Army List: 1000pt Jump Pack - League Play

 (GW ©)

(Happy 50th Blog Post to me!)

Just a quick update today with a new army list for my next League game, which is slated for 1000pts. The game will play out that there is an attacker and the other is defender (determined by dice roll). The defender will hold a central bunker with the rest of his army coming from the deployment zone (a sort of reinforcement scenario). Winner is determined by Victory Points, but you get bonus League Points for either eliminating the defenders in the building and then holding it (if attacker) or having those troops survive (if defender). Both sides can get bonus points for holding more table quarters than the other as well. Here is what I came up with as a possible list:

• 1x 10-man ASM (2x MG; PF)
• 1x 5-man ASM (1x MG; PW)
• 1x Libby (JP; Shield, Lance)
• 1x Priest (JP)
• 1x 10-man Vanguard Veteran
• Squad 1 (Sgt with L. Claw & SS; second L. Claw & SS)
• Sqaud 2 (Thunder Hammer & SS; second SS)

This comes out to 1000pts even. My main concern is the few troops, with either just 2, or combat squad the first unit to have 3 weak squads. The Libby and Priest will travel with the 5-man ASM to provide their powers, but be behind the 10-man for cover and try to stay out of CC as long as possible. The VV will be squadded down so I have two "beat-sticks" that will DS in and one will go for squishy infantry support like Long Fangs, Broadsides, Rangers, etc. The other will try to take out MCs or a tank. They will be there to do the damage while the ASM are there to take on easy targets like other troop choices and then fall back to take table quarters or the center objective. I don't want to commit them to the grinder of combat unless my VV are struggling.

I will be play testing this on Monday to see how viable it is with Jason. I have to submit my army list by Wednesday, so I'll have a day or so to tweak this should it not do well in testing. As for caveats, yes, I'd like to maybe get another weapon in the Squad 2 of the VV, but this is still only 1000pts so it was hard when you need the basics like troops and a libby with pack. And I'm using a TH instead of a PF cause I had 5 points swimming around and hey, I've never fielded one before so let's try it out! In my first game I didn't even have any power weapons or invul saves at all and I took out a draw by playing the objectives and not trying to slaughter the enemy, so this should be a bit more effective.

»Anyone have experience with VV and how to field them? Some people suggested I go Glaive instead of Claw, but not sure about it. Re-roll any failed wounds or re-roll a single failed to-hit? Or just go with the extra attack with the simple power-sword?

Army List: 750pt Tau - Scouting Cadre

 

Army list, ok... wait, for Tau?! Yeah, that's right, I'm dipping my toes into a different army for the moment. I'm still painting my Angels, no worries, but I'm mixing things up. If you check out the blog Tau of War you will see my help desk email with more information. Basically my friend is learning Tau and making me read the codex and I've gotten bitten by the Greater Good. I made up a list at work, but got a quick reply for some help and tweaked it. This is what I got so far:

• Shas'el XV8 (Targeting Array, Plasma Rifle, Fusion Blaster)
• Drone Controller: Shield Drone and Gun Drone
• 3x Shas'ui XV8 (TL-Missile Pod, Flamer)
• Team Leader with Shield Drone
• 6-Fire Warriors
• Devilfish with Disrupt Pods and Multi-tracker
• 10-Kroot and 5-Hounds
• 2x Shas'ui XV88 (Targeting Array x2)
• Team Leader with Shield Drone

I'm sure it's not the most efficient or whatever, but it's my first list with the army so be gentle. I figure not a lot of use with multi-trackers on the suits because i'll either be firing at range and scooting away, or if they catch me, i'll just use the flamers. Sure, if it was 1500pt game, I'd take em, but I need to squeeze out points. Plus it mirrors a lot of what Old Shatter Hands suggested, so take it up with him. :-p I'll write up a report as soon as I test it out. As for my friend, he's making his own list that will fight my Angels. Hoping to give him good advice and turn him to OSH's blog for deployment tips and actually give me a challenge that the Necron were not providing. A rep will follow for that as well.

Army List: 1500pt Mech (v1.1.0)

After fiiiinally getting in some games with the new Blood Angel Codex, I have a better idea of how they handle. These have been 500-750pt games, but it's a start. I thought I'd start gearing up for 1500pt games again, once Jason gets up to speed on an updated codex, as the Necron are starting to show their age for him. I decided to drop Razorbacks for Rhinos for their versatility, and frankly, because they are cheap. Armor 11 was no match for even his need to roll 6s to at most glance. With a Rhino you're not losing a 35pt weapon in a single hit and if they become immobilized, Rhinos can repair themselves and RZBs cannot.  My shuffle also allows me to field full 10-man squads so I can get more special weapons on the board (normally Meltas). Currently, in this draft state, I have the below army plus 140pts remaining for either more Sternguard or upgrades to my Rhinos like Extra Armor to keep them moving up the board.

