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Topics - Fhanados

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1
Fluff and Stories / Dark Origins
« on: May 17, 2013, 08:36:29 AM »
Hi all,

This is a little piece I whipped up at work. It represents the beginning of my Lizardmen army. I aspire to make this army my most fleshed out in terms of background, army composition, character and models. Other than buying models (of which I have many) this is my first step towards my ultimate army. Without further aduie I give you the beginnings of the greatest events to rock the (my) Warhammer world.

Darkness. Cold, crushing darkness. It was all he knew. Ever since the beginning it was all there was. The only change was the gentle ebb and flow of the currents. There was nothing else. He was content. Until now…

He became more aware of himself, of what he was. He had teeth and claws to rend flesh, jaws to crush bone, powerful limbs imbued with primal strength all of which were weapons natural to his being, but he knew no foes. He knew no prey, nor family, nor enemy. He knew no creature other than himself but in becoming aware of what he was he came to know what he would become. A warrior.

Unknowable time passed, unperceivable in the blackness. Visions of the present, the past and the future swam in the liquid dark. A familiar world filled with familiar forms and familiar places that he had never seen nor visited was shown to him as clear as crystal. New currents flowed, not of liquid but of some invisible energy. Invisible even where all is unseen. The time had come.

With a violent eruption from the still waters he awoke. The first caress of the still cave air on his skin sent a wave of new sensation through his body. Heightened senses, dormant in the pool of his conception, came to life flooding his mind with information on his surrounds. The scent, the dryness, the warmth, the sound. Even before he opened his eyes he knew all there was to know about this room. All that was relevant.

He opened his eyes and confirmed all his other senses had already told. He was in a cave deep beneath the ground, a large rectangular pool of dark, still water in the centre. The orange glow given by flickering torches sparsely lit the corridor leaving the cave, but it mattered not. He could see as well in shadows as he could in light. Everything felt different than when he was in the darkness of the pool. Everything except the invisible current, always there as though just beyond the veil of perception.

 The walls had engravings depicting great wars, mighty cities, sacred rituals and holy words. It was irrelevant; he knew it all already. He knew of the coming of the Old Ones, the collapse of the Polar Gates and the Cataclysm that followed. He knew of all the creatures great and small included in the Old Ones’ design, and knew that all that did not match them should be purged from the world.

The burning light of Chotec’s sun greeted him as he emerged from the dimly lit cavern. He stood atop a great pyramid built into the side of an ancient cliff face. Although every block of stone was intricately carved to perfection such details escaped him. He could hear the sounds, smell the scents, feel the sticky heat and see the life of Lustria in all its glory. Any other creature would be captivated by awe, but that was not something built into his mindset. Wonder was a liability in battle.

He did not feel wonder, but he understood it. He could see the marvel in the eyes of the others. The way they stopped their labours to gaze upon him. The way the Skinks bowed their heads in deference, the Kroxigor stared in admiration, the Saurus guardians nodded or saluted in minimalist signs of respect. The invisible currents raged around him, empowering him, filling his mind with visions of blood and victory, of unsurpassed knowledge and understanding. He was unique. He was destiny incarnate.

The feeling of power in its purest form coursing through his veins stood his quills on end. The feathery coating covering his scales puffed up, shivering in the wind. A surge of pressure built up within him, a sensation unlike anything he’d ever felt before in the dark. The explosion was magnificent, a great roar echoed across the city matched only by the majesty of the arcane flames that danced in a rainbow of pyroclastic fury. He was the one lone Saurus of his spawning, born in Hexoatl beneath the lesser temple of Tepok. Born from the darkness under the City of the Sun he was the Son of the Inscrutable, Herald of Destiny. He was Aki’Pterixx and he was blessed with the power of the Gods.


I've tried to keep it in a kind of third person perspective with a heavy focus on the main character. I really want to convey the otherworldly mindset of the Saurus (especially this one in particular, he's special!). Any comments and critisicm is appreciated. I know there's some amazing writers on this forum, and really look forward to some feedback.

2
Enemies of the Imperium / How to gear out CSM troops (opinions wanted)
« on: April 26, 2013, 01:16:51 AM »
Hi all,

If you've seen my project log you'll know what this question is about: how to gear up my Chaos Space Marines. But these are no ordinary marines, these are my "Veterans". This unit will represent the most elite of my Power Armoured soldiers, traitors that have served the Word Bearers legion since the Heresy. So I want these guys to be special.

So far this what I have:
10x CSM, Bolter, Polt Pistol, CCW, Veterans of the Long War.

Now I want them to be separate from my standard marines, which are armed with Meltas and I don't want them to be Chosen since I already have a unit of them bedecked with plasma (Fallen Angels to go with Cypher).

I'm thinking a lightning claw for the champion. Same points as a power sword, but I get the rerolls. Not too fussed about losing an attack, since I usually flunk my wound rolls. Also thinking about giving him a gift of chaos and MAYBE a plasma pistol for extra punch at range. Expensive I know, but I want these guys to stand out.

I want an icon, since it would be thematically suitable for a Word Bearers army but after taking VotlW an icon of vengeance seems useless or wasteful, which leads us to the argument of marks (and icons associated with them).

