rules you've got there.
• Remote control- Johnny 5 is alive and can move to within 1" of enemy models in the movement phase.
• Demo-Charge- you can detonate the demo charge in your shooting phase. Center the large template on the Cyclops and don't scatter. Don't halve the damage against vehicles. So you just paid a shitload of points for 1 demo charge and you don't even get to make use of the whole template. Blech.
• If the cyclops is destroyed by a hit, it goes off as normal on a 6. Wow, that'll happen. So easy to kill and likely to do nothing and taking up FOC space that could be used by something that doesn't suck. Fuck that.

Bottom line- barely worth talking about. Take these if you don't like winning.

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Army Spotlight- An Evening with Nyhil Pt. 2

Today we're closing the book on my interview with Nyhil about his renegade guard, and getting a chance to talk about what I'm sure you all wanted to hear from him about- the hobby stuff.  It was great getting to chat with him via Google docs over the last few weeks, so I'd like to thank him for talking to me.  Make sure you check out his blog, 10"Template after you're done reading the interview.  If you've go an army that you'd like to share with the world and think you're worthy of inclusion in this series let us know at houseofpaincakes.info@gmail.com.

Dethtron- How did you approach getting your army ready for the table?  Are you an assemble first, paint later kind of guy or do you paint as you assemble?  

Nyhil-  Oh dear.  I absolutely refuse to play with unpainted models in whatever army I am using.  Sure, this makes me an elitist, but it also makes me paint very quickly!  Between ebay, The War Store, and various bits outlets, I planned out my entire 40k point army well in advance.  I even ordered my custom resin bases before gluing together a single guardsman.  I assembled my entire IG army over the course of two months, then primed everything in the same day.  At that point, I assessed the army-transport situation, did some math, and ordered the required foam carrying cases for the army.

Only then, could I begin picking out colors.  I was still a ways-off from taking the models to a table!

DT- Yes organization is key here.  Sounds like you've got that side of things covered. I know there’s a lot of talk about color composition and all that rot on the net right now.  How did you select your army’s color scheme?

NY- My mother was an art teacher, so I had a pretty good idea of how to match colors, but I wanted to make sure the entire collection could have a unified look, without compromising the overall aesthetic.  I have an Emperor’s Children army that became so unified in terms of color, that the overall effect is kind of bland.  I did not want that to happen here.

I spent the next month choosing colors.  I used numerous sprue bits and spare parts to test out colors and treatments.  I read the Forge World master class book repeatedly, and tested out numerous treatments on brass etchings, armor plates, and infantrymen alike.  After a month of planning, I began painting the entire army, assembly line style.  Not to brag, but the entire collection only took about 4 weeks to actually paint.  The real work was in converting and choosing colors.

I did not know how to approach the heads of the Forge World militia.  The models are wearing head-covering gas masks, but whenever I tried to paint the masks as cloth, the model seemed to lose focus.  There was nowhere for your eye to settle as you looked at each piece.  I had already decided to apply a thin wash of Leviathan Purple to the recesses of the vehicles, so I tried to come up with a complementary tone.  This lead me to the Rotting Flesh skin tone, blended into a Hawk Turquoise/ Asurman Blue shadow.  I also made sure to paint the models in such a way as to suggest a “helmetless darth vader”, and have the rebreather and hoses be the limit on the gas masks.  While this left a human head devoid of nose, ears and other features, I thought the bleak flesh and lensed eyes really elevated the appearance of the renegade troops.

DT- Love that drab color palette.  Moving on, what’s your favorite painting technique?

NY- Honestly, I think the most important painting technique is planning.  By knowing the order you will apply colors, you can afford to mix varying techniques for a very effective finish.  You can drybrush with abandon, knowing your mistakes will be covered by a wetbrush detail stage.  Washes need only be applied in thin coats, when painted-on highlights are not going to follow.

DT- Well that's not a painting technique at all, but I honestly couldn't agree with you more.  It seems like you are a very organized person.  I'd ask you if you carry around some kind of calendar or smart phone equivalent with you at all times, but I'm pretty sure I know the answer to that already. 

So, do you have any eye-opening tips for organizing the painting process?

NY-  The best tip I can give you, is to plan out your entire color scheme before you start painting.  Imagine painting thin black lines into every crevice of a space marine, THEN putting on the base coats of spacewolf grey or blood angels red and hoping not to ruin the black lining; it would be a nightmare.  In the same way, but at a far less moronic level, you need to consider the layers of color and detail EVERY model you paint requires.  Remember to repeat certain colors and treatments (like my rotten brass color with the Hawk Turquoise patina), to unify the collection.

