Enter the Revenant

As promised the Revenant Escalation battle report. 2,000 points each, I did not take any Super heavies, merely six Leman Russ Battle Tanks plus lots of Guardsmen with lascannons and missile launchers.  Mrs. Blackheart got a few models after the 900 point "Scout" Titan. We rolled up mission #5, Ultimate Linebreaker. Tragically for me she got go first and I didn't seize the initiative even with the +1 to my roll for not having my own super heavy.

The Pulsars worked as advertised, three dead guard tanks. The Wraithknight pitched in a took out another. Even in my reduced state I did five hull points of damage to the Revenant on my turn.

Then I started to run out of units. The Eldar Titan continued its rampage erasing a Leman Russ and a Guard Squad in the shooting phase and another Guard squad in the assault phase, although a valiant plasma gunner did one more hull point damage on overwatch before being crushed. The Wraithknight failed to even glance the last Leman Russ, maybe setting me up for a dramatic big finish?

Em, no. I was finished alright. I had enough shots to bring down the Revenant, but the Guard came up two hits short. And the Wraithknight was still undamaged and now tearing though my lines. Not to mention the Autarch and his jerk jetbike buddies.

After four brutal rounds it was over for the Guard. The game was called and the final score was 10-5, Eldar.
And the big question is: Is the Revenant too powerful for "normal" 40K games? Yeah, it kind of is. It would be a bad shock to fight one flat-footed, it will maul a balanced army to be sure and a heavy anti-tank army would have its hands full. It has the firepower of the Gods, and is rather hard to hit with its Titan Holofield shenanigans. I think it is underpriced at 900 points, 1200 seems more like it to me.

Was it fun? Hell yes. The new supplements really open up the options for 40K games. I love the epic feel the game takes on when you add a super heavy or two. That being said, I do think using Escalation, Stronghold, and even Allies should be agreed upon beforehand.

Now all I want to do is kill the Revenant. Maybe a Tau list will do the trick...

The Emperor Protects

He says to get more guns

Thunderhawk Flight Stand

By popular demand we are going to make the Thunder Hawk Flight stand available for purchase. I've had a T-hawk for many years now, but have had the problem of trying to use it in a game, it is so damn big and heavy there was no way a little flight stand would support it, and a big stand would have a huge base. When I heard Escalation was on the way I knew this was the Thunderhawk's time to shine.

Mrs. Blackheart and I sat down and cranked out a couple of prototypes, then drafted the current design in Autocad. The final version is made out of  everybody's favorite  thermoplastic  polycarbonate, Lexan! So it is very strong, won't shatter like Plexiglass and as an added bonus is (mostly) bulletproof. The downside being it is more expensive and a bit of a pain to work with.

Each stand is hand made with the help of a computer-controlled cutting servitor and available in two colors: Smoke and Clear.

It is very stable and strong. Takes a surprisingly small footprint on the table, the crossbar is high enough that most Marines will fit under it. And it can be yours for the low, low price of $90.00, and that includes free shipping anywhere in the U.S. Overseas shipping will be extra.

It will arrive as you see here, having been test fitted. It holds together great without any glue, but feel free to put a few drops to be sure. We will be making them to order, so it will take a week or so to get it in the mail. Don't let your Thunderhawk sit on the sidelines anymore! Get one today!

Drop me a line at Atomicwarlord@gmail.com.

The Emperor Protects

With Lexan

Escalation Battle Report

775 Points of Awesome

Time to give Escalation a try. So we went for one of the "worst case scenarios". A army with a super heavy flyer armed with a dreaded "D" weapon vs. a force unprepared for for such a thing. 2000 points a side and we rolled on the fancy new Alter of War missions table and got #4, the appropriately named, Approach of Doom.

I took my very rarely used Thunderhawk and stuffed it full of fun. That left three five man combat squads on the table to start the game. I put them in as much cover as I could find, still nine of the fifteen were picked off by the overwhelming Eldar force.