Slaanesh - Extra I is good in assault, especially with VotLW I want to be targeting other MEQs. This means I'll be hitting first, and have the upper hand against loyalist scum. The icon of Slaanesh is arguably the best: who can argue with FnP?

Khorne - +2A on the charge is not too scabby, and would be really nice with the LC champion. The icon, not so good as Slaanesh. Extra S is not bad, and again helps with taking down MEQs, but it's only useful in CC whereas Slaanesh is useful all the time.

Nurgle - +1T is probably the best all round mark. It makes it harder for standard infantry weapons to take you down, and harder to smush in assault. It's also a bit on the pricey side, but still a good choice. The icon's not bad either; +2 to cover is nice and provides better protection than Mark of Tzeentch.

Tzeentch - What the hell is this? Why make it 6++ instead of 5++? Was it really that good before (no!). Anyway an invuln is always nice, but 6++ is pretty bad. I'd take it if it were cheaper, or if I knew I was facing a lot of low AP weapons. The icon is pretty bad too, and way overcosted.

So what do you guys think? What should I kit out my "Veterans" with for their anti-MEQ role?

3
Hi all. The question is the same as th title: Can a Grey Knights Nemesis Dreadknight exchange its default psychic power with a generic power from the rulebook? Again, this is another dispute that arose while playing against my GK friend. I personally think a Dreadknight with prescience is a bit much, but that's how we've been playing. Until I faced another GK player recently who said that he can't do that I haven't really looked into it.

I argue no: According to the FAQ Librarians and Inquisitors are specifically given the ability to exchange their powers, however no other unit is. This implies to me that all other units in the codex that have psychic powers must keep their default Grey Knights Codex abilities.

He argues yes: According to the rulebook a psyker can exchange their codex powers for rulebook powers. He also argues that by having a mastery lvl1 this allows him to roll on the rulebook powers once.

Am I making incorrect assumptions based on the FAQ for other units, or does my argument have precedence?

4
Battle Reports / Fhanados takes on the world!
« on: March 25, 2013, 05:23:42 AM »
Ok not really the world... But on the weekend I gave my 750pt tourney list a test run and it went surprisingly well. In fact I done better on that day than I have done in at least 6 months of gaming combined!

So we were doing a practice run for the post-easter 750pt tournament at Chatswood GW without keeping track of "battle points" and what not, but rather testing the scenarios. Our table was a bit small (3x3 instead of 4x4) but we cut down our deployment zone to 6" to compensate a bit.

Terrain setup was the same in all 3 games, and I took the same table edge. A doorless bastion was in the opposite left corner , a crater to the right, a bigger crater almost in the centre with a big statue next to it. Another crater was in my left corner and a ruined aquila on the right.


Game 1 - Crusade: 5 Objectives, bonus points for the middle, no night fighting.
Spoiler: Opponent: Grey Knights (click to show/hide)

We rolled for powers and I honestly can't remember what he got because he never used any of them! I got Iron Arm on my Swordcerer and the 4+ invuln buff for my Pyro. We rolled for traits and he got Move Through Cover with his Inquisitor and I got Master of Deception with 3 Infiltrators.

I lost first turn and he deployed.

The Grey Knights were combat squadded, with the Psycannons taking up position behind his defense line, Justicar manning the gun and claiming one objective, which gave no bonus. The second half stayed in reserves to deepstrike later. The Razorback and Dreadknight sat out of LOS behind the bastion and he was done.

My deployment was pretty average. Close combat Cultists were held in reserves, the Rhinos lined up next to the Vinidi to protect its sides and when deploying infiltrators I set up the ranged cultists at the Quadgun, claiming an objective and giving their autoguns skyfire!

TURN 1
Razorback and Dreadknight move out of hiding towards my frontline. I hate that damn robot! Due to my kinda shitty grasp of TLOS he managed to get some hits on my Vindicator's side armour. One HP shaved off, but nothing too harsh.

My tanks shuffle around a bit and I open up on the GKs with Havoc Launchers, dropping 3 of them. The Vindicator blows a wound of the Dreadknight and a hullpoint off the Razorback. My quadgun shoots at his and takes a wound off it.

TURN 2
GKs strike in behind my lines, taking aim at the rear of my Rhino with their S5 stormbolters. I'll have none of that and take down 3 with my Interceptor shots from the Quadgun. Despite this they still manage to inflict Crew Shaken on a Rhino, taking it down to 1HP. The Dreadknight moves forward and flames another Rhino, doing nothing. The Razorback makes a dash for my Defense Line, popping smoke as it comes to a halt. The defensive GK unit take some shots at my quadgun cultists, killing a few and forcing morale. The cowardly Cultists decide to leg it straight into the waiting Grey Knights. Goodbye Cultists!