 DT- Let's change pace a little bit here.  As a new player on the blogging scene, how have you dealt with your rapid rise to Internet fame?  Cocaine and hookers?

NY-   like to crush up extra Forge World sprues, and snort lines of resin off the carapace of my Reaver titan.

No seriously, while I have been painting since 92, I have only in the past month really been put out for the public to see.  While very nervous to do so, I have emailed MANY of the bloggers and podcasts I have come to really enjoy, and asked for input and feedback on both my content and blog design.  Also, attending the Battle for Salvation and the Warstore Weekend, put me in contact with some really great people.  The community has really helped me out a ton!

DT-  I know you’re a busy guy, how do you balance your work, love, etc, and hobby life?

NY-  I am a high school English teacher, so I can get really busy.  Knowing that research papers lurk around every corner, I am forced to plan out my 40k time to fit my schedule.  For example, Adepticon would be a great trip, but I will never have the free time to attend.

As far as my girlfriend, I am VERY lucky.  On top of being the love of my life, she fully supports my affinity for mini-monster-men.  I know that not everyone is so lucky, so I really do appreciate this.

DT- Well there you go talking about organization and planning again- I think there's a lesson to be learned in all of this....

I also noticed you’re an English teacher,  what’s the most embarrassing story you can tell us about that?

NY-  I teach Tenth and Eleventh grade.  Embarrassing...  I once had a student ask me “Hey Mr. O, I know this is random, but what is a Dominatrix?”  Another student helped out by asking “Isn’t that like a French Maid?”, to which I replied “No... Yes... No... Yes...  Ask your parents”.

DT- That's kind of awesome and sad all at the same time.  So, do you want to participate in something I promise I surely didn't steal wholesale from Brent?  Good then, let's do this.

The Lightening Round  

Vehicles- brush or airbrush?

Multiple layers of drybrushing, mixed with washes, then more drybrushing, then more washes etc. 

Fiction or non-fiction?

Fiction, all the way. 

Favorite Novel?

Four way tie (how can you expect less from an English teacher?):  1984, A Confederacy of Dunces, Choke, and American Psycho.

Least Favorite Novel?

I wanted to say Codex: Chaos Space Marines, but I apparently have to pick a novel...  How about Wuthering Heights?

Brent or Not Brent?

Brent with a side order of More Brent.

Boxers or briefs?

Do people still wear briefs?  Seriously?  Well, I guess if GW released underoos...

Favorite hobby related site?

When I see “hobby”, I think painting and converting.  There are lots of great hobbyists on the net, but as far as I am concerned, there is only one place to look for true guidance:  Dave Taylor Miniatures.

If you didn’t play guard, what army would you choose?

Bah!  I sometimes roll dice to pick what to take our to the table.  I have Tyranids, Necrons, Emperor’s Children, Daemonhunters, far too many Daemons, and now Vraksian Militia.  The Militia are my current favorites, but aside from them, I am not really partial to any codex at the moment.

Invisibility or power of flight?

I would prefer the ability to walk faster than any other human being alive.  Not run mind you, just walk.  I would be called “The Mosey”.

Do you regret taking part in this interview?

I only regret my response to the last question.  Who the hell wants to be saved by “The Mosey”?      

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Dethtron's Imperial Armour 8 Elysian Codex Reivew- Dedicated Transport

This is where the Elysians really come into their own as an army. You only get one dedicated transport option and it's the Valkyrie.
Well technically, the Valkyrie Sky Talon is also a dedicated transport, but that's a special case and isn't listed in the transports section of the army list, so we'll talk about it where it's listed in the FOC- Heavy Support.  Don't bother waiting with bated breath though, it's a pretty sucktastic unit.

The Stats and points costs are all the same as they are in codex: IG, but you lose the ability to take squadrons. This is the best thing that could ever happen to anybody that has ever wanted to do an airborne army. Using the normal codex, the squadron rules make it too easy for your transports to get shot down. Plus you can't move them independently if they're squadroned up. Having each Valkyrie operating on its own changes all of this. "Immobilized" won't kill you unless you were hauling ass. You can spread out and move towards and shoot at different targets. Who isn't excited about that? Sure you now give up a few more kill points, but big fucking deal. It's totally worth it. This is why you can't build an airborne army with codex: IG (trust me I've tried desperately), but can with this list.

