Sunday, July 13, 2014

Clan Raukaan vs Orks (Feast of Blade style)

So, I tried out a list for FoB: 1x Knight Errant, 3x Dreadnoughts with assault cannons, 2x Dreadnoughts with Multi Melta, 2x Razorbacks (lascannon) with 5 tac marines, a stormtalon, and Master of forge with Gorgan Chain.  This was not my original concept, but this is the first time I took a master of the forge, and I had NO dreadnoughts in my list, so I decided to go the other extreme and take 5.  My other list would have been stronger, especially against what my opponent was using.  He brought Orks, from the new codex.  He had 2 units of Lootas, 2 units of grots, 2 Forgeworld tanks (even though they won't be allowed in the tournament, but I was bringing a Knight Errant against Orks...), 3 units of mega'nobs, (each unit had 2 guys with double buz saws), 2 trucks (to carry the 2 of the 'nob units), and an aegis defense line.

He ended up going first.  I had positioned my Knight in the back, with my dreadnoughts closer and to the side (so they would keep up with Knight for a turn, but not be in his way).  As there was almost no middle cover (the board was 2 sets of ruins, divided my a street), my dreadnoughts go destroyed by the lootas.  We were playing the first scenario from the feast of blades qualifier pack.  My knight stayed in the middle of the because of of the 'Nobs waiting to charge.  At the end of five turns, I had 3 objectives to his one, but had killed 4 more units than me, giving his a massacre (so the score would have been 13 to 7 - he also had first blood)

What did I learn: By the end of the game, I had lost a flyer, 3 dreadnoughts, and both razorbacks, but I had three objectives, so it didn't seem so bad, even though I lost, until you consider that 3 of my dreadnoughts died and one was immobilized without any of them firing a shot.


  • The Knight was not a fire magnet, because my opponent ignored him because of the shield, and it wasn't the charge threat I expected, because of the 3 units of 'Nobs (after the 5th turn, we went into the assault, and the 2 'nobs with buzz saws killed it - 10 str 9 armor bane attacks, needing 3's to hit, because formation gave them +1 WS).  
  • My goal was to give my opponent more things to shoot at then the Knight, which is why I loaded on dreads, but the lootas tore them apart before they even got to shoot.  Need more than armor 12, or I need to give them a save.  Really, I think I need to give them drop pods, but I couldn't find the points, and the list was already low model count, even at 1500.
SECOND GAME:  We played another game, so I could try using my Knight as cover for the dreadnoughts.  I started with the Knight in front, and the Razorbacks and Dreadnoughts behind.  The cover worked on the first turn, I only lost 1 Razorback to Lootas.  I took a few other hits, but I saved about half of them (on 5+). On my move, I moved to the middle of the board, and then he charged my with a truck of 'nobs.  He buzz saws killed the Knight again, although this time they barely got the 6 HP they needed, and the death explosion scattered backwards into my  entire army.  While I only lost a dreadnought, and took a few HP on some others, we called the game (since we already knew that 24" ranged dreadnoughts were not going to survive the loota and tank barrage that was coming).

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Feast of Blades

So, I went to one of the local stores (next town over) and one of the people there was talking about how he was the Arizona Feast of Blades representative, and a friend of that store owner, and they said they were going to have a qualifier soon.  I have always wanted to do a big event against people from outside my meta (even though I haven't been playing a lot lately), so I looked into it.

40k Qualifier 2014 7th edition format:

  • 1500 points
  • Battleforged Rules:
    - One "Combined arms detachment," and
    - Up to one of the Following: a) Another combined arms detachment b) An allied detachment c) A single formation
  • Stronghold assault not allowed
  • The following list of Fortifications are allowed: Aegis line, Bastion, Skyshield, Fortress of Redemption. 
  • Forgeworld is not allowed.
  • Lords of War are not allowed.
According to the FAQ, imperial knights will be allowed (presumably as the allied detachment).  Given my recent experience with Imperial Knights, I think that a lot of people are going to take them, and that one of the only ways to counter an Imperial Knight, especially at 1500 points, is another Imperial Knight; I managed to kill one at 2000 points, but it cost me 2 land raiders to do it, so I bought an Imperial Knight.