300 points vs. 2000

Top of Turn Two, Dark Green Death arrived out of the sky. The Thunderhawk zeroed in on the Wraithkinght and took it out with a solid hit from the Turbo-laser Destructor (did four wounds), two lascannons and a pair of Hellstrike missiles. The four twin liked Heavy Bolters gutted a Guardian Squad.

Friends are here from low orbit

Mrs. Blackheart tossed the kitchen sink at the Thunderhawk, but lacking any dedicated anti-aircraft platforms, only managed to inflict a single hull point. In return a Wraithlord was killed by the Turbo-Laser, and a lucky Hellstrike missile got past the Jink and Serpent Shield and blew up a Wave Serpent. Yet more Guardians fall to the dozen, twin-linked Heavy Bolter shots. By entering Hover mode, the Thunderhawk became much more vulnerable and lost three more hull points to a much depleted Eldar army.
Then the T-Hawk landed right in front of the Eldar Autarch leading a bike squad.

You have arrived at you destination

The Company Commander, his command squad, a Chaplain, a Dreadnought, and 15 Tactical Marines poured out and onto the field. The Eldar Autarch, a warlock, six bikers, and a pair of Vypers were taken down by shooting and close combat. The Thunderhawk went back into hover mode, took one more hull point of damage (total of five now) and killed off a wounded Wraithlord and mopped up a Guardian Squad.
And that was the game. All Gillian had left was most of a Guardian Squad holding an objective.

And yet I barely managed a win, 4-3. That is one of the balancing points of Escalation. 1 VP for every three hull points damage to a Lord of War. If she had managed one more hit the game would have been a tie. We will get in some more games to get a better feel what Escalation really does to the game, but for now, it doesn't seem like the sky is falling this time either. To that end we will try the Eldar Revenant Titan, vs. the Steel Legion to see what 2x2 "D" shots a turn will do.

The Emperor Protects

But He makes it challenging

Unlock the Toy Cabnet

Cue "They have ruined 40K!" again. Two hardcover supplements came out this week for 40K. Today let's look at Escalation. The book is true to it's name, it does escalate things in the game a bit.

What the book is: Hardcover, 96 full color pages. Only a few pages of that are rules. And yes, they are the super heavy rules from Apocalypse. 17 Datasheets for the "Lords of War" (Super Heavies), six new missions and  three challenge missions. Compact and to the point with lots of pretty pictures.

What the book does: It adds a new "Lord of War" slot to the Force Organization Chart. So your army may now take one super heavy from the 17 choices in the book. (Eight of them being Bane-Shadow-Blade-Storm-Hammer variants) As they all have the same profile as in Apocalypse, I don't see any issue with taking a super heavy from elsewhere, especially if you are fielding one of the armies without a super heavy in the book. The Tyranids, for example have only the Harridan listed as a Lord of War. I don't (yet) have one, but I do have a Barbed Hierodule, which I will be gleefully using. I think this is the part that I like the most, being able to take the Big Toys out of the display case more that a couple of times a year.

But what about game balance now? Good question. Clearly this won't be really known until a fair number of games have been played. I suspect it will work out well. Lords of War are very powerful and take out a unit or two a turn, but they are huge targets, and points heavy. Plus there is a new Warlord trait table and a new secondary objective which gives a Victory Point for every 3 hull points of damage you to the Lord of War.

And of course, the Elephant in the room, Destroyer weapons. I think the new D-Weapons table brings them down a much needed notch, and make them only a 83.4% sure thing as opposed to the 100% they used to be. I am much more concerned about the huge high strength templates with no cover save than D weapons unbalancing the game. The fun part will be finding out.

So should you pick up this book? Light on the fluff, lots of nice pictures, handy to have the Super Heavy rules in a easier format, new Warlord Traits, and a bunch of new missions. I give it a solid B+.

Next up, our first Escalation Battle report.

The Emperor Protects

You are going to need it

Tanksgiving 2013

I dare you to cross this line!