Like before you need to ditch the hellstrike missiles for multiple rocket pods. The lascannon upgrade is a waste of time. Leave that to your Vendettas. Heavy bolters can give you some more anti-infantry firepower, but don't count as a defensive weapon. This will limit your mobility if you really want to shoot them. Plus, I can never seem to come up with the points for the bolters anyway.

My only concerns with mass Valkyries in comparison to mass Chimerae is that you leave yourself much more exposed and don't have fire points. With a Chimera you can get cover and smoke. Plus your footprint is quite small. Not so with a Valkyrie. Cover is nearly impossible, you can't take smoke launchers, and you have the footprint of the Hindenburg on the table. Just kind of eyeballing it It looks like trying to take more than 8 or so Valkyrie sized models would be just about impossible to play with on a regular sized table.

The fire points issue is a bit of a rub as well. As I've mentioned previously, you need to play it a little more cautious with your troops now, since you must be outside of your vehicle to fire. Without a reliable anti-armor weapon on the Valkyrie this makes your chances of being able to keep troops into your transport almost nonexistent. Unless you're playing against an un-mechanized enemy, you're going to have to get out at some point. Just be careful.

Other than those basic concerns, things are really looking great for this unit. First turn assaulting? Check. Late game objective grabbing? Check. High volume of fire? Check. That is some flexibility right there.

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Dethtron's Imperial Armour 8 Elysian Codex Review- Troops

Now we're off to the meat of the list, the troops section. This list trims a lot of the fat- yes, I'm looking in your direction Conscrubs and Penile Legionnaires.


Some of the trimming got a little heavy handed- anybody else getting visions of a fat butcher in a stained wife-beater cutting a pig up and glaring at you with a come-hither stare? Just me? Ok, that's the last time I reveal my sexual fantasies to you guys. Not only are the autocannon and lascannon still verboten in the list, but we can't take any heavy weapons in our infantry squads at all. Ouch! There are plenty of other fun changes to make up for this though. Let's stop focusing on what we're losing and take a look at what we're gaining. Wow, such positive affirmations coming from me, who'd have thought?

Elysian Infantry PlatoonThis will be the first of two stops on our journey through troop land. The composition for the platoon is similar to codex: IG as you get 1 Platoon Command Squad, 2-5 Infantry squads, 0-4 heavy weapon squads, and 0-3 special weapons squads. Now here's where they Elysian Twist Comes in- you also get 0-1 drop sentinel squadrons. What a twist!  Looks like if you absolutely want those storm troopers, you can still get some sentinels in your army too. You could also abuse this to take a lot of Sentinels if that's the kind of person you are. Most importantly, though, this gives you the ability to spread out your existing Sentinels. If you're taking pairs, like I advised, you can move some individual Sentinels into your platoons to get rid of squadrons, present more individual targets, and taunt your opponent by bringing the most kill points you can to the game- all hail MSU our lord and master.

Platoon Command Squad (PCS)
Same stats as codex: IG for 5 points more. You gain iron discipline and deep strike. Sadly, you also lose heavy weapons teams, although due to some awesome cut/copy editing, I just noticed that their stats still appear in the unit entry- way to go editors.

Options anyone?

• Platoon Commander can take bolt pistol, lasgun with auxiliary grenade launcher, plasma pistol, power weapon, melta bombs, or a power fist instead of his stock laspistol and CCW combo. This guy sucks more dick than George Michael in a public restroom. Why waste precious points on him? Spend your points elsewhere.  Seriously, with his crap stats, he won't live long enough to not shoot things for you if you try and get him into the fray.
• You can also add in a Commissar with the same options as the Platoon Commander minus the melta bombs. Hint, this is not a good place to put a Commissar, unless you like wasting points or funny hats. 
• ONE guardsman can take a special weapon. Blech, no more 4 flamer squads. Well, you get your choice of Flamer, Grenade Launcher, Melta gun, or Plasma. I'm thinking GL if you must buy something, but it hardly seems worth it.
• You can also pick one of each of the following: vox-caster, Platoon Standard, or lascutter. Everybody can get Krak grenades. Get a vox if you're doing tricks with orders. If you really think it's a good idea to punch a tank, then go ahead and get the grenades and the lascutter. Honestly, though for less points than the cutter you can get melta bombs on your commander, which is better. Too bad the cutter isn't a melta weapon like it should be.
• You may also take a Valkyrie as a dedicated transport. This could be a good opportunity for you to sneak these guys onto an objective at a decisive moment in the game. It's not like the commander's orders are really going to add that much to your troops anyway. Let him fly around the battlefield like a pansy taking pot shots at infantry, only to claim the winning objective at the last moment, stealing glory from the rest of your army. Man, what an ass. Similarly, this squad could even hide most of the game and jump into a Vendetta that happens to be nearby at the last second to go scoring.