My close combat Cultists come in from the right side and head straight for his Quadgun and Psycannons. A combination of shitty pistols, a shotgun and a flamer finish off the Grey Knights and free up the Quadgun and objective for the taking. My Marines all bail out of the Rhinos to face the Dreadknight. Combined fire from both units and their leading sorcerers bring the monstrous abomination against codex balance to its knees. With the major threat gone my Rhinos open up on the two remaining GKs, killing one. The Vindicator blows both a hullpoint and the Heavy Bolter off the Razorback and I nod my head, satisfied with the results.

TURN 3
Coteaz and Co bail out and head for my quadgun in support of the lone GK. Quadgun and cyber eagle attacks (seriously how is a freaking robot bird more of a threat and explosive bolt shells?) whittle down the Pyro's unit, who are currently occupying the middle. Somehow one of my Rhinos dies but I'm not quite sure how, my memory is a bit fuzzy.

My Cultists move to man the quadgun. An argument ensues whether or not I can fire it and we decide on snap shots only, but then I realise I need to be in base contact so I get no shots anyway. My Marines move towards the Assassin/Inquisitor unit and open up, killing most of the assassins and getting both characters down to 1 wound each. Somehow the lone GK survives the bombardment from the last Rhino and the Vindicator misses by a mile.

TURN 4
Coteaz and friends make a dash towards my Warlord's unit. Shooting cuts them down a bit more and is followed up by a charge. He goes to roll for his Death Cult assassin but I remind him it has no grenades. I strike first and kill nothing, and he kills the entire unit bar the Sorcerer. A failed Ld roll sees me break for it and run for the edge, narrowly escaping being cut to ribbons by the Assasin.

My mace Sorcerer runs out of his unit to tie up Coteaz, while only the quadgun has Line of Sight to the remaining enemies. The Quadgun fires at the lone GK, who passes his saves. The mace Sorcerer charges but rolls too low to make it in.

TURN 5
Coteaz makes a run towards the Cultists, but rolls crap for moving through cover. Shooting kills off my Pyromancer but other than that nothing happens.

My turn is just as uneventful, with me consolidating into a congo line across 2 objectives only to find that I can only claim one. I go fot the middle one for bonus points.

We roll for turn 6 and up comes a 1. The game ends.

Overall I think I went quite well. A few bad decisions late game cost me one of my CSM squads, and if they survived I'd have 3 objectives to his 1, but the Rhinos performed much better than I expected them to. Victory for Chaos!

Game 2 - Purge the Alien: Kill points, bonus for killing the opponents warlord with your own, Nightfighting first turn.
Spoiler: Opponent: Blood Angels (click to show/hide)

My Warlord gets Soul Blaze for himself and his unit, and the Blood Angels get something pointless. My powers are the Primaris power for the Pyro, and Warp Speed (or whatever it is, I and A buff) for the Bio. He rolls first turn and away we go!

He deploys behind the statue and bastion, with the Tacticals just behind the crater. My deployment is basically the same as before.

TURN 1
Night fighting gave him a first turn advantage, so he moves the Tacticals into the crater and the Assaults out of LOS.

With only the Tacticals to shoot at, I shuffle my tanks around moving the vindicator forward and unleash hell. 6 Space Marines die.

TURN 2
Predator comes in, flanking my defense line. An awesome amount of flames kills 7 cultists from one unit, and 4 from the other and also takes a wound off the quadgun. Not liking fire, the Cultists decide to hoof it off the board and with that one round of fire I lose 20 models. Nothing else really happens.

TURN ??
I don't remember the rest too well, it went so quickly I had no idea what turn it was!
I disembark one unit near each Assault squad and turn my Vindicator to take aim at the Predator. Rhinos kill all but one Tactical Marine and gunfire drops 2-3 Assault Marines from each squad. The Vindicator stuns the Predator and my Sorcerers charge, issuing challenges to their relevant opponents. The Mace Sorcerer drops a Sergeant, gaining Instant Death for his melee attacks. The Sword wielding Sorcerer is buffed to the gills with +3I and +3A and makes short work of the enemy warlord, scoring me extra points. In the end a lone Space Marine faces the wrath of everything. I form up a nice circle around him preparing to unleash mass death. My Warlord steps up to the task with a single shot from the plasma pistol ending the game. Somehow, somewhere the predator died but I don't recall the specifics.

Tabled him! He seemed to have had very few models, and would have had even less if he took his usual unit of kitted out Death Company. I don't know what he could have done better, as I'm not familiar with the codex but a bit more range would have done him wonders. That said, with the cultists downI have also come to dislike the force mace/stave. AP4 just doesn't cut it for me.

Game 3 - Relic: Bonus for first to get the relic
Spoiler: Opponent: Necrons (click to show/hide)

I get Iron Arm and Inferno for my powers, and some rubbish thing for Warlord.

I go first and deploy mostly the same as previously. There really isn't much room for variety. His Immortals hide behind the bastion and his Warriors behind the crater

TURN 1
Heavy gunfire takes down about 5 warriors, 3 of which get back up. 3 Scarab Swarms also go down.

The Doomsday Arc kills off most of my pistol cultists, but they hold. Warriors claim the Relic. Gauss/Tesla fails to do a whole lot and it's on to next turn.

