My Magic is Better then Yours

                From the first time I gazed into the Chaos Space Marine book, I fell in love with the Sorcerers.  They first break in a 100 point Space Marine Psyker and the shear amount of options they were open to them.  The 25 point cost for Mastery Level, and up to three of them no less.  Being able to actually switch a shooting weapon for another close combat weapon was so amazing to me, a Sorc with a force sword and a powerfist.

                I like the return to 4^th editions Armoury selection as a hybrid with the 5^th edition selection.  It reminds me of the days where I could field a Librarian with a Iron Halo and Artificer Armour and making him a close combat smiting monster.  It makes the selections you have access to so much more, and opens up so many different combinations that people can spice units up to fit their own fighting style.

                The following is just a small example of what can be done with some of these combo’s.

                Option 1: Alpha Legion - 63 Points: Combi-Bolter.  This guy can be fielded using Telekinesis, as well can be easily hidden in a troop of regular space marines, as in the nature of the Alpha Legion, and surprise your opponent with a sudden flash of instant death, or a blast of psychic energy ripping apart a group of troops.  This is a basic build for lower point battles or in games fielded a couple ‘tac’ squads and a ton of cultists.  Believe me when I say this, the less flashy the model the more chance someone will forget you HQ is even in the squad, it is like well positioned snipers, even you forget they are there.

                Option 2: Lord of Tzeentch - 220 Points: Power Weapon, Mark of Tzeentch, Disc of Tzeentch, Sigil of Corruption, two additional spell Masteries, Gift of Mutation, and a spell familiar.  Rolling two spells on the Tzeentch table and another on Biomancy gives you a healthy hard hitting selection.  This guy is tough, 1+ attack and Toughness 5 because of the disc being a Jetbike, a 3++ Invulnerable save and having both his Force Axe, and a Power Sword, the gift of Mutation doesn’t have to be taken, but since the first one you re-roll the bad stuff, it helps buff you, and the spell familiar gives you peace of mind when casting your spells.  He can move about the field, blast things apart and hit into combat and do decently well.  He costs an Arm and a Leg but he is damn fun to play in the end it things go your way, might just get luck and roll feel no pain of another 1+ to toughness.

                Option 3: Foul Punch - 200 Points: Power Fist, one additional mastery level, Sigil of Corruption, Blight Grenade, Ichor Blood, Mark of Nurgle, and Palanquin of Nurgle.  This guy is also expensive, and could get more expensive if you felt like it.  His Toughness 5 and 4 wounds will keep this guy alive, stick him with plague marine marines and just watch him ooze forward spreading Nurgle’s Gift.  The Power fist helps him with Instant deathing Space Marine hero’s as they try to hurt him in assault.  The 4+ Invulnerable save helps keep him alive against most heavy hitting attacks but he is also able to dish it out back with his psychic .  Taking a Nurgle power and a Biomancy Power might actually make this guy super strong and tough to beat.

                Option 4: Undivided Power - 125 Points: Terminator Armour, An additional power level, and a Spell Familiar.  This Option is very cheap for what you have access to, you have a simple 2+ armour save, and a 5+ invulnerable save.  So far you are better off than a regular space marine Librarian and then to make it better for half the cost you have access to an addition mastery level, and re-roll your failed attempts.  At this point level this guy is tough not to consider, he isn’t flashy he doesn’t have a mark, he is just a Renegade Librarian who is really good at summoning powers.

                I could list more and more of these combo’s, they are all personally favorite choices stuff I’ve fiddled around with.  Chaos nowadays with the new codex just seem more lively and the amount of choices you can make with the various units bring all kinds of options to the table.  Some people don’t like the new codex, I personally think it was well written and now for us fluff bunnies we can make such a variety of armies and actually make all nine traitor legions from the codex.  I like the thought of making unchaos renegade army that has no daemon influence but uses the traitor codex to get access to mighty HQ’s, good chosen units, and auto cannon dev’s.  If you haven’t given the codex a chance, look again, feel the potential.  Its not the DA Codex, but it doesn’t mean it’s a bad codex.  No other codex has poisoned 4+ close combat weapon, T5, 3+ FnP elite/troop choice that can take double special weapon.

                Give Chaos a chance, they have cookies.

Skeletor of the 40k World

            The Chaplain, a very nice unit to use to help buff yours units in assault, this unit is rarely fielded in the Vanilla codex, which is sad since he just has the spunk that you need as an HQ and he has an attitude to match it.  Skeletor as I like to call him grants those handy re-rolls in the first round of combat and also has a mighty Strength 6 hit in close combat.  Yeah I know AP4, but really it doesn’t always matter, the hits and wounds will cause deaths, just let him do his thing.

