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Saturday 29 October 2011

Eldar Corsairs, adding in the freehands

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I was in quite a hurry to finish these guys for a tournament, and I didn't end up painting much details to the vehicles in my army. They are now officially "painted" but the paintjob doesn't really reflect much of the Corsair theme and is a little bland. Now, I will overtime add some more details onto the vehicles, to better reflect their theme. I'm in no hurry to do this, since the army is already painted to a standard that I can take it to a tourney, but here is the first update.

I've decided to take diamonds as a freehand pattern for the vehicles. Somehow, diamonds just "feel" like Eldar Corsairs in my mind.

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Wednesday 26 October 2011

Independent Characters in 5th edition list building

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what do you mean my Jacobus looks a little corrupted?

HQ:s are one of the few mandatory choices to all armies in 40k. Generally, the characters that I see used fall in to one of three categories: (1) Psychic defence (such as librarians), (2) independent CC units (such as a TWC lord or Mephiston) and (3) characters that give an armywide buff (such as Vulcan or Coteaz). For example, characters that buff up one unit (such as a chaplain) are very uncommon. Why is this? Perhaps it is best we first look at all of the common groups, and uncover what attributes make them a good pick.

Psychic defence. It is clear, that the impact of psychic powers on the game has steadily increased over the past years. Perhaps it began with Lash of Submission, perhaps it was at some other point, but the need for psychic defence has truly increased in this game. Although characters that bring psychic defence also bring buffs, it is generally the psychic defence that makes these a good pick. Psychic defence can make it easier to counter bad matchups (such as dual lash) but Grey Knights have blown the need for psy-defence completely out of proportions. It is clear that these characters bring more to the game then just a HQ choice. Psychic powers are in many ways another dimension to 40k, and few people in fantasy battle want to leave home without a dispell scroll.

Independent CC units. What I mean by this is, characters that are fully capable of taking on other units unsupported. They add another unit with a clear threat range onto the table. These characters are traditionally beater units, meaning that they are at their best smacking weaker units such as combat squads of tactical marines. This style fits in well with the MSU mindset that has become so prevalent in 40k. The ability to apply pressure at as many points on the board as possible (and possibly combining pressure from multiple sources to overcome a tougher target) is where this stems from. I have seen some very interesting manifestations of this archetype, beginning with the BT bike marshal, and also popping up as biker Warbosses in foot lists and SW bike wolflords. These characters are not just simply hangarounds for a unit. Although they can increase the damage of a single unit (and more importantly hide inside a squad for protection) they are free to break off. This adds tactical flexibility and ensures that the character is truly contributing to the game.

Finally, there are the characters that are simply bought for the buff that they give to the entire army. This might be increasing your chances of going first, unlocking units, or just simply making your units better. It shouldn't be hard to understand why these characters are good. They have good synergy with the rest of the army. Once again, they are not merely characters assigned to units, they give the player something that the enire army can make use of.

Characters that just simply increase the damage output of a designated unit lack synergy on a similar scale. A player is limited by these characters, because the IC is tied to a unit, and only one unit. It would seem that you get more bang for the buck from characters that contribute to the entire army. Indeoendent CC units are an exception to this, as they do not necessarily synergies with other units directly, but they give the player more tactical freedom then a character that cannot break off on its own.

It doesn't mean that a chaplain is necessarily bad, but it is predictable and more constrained then other characters, and doesn't increase synergy armywide. When choosing an HQ for your army, one should always ask "what does this character really bring to my army" and "is he necessary". In the end, 40k games have a certain points limit, and you are looking to make the most use of the points at your disposal. I believe the reason why we don't see HQs that increase the damage output of a single unit is because they aren't flexible enough and they don't add to the strength of the entire army. The movement phase is one of the most important in the game, and if your character doesn't contribute to that, then atleast it should add to your army as a whole.

This isn't necessarily anything new, but something I thought needed saying. Sometimes, by exploring the most obvious choices, you can learn more about the game as a whole.

Sunday 23 October 2011

Reaver Jetbikes in a Venomspam list

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There are so many ways of playing dark eldar that instead of stating that "this way of playing reavers is the best", I'm gonna look at reaver jetbikes specifically in a venomspam list (which I've played the most).

Venomspam is pretty much the ultimate msu list. Unlike many other lists, Venomspam seeks to saturate your opponents shooting, because in order to fulfill that alphastrike, infantry need to disembark. That's why Venomspam is all about pushing too many threats down the opponent's throat.