TURN 2
My Rhinos edge forwards, taking shots at the Warriors as they go. A handful die, but a few get back up. Cultists move up with the combat unit manning the quadgun and the Autogun unit moving to get into rapid-fire range next turn.

Not much moving, only scarabs moved fowards. The Arc shoots and scatters too far to do any damage, and Gauss shaves a HP off a Rhino. The Scarab swarms really shine when they charge the Vindicator, stripping it of 3 points of armour but no damage.

Turn 3
I bail out of my transports, on squad heading to the Immortals and one towards the Warriors. Torrents of gunfire kill off 11 warriors, but when the dust settles only 3 don't get up. In desparation I charge the Warrior blob, challenging the lord to a duel. He pops the labyrinth and I panic. The gods smile upon me and a 1 appears on the dice. My backswing takes 2 wounds off him, winning the combat by 2. He rolls 11 for leadership and falls back, but not far enough. The whole warrior blob phases out of existence as my Warlord howls his victory to the Gods, who in turn grant him +1WS for his efforts.

Doomsday fire starts putting the hurt on me, killing a bunch of Marines and instant deathing my Warlord. Immortals let loose but fail to damage the weakened Vindicator. Scarabs have another dig at the Vindicator, wrecking it after reducing its armour some more.

Turn 4
EVERYTHING runs for the relic for me. As long as something lives through the inevitable pie plate I can win this. A few shots clean up the Scarabs and the remaining Sorcerer charges the Immortals, killing one. From here on every turn onwards is the same. I kill an Immortal, he blasts away at my troops. Eventually the game ends and I hold the relic. Victory for Chaos!


Overall Postgame Thoughts
My list went very well. Much better than I had thought it would. The Rhinos protected me from small arms fire and provided decent range support from havoc launchers. The Vindicator actually hit things, and I'm pretty sure in at least one game it made its points back! The Cultists ran like sissies, but that was to be expected. I think I'd like MORE Cultists, but I don't really have the models for it. My biggest letdown was the Mace Sorcerer. I just don't feel like AP4 is good enough, especially with all the Sv3+ running round. I think I might drop one Sorcerer and throw in something else. Maybe a lone Obliterator would be a nice addition, or perhaps some more infantry bodies. Pretty happy with the result, although I'm well aware I didn't face deadly deadly net lists.

5
General 40k and Expansions / Question about gun emplacements
« on: March 24, 2013, 11:04:47 PM »
Hi guys,

I played a few games on the weekend in preparation for the post-easter 750pt tourney I've signed myself up for. For the most part it went swimmingly, I went exceedingly well with a list I thought would be rubbish but there was one point that my main opponent (aka my nemisis/friend) and I disagreed on, which was about gun emplacements (there was confusion about Look Out Sir as well, but that was all silly business and we worked that out after some logical discussion). And so arose a few things that I need to clear up before I go to this tourney and do something stupid by accident. Note some of these may seem silly, but they were all key points of our argument.

  • Can a Quadgun purchased with an ADL move? His reasoning behind it was that the Quadgun is artillery. I pointed out it was a Gun Emplacement, and followed the rules in the terrain section but he is adamant that on DakkaDakka and Warseer he has seen people treat it as artillery and therefore be able to move.
  • Does the Quadgun confer it's toughness value to the firer? Again this comes from the "Quadgun is an artillery unit" line of thought. I'm not overly familiar with artillery rules (I was too busy shouting Gun Emplacement rules at him!) but that's where it stems from.
  • Can a model firing the Quadgun hide behind it to avoid being shot at? We both agreed on "yes" due to TLOS but want to be sure.
  • Can a model fire the quadgun on the same turn it moves in to base contact with it? This one is the doozey. As per the rules for a gun emplacement, a model can fire the Quadgun's weapons in lieu of its own following the normal rules for shooting. He argued that it could not shoot at all, which makes no sense to me. By my reasoning, the Quadgun didn't move therefore the shots were fired at full BS. He didn't like that, so since we couldn't find anything to indicate it couldn't shoot at all he shifted his stance to say it can fire snap shots only, as it is a heavy weapon and the firing model moved. We rolled on it and I fired snapshots. At the time I didn't like this (blood was boiling from the argument  >:() but it was better than not being able to fire at all! Now I see more logic to this argument but I still don't think it's very clear.
  • Does LOS for firing the Quadgun get measured from the gun or the firer?
  • Would you allow someone to fire from behind a ADL even if the model was too short to see over the top of it? Bottom line is that ADLs are too high. I've found very few infantry models are tall enough to see above them. We house-ruled it so that we could shoot at/with models behind an ADL even when LOS was sketchy, but realistically I think that it's going to be a 100% LOS blocker, which kind of defeats its purpose. Thoughts?

6
Hobby / Warhammer Empire Colours
« on: February 27, 2013, 03:51:11 AM »
Hi all,

I have in my mind an army that takes Empire colours from different regions/organisations. Does anyone know what colours represent which regions or organisations, or a good resource to look for (ie Nuln, Reichland, Kislev, Knights Panther, Reiksguard etc etc)?

