Dominating Doubles

Email In:

Hey fritz, I'm a long time reader/watcher of your tactical videos (which are purely awesome for a new player such as myself) and after reading all the hype surrounding your upcoming doubles tournament I decided to enroll in one myself! My partner and I read your advice and watched your video, and have decided upon the following lists/rolls.

First, myself:


HQ: 90 pts
Farseer with Runes of Warding, Doom


Troops: 910 pts
5 Dire Avengers
Wave Serpent with Shuriken Cannon, TL Shuriken Cannon

5 Dire Avengers
Wave Serpent with Shuriken Cannon, TL Scatter Lasers

5 Dire Avengers
Wave Serpent with Shuriken Cannon, TL Scatter Lasers

5 Dire Avengers
Wave Serpent with Shuriken Cannon, TL Scatter Lasers

5 Dire Avengers
Wave Serpent with Shuriken Cannon, TL Scatter Lasers


Heavy Support: 250 pts
Fire Prism with Shuriken Cannon

Fire Prism with Shuriken Cannon


I am the "mission winner" so to speak. I sit back in my grav tanks and blast things from either 60" or 36" away, 24" if the enemy is a saucy assault army. I plan on grabbing objectives out of nowhere and using my speed and heavy str 6 oriented army to support my partner, the murder so to speak:

105-Rune Priest- Meltabombs - Storm Caller, Tempest Wrath
75-Grey Hunters- 5w/1FL
75-Razorback- w/Lascan&twinPlasmagun
75-Grey Hunters- 5w/1FL
75-Razorback- w/Lascan&twinPlasmagun
75-Grey Hunters- 5w/1FL
75-Razorback- w/Lascan&twinPlasmagun
165- Lascannon Pred
165- Lascannon Pred
165- Lascannon Pred
200- Speeders [3] 3 Multimeltas and 2 heavy FL.

He just straight up shanks people, that is his duty. Lascannons fry tanks, speeders fry tanks, and the flamers fry horde (which is also kept in check by my str 6 mass of shots). My Fire Prisms sit back in his lines (as we are both very shooty) and benefit from a +4 cover save while most of his army has a 5+. He draws all the attention while I get side shots or await the grab.

We both have physic defense covered, between ROW and 24" Hood we should be good. Also, Tempest/Storm screws with Deep Strikers or others who would want to bash their way up to our lines.

So what do you think of our lists/strategy, where could they be improved/where do they fail? Are our lists too cheesy, or are we just being paranoid. What do you think our chances would be with this list (as our scene is very competitive)? I know you are a busy guy, but thanks for any help towards this.
Reply Out:

Well both lists combined are actually kind of scary, you guys have done the homework. There is only one thing I would change and that is in the wolf list- drop the three las cannon preds and get something more in your face units. With all the scatter lasers, las, and plasma you have enough tank stopping power, but the razorback units are a little weak with the guys inside. Turn one/two is going to be both of you guys sitting back and firing- demeching your opponent, and then the wolves move in for the kill as Eldar sit back continuing to fire, and then turn 5/6 capture/contest. Don’t know what models you guys have available, but maybe spend the predator points for blood claws or hunters in rhinos 10 strong- get them stuck in and cause as much damage as you can. Let me know how you guys do.
-Frtiz

How Are YOU Playing DOM?

Yea, I know I’ve previously said I would never use The Doom of Malan'tai, but I’m man enough to take that back as DOM is now podding down in my list. Against foot based armies, like Orks, Tau, and the like he has been murder, against mech it is hard to say as it depends on my opponent and what they are going to argue against.

Question is, how are YOU guys playing him? Does his leach essence effect dudes in vehicles?

Here is my thinking on it, and no I’m not just saying “YES” because I’m playing him. It is a bubble effect, and where are the guys inside the vehicle? Inside it. If you argue they are “off the table” then what about Blood Angels having a priest, etc. inside a vehicle giving the guys outside FNP, etc. How come that works as a bubble/area effect and DOM doesn’t. Psychic powers don’t effect dudes in vehicles, but it isn’t a psychic power. Cover saves? How do you get cover saves against something that isn't a shooting attack? Can I get cover saves from my plasma overheats then? Of course waiting for a simple FAQ, official statement, not some redshirt email, means we’ll be waiting for a long time.

As a Tyranid player do you say yes or no? When facing Tyranids do you say yes or no?

DOM is the ultimate player- don’t hate the player, hate the game- GW made him with his crappy nebulous rules.

Thoughts?

DOM is killing my tourney sportsmanship points...

Space Marine Tac Squad Configuration?

Hey fritz

I wanted your opinion on a tactical squad I have built. I wanted the squad to be an "all comers" squad. The squad has a rhino with extra armour, a power fist on the sergeant, a flamer, and a missile launcher for 250 pts. What do you think? I was planning on using the squad for the rhino rush tactic with an assault squad. I was also wondering how many tactical squads would I need for a 2000 pt list. I have two tactical squads in the list and I was wondering if that would be enough.

Clayton

Reply Out:

Clayton, I personally go with a power fist sarge, a melta gun, and a las cannon in my tac squads. Power fist is mandatory despite the points- it lets you threaten everything in the game and when “hidden” in the squad- meaning you can’t pick the sarge out since he isn’t an IC you will be swinging away. I like the melta to pop tanks, and lay a wound on a MC before the charge. Flamers are very situational- power armored units will just shrug it off and even units vulnerable to it like orks and ‘nids will try to spread out or have so many numbers that flaming and killing six or so dudes won’t matter. Onto the heavy weapon- again I prefer the las for the range and tank killing power. Missiles can kind of tank hunt, and you have frag, but again the frag template really isn’t much of anything these days- horde armies will be maxing cover saves and power armored armies will just shrug it off. I also alternate with a plasma pistol on my sarge- but that brings the cost way up for one model- but I like that S7 shot before the charge, etc. This combo also work well in that you can combat squad down and put the sarge/melta in the rhino and then put the las cannon and marines in the back kind of like a mini devastator squad. Regarding the rhino, popular opinion on the internet is to ditch extra armor as it eats points, but I always take it and would say take it- being able to always move means tank shocking, objective contesting, and being able to keep moving when you are swarmed by hordes.
-Fritz

Starting Eldar Harlequins? Advice?