Given the inclusion of a super heavy, I expect to see a few armies - one is the Imperial Knights (got that covered).  I also expect to see Necrons, probably with a lot of flyers (so I need a way to neutralize that).  I also expect that there will be some Eldar or Dark Eldar with lances and haywire grenades.  (This store is out of town, so I don't really know  the meta, although I know at least one plays Dark Eldar).  An IG tank line could also be a problem, although I calculate that, from the shield side (and most tank / gun lines are not very mobile), it would take 36 LasCannon shots do kill an Imperial Knight (part of the calculation that led me to get one for this tournament).

I have enough IG and Space Marines that I can field either to support the Imperial Knight.   The Imperial Knight worlds have "met-at-arms" which are compared to IG planetary defense forces, and they also mention mounted troops (several groups of bikers with power lances and "knight" heads would look pretty cool too (assuming I convert and paint them all - which I am tempted to do, except that the actual FoB Tournament will allow Stronghold Assault and Lords of War, so I am not sure that I will use the same army, assuming I win the qualifiers).

For the points, I am leaning toward IG, only because I can take 2 flyers, and still have lots of units (but they are IG - I like IG stories and background, but I am more used to player mech and / or power armor... Decisions....

Blood Angels, First 3 Games of 7th edition

I already posted this on The Four Horsemen: http://lionsangels.blogspot.com/ , but I am not sure how active they are right now, and I can't see all the stat stuff, so for now I am going to double post.

So, it has been a while since I have played, but I've gotten 3 games in 7th edition in the last 3 weeks, so I throw out some thoughts on my experience with Blood Angles in 7th.  The first game I played in 7th was against IG, or whatever they are called now - Militarium?

It was a tank line behind an Aegis defense line, with some special forgeworld rules.  The IG played had a 30 man platoon bubble wrap between the tanks and the wall, so I could not drop pod my Sterngaurd or either of my 2 Furiouso dreads close enough to get a good melta shot off.  I made good use of enemy's ADL, and all my stuff that was not in a pod is in 1 LR or 2 Razor backs, but all the vehicles got popped, and then it was bunch of marines being pounded with AP 3 barrage.  Death Company did ok - by that I mean they lasted 2 turns of getting pounded before dying without killing anything.

- The biggest lesson I re-learned from this game was that I should have drop podded my stuff into the ruins on the flank, instead of landing in front of wall and trying to chew through his infantry to get to the tanks (with the Furiousos did in 2 turns, but not fast enough to open gap for other melta before they were destroyed.

-The other lesson was that, since we were playing with tactical objectives, and I had the advantage early, I should of stayed out of range.  It would have been a fast, not very exciting game, but I let myself get sucked into trying to destroy stuff, and charged into his tanks -instead of using my speed to take the points I could, and then making HIM change HIS game. (instead I lost by 1 point, even though the game ended on turn 5 and all I had left was 2 drop pods and 3 space marines)


I used the same army for the next 2 games.  It was 4 Assault marine squads (5 men), each with a land raider (2 landraiders and 2 crusaders), 2 Furiouso dreads with claws (for counter charge), and a stormraven with meph.

The first game I played against chaos space marines allied with demons, and did not get iron arm with Meph, so he stayed in the plane until it was shot out from under him. Besides Typhus, there were 2 demon princes and at least 1 greater demon.  He had very little that could punch through my armor (in fact he glanced 1 land raider, 1 time).  This was a pretty well matched game, because my opponent, although he couldn't kill the Raiders, almost tied because he played the tactical objective very smartly - for example, when I grounded a demon prince, and locked him into combat with my dread, that demon summoned a squad of horrors to take the objective. all of my stuff did what I expected, and I even used one of the 5 man squads to clear some demons off of an objective - too late to stop him from getting tactical points though.

-The game was a lot of fun, and really close, but not a lot of lesson to learn, I won, and every unit did what I wanted - the LR kept stuff safe, the Furiouso's locked up demon princes (or kept them from landing).  Although I wasn't playing the monsters, it was worth noting that the change to making smash attack only 1 attack (instead of half) took a lot of threat out of demons princes against armor and dreads - they are not really a threat to heavy armor).  Also, if Mehpiston is going to sit in the plane all game, I could save a lot of points with a cheaper HQ.