7
Enemies of the Imperium Army Lists / 750pt Tourney List
« on: February 26, 2013, 06:50:38 AM »
Hi guys!

I've entered myself in the Chatswood GW's Storm of Vengeance 750pt tournament, and have come up with a list I think might be a goodun! The tourney is pretty basic scoring, 20pt for a win, 10 for a draw 5 for a loss over3 games. Pairings are done based on points, so higher pts face higher pts etc. Games are:
#1: 5x objectives. Extra 2 points for holding middle objective.
#2: Kill points. Extra 2 points for killing a HQ with a HQ.
#3: Relic. Extra 1 point for being first to capture it.

I've taken an approach I usually don't take - MSU. Admittedly, without Razorhacks or even an abundance of Rhinos this is bound to be a bit subpar, but this is what I've got.

Sorcerer: 60
Sorcerer w/ Plasma Pistol: 75
Aegis w/ Quadgun: 100
Cultists x10 w/ Autoguns & heavy Stubber: 63
Cultists x10 w/ Autopistols, Flamer & Shotgun: 57
Chaos Marines x5 w/ 1x Plasma Gun & Rhino w/ Havoc Launcher: 137
Chaos Marines x5 w/ 1x Plasma Gun & Rhino w/ Havoc Launcher: 137
Vindicator: 120

Honestly I'd like to have used a pred instead of the Vindi, but oh well. Pie plates are fun anyway. My plan is to blast their scoring units to oblivion with Havoc Launchers while Cultists run distraction and CSM pull the actual weight. Sorcerers go with each CSM unit. Plasma pistol is only there as points filler and because it's what the model has. I'll use a lore with plenty of blessing/maledictions on that guy so the points aren't wasted.

Thoughts?

8
Enemies of the Imperium / The Virtues of a Daemon Engine (CSM)
« on: January 22, 2013, 02:04:52 AM »
Hi guys,

I've been toying around with an army list that essentially just contains walkers. While I have extensive experience with dreadnaughts of one variety or another (I sometimes play 2-3 in my SM army and 1-2 in my CSM) I have never used any of the other Chaos walkers, new or old. After staring at my codex for what seems like forever I've come to form an opinion on our walkers, but I'd like to hear what you all think too!

The Hellbrute
Technically not a Daemon Engine but the DV model is pretty much what I envision a proper Daemon Engine to look like - fleshy mechanical warp twisted death machine. It's a unit I both love and hate. It never performs how I want it to but usually does something useful before biting the dust.
Pros
  • Cheap base cost. Running a bunch of stock 'brutes won't cost you too much.
  • Decent standard loadout. Multimelta and power fist make it pretty good close range anti-armour.
  • Crazed! Although it's pretty rare to actually get crazed you no longer slaughter your own troops en-masse at the drop of a hat.
  • Power Scourge! I love this thing :). Thunder hammer is kind of cool but really I see no reason to take it when the power fist is stock.
  • Plasma Cannon
  • Makes a good interference unit. Throw it in combat with something that can't hurt it, or will struggle to glance and you can cause some real headaches.
Cons
  • Very few options when compared to Loyalist dreads. This actually annoys me a lot. We have the opportunity to have a unique unit that both ties us in as Space Marines yet separates us from our Loyalist equivalents at the same time. Why no daemonic possession? Vehicle marks would be fun too but that's another ball game.
  • Poor options for a dakka dread. While SM get double-twinlinked autocannon the only option we have for replacing our powerfist for range is a Missile Launcher.
  • Low number of attacks. With only 2 attacks it's going to take you a LONG time to chew up anything worth assaulting
  • Ranged weapons options seem a bit pricey, especially the heavy flamer which is particularly useful in a CC build. It would also be nice to throw in an ectoplasm cannon or some kind of unique Chaos ranged weapon as an option
  • No integrated combibolter in standard kit. WHY?! Really instead of the FAQ dropping the price by 5pts it should have just included this upgrade as standard.

Defiler
The first of it's kind (that I'm aware of): The original Daemon Engine. Also the one that confuses me most. I see these making good support units for the cheaper Hellbrute and the remainder of the army.
Pros
  • Lots of hull points! More than anything except a Landraider
  • Battlecannon - the only real long ranged ordnance we have.
  • It's really tall, so it'll be easy to draw LOS to your target.
  • Twinlinked weapons and template/blast make up for it's poor ballistic skill
  • Replace your gun "arms" with CCWs including my friend the Power Scourge :)
  • 5+ invuln, causes Fear, has Daemonforge, Fleet and It Will Not Die
Cons
  • It's expensive! You pay a premium in points for this thing.
  • Poor AV for its price. Whatever kills a Hellbrute will kill a Defiler.
  • It's competing for Heavy Support slots with Oblits, Havocs and the Fiends, all of which can put out as much or more damage
  • Firing the Battlecannon makes everything else shoot snapshots. This makes having ranged weapon "arms" almost useless unless you don't shoot the battlecannon.
  • It's big! It will not be hard for your opponent to draw LOS to your big expensive death machine and bring it down with some shooting.