Email In:

Hey Fritz, I am interested in playing 40k and i went to my local game store and they told me about all the different army's and referred me to your website because i want to play Eldar. The problem is I don't know how to start making a 500 point harlequin army working towards a bigger army on my 90-100 dollar budget. Can you please point me in the right direction so I can start enjoying the Eldar the way it seems you do on the site?
Reply Out:

A 500 point Harlequin army would look something like this:

HQ: Farseer W/ Spirit Stones, Runes Warding + Witnessing, Singing Spear, Doom, Fortune
Elite: 5 Harlequins W/ Kisses, Shadowseer, Deathjester, 1 Fusion Gun
Troops: 5 Rangers
Troops: 5 Rangers

Cost of the models new off the GW site is $140, and that includes buying the deathjester and shadowseer appropriate models so everything is models legit. Buy it from the warstore or other discount places and you could probably get it for around $110-$120. If you could get them at your local gaming store then do so, at least in my opinion as it’s nice to support the places that let you play.

At 500 points you have a very compact and nice little army, following the same principals I put forth in my .PDF only scaled down to the 500 point range.

I’d tweak it a bit and play it like this:

Rangers go into terrain and fire away, going to ground for the 2+ cover save as needed. Farseer goes with the harlequin troupe and is protected by veil of tears- and hangs back so your opponent can’t target the seer and clown group. This means they are going to have to get close to you, or the rangers to lay on the hurt with rapid fire weapon or flamer weapons. Rangers take out troops and infantry, death jester fires away to take out light transports like rhinos. The fusion pistol and singing spear is there just in case somebody is a jerk and bring an AV 14 vehicle like a land raider to the game- so you can slag it real easy. Farseer casts fortune on the harlie group which should be in cover so you get a 4+ with a re-roll and then doom a group before the clowns and farseer assault. Take wounds on the farseer to keep your small clown group up and alive.

Objective missions, take two with your rangers, and contest the third with your harlequins- target their troops choices with the rangers and deathjester. From here as you get more money you can build the army out by playing the ranger models as pathfinders- just not enough points in a 500 point game for them, add some wraithlords, and more harlequins as you go along.

-Fritz

Tyranids Vs. Eldar Battle Report

I’ve been a bit silent about my Tyranids recently as my list has been further evolving along my null deployment concept. I have to laugh as I’m now including some units that I swore I would never play

My null deployment Tyranids have been continuing to evolve as I tweak my list to adapt to all the marinehammer around me. I’ve got three lists I’ve been playing with, trying to distill it down to the best of the best, for null deployment anyway…

This week at the club had me playing against a guardian/aspect warrior heavy army backed by jetbikes, vypers, a wave serpent and night spinner. Everything was geared towards mass shots- scatter lasers, EML’s, shuriken cannons. Madness.

We rolled for mission, and it was annihilation with 12” deployment, which means all or nothing for my army. I needed to take first turn, and by turn two his army needed to be broken or else all those shots would blow over me, even for foot/hybrid Eldar. Do jetbikes count as foot ‘dar or hybrid ‘dar. I roll and take first turn and set up Swarmlord + guards in the center, along with a strung out ripper group for cover saves, and 20 poisoned hormagaunts on the right, twenty on the left.

Now when dudes see all my stealers and I’m going first and outflanking with them they castle up in the center, which is what the Eldar did, and what most opponents do. I’ve been needing a way to crack this nut open which is where the change in my list has evolved. I’ve given up completely on shooting with my list, it just seems like ‘nids do a crap job of it, so it is all about the horde and swarming over my opponent- rear armor CC attacks. Of course if I’m facing a land raider + all I have to stop it is Swarmlord, but even when I had zopes in the list it was hard to do with smoke, psychic hoods, psychic tests, etc. AND even if I did pop it at 18” the deathstar inside got out and went crazy. I never thought I would be playing without zopes…and I never thought I would be playing Doomy either...but like I said, I’ve been evolving the list for hyper killing.

Stealers go into the outflank, Deathleaper into reserve, and Doom Of Malanti into a pod for the deepstrike. My opponent castles in the center with vypers over on the left for support shots and warwalkers outflanking- not sure why about that. Deployment is done and I borrow a piece of paper to mark down where my Yrmigals are chilling out…

So now it is all about Swarmy and friends running at you like a madman and my other units zipping in to table my opponent by turn two, or at least alpha strike them on turn two so that when Swarmy and friends crashes they mop up. Although it is annihilation, I’m trying to evolve my army so that I always just go for tabling my opponent regardless of mission so tactically it is the same every time. No need to worry about synapse, hanging a stealth unit back to capture/score- everything is thrown at the opponent.

Down side is that the army is vulnerable to a first turn seize as I need to also come in with reserves on the top of two. This way my opponent only has one turn to move before I’m crashing since I am going first. I need to go first all the time. Seize denied and I move out running down the center.

Now playing a horde army is tiring, especially with 100+ buggies, but not having a shooting phase keeps the game actually moving very fast, especially if my opponent lets me move/run at the same time.

Turn one for my opponent has lots of shots coming down range and even with cover saves my gaunts take a beating losing a good few from each unit. Gunboat vypers rip into me also, highly annoying, interesting to be on the other side of the vypers for once. Deceptive, since it looks like the Eldar will get another turn of shooting.

Turn two has all my reserves coming in on a 3+ thanks to Swarmy and with some fantastic rolling everything comes in- I reroll one outflank for the side I want thanks to Swarmy.

The center with Swarmy advances and my hormaguants get buffed by Swarmlord with preferred enemy hitting an autarch and warspiders that were just in my bounding leap range. I reroll failed hits and wounds thanks to poison and the autarch and nine spiders go down. The remaining one passes with insane heroism and then leaps out of combat.

On the right my stealers flood the table and explode a wave serpent forcing the scorpions inside to get out. On the left my Yirmies pop out and assault a guardian group toasting them. Doom comes down in the center gets out and starts sucking souls…

….and the bikes, guardians, and wraithlord all pass their LD tests. I should say that DOM in the pod is just a distraction to push units out into the path of the stealers and the incoming Swarmlord spearhead. Castling up in response to the stealer outflank creates some nice jagged pockets for my pod to land into my opponent’s ranks without fear of scatter. Turn two I’m in my opponent’s face as planned dishing out some serious hurt.

Scorpions move and assault the guant group that tagged the spiders and take them out. Nightspinner lays the web on my swarm of stealers, and everything else pretty much shoots into the yirmigals taking them out. Doom pops off in my opponent’s hooting phase killing the wraithlord outright with a LD 15 roll, while toasting some guardians bringing DOM up to 10 wounds! Nah!

Turn three is mopup as doom sucks more wounds killing a guardian squad, stealers take some loses from the nightspinner terrain movement, but then eat the scorpions and start running for the nightspinner. Gaunts furious charge the jetbikes thanks to Swarmlord and wipe them out with poison. Turn three for my opponent has the vypers, spinner and a lone war spider left, War walkers eventually come in, but I just go to ground for mass cover saves and ride the game out, losing Deathleaper in the process since I got greedy trying to flesh hook some vypers, eating a ton of shots in return, and I lose another gaunt squad from shooting. My opponent has four kill points and I’ve got seven kill points.