The second game, I was caught off guard by an Imperial knight.  I wasn't expecting a super heavy (we never really discussed the list, beyond that they would be 2k points), but I was game - (good thing, because I found out that not only did he not have enough IG without the knight, but that he had bought and put together $250 worth of guard the night before, so that would have enough points to play.  Once my Land Raiders got popped (all by turn 3 I think), things went down hill fast.  In the end, the game ended on turn 5, and I lost 11-1, but the momentum was finally turning in my favor, and had there been a turn 6, I am pretty sure (baring some stupid lucky - or unlucky dice, I would have won 6-5)

Lessons from this game: -
- mostly about the imperial knight.  The armor, the shield, nothing special - I did not realize that they could move 12, and that their chainsword did "D" damage.  His cannon didn't do anything, but he killed 2 of the land raiders in melee in 2 turns (I had moved in to get the melta shot bonus)

-If you are close enough to hit the knight with the melta bonus, you are probably close enough to take a "D" hit from the explosion when the knight dies - I lost a squad of infantry and a furiouso dread to the explosion.

-Mephiston is pretty tough.  With iron arm, las cannons needed 4's to wound, Meph took 4 to the face, and kept trucking, and almost single handedly won me the game (in another turn).  The problem was that it took him too long to be useful.  He came in on turn 2, but the stormraven had to attack the knight.  The next turn, the stormraven zoomed to the drop zone (with the intention of hovering on turn 4 so meph could charge), but the stormraven got stunned, and Meph had to "fall from the skies", which meant to charge until 5.  Like I said, he took 4 LC shots, killed a LC squad, and was poised to clear an objective (and probably take out the enemy warlord with a pskyker attack).  Again Meph proved how tough he was, but if it takes him 5 turns to charge, he is going to have a hard time leveraging that toughness.  Maybe I can put him in one of the Land Raiders (then he would almost be guaranteed a turn 2 assault, which would have made a big difference in that particular game.

-Also, a rule note that I had not seem mentioned - how damage is allocated to a squadron.  It might have always been this way (I don't fight squadrons much).  Once you score hits, you assign them, and resolve them one at a time - I always thought it was roll all penetrating and glancing, and then allocated them - it doesn't make a big difference, unless some of the shots are at a different facing, but then it might.

Edit: It is worth noting that if the Land Raiders had contained full squads, it might have been closer in my favor.  Granted that this was IG, but I still was able to break 3-4 units in charges (usually with only 3 marines (that's all that was left before the charge), but then I would get shot down to 0-1 guys; 5 more bodies in each of those charges might have let me keep one of the objectives (as it was, 3 marines almost defended an objective from 3 units of guardsmen, and probably could have if it wasn't for the hotshot lasers)

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Combining Forces with "The Lion's Angels"

I got an invitation to contribute to "The Lion's Angels."

KarateKid is a real-life friend of mine; since both of us are fairly sporadic posters, we have decided to combine forces.  Another of his friends also recently became a contributor so, hopefully, between us, we will be able to provide more consistent posts.

I am leaving this site up, and maybe a link on the new site, as a sort of archive of old posts, but my new posts will probably be at:

http://lionsangels.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Tuning my GK all shunt list part 4 - Wrapping it up

So, I think I have reached the point where I can no longer be productive in thinking about or talking about my shunt list.  Only by playing it will I be able to add anything new to the discussion.  I have decided on one of the two following lists:

The first one is:
GKGM with psyotroke grenades and incinerator
2x 10 GKSS with 2 Psycannons, 2 hammers, and justifier with halberd
2x 10 GKIS with 2 Psycannons, 2 hammers, and justifier with halberd
3x Dread Knights with heavy incinerator and teleporter

I realize that this list is weak against air, and against 3 dragons I will be forced to throw myself into melee.  What I like about this list is that most of my stuff is fast.  It can either jump, DS, or teleport - so I can be where I need to be.  There is a bonus with the GKIS and the local tournament, because all of the games in the tournament have troops as additional kill points - so normally combat squading to take more objectives means making more potential points for my opponent.  With GKIS, I can combat squad both of them (assuming an average grand strategy roll), and have 6 scoring units, while only presenting my enemy with 2 potential bonus points (like I said, still not sure GKIS worth it normally, but with grand strategy, they might be).