I know, two Thanksgiving puns in a row, sorry. But Pete's article was a surprise, sort of like how damn good the Eldar Holo-field is now. After our Tukey day meal, Mrs. Blackheart and I decided to have a fast paced bit of 40K.

Based loosely on a Spearhead scenario, the Eldar must exit the table edge with as many of the Wave Serpents packed with party goers as possible. The Imperial guard have it easy, line up and shoot a lot. I took 2500 points of Heavy Metal, including a Blaneblade. She got 200 extra points to balance out her being the attacker. This was, as we will see, totally unnecessary.

Ain't no school like the old school.

 My Baneblade disappeared on turn one along with a Leman Russ and the Hydra got shaken. No big deal. I have a ton of guns and those pointy ear bozos have a mere armor 12. And Jink. With  Holo-fields. Still not fullly vested in the new Eldar Codex we took a minute to discover the evil (but appropriate) change with the Holo-fields. Jink gives a 5+ cover save, great neat. Holo-fields give +1 to cover saves. Not as great if you shooting at them. And course now a 3+ cover save if going flat out. Sigh. Well, it was a quick game.

I shot a lot. I hit a good deal. Gillian rolled very well and very little damage was done to the rapidly closing Eldar. The Crimson Hunter is a very good anti-tank weapon. It smoked my Hydra, and the Leman Russ Destroyer. I didn't bother shooting at it, I had far too many other issues at close range.

Can't kill what you can't hit.

So I killed two Vypers, a Falcon, a Fire Prism, and one Wave Serpent full of Dire Avengers in four turns of  increasingly panicked shooting. She wiped the guard off the table, and escaped. Damn advanced aliens!

A fun, fast paced game it was. Next time I'll bring the Dark Angels.

Hammer of Vaul

Crushes You

Happy Chaos-giving!

In honor of our American holiday celebrating unintended consequences, I bring you a guest article written by Arch-Heretic Pete:

Five Step Chaos Program

            Let me be clear right up front.  I love the Ruinous Powers.  I’m dedicated to them.  I first got into this game with the old Tyranid snap-together models (back in the late ‘90s), but the minute Marcus showed me the Chaos codex and I read the descriptions of the Legions, I was hooked.  I had an Alpha Legion army back when they weren’t cool.  And that army grew and fractured, so now I have over 4000 points of Legionnaires, but also a solid Thousand Sons force, a Death Guard army, a fair chunk of World Eaters, and enough Emperor’s Children for a very nice Allied force.

            I’m with Chaos.  I’m invested.  I’m here to stay.

            That being said...

            Chaos has been getting screwed for a while now.

            I don’t say this out of anger or nerdrage, just as an honest fact.  The past two Chaos codexes have been very weak.  They’ve been weak compared to what came before them.  They’ve been weak compared to other contemporary codexes.  There are lots of folks who will pound their math hammers and tell you the current Chaos codex is perfectly fine as long as you take this and this and this and use them like that... but I’ve always felt that any codex that only offers one viable build is kind of a failure.  A big aspect of this game is the variety, and what little variety the Chaos Marine Codex has is... well, pretty useless.  Hands up, anyone who’s seen a lot of Mutilators out on the battlefield...

            But I digress.  Just a little.

            While talking with our host here the other week, it struck me that the Chaos Marine codex could be improved drastically with just a handful of tiny tweaks.  I’m not going to talk about stat lines or wargear or pricing (okay, maybe once about pricing).  These are much simpler tweaks which would let Chaos feel like a more viable army.

            So, here are my suggestions and the reasoning behind them.  If anyone happens to be a major stockholder in Games Workshop, please feel free to pass them on.  Even if it’s just for a good laugh...

1)  Force Organization Chart

            An army with a Chaos Lord on a Bike may take Bike Squads of 5 or more models as troops.

            An army with a Chaos Lord with a Jump Pack may take Raptor squads as troops

            An army with a Warpsmith may take one Helbrute as a troops choice.

            An army with a Daemon Prince may take one Possessed squad as troops if they share the same Chaos god.