A much more efficient killing list, again one of three that I’m playing around with, but honestly it wasn’t that much fun to play for me. I’m more of a deceptive/guile like player that likes to swoop in out of nowhere for the last minute win, rather than an in your face butcher.

I’ve got some other Tyranid thought posting up over the next few days with some more insights into a hyper list concept, and of course it is still a WIP. More to come…

Chaos Daemons Anti-Tank?

Email In:

I have a question about anti tank in an army. Is it necessary in a friendly environment to have to have anti tank if your units are tough enough to just withstand the firepower.

I was thinking of an army of 60 plague bearers the epidemius, and Ku'Gath in 1500 points.
I just want to know your opinion on this list and if it is capable of sucking up shots to the point of not caring about enemy tanks. The only army that can pose a threat is a guard army with 70 guardsmen, 3 leman russ's and tons of orders.

Do you think that you could pull this list of?

Reply Out:

I think there are different layers of anti-tank some needed and some not depending on your army. Here is what I mean by that…

Tanks in 40K are either gun platforms, troop transports, or a combination of both like a land raider crusader. If you have a swarm army or a “tough” army like plague bearers then you don’t really have to worry about gun tanks as you have lots of models, cover saves, FNP, etc. But what about troop tanks- if you have no way to pop a land raider then it will deliver those assault termies that can cut you down and negate FNP.

Now how much anti-tank to bring. If you are a mech army with lots of razorbacks then you need to shut down your opponent’s tanks so they don’t kill yours from a shooting perspective. Mass daemons armies, and swarm armies do need a way to stop tanks also, not because they can kill tons of your guys, but because they can move into contest objectives and capture them. Being a “foot” army demons need a way to get their opponent’s out on foot also- monstrous creatures and soul grinders are a way to do this.

So, even if your army can stand up to the shots, you will still need something to prevent objective contesters.

-Fritz

Eldar Flight Stands?

Email In:

Fritz,

I see from your pictures that you don't use the POS stand that is included with the jetbikes in your army. I've been dying to try and find a good portable option to change to but haven't found one. Do you by chance have instructions or anything you can help a fellow Saim-Hann player out with?

Thanks
Brad

Reply Out:

Brad, the solution I used was to build my flight stands out of a toy called “Magz”, which I got on Amazon.com. They are small magnetic sticks about the same size as the plastic GW flight sticks with magnets on each end. I glued the stick onto a flight stand base and then tapped a small flat headed screw into my jetbikes, vypers, etc. for the Magz to magnetize onto. The advantage of the Magz is that they are one solid stick and the screw into the model is also solid- no coming unglued, etc. Very handy if you are playing every week! I’ve also done the same for my Necron destroyers and SM land speeders- works like charm- check out my youtube vid on it:

-Fritz

Mega Magz Magnetic Construction Kit M1697

Fritz Rant: Mepheston The N00bslayer?

What is better than winning games? Complaining about them! Time for another Fritz rant!

So the other day during some practice games with Jawaballs I got a full taste of Mepheson and all his shenanigans and I’m not quite sure what to make of him… Does GW deserve a smack for creating such a powerful character for less than 300 points, or is Mepheston the new n00bslayer model? I’ve heard he’s been banned in certain tournaments? Is that needed?

Played correctly by a Blood Angel player with a plan against an opponent who is not aware of him, and I can see why one would be upset- the dude will walk through your entire army. But if you plan for him then what?

Essentially Mephy is an infantry sized tank- with his T6, 2+ save, 5 wounds, and FNP from a local priest camping around him, bolters are a waste of time- hit him with your anti-tank weapons blasting pass his T6, armor save and FNP. Of course there are cover saves…

Psychic hoods help to shut him down, especially if they are the daemonhunter variety so he is forced to walk and run across the board. Problem is, for some players Mepheston is just the model they would use against n00bs and I can see him ruining the game for people, especially if one also has a land raider or stormraven with termies + furious charge, + FNP + preferred enemy.

Thing that gets me is comparing 5th edition books with 5th edition books- Mepheston is less then Swarmlord? WTF? AND with Swarmy you need the guards to make him work so add them on as a hidden cost. Why is Mepheston so much more uber for half the cost? Marine favoritism as usual? Thought?

Best Space Marine HQ Choice?

Hey Fritz

I had a question I have been trying to find an answer to for months and I wanted to ask your opinion as an experienced space marine player. What do you think are the 2 best space marine hq choices? I know the librarian comes standard in 5th edition with almost all armies having the psyker option for an hq choice. Then again there's always the second hq choice you could take. If you don't choose any of gamesworkshops' golden boys( calgar, vulkan, Pedro, khan, lysander, sicarius, shrike,etc.) then who do you choose and why?

Clayton

Reply Out:

In terms of non-named characters librarians with null zone seem to be standard around where I game. Throw him in with a group of thunder hammer terminators so whatever the termies hit have to re-roll invul saves. Pretty nasty, but a single deathstar unit like that is easily avoided, speed bumped, or stopped by experienced players. That said libbys also have a psychic hood, which is also becoming mandatory with each new 5th edition army having the ability to throw up psyker powers. Second HQ choice would have me taking a force commander hands down- good wounds and attacks, nice wargear options- give him a relic blade, but more importantly the hidden gem of orbital bombardment. This alone makes him worth taking in my opinion. So many player forget about it, and while it is a one shot scatter, the chance of it landing at that opportune moment can make it a game changer.

-Fritz

What do YOU guys think is the best Codex Space Marine HQ choice? Anybody even taking Chaplains these days?

Reserving Reserves

Been talking a bit about Grey Knights recently and the need to play them in a reserve strategy to begin even standing a chance. RayJ left a dead on comment regarding reserves that I wanted to expand upon.

RayJ wrote, in response to Zatoichiblindsword (unregistered):

The same is true for Deathwing, and here's the main reason why: none of these armies has enough models to last through the torrent of weapons and wargear being thrown out by the new codices. Reserves allow you to reverse the alpha strike and focus out a single part of the opponent's forces.

If you reserve, the appropriate move for the opponent is to deploy and move in a protective formation towards the center of the table. If they spread out or deploy to one side, the reactive deployment of reserves is a huge bonus to taking on the newer armies.

To get the “best” out of reserves you have to have your opponent take first turn, which is pretty easy to do with more and more players going for the alpha-strike these days, or even reverse alpha by trying to seize first turn.

So your opponent sets up and you reserve everything. Most players seeing an open board will not take a moment to visualize where your units can come in and take shots, etc. so they will move out to take objectives or complete mission goals.