The second list has
GKGM with psycotroke grenades and master crafted psycannon
3x 10 GKSS with 2 psycannons, 2 hammers, and justifier with halberd
1 Stromraven with hurricane bolters, psybolt ammo, Assault cannons and MM
3x Dread Knights with heavy incinerator and teleporter

This list takes a flier against air.  It also have 3 GKSS and no GKIS.  Like I mentioned in an earlier post, GKSS can get where they need with deep strike, and I don't need to be much closer than 24" most of the time, so GKIS, while nice, probably aren't critical - Obviously I'll make the NDK scoring if need be.

I think both of these lists are pretty solid.  My favor is leaning toward the top list, hitting hard and dominating the manuever phase, but I think the second one might be a little better against all-comers, because the flyer helps mitigate what might be a hard-counter to the first list.

Tuning my GK all shunt list part 3.2 Tau

I considered doing a guard detachment, but I don't like it for this list either.  It brings me two flyers,and two more troops, both of which are useful, but it doesn't feel like it really synergizes (the HQ and the Troops just sit in the vehicle and hope not to get shot down, if I am going to buy allies, I want to get my points worth) - it just feels thrown in.

The last ally I considered is Tau.  While I think that this is pretty solid, I don't actually own any Tau, so I don't know if I'm going to field this, or be able to test it, but of the allies I considered, I think I like this one - additionally, I can see the GK working with the Tau.  Of all the Xenos races, they seem the most honorable, and they, like Grey Knights (with demon hosts and Jakaeros) use other races when it benefits them.


Commander +2 Bodyguard - The commander has shield generator and Neuroweb system Jammer, and all 3 of them have 2 missile pods (or twin-linked) and velocity tracker.

a 3 man Xv8 Crisis Team, each with velocity tracker and 2 missile pods (or twin linked)

Kroot Squad with 11 Kroot.

Both teams of battle suits have anti-air capability, but are not wasted if the enemy doesn't bring air.  The have jump packs so they can keep up, and fit in with the theme.

The kroot can infiltrate up, and put pressure on the backfield, or act as screening force if need be.

While I like this, it only gives me 3 scoring units, and one of them are the sacrifical kroot - although I will have Grand Strategy to boost my scoring count if need be.

Monday, May 6, 2013

Tuning my GK all shunt list part 3.1 Necron Allies

So, the first allies I am considering for my GK allies are Necrons.  GK/Necron lists seem to do pretty well in tournaments.  On the other hand, even though the fluff might support it, I really have a hard time with accepting that Grey Knights would work with Necrons.

Assuming that my Grey Knights would work with Necrons, the next question to answer is, do Necrons add anything to this specific list?

While there are a lot of possible Necron ally lists, the biggest gap in my Shunt list is anti-air, and Necron is the only army that lets me take 3 discrete aircraft.  I can take 2 units of warriors, each with Night Scythe, and then a Doom Scythe.

This would give me 2 more scoring units, 3 flyers that can act independently, for both AA and Ground support.

Despite my feelings about Necrons working with Grey Knights, this does fill a hole in the list.  On the other hand, I can take a Stormraven for 205 points, with 4 missiles (although 90% they suck, I have sniped HQ with them), a TL assault cannon, and a Multi-Melta.

The Night Scythes are costing me about 195 (65 for the unit + 100 for the Scythe + 30 for 1/3 of the overlord) each, for basically 2 autocannons and 2 scoring units who won't die if the plane blows up.

I already have access to cheap troops, and 10 points is worth a MM, rending, and an extra point of armor (and I save myself the money of buying 3 Necron fliers), so I probably won't go with this incarnation of Necron allies, although I want to note that even though I don't think these Necrons bring anything to my list, they don't take anything away either - I think this would be a pretty competitive list, if I already had some Necrons, and wanted to branch into Grey Knights.