-------------------------

            The only character in the Chaos Marine codex who truly unlocks/alters the FOC is Abaddon.  If you think about it, Kharn, Ahriman, Typhus, and Lucius don’t do anything to the chart that any Lord or Sorcerer with a 5 point mark of Chaos couldn’t do.  This rules tweak gives Chaos armies the same flexibility that loyalist Marines do, able to have an army that reflects the sometimes wild structural and tactical decisions a Chaos Lord may make.

            Plus... Doomrider!  Think about it.

2) Retinues

            Any Chaos Lord, Chaos Sorcerer, or Dark Apostle (including Huron Blackheart, Kharn, Ahriman, Lucius, and Fabius Bile) may take one Chosen squad as a personal retinue.  This unit does not use up any HQ or Elites slots.  All options and prices remain the same.

            Any Chaos Lord or Sorcerer in Terminator Armor (including Abaddon and Typhus) may take one Chaos Terminator squad as a personal retinue.  This unit does not use up any HQ or Elites slots.  All options and prices remain the same.

-------------------------

            Slightly related to the first rule.  Loyalist Marines get numerous “free” units in the form of Honor Guard, Command Squads, Techmarines, and so on, which means they have a lot more flexibility when filling out their force organization chart.  Not to mention Imperial Guard, Dark Eldar, Necrons, et al...  Giving Chaos Lords a retinue just puts them on the same footing as pretty much every other Codex.  Plus, a Terminator retinue is exactly the kind of brute force thing to clearly separate Chaos from loyalists.

3) Veterans of the Long War

            For all of the original legions (Black Legion, Emperor’s Children, Iron Warriors, World Eaters, Word Bearers, Death Guard, Thousand Sons, or Alpha Legion), Veterans of the Long War is free for any unit it applies to.  Non-legion Chaos armies may purchase the Veterans of the Long War rule at the listed cost per model.

-------------------------

            Now that Space Marine Chapters are getting free bonus rules just for their paint scheme, it seems unfair not to give the Legions the same advantage.  Especially when it should’ve been a given rule for them from the start.

            Yes, this means the Red Corsairs or anyone’s favorite home-brew army have to pay a few extra points.  But the original legions need to be distinguished somehow, and this is the easiest way.  Plus at least a third of the players out there will just argue “counts as” anyway and say their Red Corsairs army is using Black Templars rules, sooooo...

4) No more Havocs

            The entry for Havocs is removed from the army list.

-------------------------

            Pretty straightforward.  Havocs are, in my opinion, a weird holdover from when Chaos Marines were just Space Marines with horns and spikes.  They don’t really fit the idea of a wild, unrestricted army when their squad size and weapons options are almost a dead ringer for Devastator squads (without the ability to split fire).  Besides, the last rule kind of makes up for this...

5) Chaos Marines

            On page 95  remove bullet points three of the Chaos Space Marine entry.  Replace the first sentence of bullet point four as follows...

            For every five models in the squad, one Chaos Space Marine may replace his bolt pistol with a plasma pistol....................................15pts

            Or replace his boltgun with one of the following:

-------------------------          

            Under the past two codexes, Space Marines can build lots of very flexible, five-man tactical squads using the Combat Squads rule.  Chaos Marines, on the other hand, have been forced to take a ten man squad just to have a heavy bolter. 

            This new rule reflects the “warband” nature of Chaos Marines in two ways.  One is that it allows for a huge amount of special or heavy weapons in one squad (very un-codex).  Two is that it keeps the idea of one champion having absolute control and not letting those under him out of his sight.  So it’s possible to create a massive troops squad of twenty Chaos Marines with four flamers, or four meltaguns, or four lascannons... but they won’t be allowed too far from their champion.

            This also means siege/firepower-centric armies can field lots of heavy weapons and still have all their heavy slots open for tanks or daemon vehicles.  Good news for Iron Warriors or Word Bearers.