When your units arrive you then want to step back mentally for a moment and look to see where your opponent is weak- not only in units that you can kill, but weak in terms of unit (their) placement so you will eat the minimum amount of return fire. You are asking yourself where can I go to kill the most in shooting and yet take the least amount of return fire or at least get cover saves.

Attacking the flanks (sides) of your opponent’s army is best- how to get them there as opposed to the center as RayJ pointed out is the reserve counter. Objective placement of course in seize ground, or by placing a small bait unit out to the far size of the table and then reserve everything else.

Imperial Guard Hard Boyz Nerf!

I must say that I’ve been watching the hard boyz debate unfold now that GW has decided to “update” the DH codex by getting rid of allies. Of course they should have done that years ago, and it took discontinuing the codex to make it happen, but it couldn’t come at a better time. This is just the thing Blood Angels need to try and take the HB title.

IG in 5th is all about the alpha strike, no disputing the “skill” behind this. With no seize in hard boyz (WTF?!?) the guard alpha strike as all but unstoppable. See if I take the Emperor’s Tarot and get the +1, and then roll a “6” for first turn, I’m at “7” so there is no way my opponent can ever go first, AND they can’t seize which equals an auto lose for them.

Dropping allies still means it’s all about first turn, but at least other armies have a chance now…

Daemonhunter Codex Is Now Online (Link)

So GW has just put up the Daemonhunter codex online: Link Here if you want to grab it. I was hoping they would fix the assault cannon from heavy 3 to 4 with rending but oh well. However, this only confirms to me the rumors, and a tip off that I can't name yet that Daemonhunters are the next codex to drop in the October slot. If half of what I have heard is true the new 'knights are going to make Blood Angels look like Twilight emo rejects in terms of being over powered- S6 power weapons with rending as standard...oops did I say that...

Dark Eldar players take another punch in the nuts and go back to the end of the line...

Grey Knights Are A Reserve Army

So last night I was hanging out with Jawaballs as we war gamed out a few scenarios so he could get in some hardboyz practice and I could finalize some ideas for the upcoming Battle For Salvation Tournament. Here are a few things I learned… Never forget a word in your ear power- I’m going to have to write this down on my hand or something!

Assassins suck when they come in on turn two since everybody is still all meched up. I need turn three-ish for her to enter so she has some targets. In our practice games she kept on coming in on turn two and the only non-mech on the table was Mepheston- she assaulted with predictable results- she got squished before she could even strike back.

Grey Knights are a reserve army, 100%

First game I was on the table and JB was able to assault me with his deathstar unit- land raider with termies, priests, furious charge, FNP, Litanies combo- holy $hit! My termies wen’t down like nothing and then he was running around in my back ranks. I also ate a ton of las cannon and assault cannon fire on my regular knight squads. Brutal, but expected since he was fielding twice the amount of stuff as me thanks to the BA point cost of units vs. the Daemonhunter price.

Second test game had me reserving everything, and I was able to get the jump on his deathstar unit and Mepheston taking both of them out in the reserve entry counter attack. Plus it allowed a turn of movement for him to get closer for my psycannons to actually be in range to shoot at the transports.

Next I’m going to have to play around with optimizing my objective placement, taking into account my reserves.

Are Blood Angels The New Eldar?

Are Blood Angels The New Eldar? Here is what I mean by that…

Eldar are all about synergy, perhaps more than any other army. Your units need to work together to pull it off, farseer guiding and dooming key units, etc. Blood Angels are the same way. I can say this from getting in a dozen or so games against them, and from playing around with Jawaballs’ BA army. Furious charge, feel no pain, re-roll this, re-roll that, priests in key positions. Fighting the army means rounds of punishing BA effects going off in your face, take out the synergy and they are well, just marines, that die like marines- nothing great but nothing bad. Being aware and identifying the synergy is going to be key in dealing with BA, if you can’t see it then I can understand how BA would walk all over you. The question is going to be- how can you lead your opponent into a place where you can break those priests, chaplains, and librarians?

Battle For Salvation Tournament Report

This was my plan for the tournament...

So this past weekend was out clubs annual summer 40K tournament drawing some of the best players from the New York and beyond area. Three games at 1850 points and I was all set to bring my Grey Knights. I had the list, got in some practice games with Jawaballs the week before, but made a last minute decision the night before the tourney. I KNOW I said I was going to bring them and report back to you guys, but I’ve also been working on my Tyranid list(s) and wanted to throw one of them into the tourney meat grinder to try out some new ideas. For the tourney I had two goals: take first place or crash and burn, and crush Jawaballs on the table with the might of my ‘nids. I haven’t played him yet at all with the bugs as I’m waiting to throw the hurt locker on him with them. Next time with the ‘knights I promise…

My list?

Swarmlord + 2 Guard
DOM + Pod
Lictor
2 Zopes + Pod
10 Genestealers X 3
21 Hormigaunts X 2 + Pod
Carnifex + Pod

Round one is a random pair up and I draw a Daemonhunter player in a five objective mission. As far as DH go my opponent’s list was pretty solid-grey knights backed by storm troopers, Inquisitor + retinue + mystics, grand master + terminators, assassin, and a land raider crusader. Unfortunately this game was going to come down to a war of attrition and the DH just can’t do it when your knight models cost 25 points base.

I won the objective roll off and clustered as many as I could- three around the center of the table for my swarm to make a push, while one objective was on the far left, and the other on the far right- perfect for my stealers to outflank and snack on.

My opponent used a word in your ear to pull Swarmlord forward and into range of first turn shooting for the knights and crusader to try and break synapse- failing but throwing a few wounds on the guard, and of course missing the multi-melta shot. With the first knight squad starting forward and then moving 6” they were in range for my hormaguants on turn one so I assaulted with furious charge and poison putting the hurt on the knights and then finishing them off next turn. Stealers came on and gobbled up the storm troopers holding an objective at the table edge. DOM and the carnifex pod down near the inquisitor and eventually take him out. Suicide zopes fail to blow up the land raider after firing three times- takes Swarmlord to run over and haymaker it. The assassin comes in and neural shreds some gaunts and the dies in the assault, and I tarpit the terminators with gaunts to slow them down. Game ends with only a few termies left for a major victory plus some bonus points for me. Now, I could have taken 3+ more objectives then my opponent and get the massacre (20 battle points) over 17 for the major victory, but I don’t want to do that for good reason…

The Daemonhunters put up a good fight and my opponent played his army well, but they just couldn’t repel so many bodies being spread out over an objective missions, maybe if it was capture and control, of course when the new DH codex comes out in a few months it will be a new game, especially with all the love that they will be getting.