Bottom line- you have to take these guys if you want an infantry platoon. That doesn't mean you have to invest extra points into them. Use them for their orders or for their ability to score an objective and leave them at that. Without heavy weapons or multiple special weapons they don't bring anything you need to the fire support game.

Infantry Squad
Ahh the lowly grunts. This squad will set you back an extra 10 points versus codex: IG, but you once again get Iron Discipline and deep strike. You also retain the combined squad rules and lose the ability to take heavy weapons. The other slightly bizarre thing is that your Seargeant carries a Lasgun, with no option to switch that for a laspistol. May not sound significant, but losing that extra attack in CC could suck, but then again you're IG and CC is pretty much going to suck anyway. 

Here are your options for the squad:

• You can take a Commissar. With the ability to merge squads still this is where you may want a Commissar. LD9 Stubborn blob of guys. Nothing new there, except that you don't have a line of tanks to bubble wrap and you can't create a CC monster squad as easily as codex: IG. You also probably won't be able to deep strke a 30+ strong unit very easily, unless you're playing on a Warhmmer Fantasy table with huge tracts of open, terrainless space. I guess this would work on a Battlefleet Gothic Table too, but regardless if you're playing on a Necromunda table, deep striking is suicide.
• Your Commissar and Seargent can take up to two of the following: Lasgun with auxiliary grenade launcher, plasma pistol, and a power weapon. The auxiliary grenades could be interesting, but this is the only place in the squad that you can get them. So with a max of two of these in the unit they probably won't do anything. But then again, they might and hell they're only 3 points. Why not?
• One guardsman can take a flamer, grenade launcher, melta gun, or plasma. GL and flamer are your best options here depending on how close to the action you plan on getting. As always, the others are too expensive to waste on shitty guardsmen.
• One Guardsman can have a vox-caster and one can have a demolition charge. Voxcaster is a maybe. One would be good in a blob to make sure that they get their orders. The demo charge I have less of an opinion on. If you're foot slogging, this stands little chance of making it to a target. If you're flying or deep striking it could be a nice 'fuck you buddy' to your opponent, but a single shot weapon that costs as much as a pair of meltas is a hefty investment.
• You can give everybody krak grenades and you can give your sergeant melta bombs. Who cares. Without power fists and lascutters, I don't want to get these guys close to enemy vehicles.
• Take a Valkyrie as a dedicated transport. Hell yeah! Problem is if you take a lot of these, you may find yourself running out of board space quickly. If my calculations are correct, you can actually fit 99 of these into a list if you really try according to the FOC. If you do take a transport, you become very mobile . Tragically, the only thing you have to deliver to the combat zone is a squad of guardsmen. Woo hoo. We'll cover this more later.

Bottom line- a lot of the standard tricks work here. There are some new possibilities as well, like mass airborne assaults and deep striking. Your best bet is probably still to blob up and tarpit the shit out of somebody and then try and score some objectives.

Heavy Weapons Squad
5 points more than codex: IG gets you he same unit with deep strike and iron discipline. Deep strike? Do you really want to lose a turn of shooting right off the bat? Leave these far from the fight to support your deep strikers as they drop or your flying advance. But, for the love of God, don't deep strike them.

You get a mortar for free (but the pestle will cost ya- sorry) and can upgrade to a Heavy Bolter or Missile Launcher. Nothing to write home about here, but I think that Missiles are your best bet again. Sure you're not as good with them as Marines, but they still offer a solidish anti light armor/transport and anti infantry choice.

Now here's the weird part, you can give these guys a Valkyrie transport as well. Not sure why you would want to do that as you're not shooting if you're moving, but whatever. There are also plenty of other places to get Valkyries in the list, so don't bother. Speaking of don't bother, you can also take Krak grenades.

Bottom Line- you don't get reliable autocannon fire. If you need the support, missile launchers will make a decent substitute.