Forgefiend
New shiny walker! The Forgefiend is the more expensive shooty variety and brings a nice support element to the table.
Pros
  • Nice range weapon options. Lots of shots with the Hades and high strength and good AP on the Ectoplasma.
  • Swap your head for a gun. Always a positive in my books
  • Not too expensive. You can run a few of these and not break the bank with points.
  • 5+ invuln, causes Fear, has Daemonforge, Fleet and It Will Not Die
Cons
  • Again, poor AV.
  • Poor BS. Not so much an issue when using Ectoplasma but with the 50% hit rate you'll probably end up missing with a lot of the Hades shots.
  • Lots of plasma means lots of self-harm. 1s are bad!
  • Competes with other Heavy Support choices.
  • Not many options. I'd imagine that Daemon Engines would be very variable and individual but really the Feinds are pretty plain.


Maulerfiend
Pros
  • Fairly cheap. Will cost about the same as a Hellbrute with some upgrades
  • 5+ invuln, causes Fear, has Daemonforge, Fleet and It Will Not Die
  • Very fast! Moves 12" and being able to re-roll charge distances is crazy good.
  • Two powerfists as standard.
  • Lasher Tendrils can mess with your opponent in Close Combat pretty fiercely, especially since with the upgrade you get TWO of them for one purchase

Cons
  • Poor AV (see a pattern?).
  • Absolutely zero range ability.
  • Magma Cutters are terrible. Lasher Tendrils are pretty much a must-have.
  • Even with 2 powerfists you still don't get many attacks. Less if you drop the Cutters for Tendrils
  • Basically no options
  • Heavy support, again competing with a lot of other good options.


Helldrake

Our codex's token flier and one of the few units people seem to be scrambling to get a hold of. Generally very good in almost every way, but I still don't consider it a "must have".
Pros
  • It's a flyer. Enough said.
  • 5+ invuln, causes Fear, has Daemonforge and It Will Not Die
  • Baleflamer is brutal anti-infantry and burns through MEQ as easlily as GEQ
  • It can Vector Strike despite not being a Flying Monstrous Creature
  • Good AV for a flier
Cons
  • Only has a single weapon.
  • For a supposed anti-flyer flyer it's pretty rubbish at killing flyers.
  • No options other than to replace the Hades with Baleflamer

Thanks for reading my wall of text. Please weigh in your opinions because most of mine is speculation!

9
Battle Reports / Fhanados at the Cando Incident
« on: January 21, 2013, 02:40:57 AM »
Hi all!

On Saturday I participated in the first 2 games of an escalation campaign in Sydney called the Cando Incident. I stayed up until nearly 2am assembling models that I later realised I wouldn't use until next week, then had to get up at 6 to get there on time, but it was worth it! A brief recount of my games are below (sorry for the wall of text!).



Game 1: 750pts Chaos vs Imperial Guard
Setup: Vanguard, 4 Objectives
Spoiler: Chaos Marines (me) (click to show/hide)

So the first game is against Chris, a friend of mine I consistently lose to. This is the first time I've played his Coteaz/Grenade Launcher list since usually he spams vets with melta. I got first turn and knowing that my scoring units would be running towards midfield I put my objectives towards the centre of the board. He deployed mostly in cover, but thankfully due to the terrain setup I had better LOS to him with my Havocs than he had to anything. Strangely he put one of his objectives in the corner of the board away from everything.

Turn 1
First saw the near annihilation of one of his squads from AC fire. I think it was the CCS... My troops moved forwards and took a few pot-shots with bolters, felling a couple of assassins and guardsmen. Hellbrute shot melta at assassins and failed horribly. In the assault phase the Hellbrute attempted to charge an assassin unit in midfield taking cover in some debris beside a building. Rolled snake eyes for my charge range and died a little on the inside.

In his turn PCS moved behind the building and the assassins moved forwards through it. One of the Infantry Platoons moved out of LOS of the Autocannon rain of death and the CCS took cover behind a random defense line barricade. Shooting phase saw both infantry squads and the remaining grenade launcher in the PCS fail to hurt the Hellbrute. The PCS opened fire on the Chaos Marine unit containing my Sorcerer. 4 direct hits from a Grenade Launcher racked up an amazing 18 or so hits on the unit. This led to about 8 wounds. I then jokingly say "watch me fail all these saves". 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2.... Shit.... Once the dust settles I lose everything except 1 bolter, 1 melta and the Champ. My warlord is a fine red mist hovering above a crater along with the gibblets of the rest of the squad. We laugh for a good 5 minutes before I realise next turn his assassins will be in easy charge range.

Turn 2
I blast some assassins with Quadguns, but enough save their pesky cover saves to avoid being annihilated. I polish off the CCS with bolter fire and the Hellbrute moves forwards, failing at shooting again. My axe champ and friends fire at the PCS, killing 2 grenadiers. Assault phase sees my Hellbrute charge the assassins and fail to wound.

Dreadknight comes down and starts incinerating my good squad. Intercept shots shave one wound off it, so that's good I suppose. His PCS runs towards the out-of-the-way corner objective but is just out of range. Coteaz and Assassins move towards my depleted squad and the Dreadknight moves towards the larger unit. Shooting is rather uneventful, with only 2-3 CSM dying to the Incinerator. Assault phase sees the Coteaz assassin unit charging in to my CSM unit and obliterating them. My Hellbrute misses and fails to do anything productive yet again.