So during the break I go hand out with Jawaballs and I find out he got the full twenty battle points plus bonus points which is perfect! There is only one other guy who got perfect points and that would be none other than the clubs own Danny Internets. That is why I didn’t want the full points- Danny plays a guard chimera and valk spam army- it all come down to who takes first turn- he takes it he wins with the alpha-strike. I don’t want to self destruct on that. So for round two Jawaballs is on table one squaring off against Danny and you and you can read the tale about it on JB’s blog…

…while Fritz is sitting on table three, right where I want to be vs. a Chaos Space Marine army. Just following my tournament game plan and this is the turn to make the push- I need to get the massacre and all bonus points to put my on table #1 for the final game.

Now I know chaos still has some bite despite what the internet’s say and this list had that bite- three rhinos full of khorne berzerkers, a fourth full chaos space marine squad, a land raider with kharn and berzerkers, a defiler, predator, and prince with wings and lash. The mission was capture and control + victory points so it made it a bit harder for me- my army gives out VP’s like they are candy, no sitting back and sniping for me Eldar style- I’d have to go for the punch in the nutz turn two and aim to break my opponent.

I pass him first turn and deploy Swarmlord and the two gaunt squads near my objective while reserving everything else. This gives a nice visual target for my opponent to head out for and hopefully spread out to give my pods and outflankers room to come in. My objective is placed in the lower left behind a hill so my buggies will at least get cover from the defiler cannon, and my opponent places his in the center of the table next to a bunker so my outflanking stealers just can’t punk him.

Turn one has the rhinos and raider moving up backed by the defiler and prince at the front. Turn one for me has Swarmlord moving out to draw to the center of the table. Turn two chaos continues to move up ready to crash all those berserkers into Swarmy…as my pods and army drops on turn two- everything but one stealer squad comes in and it’s not pretty. Suicide zope pod comes down and lances the land raider exploding it. Lictor goes BOO! And pops up right behind the defiler getting rear armor and destroying it with the fleshhooks- which was a one in a mission shot- I just put him there to speed bump the defiler so my ‘fex could hit it next turn.

Two stealers outflank on the left and star running for the bunker, carnifex drops next to the ruined defiler, DOM + its pod + the two empties pod in and contest near my opponent’s objective. Pods lash out killing a chaos marine and immobilizing one rhino. Then DOM start sucking souls, and of course the rules dispute begins thanks to the lack of GW FAQ. I’m not going to push it so my opponent and I agree that DOM doesn’t affect dudes in transports so he sucks the souls and is up to ten wounds from the chaos marine squad holding the bunker.

Next turn Kharn and the zerks kill the suicide zopes, DOM eats a world eater power fist, but my null deployment drop has broken the army. Stealers hit Kharn and group putting all the attacks on the berserkers wiping them out as Kharn takes a ton of fearless wounds and dies. Poison + preferred enemy gaunts charge the demon prince and he folds like nothing. Pods continue to lash out and the carnifex rampages on the marines in the back. Second wave of stealers crash as the lictor then rends and attacks the predator. From there it is just mop up and I finish the game with a full massacre. I felt kind of bad dropping the ‘nid bomb on my opponent like that, but it was game two…

Now at the end of game two is where I should have seen things coming. Would I be facing Danny Internets on table # 1 for all the marbles? Over on table two was another club member, Andrew playing his orks- this guy is hands down the best ork player I have ever seen. He must be channeling gork and mork or something as he always just wins, and wins, and win, but not this game…his opponent- Space Wolf thunder wolf spam.

The final game has me playing on table # 1 vs. Thunder wolves for the game, mission is straight up kill points which is going to hurt big time since I have so many pods in my list- each giving up a KP. My opponent’s list is Logan + Rune Priest + two Grey Hunter packs with terminator armor + cyclones, Two dakka tanks and three groups of full thunder wolves all tricked out with different wargear so you can abuse the wound allocation rules extending the life of the squad out. It’s like facing or nob bikers all over again, only these dues are super jacked thanks to GW’s love of Space Marines.

I reserve everything so hopefully when my units come on I can catch the wing of my opponent’s army as it moves out and gang up on it. Crappy reserve rolls ensure bringing my gaunts and pods in and nothing else. I castle in the left corner to try and buy another turn but the wolves hit, my other stuff finally comes on and wolves hit. Thunder wolves just chew through my army and I only manage to take down two groups of them, part of Logan’s unit, and a grey hunter units vs. my only having Swarmlord , a carnifex, and three pods left. At one point Swarmy was eating eight power fist attacks a turn! Needless to say I got tables with no victory points or bonus points for me…

Well played by my opponent, and he had the plan and wound allocation down pat for the ‘wolves. I just didn’t have the overwhelming punch to take them out which had me finishing in eight place taking a huge hit from getting tabled. So much glory and loot just within my grasp…

Eldar Nightspinner Tactics?

Email In:

Hi Fritz, I'm a constant reader of your blog and i watch all your youtube videos. Through reading and watching all your videos and blogs about how to use pinning as much as possible I've been curious about what you think of the new Night Spinner Rules that cause difficult and dangerous terrain to the target that is hit and if you have any ideas on how you would go about using such a model to its full extent on the board.

Reply Out:

I’ve got one built and painted and two more on the way- definitely going to be replacing my fire prisms as a support battle tank. ‘Spinners are going to be all about controlling movement and slowing down your opponent. I plan to be dropping those difficult/dangerous templates on my opponent’s death star units like land raider with termies, ork nobz, and of course seer councils. Big large units are also very at risk- roll enough dice and a “1” will come up. I also think in some if not most instances immobilizing a vehicle with a one in six chance is easier to do then blowing it up- both shut down movement.

Of course the spinner suffers from the main problem of the fire prism- blow the gun off and it is done, but then I’ll just shift the tank over to tank shocking and end of game contesting objective runs- will save my wave serpents and vypers from having to do it.

My only complaint about it, is that GW didn’t drop the points and make it in line with the other 5th edition codex heavy support type models like the valk or raven flyers. I was hoping the NS would start bridging the Eldar codex gap from 4th to 5th. Once I get a few games in I'll post up some more ideas and battle reports...

-Fritz

Warhammer 40K Battle Mission: Stop The Ritual

Something never seen before! My buddy the Warmaster Black Matt playing a "good" army! We decided to switch armies for this classic daemonhunters mission battle report. If I’m a little hard on the Warmaster, it’s all just in good fun as we play each other all the time…

Tournament Tips?

Email In:

Fritz;

I am buying my ticket for the battle for salvation tournament 2morrow. I was just wondering do you have any tips for tournaments for me and my friend who is also attending the tournament? Hope to see you there.
Chris

Reply Out:

Chris, thanks for emailing. Tournament tips? I think the best tip for any tournament is to go there without any expectations for the day. What I mean by that is that if you go to one with only “winning” in mind you potentially miss out on so much more. Of course you want to do your best to win, play your best game, etc.