2x 10-man ASM: PF, 2x Melta, Rhino 500
2x 5-man ASM: PW/MB, 1x Melta, Rhino 290
2x Librarian (Shield, Lance) 200
2x Priest 100
1x 10-man Sternguard: 2x Missile Launcher (Combat Squads) 270

The 5-man squads ride with the Priest and Libby and are basically utility vehicles providing cover and FC/FP bubbles. Others like kitting these guys out for CC awesomeness, but that whole "single out ICs" in close combat is dangerous, especially as neither have a invul save and cost 50-100pts each. The forward Rhinos will blaze away with their Meltas and the support Rhinos will blaze away with another one plus Blood Lances all while shielded a bit. I can always disembark the Priest and Libby, say if needed for their insta-kill sword or leave the priests to provide FNP while my 5-men retreat to a flag point. More to come...

Army List: 1500pt Poorman's Mech

(Image from librarium-online.com forums)

Ok, so I asked around about my Dante/Sang Guard list on here and forums and I got a resounding "Meh". Apparently the Sang Guard are trash, as they are still just marines. The only aspect of them I don't like is the 5-man limit. People also point out cost or no invul save, but I'm fine with that. I just like to have enough bodies around in the event guys drop, so if it were a 10-man unit, I'd still go with them. I still intend to put them on the board sometime as a lark and find out how fast they die. But, on to more lists as I said I would. This one is a Mech list, which actually is a modified Jump Pack list. Since the transition from JPs to transport is no longer free for normal assault marines, it ended up that I had to remove models and make 9-man units to fit everything in a transport plus the points difference. *Edited RZB weapon and Libbies for more anti-tank*

• 2x Librarian (Blood Lance and ??)
• 2x 9-man Assault Squad
• Power Weapon, 1x Melta-gun
• Rhino
• 2x 5-man Assault Squad
• Razorback with LC/TL-PG
• 2x Priest
• 2x 8-man Sternguard Squad
• Missile Launcher

If you haven't picked up on it, I like mirrored lists. It might be a deep seated OCD thing I don't know about, but there it is. I think it has to do with redundancy, should one unit fail via bad-luck I have a back up. It also means the enemy can't cherry pick the "uber" unit and single out my best guy. He has equal threats on both sides, so regardless of where he attacks I have more of the same. The Libbies are attached to the large squad in a Rhino and a Priest is with the 5-man in the RZB. It was between that or an Honor Guard that comes with the free Priest and were actually very near the same cost. It came down to the fact I now have 4 scoring units in armor instead of 2 scoring units, but really it's a toss up if you compare them on paper. The RZB is to protect the Priest from being singled out, say if he was with the main assault squad. If the RZB is popped, the 5-man squad isn't kitted to fight, but could be a counter-charge/meat shield and the Priest can break off to hide in maybe the newly emptied Rhino of the original squad to keep that bubble up. The Sternguard form a fire-base and mostly lay down 30" range shots to weaken units or target MCs, etc with their more specialized ammo, instead of my squishy troops trying to assault it.

As the title suggests, this is a poor-man's mech. Of course I want better upgrades, especially on those other 5-man units, but it's just impossible to fit it all. GW is forcing me to play 1750 almost so I can round everyone out. For example, taking 10-men squads and the other melta would be great! But that's 56 points I don't have at 1500 and plus my Librarians now are kicked out and have to walk or pay even more for a transport or JP. Every time I remove men from a squad, say like the Sternguard, I get more upgrades, but I'm losing shots that could be vital against a horde. This is a take-on-whatever list, so I'm planning to be rounded, so I don't want to lose anti-horde just to get more anti-MEQ when my troops can handle it. I can't decide on the Libby powers quite yet either. The Shield seems pretty awesome to have a 5+ cover save either on foot or in vehicles and I might take Preferred Enemy as well to ensure we'll win combat. Again, I hope to not be assaulting MCs, but if it happens, I can still use my Instant Death blade if it comes down to it, since stuff like 'nids lost Eternal Warrior on everything for just being in synapse.

Caveats: Again I have no experience with the list and no one else does, so let's not start off with "this list sucks" comments 'til we enter a time when the codex isn't the new hotness anymore. This is built of personal preference, not a jumping board to 'ard boys lists and dreams of tourneys or stomping one enemy type at the local club. I hope to try this out sometime soon. I'll build more lists in the future as well, so this isn't the end all be all for me.