Turn 3
This turn is very short. Autocannon shots kill a few assassins, but not enough to wipe out the unit. Bolters and Meltas all bounce off the Dreadknight and again the Hellbrute fails to wound a T3 model in assault.

PCS runs up the hill to claim the objective... which explodes and kills them all. That gave me a happy feeling on the inside. One of the infantry squads also run towards the hotly-contested objective in the building, securing it in the name of the imperium. Shooting takes my remaining CSM down to about 5 and the assault phase sees Coteaz and friends join combat against the Hellbrute and the Dreadknight fail it's charge. Before we can resolve the combat the game ends due to time contstraints and it's a solid 8-1 win for the lapdogs of the False Emperor.

An unlucky round of incredibly accurate grenade launcher shooting turned the tide in his favour early on, giving him Slay the Warlord and First Blood in one blow. The deepstriking Dreadknight gave him Linebreaker at the end. I think if I had scrapped the Hellbrute and put in a unit of Cultists or something then I'd do a bit better.



Game 2: 1000pts Chaos vs Chaos
Setup: Vanguard, Big Guns Never Tire, 3 Objectives
Spoiler: Chaos Marines (me) (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Chaos Marines (click to show/hide)

Originally I got drawn against Chris again. The organiser saw me glaring at him and decided to redraw. This time I got paired up with a relatively new player also using Chaos (no surprise really since half the players were using Chaos). He was a nice kid and I had a really fun game. There were a few things I let slide for the sake of sportsmanship (what's with that Raptor squad?) and ultimately I pulled of a pretty solid win, but it was close for a while.

I don't remember this too well so I'm honestly not sure of the turn order, merely the events that transpired.

He deployed his Autogun cultists in a building with one objective, I holed up my AC havocs behind the defense line with another. His close combat cultists sat in a crater next to his Rhino full of CSM and the Lord. Raptors, termies and Drake in reserves. I deployed the rest of my army pretty much opposite and the third objective was placed in the forest/wreckage/lava terrain in the middle.

My first turn exploded his rhino and some of the embarked troops, and some cultists in the crater dropped to bolter fire. I ran in and claimed the middle objective and he shot at me with everything he had on the field, but not much died. Our Hellbrutes charged one another and proceeded to have a hugging match for most of the game.

My Oblits and Termies came down on turn 2. Oblits pasted the CSM squad with plasma fire and termies started picking off cultists in the building while moving in for the kill. There was an epic clash between his crater dwelling cultists and my Sorcerer's unit, with the Sorcerer killing his champion easily in a duel and rolling something useless on the boon chart. Helldrake and Raptors came in, killing my Sorcerer and most of his unit and his Lord moved towards the middle.

The Hellbrutes finish their hugfest with his stripping the last hullpoint off mine before I even scratch the paint.

I took some pot shots at the raptors but their return fire sent my squad fleeing. Havocs downed the drake and some more cultists died to terminator fire. Oblits explode the Hellbrute in a spectacular manner.

His Lord moved in to combat with my midfielders and challenged my Champ. Absolute overkill. My squad fled an got cut down by the Lord's sweeping advance. His Terminators dropped in near the Havocs and killed the Champion manning the Quadgun, who also happened to be holding the objective.

In my last turn (which I think was the last turn of the game) one of the havocs moved to man the quadgun and claim the objective, and the return fire killed all the terminators in one round of shooting. My termies and oblits finish off the cultists and move in to claim the building objective.

The game ends, and I hold 2 objectives to his 1 (I let him claim it with his Lord. One of the things I let slide) and my First Blood and Linebreaker to his Slay the Warlord and Linebreaker. A very fun and bloodthirsty game.

Sadly I couldn't stay for round 3, but from what Chris tells me it was a great battle for him. I'm looking forwards to the final 2 games this weekend. It's gonna be awesome!

10
Enemies of the Imperium Army Lists / Escalation Campaign Lists
« on: December 28, 2012, 05:49:32 AM »
Hello all!

I'm planning on registering for the Cando Incident Escalation Campaign at the Sydney Battle Bunker GW. I want to enter a CSM/Daemon army, but lacking any significant Daemon forces it's looking more like a CSM only army.

Anyway here is my list for the first game coming in at 748pts. C&C welcome!

HQ
Sorcerer
Force Sword, Spell Familiar, Sigil of Corruption, +1 Mastery
125

ELITE
Hellbrute
Multimelta, Power Fist
100

TROOPS
Chaos Marines
10 Marines, 2 Melta, Icon of Vengeance, Power Weapon on champ
190

Chaos Marines
10 Marines, 2 Melta, Icon of Vengeance, Power Weapon on champ
190

Heavy Support
Havocs
5 Havocs, 4 Autocannons
115

Obliterator Cult
1 Obliterator, Mark of Tzeench
78

11
Enemies of the Imperium / Where to find Daemon WD update?
« on: December 27, 2012, 11:14:44 PM »
This title is pretty self explanatory. Where can I find the Daemon WD update?