Tournaments can be a great way, if not the fastest way to improve your 40K game regardless of the army you play- think of it as an intense one or two day workshop depending on the tournament. The first thing is that you are going to play a number of games against different opponents which is great. More or less I play the same guys every week or so at the club- Jawaballs, BC James, etc. I know their style, and they know mine, in a tournament I don’t (for the most part) know the guy or gal across from me, it lets me experience playing against somebody I don’t know. Tournaments also bring out a ton of different armies so it is a good place to play against armies and builds you normally wouldn’t again, expanding your 40K experience.

Also, bring a digital camera or camera phone and take pictures of all the different armies. This is a great way to see other builds and later think about how your army would do against them, in addition to getting some great paint and conversion ideas for down the road.

And then there is the friend factor- don’t be shy, think of it as a way to meet and network with other 40K players, a place to share ideas and get some new ideas about the game.

The final piece of advice I’d give is to have some sort of display board, or even a tray/box to put your models in between each game. You don’t want to pack/unpack your models for each round- takes a bit long to do. Better to have something you can put them out on and carry them from table to table.

I’ll see you at the tournament, and hopefully we can get in a match against each other.

-Fritz

Fritz Poll: Phoenix Lords?

(Click Image For A Larger Picture)

The results are in and Maugan-Ra predictable comes out on top! Fuegan surprised me a bit coming out on 4th but I assume regular fire dragons can do what he does for much less. Baharroth barely registers at 1% which means that in the new Eldar codex GW will make him the best and most powerful HQ choice rivaling even Mepheston! Sound off on why you voted for who!

So I Just Got Off The Phone With Jawaballs…

So I Just Got Off The Phone With Jawaballs…

…and we were talking about army building RE Blood Angles & Tyranids. Everybody has their own system for building a list- tactics, specific models, a combination of both?

Regardless, under the current 40K rules you have to also consider scoring units for objective based missions and kill points for annihilation.

But what about another way to play (or perhaps approach) 40K? What if you don’t play by the rules- and I’m not talking about Apocalypse stuff or hard boyz shenanigans where smoke launchers work the entire game as long as you don’t shoot.

I’m talking about what if you forget about winning the game through the missions and go right to tabling your opponent and wiping them off the table. 5 objectives? Who cares I’ll table you. Kill points, who cared, I’ll table you. Bases? Who cares... Think about this army design concept for a moment.

How much “killy” can you throw at your opponent? If you are playing the mission it is never 100% of your army- maybe 70-80% percent is going out and killing, while the rest is objective grabbing, etc. BUT, what if you focuses 100% of your army on killing, throwing 100% of it agasint your opponent, who is playing the mission and opposing you with a smaller percent of their army- because you are playing the mission also, going for objectives, etc? Right?

JB and I have been playing around with this very idea. I’ll let him share more over on his blog, but part of me, personally, isn’t sure I want to start playing this way, where is the fun, the challenge, the flair? I want to be a tactical artist, using guile and skill to win the day, not just a butcher. But I’m still on the fence and this post is not about my feelings on that right now…

So for Tyranids I’ve been working on a concept known as “HyperNids”- everything needs a name right? Forget scoring units, pooping out scoring units, and much of what the internet says about Tyranids. Build a list 100% on killing- and Tyranids kill best in the assault. What sucks about the ‘nids codex is that unlike the SW & BA codex which can build shooty/assault/hybrid armies, the “best” of the Tyranids is on assault. T’s can try and shoot, but they suck at it- throw all suck out the window and focus 100% on the assault. Plus, the assault phase is the hidden secret in 40K right now, despite the trend in shooty armies. That is a separate article, in a bit, but here is the teaser. Unless you are machine spirit or long fangs you can only “kill” one unit from shooting, 1 to 1. In the assault, with some setup, you can hit and kill multiple units with your one unit- that is 1 to 2 or 1 to 3. Nids are top dogs (bugs?) at doing this because of a base high I before FC buffs, a hight number of attacks with poison, rending, etc. so even if you don’t wipe out your target, cut them down in a sweeping advance, you will force a ton of wounds on them for fearless.

So HyperNids is all assault, but this needs to be delivered in overwhelming force- can’t allow a turn or two of shooting from my opponent, half or more of the army needs to be assaulting by turn two, and then the other half on turn three. Tyranids can do this! Gear the entire army to this- by the end of turn two your opponent is completely broken and turn three is just mop up. I’ve got three lists in the works right now, refining, testing, experimenting on this concept, more to come of course…

So what do you think about changing the game by not playing along what GW has said about winning the game via objectives and kill points? What do you think about building your army to table every time?

Do you want to be known as an artist or a butcher?

Working In Some Swooping Hawks?

Email In:
Dear Fritz,

I got you Clowns PDF and I love it but before i go to my question let me tell you about my self. I am a warhammer fantasy Player and my army is wood elves so i love to be more tactical and i understand how mistakes can cost you the game so every move has to be carefully planned and every assault need to be calculated . another thing worth mentioning I never played 40k so I am looking around to build my 1st army but I am trying to set a 1750 list before I buy anything.

going back to the clowns as I said I love the list and how it plays but I want my army to have little more variety of unites specially Swooping Hawks or warp spiders so I want to get your opinion on the following list

HQ:
Eldrad

Troupe:
5x pathfinders

5x pathfinders

Elite:

10x clowns +2fusion +shadow seer +Death Jester

10x clowns +2fusion +shadow seer +Death Jester

Fast attack:

8x Swooping hawks +Exarch

8x Swooping hawks +Exarch

Heavy support:

Wraith Lord 2x flamers, BL and Rocket

Wraith Lord 2x flamers, BL and Rocket

the way I hope it will play the Swooping Hawks moving back and forth picking on lonely unite or unites that are causing me problems and the rest of the army is doing exactly how you descried there role in your PDF. I think that would make you enemy uneasy knowing that the hawks can deep strike and pull out anytime. it should be fun.

please tell me what you think of the list and if this would work better with some changes :)

PS. as I Said I am new at this so please don't assume I know a thing :)

Reply Out:

Swooping hawks are an interesting unit in the Eldar codex and they often struggle to find a role in the Eldar codex. T3, a lousy armor save, and shooting that really kills nothing in the game they are definitely going to be a distraction unit and an end game contesting unit- as long as you play them like this, they can work. Drop them in to kill stuff and you will be disappointed. Here is the starting place to consider how to use them:

Castling up on one side of the table with your army, I would try and use the ‘hawks to continue pulling away enemy units so all of your army isn’t taking on all of your opponent’s army. If you are all deployed to the right, drop the hawks to the far left, behind cover, or down and then run into cover, and just go to ground for the 3+ cover save as your opponent shoots at you. When they get close, or next turn if you didn’t go to ground pop back out. Drop some greanades, make the hawks an annoyance for your opponent, but don’t get upset when they get shot up and die- that is their job- shots at them are shots taken away from the rest of your army.
In objective missions, especially capture and control the rest of your army should be trying to engage your opponent to get them to spread out on objectives while your shooting should try to punch a hole open on the table for the hawks to land- taking the deepstrike gamble next to an objective to either land next to it, or land and then run to contest it on turn five/six for the game to end. That is how I would use Swooping Hawks.