Army List: 1500pt Dante/Sanguinary Guard

(Sanguinary Guard from GW.com)

So I had fun with my Death Company list below. I'll proxy that sometime just for fun and see how it goes and I'll report. Otherwise, let's get back to a real list I might field. Again, I'm not set on this being the list, this is just the first in a line of test lists to come. This list is an elite jump pack army, using the Sang Guard as troop choices, so we're talking high cost, power units that are pretty efficient. I'll come out with a regular Jump Pack list with normal troops and a Mech list to utilize more of the Fast Rhino chassis'. 

• Dante
• Librarian w/ Infernus
• 2x 5-man Sanguinary Guard w/ 1 Infernus
• 2x Priests with Jump Packs (Single Elite choice)
• 2x Baal Predators with HB Sponsons
• 1x 10-man Tactical Squad (Combat Squad)
• Las-cannon, Power Fist, Melta-gun
• Razorback with TL Assault Cannon

Edit: I found my original list and added what I was missing, which was some pistols, PF, and melta-gun. The first thing that jumps out at me after making the list, is holy crap are Priests expensive, let alone put a jump pack on em or a bike. My two guys are almost as expensive as the 5-man Sang Guard squad! I was aiming to put Carbulo in here to get his special re-roll ability, but this is a tough squeeze and had to drop him. Each squad will have an attached priest and HQ, the Baals for fire support, the first combat squad of Tacticals will be in the RZB to plug any gaps or provide cover for the other 5-man combat squad that will be in the back taking pot-shots and holding home objectives.

I did some math hammer with the squads on the charge and you're looking at about 8-12 unsaved wounds per assault phase. The trick here is to kill off anything that can insta-gib your priest like a fist or power weapon but also trying not to wipe the squad, leaving you exposed. This will be what I need to work on for the most part, well, that and getting them to the target before losing guys to ranged fire. 2+/4+FNP will keep the guard up easily, but need to watch out for certain cannons or melta fire. The goal is always to stay locked in CC until the enemy phase to wipe out the unit, freeing you to assault again on your turn, or now use Dante's Hit-and-Run ability.

Other than that, I'm not sure what abilities I want to take for the Libby. I could take the Shield which will give my guys a 5+ Cover save while we're walking around, which sounds a bit tasty. And also Unleash Rage (Preferred Enemy) would be nice, but seems to be overkill, as my Guard come with master-crafted weapons, letting me re-roll 5 "to hits" anyway. The Shackle Soul could lock down units to make sure they don't run away (shooty units) or counter me by assaulting me first. Basically since he's not an Epistolary and he's already with a CC monster unit, he doesn't need to pick up the slack and can just be a support unit to keep everyone alive long enough to deliver their payload.

So there you go, my first play test list for the new Codex. Comments/Questions/Concerns are welcome. I might test it out this weekend with my friend Seth, but we'll see. Then I'll work on my other lists and get them posted as soon as I can. On a side note, I've started building my assault marines finally! (I've been using my Necron models for all previous battles) I'll post on my progress with those and a short thing on magnetizing them for different weapon selections.

Army List: 1500pt Death Company Craziness

Chibi-Death Company 

(Found on Deviant Art)

I spent the last couple days pouring over the new codex, as seen with my last post, as well as forums to help with some new rules we'll be dealing with. I knew I wanted to generate multiple army lists to choose from and play test, instead of finding one "uber" list right away and be let down by it later. The first thing that popped into my head was a crazy DC list. The list has no real staying power; it is pure killing a.k.a. brick-to-the-face. I'd play this to have fun, not be competitive. I'll go over the caveats after the list:

• Astorath
• Lemartes
• 5-man Death Company x2
• Power Weapon x3
• Death Company Dread x2
• Heavy Flamer
• Stormraven x2
• TL-MM and TL-AC

 As you can see, this is incapable of holding an objective. This list can only win KP missions and Draw in anything else. So no need to tell me the list is retarded, I know, lol, but it is technically a legal list.You'll also notice it's a mirrored list with 2 Stormravens carrying 6 models each, all jump pack bound and two identical Dreads. The ravens could start on the table, fire off all the Blood Missiles to soften up the enemy. All the units can assault from disembarking from the ravens with FC, FNP, and re-roll to hit and to wound on the charge, many of these being power weapon strikes. The DC Dreads can focus on the big stuff with their Blood Fists. The ravens can then provide fire support. Sorry, as ridiculous as it is, it comes out to a perfect 1500 and just seems so awesome. I actually came up with a second list already that is more balanced and I hope, competitive. That one is based on jump packs as well, but not falling into the point sinks of Stormravens or the craziest HQs. Finally, I'll make a mech list with lots of 5-man squads, razorbacks, and tanks.