Special Weapons Squad
Same unit as codex: IG with a 5 point surcharge for extra skills, namely iron discipline and deep strike. Well deep strike opens up a lot of options for you and will get you close to where you want to be. With only 6 guys in the unit, you won't be there for long, but hopefully you got to take something down with you.  It's not like IG players are strangers to throwing their troops away or anything...

The options are the same as codex: IG and you still must take 3 special weapons. Snipers get a big meh, because they lose some utility without Psyker Battle Squads to support them. Plasma is still plasma and you still only have BS3, so melta is probably best done elsewhere (ie veterans). Flamers or grenade launchers are an ok plan, but odds are you may have a lot of those elsewhere already. Same goes for the demo charge.

You can also give these guys a Valkyrie. I feel sorry for the air traffic controllers during a battle with Elysians. Not sure if it's worth taking this since you can deep strike for free. Depends on what kind of army you're going for really.

Veteran Squads
At last we come to the poster boys of the Guard army. As you probably already guessed these guys cost 10 points more than codex: IG, but you get Iron Discipline and deep strike in exchange. Did they lose anything? Well with no Chimerae to hide in yes they lost a lot. You'll miss those if you try and use these the same way as you do in a regular IG army. You'll also probably lose the game.

Are you ready for some options?

• Serageant gets laspistol and CCW. He can take a shotgun, bolt pistol, power weapon, plasma pistol, or power fist. Maybe give him a shotgun if you're going assault heavy, but the rest of the options are a big fat points sink.
• Any veteran can get a free shotgun or upgrade to an auxiliary grenade launcher. Either of these is good. If you're flying or dropping near enemy lines the assault options you get from these are priceless, provided you have ways of getting troops out of their transports first. Either weapon will be able to do some heavy damage to anybody that you want to assault. Obviously the grenade launchers are better, but regardless this will give you less troops to deal with in an assault which is a good thing.
• you can also take a vox-caster and a lascutter. If you're using your mobility to the fullest, you shouldn't ever be able to make use of the vox. The lascutter is a personal preference, but you get a lot of assault and ranged anti tank options in this unit already. Does one more really matter?
• Up to three guys may take a flamer, grenade launcher, sniper rifle, melta gun, heavy flamer, or plasma gun. Good times. This is still why we like you.  Well that and your BS4 and grizzly scars.  Now, without a chimera mobile bunker to shoot from these guys will need to be used a little differently. Rather than rushing forward at will to melta tanks, you really need to make a run for the flanks or areas where the enemy can give the least resistance. Let your Tauros, Sentinels, Vultures, and Vendettas worry about the heavy stuff and soak up a lot of fire. Since you have to get out of your ride to shoot, you don't want to be near anything that can threaten your lives. These are scoring units, after all.  Meltas are still going to be the standard for these guys, but you might want to consider adding a flamer or even heavy flamer (since you don't have a hull HF backing you up any more, although you may have lots of rocket pods). This will give you some nice flexibility without taking much anti-tank firepower away from you.
• Two veterans may become a heavy weapons team with a mortar, heavy bolter, or missile launcher. Are you flying or deep striking? Then don't take these, idiot.
• Then you can also take a doctrine. They're the same as codex: IG, but forward observers also gives you a homing beacon. Demolitions is really the standout here. You get a good package against vehicles and infantry. To be honest, though if you're working with Valkyries in support you may not find this necessary. Use your meltas to pop a transport. Rocket pod and multilaser contents of said transport to death. Assault the survivors. Aggressive? Yes. Reckless? A little, but the important thing is that you wouldn't really gain anything from melta bombs or demo charges.
• You can also take a Valkyrie. If you're not deep striking you'd be a fool not to take one of these. I think this is a better option than deep striking as it gives you much more precision as to where you're delivering your troops and you can be in your enemy's lines on turn one if they didn't reserve all. I don't mind deep striking things that have decent ranged weapons, like Sentinels, but when you have a 12" melta with a 6" super fun range, you can't rely on fate and the scatter dice to drop you near enough to your target to be helpful.

Bottom line- Still a great unit, just don't be too stupid with them. You need to be absolutely focused since you don't have a Chimera covering your ass anymore. There's no room for error. Aim for the flanks and try to stay out of harm's way as much as possible while going after easy vehicle/transport targets. Work closely with Valkyries and you've got a very efficient way to kill.

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