The final question is- do you need two units to do this, and is it worth the loss of a wraithlord? Three WL’s are a nice threat and can stand up to shooting- especially when behind cover, two not so much.

What I would try out is making some cardboard or paper cutouts or counters to represent the ‘hawks and then play a game or two with them to see if you like them, and if you need one or two groups.

-Fritz

Take On FootDar 1500

Email In:
Hey Fritz

This email is my response to your post over at bols: http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2010/06/40k-so-you-really-want-to-give-foot.html

Wanted to see if i can take a crack at list making under the parameters set by you for "footdar" lol :P
So here's my take:


Footdar 1500pts
HQ
Eldrad Ulthran .. 210pts

Elites
8x Striking Scorpions w/Exarch, Shadowstrike ... 160pts
8x Striking Scorpions w/Exarch, Shadowstrike ... 160pts
10x Harlequins w/Shadow Seer ... 210pts

Troops
7x Rangers ... 133pts
7x Rangers ... 133pts


Fast Attack
3x Vypers w/Scatter Lasers ... 180pts

Heavy Support
Wraithlord w/BL & EML ... 155pts
Wraithlord w/BL & EML ... 155pts

So what do u think? major concern with the lists: not enough firepower, i tried to incorporate what you were saying in the post, the "waves" tactic. The SS infiltrate and act as the first wave (gonna die), the harlies 2nd wave (tied up stuff) and the last wave is rangers (take that objective!). I would rather go guardians, but 20 guysw/HpW without warlock + embolden seems too weak and with is too expensive, and rangers r the better objective takers (2+ cover save ftw!) Vypers r the anti-light vehicles spam (12 s6 shots!) but cant spread out shots (i feel in single squadrons, they die too easily, maybe scrap for something else :?). Another thing, where shud i put eldrad, i was thinking the harlequin unit but i dont want him to die lol XC
So can u go over the list, and add anything else? Be much appreciated. Thx :P

-verychubbypanda

Reply Out:

I would drop the vypers and stock up on guardians with scatter lasers, and a warlock with the witchblade incase you get assaulted by dreads. Yes, there are less shots, but the vypers will go down fast since there are no other vehicles to shoot at, and you want some more bodies on the table since the scorps are the next weak link in your list. And by “weak” I mean at the start of the game while we are both still a bit far away what am I going to shoot at? Ranger in cover? T8 WL in cover? Harlies that I can “see” thanks to the shadowseer? The only things I can shoot to death at range is the vypers and the scorps. Taking some guardians means you can lose a few scorps and still have bodies to send out in waves- plus another scoring unit, and a scatter laser. In my early harlequin list I used vypers extensively and ultimately there were a no go. Something to consider.

-Fritz

Best Deathstar Unit?

So today’s post is more of a question of curiosity to you the reader- what do you think of deathstar units and what is the best deathstar unit that you can come up with?

What is a deathstar unit? Simply put, a unit in 40K that smashed though everything it comes up against and is very hard to stop. Can every codex throw down such a unit? Some are more scary then others depending on the age of your codex and when it was written in the chronology of the game. My Black Templars throw down a pretty nice and fun to play DS unit:

Lightning claw terminators with the furious charge veteran skill rolled into a land raider. On the charge they are going at I5 with the bonus attack for charging and at strength five- rerolling failed hits thanks to the EC vow, and failed wounds thanks to the lightning claws. Thank the emperor that ‘Templars still have access to vet skills and army wide preferred enemy- the only thing still keeping them going, but that is a post for another time- back to deathstars!

Seer councils used to be a deathstar unit, but I’m not so sure anymore with the proliferation of psyker defense which makes shutting down fortune easy as pie. I’ve seen some pretty nasty space marine bike units. Is Swarmlord a DS unit with the guards + lash whips/bone swords? Mepheston?

Painted Daemonhunter Army Raffle

In keeping with tradition, the Battle For Salvation gaming is offering another fully painted army for raffle with the drawing on the day of our June 19th tournament. Once again the Warmaster Black Matt has stepped up lending his legendary painting skills to a fully tricked out Daemonhunter army- of which the timing is perfect with the new DH codex coming out in October/January.

Pictures, videos, and of course raffle tickets are available on his blog:

http://chaos-space-marines.blogspot.com/2010/06/painted-daemonhunters-army-raffle.html

Tournament Etiquette?

Fritz here with a question of curiosity…what do you consider good tournament etiquette? Handing a list to your opponent? Explaining everything in your army? Rolling ALL dice in front of your opponent and not behind scenery? Common sense stuff right?

In a tournament I always remind myself that the opponents I am playing are not guys from my local gaming group. They don’t know me, and we don’t have the social contracts from playing against each other week after week. I don’t assume anything is common practice so I always ask/offer to explain everything, and always announce what I’m doing with the dice…

Ok, I need 4+ to hit…
Now, I need 2+ to wound…
Make 5 saves…

Slows the game down a bit, but it keeps the hard feeling to a minimum.
Your thoughts?

Doubles Tourney Advice?

Email In:

Hey Fritz, I was wondering if you could help my friend and I build a competitive doubles list for our tournament this weekend. The idea is the Eldar, desperately outnumbered, have reached through the warp to control a small section of the tyranid hive mind. I know its very last minute, but we're just looking for an outline, something with synergy between the two armies and we figured you might be up to the challenge. It's 1250 points per army and they have to follow regular force organization chart for each army (1 HQ, 2 Troops, etc.). For the Tyranids I was thinking something along the lines taking a tervigon as a troops choice and some genestealers to outflank or infiltrate to pop light transports or wreck in assault, along with some other classics(doom w/mycetic spore, twpo zoapes w/mycetic spore, and a deathleaper). I'm not as familiar with Eldar, but I think that maybe a 1250 harlie list might work best with some rangers and a wraithlord or two. Let me know what you think.