            And there you have it.  Feel free to correct, debate, or mock down in the comments.  Now let’s all give thanks to the Ruinous Powers.  And have stuffing and cranberry sauce.

Let the Galaxy Burn

Just not Dinner

Why No Assault Troop Army?

Space Marine players have been able to take an all Biker army since Fourth Edition. What has been missing the last two editions is the all Assault Trooper army. My question today is why?

If a Space Marine Captain or Master takes a bike then Bike Squads count as Troops. His Command Squad can also take bikes. Great. Nicely thematic and makes sense since all Tactical Marines have been trained on bikes. Also good if you are representing one of the reserve companies.

This is not true if your Captain/Master takes a Jump Pack. This strikes me as strange since all Tactical Marines have been trained on Jump packs and had to spend time in a Assault Squad.

Of course this all stems from the fact that I want to start a new Marine Army. I have 10,000 points of Dark Angels and 4,000 of Space Wolves, so I wanted a more Codex-y Chapter. Maybe Ultramarines, maybe a new Chapter. I wanted a Space Marine aerospace assault themed force. Jump troops, Land Speeders, Stormtalon/ravens, that sort of thing. I happily sat down with the new codex to hammer out a new army and found I really couldn't do it. Lame.

The main stumbling block being the inability to take Assault Troops as a Troop choice. The solution is easy. The real question is there any reason is shouldn't be allowed? A Space Marine on a bike cost more, but is much more effective that a Space Marine with a Jump Pack. Is there something I am missing or did the powers who wrote the new Codex just didn't think of it? At any rate, were is my fix.

Airborne Assault: If a detachment includes a Chapter Master or Captain equipped with a Jump Pack, Assault Squads of a least ten models may be taken as troop choices instead of fast attack.

Add to Command Squad Options:
The entire squad may take jump packs..........15 points.

And that's it. Please leave your comments for or against it.

The Emperor Protects

With Jet packs!

Death in the Skies

We had a total of four runs on the Top Gun Tournament. So let's go in opposite order.

Fourth Place: Sadly, me...
I took a Valkyrie Vendetta, I thought with its high armor and solid firepower I could really clean up. Yes and no. The armor was proof against big shootas from the front and side, I took two glances from the rear from some seriously lucky Ork shooting. I damaged a Battlewagon, and destroyed one of the primaries (The Soopergun Battlewagon).

 On turn two the Black Barron arrived right behind me. Despite a torrent of firepower only two hits and not so much as a glance! I went into hover mode, spun around and blew him out of the sky. I followed him promptly as the first Ork rokkit of the turn exploded my ship.
40 points.

Third Place: Jeff
Jeff picked the sexy-as-hell Eldar Crimson Hunter as his mount. Following a similar path he smoked a Battlewagon and the Soopergun. On turn three he damaged the Ork fuel dump and was brought down by a lucky rokkit hit. 45 points.

Second Place: Matt
Time for the flying brick to dispatch the xenos. Matt's Stormraven was totally immune to all shoota fire, that and the machine spirit gave him quite an edge. He strafed, plasma-ed, and chucked missile without mercy. 11 boyz, a trukk, and the Soopergun all fell before the Black Barron showed up. The Oky ace got many hits and took a single hull point from the Stormraven and a rokkit from the ladz stunned it. In the following turns the Ork flyer was destroyed by a pair off Bloodstrike missiles. The machine spirit got a wound on the Warboss. Sadly Matt's path of destruction was stopped short on turn 4 by low fuel. 61 points.

First Place: Gillian
Mrs. Blackheart also took the Eldar Crimson Hunter. Fragile but very lethal. Each turn a Ork target fell before the Hunter's powerful weapons, A battlewagon, the Soopergun, The Black Baron, and the Ork Fuel Depot. The mass of Ork shootas wore the Hunter down and it crashed at the end of turn four. 62 points. A one point win.

The event was a lot of fun and we hope to do another soon. next time with Necron and Chaos fliers participating. Sixth edition is a flexible game system and many entertaining scenarios can be had within it. I think we will have a bit less ground fire and some sort of handicap for the points difference between filers.