Reavers should reflect this. I've learned to like 3-man groups. They are cheap and expendable (as is almost everything in a venomspam list). They are easy to hide due to their small size, and you can use them for less important jobs, like giving cover to some of your vehicles, without having to divert a 6-man group.

The main argument that I see for 6-man groups is that single blaster/melta is unreliable. This is very true, but once again we have to look at the reavers as part of a venom spam list. These lists boast well over 20 dark light weapons, and you will rarely find yourself in a situation where you are merely relying on the reavers to stop a vehicle, you will have other units in range aswell. In fact, shooting blasters one at a time is more efficient, because no blasters are "wasted" (e.g. shaking a vehicle twice). The only downside you get out of running 3-man groups is taking ld after the first casualty. That sucks, but the entire venomspam list suffers from ld, and squeezing in grisly trophies is something I haven't put enough effort into.

Which weapon: heat lance or blaster? I'm not sure yet. Blasters give you more freedom with its longer range and allow you to potentially get shots off on t1, but heat lances give your army ap1. Although I began playing reavers with blasters, I found myself using them more and more aggressively at the recent Turku Fanatic -tournament that I attended. This is because, when not firing at vehicles, it is much wiser to use bladevanes then fire the splinter rifles. against t4 (and especially t3) the bladevanes are simply better, and they give you a 3+ cover to boot. However, this strategy requires you to move quite close to your enemies (since the target unit has to be between the starting and finishing point of the squad's movement). This didn't really matter, since my opponent was anyway forced into making decisions (fire at the trueborns and get a lot my antitank down or shoot at 3-man reaver groups?) and the reavers survived surprisingly well throughout the tournament. Against IG, they even went on to beat the crap out of a lot of the IG infantry (after rolling pain token for combat drugs).

So, Reaver jetbikes work best in groups of 3, when played in Venomspam lists that seek to achieve target saturation. 3.man groups are small, cheap, expendable and still bring options and an extra special weapon to a dark eldar player's arsenal.

Wednesday 19 October 2011

Painted Succubus. How would I play it?

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There she is. I liked the Dark Elf Sorceress, and I thought she fitted well into the corsair theme of the new paintscheme. She isn't a gladiator, but a female piratelord. I chose to get this model so that I would have more choices with HQs. The 1850 list I've been throwing around lately needs 30 points for a fourth trueborn in one of the squads. I could get that by cutting the Baron. Anyway, I feel exploring all the different choices is a good idea. I could go with a haemoculus, but that maybe adds the least. A blasterchon is ok, I tried that out, but since I'm exploring all options I'm also gonna try the Succubus.

The traditional setup is with an agoniser. 85 points is pretty cheap for a girl with lots of high ws and ini attacks. 4+ invul adds survivability against basic troops. However, I don't have the points for that. What I'm looking for is a cleanup lady (similar to my wyches), but who can also joins squads (reavers and wyches) to add a cc boost.

The Venom blade is nice for 5 points, but I got my eyes on razorflails. 10 points and weaker average of wounds against t4, but smaller deviation. The razorflail has rerolls and isn't so prone to failing horribly due to badd to hit rolls. The razorflails are a sure investment. This is a difficult decision, but atm I'm leaning for the razorflails. Dark Eldar are brittle and I need to know that the Succubus doesn't fail horribly right when I most direly need her. The venom blade's advantage isn't much against 3+ marines, so for I'm gonna try the flails first.

Monday 17 October 2011

Dark Eldar @ tourney; getting trumped by GKs

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Sorry, that's the only pic I got this time. The entire army deployed to get seized and obliterated by GKs. More about that later. I'm just gonna go through each game and add some overall thoughts at the end.

Each game played seize ground (worth 10 to the winner), bases (worth 10 to the winner) and victory points (worth 10 to the winner) at the same time. Deployment and objective placement varied.

The list (this tourney comped out any triple chloices in elites, fa and hs):

Baron Santhonyx @ 105pts.

4 Trueborn with 4 blasters @ 108pts.
Venom with 2x splinter cannons @ 65pts.

4 Trueborn with 4 blasters @ 108pts.
Venom with 2x splinter cannons @ 65pts.

3 Wracks @ 30pts.
Venom with 2x splinter cannons, grisly trophies @ 70pts.

5 Warriors with blaster @ 60pts.
Venom with 2x splinter cannons @ 65pts.

5 Warriors with blaster @ 60pts.
Venom with 2x splinter cannons @ 65pts.

5 Warriors with blaster @ 60pts.
Venom with 2x splinter cannons @ 65pts.

5 Warriors with blaster @ 60pts.
Venom with 2x splinter cannons @ 65pts.

5 Wyches with haywire grenades incl. hekatrix with venom blade @ 75pts.
Venom with 2x splinter cannons @ 65pts.

5 Wyches with haywire grenades incl. hekatrix with venom blade @ 75pts.
Venom with 2x splinter cannons @ 65pts.

3 Reaver Jetbikes with blaster @ 81pts.

3 Reaver Jetbikes with blaster @ 81pts.

Ravager @ 105pts.