Essentially, I would like to add some Tzeentch Daemon allies to my Word Bearers for an escalation campaign running next month. I think it would be awesomely fluffy to have a fairly set core of Chaos Marines as my primary detachment and as the game sizes increase, so do the numbers of our Daemonic allies! The problem is that I don't have the most recent White Dwarf magazines with the updates for Daemons. I honestly didn't expect the update to happen and missed out on it!

Is there a legit source for this, or will I have to be dodgy?

12
General 40k and Expansions / Special Abilities LOS from transports
« on: December 12, 2012, 11:32:09 PM »
Hello everybody! Once more I come to you with an annoying and probably simple rules question. Can you use special abilities that aren't shooting attacks or witchfire psychic powers while embarked on an open topped transport?

To put this in context I have been fascinated by the concept of a Flayed One themed Necron force. I'll give you a few moments to stop laughing. Ok, now at the head of my force I would like to use a counts-as Zandrek to buff flayed ones, but have him riding in a Ghost Ark with a bunch of warriors, or on a Command Barge.

Is this possible? If not can I get a page reference or what FAQ it's part of? My internet at work is somewhat restricted so I don't have access to the FAQs and can't seem to find anything in the Big Book of USRs.

13
General 40k and Expansions / Torrent Shenanigans
« on: December 10, 2012, 02:24:33 AM »
Hi guys!

I was watching a game between Blood Angels and GK/IG yesterday, both players good friends of mine. A situation arose which made me cry shenanigans, but my complaint was soon dismissed by RAW.

Basically what happened is a Dreadnight armed with a heavy incinerator aimed his template on an almost sidways direction, catching 2 units. I thought this was outrageous!

Reading the rule as RAW, the template must be placed with the pointy end closer than the fat end, but no direction is specified, so this means he done nothing contrary to the rule for the heavy incinerator. Checking the Torrent USR, it was worded exactly the same, meaning Burning Brand, Baleflamer and other uberflamers could do this.

My impression of the rule was that it is intended to extend the range of a template, like Salamanders in WHFB, so to me this goes against RAI.

Has anyone else experienced this, or have any arguments for/against. It just seems wrong to me but I've got nothing to back it up with...

14
Enemies of the Imperium Army Lists / Tourney CSM list - need advice
« on: November 13, 2012, 12:14:45 AM »
So after an interesting entry to the local tourney scene (I came dead last :() I have identified the weaknesses in my army list and now am trying to create a more viable list. This is not WAAC by any means, I just don't have the models to build the perfect army or the finances to buy a tonne of Nurgle Bikers, Obliterators, Spawn etc. Using models I MOSTLY own I have made something that seems more workable than my old list and fills in the mobility and firepower I found myself lacking. I have a few points left and want to know what you guys think about filling them.

I'm typing this from memory so forgive me if the points are out a bit.

HQ
Sorcerer (Biomancy)
+2 Mastery
+Sigil of Corruption
135

Apostle
+Sigil of Corruption
130

TROOPS
Chaos Marines (4 + ch)
+5 Marines
+Power weapon on champ
+2 Melta
+Rhino
210

Chaos Marines (4 + ch)
+5 Marines
+Power weapon on champ
+2 Melta
+Rhino
210

Cultists (9 + ch)
+13 Cultists
+9 Autogun

+1 Flamer
+1 Heavy Stubber
+Shotgun on Champ
122

HEAVY SUPPORT
Havocs (5 + ch)
+5 Havocs
+4 Autocannons
180

Obliterator (1)
+1 Obliterator
+Mark of Nurgle
+Veterans of the Long War
162


FORTIFICATIONS
Aegis Defense Line
+Quad Gun
100

So that's it so far. I need to get my hands on a Defense Line and some Autocannon Havocs but other than that I have all these models. I have 175pts to play with and am thinking of throwing in some Terminators or Obliterators. I might drop the Sorc since I have nowhere to put him, but I love the idea of a Lv3 Biomancer. If I had a Forgefiend I'd have that in, but again... money :(

15
Battle Reports / First Tourney Ever!
« on: November 06, 2012, 06:29:32 AM »
On the weekend I participated in my first tournament ever! It was an eye opening experience, and a harsh teacher. Inspired by Bigtoof's amazing batreps I've tried to add a bit of a narrative to it to keep it interesting. I'll be giving each game its own post to separate it a bit. This is all done from memory, and the specifics are a bit hazy so please forgive the lack of detail.

If my multi-posting is a no-no please let me know and next time I'll be good. I promise  ;)

HQ
Fabius Bile
Necron Overlord: Warscythe

TROOPs
Chaos Marines x10: 2x meltas, power fist champ
Chaos Marines x10: 2x meltas, power fist champ
Necron Warriors x11

FAST
Destroyers x3

HEAVY
Oblits x3
Havocs x2: Missile Launcher, Flakk, Lascannon, Plasma gun

PROLOGUE - PREGAME
My list is less than optimal. Ideally I wanted to run a cultist blob, a better unit of havocs and a defense line with quad gun, but I just didn

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