            I’ve made a couple setups for this model and fun ways to use him, hopefully you get some use out of it, and maybe even use one once.

            Option 1:  Skeletor - 100 Points:  He has no equipment other than what he starts with.  Bland and blank but even like this he is perfectly set up for attacking, no addition, no need to add weapons or equipment.  He is a formidable force to fight anyway you look at it.  Also outfit him with a staff with a dear skull on the tip of the staff if you feel inclined to fit the look.

            Option 2:  Flying Hate - 150 Points: Jump Pack, and a Power Fist.  It may seem simple, but he now can move up field quickly attached to an Assault Squad who already are a force to be reckoned with, but with the Flying Hate you get tank busting, hero cracking, unit smasher.  He can choose to hit I4 or I1, S6 or S8, he also comes with W2 and 4++ save.  How can you go wrong with that? Don’t answer that.

            Option 3:  Light the Way - 135 Points:  Terminator Armour and Combi-Flamer.  Still seems too simple to be any good, can never forget what he already has and what you would have to pay for anything is super cheap.  Got to love a unit who only needs a few extra’s to become a bigger super hero.

            Option 4:  Road Warrior – 155 Points:  Space Marine Bike, Plasma Pistol, and Metla Bomb.  This guy isn’t happy, and he is very angry, chaos beware when this guy comes wheeling towards you, T5 with a 4++ save, its going to be hard to really hurt him.  The plasma pistol gives that little extra damage you need to higher Toughness and lower AV vehicles.  If your going bikes, he needs to be in your command squad, get all those nice power weapons with re-rolls to hit first round of combat and also getting the attention of the Challenges to protect your really well outfitted HQ.

            There isn’t many more choices you can have with this guy, however he is made for assault and if your army is trying to be geared to towards that, he will be a benefit to say the least and never really costing a lot of points leaving you free to fill your roster.

            Yay or Nay for the Brave Chaplains guys!

2000k Raven Guard List

            Okay to start this list off I wanted to say I really like Shrike and the Raven Guard; I have a soft spot for those beaky blokes in there black armour and wolverine claws.  They are a very tactical Army to play and you really have to use your scouts to full advantage in their army.  Can’t just play full Power Armour because it ruins the spirit of the army.  I’ve designed a 2k point list that I believe has the right stuff to be a fluff Raven army.

HQ:

Shadow Captain Shrike

Mandatory for this list seeing has he is the representative for the Raven Guard Army, and just so damn cool in what he does, and gives an entire army fleet, which in 6^th can be a life saver to say the least when hitting into assault.

Troop:

            1 Tactical Squad

I have outfitted the squad with a drop pod, plasma gun, missile launcher, and a power weapon on the sergeant.  This squad will come down via drop pod with drop pod assault and try and hurt anything in the enemies’ side of the field with plasma fire and snap fire missile.  Mostly used as a distraction unit to allow the rest of the army to move up and do what needs to be done.

            3 Scout Squads

I’ve added three ten man squads of scouts to the list; these guys are outfitted to be combat squads, four guys with sniper rifles and a guy with heavy bolter, and four guys with combat blades and pistols with the sergeant a power weapon, melta bomb.  These guys all have camo cloaks to keep them nice a stealthy.  I feel that with fleet and this load out, these scouts can cause some serious harm to most unprepared squads. The snipers picking off special weapons and characters and using the hellfire round from the heavy bolter to do blast sniping to whittle down squads.

Fast Attack:

            1 Assault Squad

This group of ten guys are what will be backing up and working with Shrike, I would have stuck him with a vanguard veteran squad however that would be very expensive and you loose what you guy from using the vets, the assault on deep strike.  These guys are very simply set up, the sergeant has a power weapon and melta bombs.  Its simple and easy and they can dish out a lot of attacks with very little worry, also the sergeant can be used for challenges to save shrike from big meanies that they might encounter.

             

            1 Vanguard Veteran Squad

These guys are setup in a five man team, and are going to take advantage of fleet and assault off the deep strike.  I’ve outfitted them as follows, sergeant has two lightening claws, and a melta bomb, the four others have melta bombs and a power weapons.  These guys are meant to be a unit that hits the biggest and meanest things on the field with a decent deep strike roll and using fleet they are more likely to entire assault and survive to do damage that they are outfitted to do.  Melta bombs are there so they can hit tanks and MC as hard as humanly possible.

            1 StormTalon

I need to add a flyer defense to the list and this seemed like the best choice, I’m not a huge fan of flyers myself but utilizing them needs to be done to survive in the current meta.  I outfitted this baby with Twin-Linked Lascannons and Typhoon Missile Launchers to give that anti-tank flavor that this list lacks.  A flyer seems to be a prefect fit to an army like the Raven Guard and I think it would do the army good.