Ravager @ 105pts.

Voidraven Bomber @ 145pts.

Total @ 1848pts.

First game was against Orks. The guy was very nice, but his list was weak. He had 3 shooty battlewagons (with 4 big shootas and a kannon), some big gunz, koptas and lootas. His troops were one 3-man slugga squad, a deff dread (that according to the TO was scoring) and a squad of grots. He had a biker boss and kff mek. I didn't realise the wagons had no rollas and wasn't expecting him to castle up in a corner and shoot me. He seized on me, but I won the game with full points (30-0).

The second game was against Tau. Dawn of war deployment and 3 seize markers. I elected to go first and placed my base on my left flank next to two of the three loot counters. He placed his base in the opposite back corner (right flank). I decided to threaten his base instead of driving onto my own, and brought all my tanks onto my right flank (close to my board edge to prevent the tau shooting much of my tanks down). The reavers zoomed up the left flank to deny any random tau units coming on unsupported meanwhile the rest castled on the other side.

The Tau came on the left flank leaving their base for me. Their shooting didn't kill all the reavers (I had rolled fnp) and the remaining reavers locked a crisis squad for a turn. I have pretty good board control, but am badly placed for a shooting battle. All my vehicles zoom towards the tau as fast as possible, the baron trying to be a bullet magnet. In the end, the tau had a couple of bad shooting phases and didn't wipe enough of me. I managed to kill of his scoring units with a combination of combat and shooting, and won bases and objectives. Tau won victory points clearly. 20-10 victory.

Third game was against mech ig. He had a pretty regular setup, with a griffon and couble manticores in HS. Spearhead deployment. I won the roll off and he reserved his vendettas. I turboboosted the wyches, wracks and a couple of warrior groups, disembarking the trueborns and remaining warriors after moving, to get blasters into the lead chimeras. IG shooting wasn't good enough in the first (and to a lesser extent, second) shooting phase and I managed to drive over his army. My reavers charged wittled down veterans and command squads, meanwhile wyches charged manticores, the griffon and some chimeras. The rest shooted chimeras and vendettas crippling my opponent. However, I lost almost all my scoring models and when my opponent wanted to stop on t3 and suggested 25-5, I was happy with the outcome. 25-5 victory to Dark Eldar.

After the first day, I was in third place. However, my luck changed and was up against GKs in my last two matches.

First game of the day was with pitched battle. My opponent is a friend and he knew to give me first turn, so that I wouldn't reserve. Probably should have still, but I deployed. He proceeded to seize with coteaz and blast me off the table. 0-30.

Last game was against Jabbdo with GKs. His list was a henchman list with 20 PA knights (purgation knights and purifiers)+2 dreads. This time I win the roll-off and pass it to him. Spearhead and I placed my base in my back corner, his was at the center of his board edge. He made the mistake of driving in a diagonal front (similar to how he deployed in spearhead). His right wing (that was next to my board edge) was vulnerable and I rolled well for my reserves. I come on and try to smash him. My blasters slightly fail, but I get some damage (including one purifier squad wiped off the table). The rest of the game my opponent retaliates and I try to wipe off his PA grey knights. The baron jumps off to tie up dreads and HnR out of the combats.

At the bottom of four it looks like I can win 25-5. Jabbdo can't do much to the baron who is in combat with a ven dread next to his base. I have another 3 venoms that can swoop to contest objectives if need be. My base is safe. VPs is really tight. On his 5th, Jabbdo destroys or imobilises all my venoms and kills the baron with 5 henchmen that charged out of a razorback. Disaster! Jabbdo has a 100 point VP lead (over the required 200 points to win) and I only manage to contest one objective with wracks. Luckily the game ends and I only lose 20-10. Dark Eldar are brittle and this is a reminder that major turning points towards the end of the game can turn the tide quick.