The Emperor Protects

but watch the skies

Something, something, Danger Zone!

This year for the Emperor's B-day we did something a bit different: The Atomic Warlords' Top Gun Tournament!

What is this madness you may ask? Well, here is this years mission:

Lone Intruder 
Ork Warlord Killjack Grimjaw is about to launch a major offensive. Your forces are not yet ready to meet him. A single fighter could slip by the outer defenses and do enough damage to delay Grimjaw.

The player takes one flyer of his choice outfitted anyway they like.

The goal is to score as many points as possible before being shot down or running out of fuel.

The (4x6) table is set up with terrain a bunch of Orks and three primary targets at the far end.

At the start of Ork turn 2 the Black Barron arrives from a random table edge.
At the start of Ork turn 5 Fireflash arrives from a random table edge.

Scoring:
  25 points: Primary Target Destroyed
  5 points: Primary Target damaged
  1 point: Ork Boy
  10 points: Deff Dread
  15 points: Battlewagon
  5 points: Deffkopter
  5 points: Warbuggy
  5 points: Trukk
  15 points: Ork Fighta (Black Barron & Fireflash)

Bingo Fuel:
At the end of turn four the player rolls a D6, 1 or 2 the mission ends. 3+ it continues.
At the end of turn five roll again, 1-4 the mission ends, 5+ one more turn is played.

The player starts on the short table edge on the other side from the primary targets and goes first.
All Orks move & fire normally.

Next, the tournament results.

The Emperor Protects

And would be your wingman anytime

Happy Birthday Emperor of Mankind!

What do you get someone whose first name is "The"? Only undying loyalty and death to all heretics. And cake! Do not forget the cake.

We here at Atomic Warlords hope you enjoy this holy day of smiting all those who oppose us. We celebrated by hosting the 40K Top Gun Invitational Tournament. More on that tomorrow.

We also played Fantasy Flight's Relic. For five hours. Relic is a fun game, just oozing with 40K goodness but it is a bit of a grind at the start. Which is to be expected of any game based on Talisman, for which a six hour game would be very quick. The main drag on the game seems to be the very slow start, and the complete randomness of the threats. As you are struggling to level up, few things are as bad as drawing Typhus or a Hive Tyrant right at the beginning. We are going to try a game of Relic were all the players start with some wargear and level 5 to try and make it more of a race than a slow slog. I'll tell you how that goes.

The Emperor Protects

Enjoy the Golden Cake

Codex: Space Marines, First Impressions

Well, it's big and it's here. The largest Codex to date (178 pages), the posterboys of 40K, the Adeptus Astartes have arrived for Sixth.
Good fluff on Ultramarines, White Scars, Imperial Fists, Crimson Fists, Black Templars, Salamanders, Raven Guard, Iron Hands, and some small bits on a large number of successors.

A fair bit of older artwork, with a lot of nice new stuff all in glorious color. All the things you expected, origins, organisation, markings, history, battles, plus a new galaxy map of the home worlds of 50+ chapters. All told, the first 75 pages are just pure fluff, and it is great.

A quick skim shows some nifty new wargear and the new units we were excpecting. A few changes stand out:
Vanguard Veterans no longer can charge on the turn they deep strike.
The Legion of the Damned get Flaming Projectiles (no cover saves).
The Land Speeder Storm is now a dedicated transport for scouts.
Anyone with a missile launcher can buy flakk missiles for it.

And in what I'm hoping is a omission that will be fixed, Command Squads can no longer take any special weapons. Yeah. What the feth? Cut & paste error or random change that makes no sense and goes against 20+ years of Space Marine history? They can all take combi-weapons, grav/plasma pistols, or storm bolters but not a humble flamer or trusty meltagun. We will see.

I am glad the Marines did not wind up with some "super-dreadnought" just so they could have a new big unit like everyone else has gotten so far. The two new units work well enough into a army already spoiled for choices. I would liked to have seen Predators and Whirlwinds be squads of 1-3 units.