Heavy Support:

            1 Devastator Squad

These guys are outfitted with four very expensive Lascannons, the reason I chose these was because the list lacked heavy support, and these guys are able to hang back with the scouts and ‘snipe’ tanks and change targets very easy especially if they can a center place deployment.

Fornication:

            1 Aegis Line Defense

I have added this to hang out with the Devastator squad and I added the Icarus Lascannon to the list to match the Dev squads’ lascannon outfit.  I like the wall, it helps give a tactical position to a unit that doesn’t have to cover a objective until the Big Guns Never Tire mission.

            This is has plenty of Troops to move around and take objectives, plenty of in your face units and enough holding the back field units.  A lot of movements to be made and a lot of feints to be played with the moving your troops around.  This is has a whopping 63 unit and vehicle count and its divided even between power armoured, and scout armoured.  I think it anyone likes the fluff of the Raven Guard and wants to play a list that is new and lacks the same unit setup of every other list out there then this one can, no dakka dreads, no huge spamming of units expect scouts but being only two troop choices you’ll have to go one way or the other.

            I would like to hear what you guys think of my thoughts on Raven Guard, maybe tell me what I could change to make it more Raven Guard fluffy.

Note: Blood Angels could be used with this, but I enjoy the fleet a little to much to loose it but the Vanguards would always show up d6 close to the enemy, and rolling a six is a 50/50 shot for assault.

Unit Builds - Wolf Guard Battle Leader

Not a mighty Wolf Lord, doesn’t have any special abilities that give preferred enemy, or grant psychic defense.  He is the underdog of the Space Wolf HQ section (No pun intended).  However, they hold special place in my heart because of their access to Saga of the Hunter.

Different load outs can change the personality of this unit in a various ways, from stealthy shooter to outright a close combat monster.  I have designed a few potential uses for them, some more exciting than others have, some more tactical then others.

Option 1: Silent Prowler-160 Points: Thunderwolf Mount, Saga of the Hunter, two Fenrisian Wolves, and a Power Weapon.  For only decent amount of points, you get a unit, which can get you into combat quickly, but also absorb many of those nasty plasma weapons that hang around now a day.  The Thunderwolf grants that extra little toughness to take less wounds, but also gives you Rending to deal with those 2+ armour saves when a situation arrives for the need.  This one is all about cover and speed, not much else.

Option 2: Plasma Jet-135 Points: Jump Pack, Two Plasma Pistols, and Saga of the Beastslayer.  This one is more of a fun unit, jumping around with Plasma Pistols, taking on the biggest and toughest things on the field.  Yeah he might blow himself up.  Yeah he might get shot up before getting a shot off.  That is not the point, it is the fact you could deep strike this guy wherever you felt like it and get two BS5 S7 AP2 Shots off that on a roll of 6 get to choose who he hits, and rerolls to hit against Walkers, Monstrous Creatures, and the like.  He if fun, that is what I really care about.

Option 3: The Watcher-83 Points: Storm Bolter, Saga of the Hunter.  This is the setup I personally am going to use when I start my space wolf ally.  He is nothing special on his own, but with his ability to grant stealth to the unit, he makes a perfect candidate for Sternguard Vets and other shooty units.  He is the leader of a squad; he keeps units in the game when the shot should have killed him instantly.  He can move to nearly any rear squad can grant them so much.  Attach him to sniper scouts who already have camo cloaks and give them a 5+ cover in the open!  Stick him with your long fangs and devastator squad and watch them survive that extra turn.  He is cheap, simple, and brings so much too any unit he is added too.

Option 4: Fanged Wall-145 Points: Terminator Armour, Storm Shield, Frost Axe.  This guy is built to take the hits, and dish them back.  He usually always gets 4 attacks charging or not, thanks to Counter-attack.  He is cheap for what he brings, and can be easily backed up by a group of three wolf guards.  They can be dropped in a pod, or driven up in a raider, or just foot slog it over to the enemies end to claim a victory point.  He is not to be messed with, and he would easily make a mess of anyone who tried.

I like the wolf guard battle leader, mostly because you don’t have to put much points in him to enjoy him.  In the age of challenges and plasma, deposable HQ’s can be nice.  I say make units to be fun, especially if it’s a space wolf, they have such unique personalities to the army you can pull off nearly any unit combo and it fits the theme.

I challenge anyone who reads this, to make a unit that sounds fun, and can be a one off’er.  It does not have to be a space wolf, does not have to make sense, it just has to be FUN! It is like your guard ten man squad, assaulting a deathwing knight squad, you do not do it because it makes sense, you do it because it would be cool to see if they could actually do something!