Overall, I didn't feel happy with the Baron. He was only really good in the last game against Jabbdo. The wyches were good, I liked the setup. Venom blades are often enough for the purpose that I'm using them. I also liked the reavers. I played them a little different in many of the matches. In the test games, I had used them similarly to tau crisis suits. However, I found myself zooming them straight into my opponent's face, or charging weak infantry squads. It's probably because I'm slowly starting to master the list and know my army's units better. I can be more aggressive with my small units, like the reavers, as I know my limits. They also fit in with the msu mindset. Alphastrike, target saturation, win. That's why I'm gonna try them with heatlances, something that I've seen pop up in DE lists lately (etc, german team tournament and other places).

Overall, I feel slightly let down by the second day. I play against those guys weekly, and it felt slightly useless going all the way (well maybe 150km) to play, and play the second day against people you know and a matchup you know is bad. The first day went very well, and I am very happy about beating mech ig. The tournament was certainly fun, but the second day was a slight letdown.

Monday 10 October 2011

1.85k Dark Eldar list & DE painting progress

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Hi guys,
Time for a little update. You're gonna see a shift towards more 1850 lists on this blog, just as a heads up. I think that the European scene is headed in that direction. This is my attempt at a no-comp 1850 list for my DE. It adds in reaver jetbikes, which I've found very nice with this setup.

Baron Santhonyx @ 105pts.

4 Trueborn with 4 blasters @ 108pts.
Venom with 2x splinter cannons @ 65pts.

4 Trueborn with 4 blasters @ 108pts.
Venom with 2x splinter cannons @ 65pts.

3 Trueborn with 3 blasters @ 81pts.
Raider with dark lance@ 60pts.

5 Warriors with blaster @ 60pts.
Venom with 2x splinter cannons @ 65pts.

5 Warriors with blaster @ 60pts.
Venom with 2x splinter cannons @ 65pts.

5 Warriors with blaster @ 60pts.
Venom with 2x splinter cannons @ 65pts.

5 Warriors with blaster @ 60pts.
Venom with 2x splinter cannons @ 65pts.

5 Wyches with haywire grenades incl. hekatrix with venom blade @ 75pts.
Venom with 2x splinter cannons @ 65pts.

5 Wyches with haywire grenades incl. hekatrix with venom blade @ 75pts.
Venom with 2x splinter cannons @ 65pts.

3 Reaver Jetbikes with 1 blaster @ 81pts.

3 Reaver Jetbikes with 1 blaster @ 81pts.

Ravager with dark lances @ 105pts.

Ravager with dark lances @ 105pts.

Ravager with dark lances @ 105pts.

Total @ 1849pts.

Pretty similar to what I've already been running. A couple of wych squads for haywire grenades, tarpit and mop up. Very multipurpose units that I've fallen in love with (despite the internet hating them). Had to downgrade one of the trueborn squads to 3 blasters unfortunately, and had to substitute one venom with a raider to get within the points limit.

I'll write up a post on reaver jetbikes soon. The 3-man groups with blasters are once again very much against the internet's common consensus, but after half a dozen games with them, and the reavers being good in every game, I'm feeling pretty positive about them. It's really just a matter of not thinking in a vacuum.


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Tuesday 4 October 2011

GUESTPOST: Draigowing @ 1750pts - Balls to the Wall!

The way REAL men play Grey Knights!


Draigo 275


Librarian, Shrouding, Sanctuary, Excommunion, Quickening, Might 175


(10) Paladins 650

1. MC Psycannon, Hammer

2. MC Psycannon, Hammer

3. MC Psycannon, Sword

4. MC Psycannon, Sword

5. Sword

6. Sword

7. Hammer

8. Hammer

9. Halberd

10. Halberd


(10) Paladins 650

1. MC Psycannon, Hammer

2. MC Psycannon, Hammer

3. MC Psycannon, Sword

4. MC Psycannon, Sword

5. Sword

6. Sword

7. Hammer

8. Hammer

9. Halberd

10. Halberd


= 1750


Yeah.

Usually you combat squad the Paladins to hit 4 targets.

Keep Draigo and the Lib in the same squad so you're opponent doesn't get lucky and blow away your Shrouding in one missile volley.

Usually you'll want to give your Paladins scout to get your Psycans in range faster.

With Shrouding, your opponent still needs 60 instakilling ap1/2 wounds to put down those Paladins. 120 ap3+ wounds. 240 torrent wounds. Good luck.

The list is really stingy at giving up kill points, and in objective missions are pretty hard to force off objectives when they go and camp on them. Watch out for tank shocks though, target vehicles early to stop them pushing you off.

Funnily enough this list should do pretty well against MSU GK razorspam, which is the prevalent competitive build at least in my meta.

Thoughts? Utter crap or awesomesauce?

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