Now it is time to build a few army lists and see how the new Warlord traits and Chapter Tactics work on the field.

The Emperor Protects

It helps if you are related 

Armageddon Battle

So this post isn't according to plan. We played a good Apocalypse game a few weeks ago. Then life got in the way, minor surgery, some of the pics I took were corrupted, and I lost the notes I took during the game. Yes, a Lictor ate my homework. Rather than the blow-by-blow battle report I was going to do, here are the surviving pics of the battle. (I have since replaced my camera's memory card.) And some highlites of the game.

Pete's new Stompa joins the fray.

Good ole Armageddon. It's the 40k fluff that just keeps giving. We tried out a battle from Warzone: Armageddon. Steel Legion & Blood Angels vs lots of Orks. I had just finished painting my new Wall of Martyrs fortifications and was eager to use them. They look great on the field and play very well.

Across the table was 3 Stompas, a Skullhamma, 8 various Dreadz and Canz, various wagonz plus a green sea of boyz.

All of Matt's Blood Angels arrived from reserve dead on target thanks to the Precise Coordinates stratagem. Nothing says fun like deep striking Land Raiders full of Terminators.

Just like Beggar's Canyon.

It was a good game, with fun had by all, it ran for three turns and came to a 4-2 Imperial victory.

Heroes of the Day:

Pete's magnificent Skullhamma killed many guardsmen, a bunker, and a Leman Russ before the Warhound was forced to deal with it.

Matt had a humble Tactical squad enter from our deployment zone. Two times the lascannon gunner made snap shots. One Deffdead, and one Megadread exploded in a torrent of rolling sixes.

Mrs. Blackheart's command of Gunhed was inspired. Killing a score of guardsmen and a few tanks, Gunhed was brought down to two hull points. A timely use of the Mek Workshop asset brought it back to full health much to my dismay. It took a lot more shooting to finally kill it.

 

Lupis Rex delivered again for me. Twin Turbo-laser Destructors was just the thing for Ork super-heavies.

Next up we shall look at the good and bad of the new rules.

The Emperor Protects

With more sixes than ones

Stompas 2.0

With the new Apocalypse comes the scramble to make old units compatible. This Sunday we are going to have our first official Apocalypse battle, so I needed to get the Ork heavy metal into line.  Stompas went up in price by good bit, so using some voodoo math and a touch of "that seems right", here are the stats for my two Stompas.

First up is what I wanted to be a heavy command unit. As tricked out as a Mekboy stompa, just geared in a different way. A Flamestorm cannon from a Baal Predator replaces the twin-linked big shoota on the Mega Choppa arm and makes a great Flame Belcha. A pair of nice big Gaze of Mork eyes round out the monster.

BOSS MAULER

950 Points

Super-heavy Walker

WS:4  BS:2  S:10  ARMOR I:1  A:4  HP:12

WARGEAR:

Gaze of Mork

Deff Kannon

Supa-gatler

Mega-choppa

Flame Belcha

Three big shootas

Four Supa-rokkits

SPECIAL RULES:

Effigy

Power Fields

TRANSPORT:

Capacity: 20 Models.

Fire Points: 4

Access Points: One at the rear.

Next we have the answer to the question; Just how shooty can we make a Stompa? Very. Two Death Kannons and a Leman Russ battle cannon provide the blast weapons. Various gun barrels from Ork, Guard, both kinds of Marines, and seven Supa-rokkits make up the Deff Arsenal. 

GUNHEAD

875 Points

Super-heavy Walker

WS:4  BS:2  S:10  ARMOR I:1  A:4  HP:12

WARGEAR:

Two Deff Kannon

Boomgun

Three big shootas

Deff Arsenal

SPECIAL RULES:

Effigy

TRANSPORT:

Capacity: 20 Models.

Fire Points: 4

Access Points: One at the rear.

I printed out a nice data sheet on heavy cardstock for each one. I really like the way they turned out so I think I am going to do that for all my super-heavy units. Even Mrs. Blackheart's cheesy Eldar units.

Next up: The Apocalypse battle report.

Smash 'umies!

Armageddon PC Unit teasers

Many, many more units to come. Including "The smaller Titans and Stompas" No other game details yet other than it is a new hex based game engine. I really enjoy Panzer Corps, so I have faith this will be good. Even though Blood Angels currently cannot take Ironclad Dreadnoughts or Land Speeder Storms, it makes sense to me that they would have access to those units. More information as it is released.

The Emperor Protects

Apocalypse: Wall of Martyrs

Apocalypse 2.0 is upon us in all of its over the top glory. Today let's look at the the three new scenery kits.
Yes it is more Imperial stuff, but 40K is the story of the Imperium of Man vs. a galaxy looking to crush it. I do hope some xenos terrain comes out sooner than later, but I would rather have a full set of Imperial choices and then move on to another race, and you can always fight in the ruins of the Imperuim.

As being the largest kit, I was expecting a ton of parts like the Fortress of Redemption. But no! With these three kits GW has done something totally different. The large base and turret are all one piece and all the parts are off the sprues and in ziploc bags. And a rules pamphlet. Very unusual. I have not heard why the dramatic changes were made in packaging, but I will hazard a guess or two: It makes the size of the box smaller and lighter, and they are just re-using the plastic in the sprues. Maybe.

The other two kits have similar packaging. Big parts, no sprues, and rules. The models go together very easily with only minor trimming. The weapons are interchangeable, so you can have the quad lasers on the Vengeance turrets and Battlecannons & Punishers on the Redoubt or any combination.

They all link up perfectly with the Wall of Martyrs Defense Line & Emplacements as you would hope. The Vengeance Turrets being the only the exception, as they were designed to stand alone.

Time to break out the spray paint and get these ready for our first Apocalypse game.

The Emperor Protects

AV 15 is good too.

Giant Tyranid Monsters All Out Attack!

I may have borrowed the title a bit from Godzilla movies. I know I am now in the minority of 40K players; those who want a good scenario over making "The Unbeatable List of the Day". That's fine, I'm done with the tournament scene, I just want a entertaining battle. Not all battles have to be balanced. History has few of them. So here is my first installment of new missions in that vein.

The Mission

Choosing forces: 

The defender must take only 1 HQ and 2+ fortifications. No fliers or super heavies. No other FOC requirements.

Tyranid Attacker may only take monstrous or gargantuan creatures. Up to six Spore Mine Clusters may be purchased.  

Deployment: 

The defender sets up first on one of the short table sides. Fortifications must be set up within 24" of the short edge. At least 25% of the defenders units must be set up within 24" of the opposite short table edge. The remaining units may be set anywhere on the table. 

The attacker places all units on the attackers short table edge. Normal reserve rules apply.

Roll a D6, 1-4 the attacker goes first, 5 or 6 the defender has the first turn.

The first turn counts as night fighting due to dense Tyranid spore clouds used to mask the attacking forces.

Game Length:
The Tyranids have six turns to destroy as much as possible.

Victory Conditions:
The Tyranids are here to make a rupture in the line for follow-on forces to exploit. The Tyranids score 5 VPs for the HQ unit, 3 VP for Heavies/Fortifications, 2 VP for Elites, and 1 VP for all others. They also get VPs equal to the number of starting wounds on any monstrous/gargantuan creatures that end the game within 18" of the Defenders short table edge.

The Defender gets VPs equal to the number of wounds on any monstrous/gargantuan creatures they kill. No VP are scored for spore mines. If playing with with the variant, then 1 VP per unit.

Variants:
Allow the Tyranid player to take Gargoyles and/or Raveners (must deep strike), and Lictors.
The Guard player may take one Baneblade, must enter from reserve.


The victory conditions probably need a little tweaking. As we try this mission a few more times I will adjust accordingly. Feel free to add any insight/questions below.

The Emperor Protects

But you must be Worthy of it