– SoccerJunkie

Reply Out:

Well, at least at 1250 for each side you guys have something to work with. I’ll try to throw out some ideas for you to consider since I don’t know what models you both have, etc. The first and most important thing to do when going into a doubles event is to come up with a plan. More dudes lose this type tournament since they think they are both playing their own army on the table- you are both need to play as a unit, knowing and being cool with what each player is doing ahead of time. Here is what I would recommend, and it is what I use with Jawaballs and Brother Captain James from the club when we play in doubles tournaments. One of us builds an army to go out and wreck face, and the other builds and army to win the mission. This give you and your partner a HUGE advantage since most players build their individual armies as two separate armies as if they both have to do both things. Normally, actually each time my Eldar have been responsible for winning the mission objectives while BC James’ Ultramarines and Jawaballs’ Blood Angels have been responsible from crushing face. They were ready for this and knew this, and in almost every game they got wiped out, but it gave my army the ability to win the mission objectives and took down most of our opponent’s armies since they (BC James, and JB) could focus just on killing our opponents and nothing else- they could also refine their list do to do and not have to worry about objectives, etc. Make sense? So that is the first part- who is down with doing what needs to be done. I’d recommend the Tyranid player go for wrecking face since they can do it better than Eldar.

So, their list needs to geared towards killing things first, and then keeping your opponents busy trying to stop the killing. I’d build a core around genestealers outflanking, zopes in pods to open up vehicles so the stealers can assault them and some sort of deathstar type unit running down the center soaking up shots, etc to take the pressure off the ‘stealers. Tervigon would be good in a balanced ‘nid army, but this is about killing- consider a hive tyrant, or swarmlord is you feel lucky, with a decked out guard to soak up wounds and get cover saves. I’m personally on the fence about DOM, but take him if he can zap guys in your local tourney scene. At the end of the game if all the Tyranids are dead then your bud has done his job.

NOW, while that is happening you need to have an Eldar army that can do two things- support the Tyranids from long range- helping to pop open vehicles so the stealers can snack, while hanging back and being ready to take objectives or complete the mission. Mobility is also going to be important so wave serpents, scoring falcons, and jetbikes are nice. From the fire support angle- wraithlords, warwalkers, and fire prisms. Forget suicide units like fire dragons in a serpent since it is your job to have enough living to win.

That is what I do, and would recommend you guys do. Check out this vid of a doubles tournament that BC James and I played to see the plan in action- James had Shrike with fleeting and infiltrating terminators backed by some razorbacks, and I have skimmers and jetbikes.
Either way, let me know how you guys do in the tourney! Good luck!

-Fritz

Doom Of Malantai Woes‏

Email In:

Hey Fritz,

I have had some recent problems versus the Doom of Malan'Tai. I play Tau and you'd think I would have enough Instakill weaponry to rock him, but the dice can go either way. I am looking for different ways to mitigate the Doom's effectiveness that takes into account poor dice rolling. Basically looking at different deployment strategies. The first time I played the list
( http://kroxitau.blogspot.com/2010/05/first-battle-versus-nids-2000.html ) I spread out to try to force him to pick a spot, the second time I clumped up to try to prevent him from getting to my nice soft targets. ( http://kroxitau.blogspot.com/2010/05/1-is-loneliest-number-usless-you-are.html ). ON top of that the Doom is basically a distraction to prevent me from shooting tervigons and all the other multi wound T6 beasties. My opponent's list is in the first battle report, he uses the same one in the second as well.

I am surprised you have not talked about the Doom at all on your blog, it is crazy for what it does, which is distract, because if I can't kill it when it comes down it can eat up my army pretty good.

-Krox

Reply Out:

Krox, I haven’t talked much about ‘doom on the blog since there isn’t really much to say about him- a one shot wonder that is predictable stopped. I played him in a few test games vs. some of the guys at the club and he was “ok” but mech basically shuts him down- we play that his powers DON’T work on the guys in a transport. He lands, zaps one or two guys, and then dies to las cannons even with the 3+ invul save. Now I can see Tau and Necrons getting rocked by him since CC units are a joke and doom would like to land, such wounds, and then assault to get tied up from shooting and still suck wounds- rinse and repeat. Since suits can be transported I can see them getting rocked. Plus, I can see using doom as a distraction to eat up a turn of shooting. I’ve watched your reports- maybe consider using reserves with the suits and any non-mech in general so doom lands, sucks nothing and then get shot up. Or given his limited range, sacrifice a group of fire warriors or something giving the pod a nice place to land for doom to get out leaving you some good lanes of fire, etc.

From a Tyranid perspective I think most guys, and definitely the ‘nid players don’t take him since he competes with regular zopes which are much better.

-Fritz

The Train Wreck That Is Hard Boyz

Much like the night before Christmas where legions of kiddies drift off to sleep with dreams of sugar plums and toys in their eyes, legions of hard boyz players will be drifting off to sleep tonight with dreams of glory to come tomorrow morning…little do they know…

So it’s been confirmed that sieze the initiative is a no go for the hard boyz missions tomorrow, which means the tournament system is even more of a set up and go first auto-win game. Why is there no SI to at least turn the alpha-strike around? Forget practicing the missions or tweaking out your armies, just practice rolling to see who goes first since that is all it is going to come down to. Roll for first turn, I go first and deploy my IG spammy gunline and scout move my 6+ valks so there is nowhere to hide. You set up, can’t SI, so you die, reserve everything and come in bit by bit and die. At least SI gave you a chance to turn the alpha-strike around. IG is auto win for yet another year… Now what?

Even as a guy who really enjoys tourney play, tell me why I should be playing in hard boyz again?

Fritz's Storm Troopers

Every good inquisitor needs some storm troopers right? Funny that these guys are coming back out on the table after so many years, at least they are not the storm troopers with the stupid green berets hats. These models are my favorite in the line. Now the question is- two melta guns, two plasma, or plasma melta? Daemonhunters for the Battle For Salvation Tournament on the 19th? LOL! Anybody think I’ll win at least one of the games?

Tonight’s Webcast: Wargaming With Fritz & Jawaballs

Nothing like some last minute practice before Hard Boys and the BFS 40K Tournament next week as I head on over to Jawaballs’ place tonight for some 40K practice. JB’s going to be playing his Blood Angels 2.5K list and I’m going to be throwing the Grey Knights up against them, along with wargaming out some scenarios and unit combination ideas.

Broadcasting will start at 6:00 EST and end when Mrs. Jawaballs kicks me out of the house for being loud and eating all their food. Log on to JB’s ustream channel to hang out with us and we’ll be taking questions as well:

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/jawaballs-live

Password if needed is: Jawaballs1

Fritz 40K Forum Posts

Some posts and comments from the forum…at the bottom of the blog…

Hi there

I have read many reports from the battles You have using that list, my only questions are:
-what if You are playing capture and control ??? I mean how do You contest Your opponent spot ?? since all the things are on foot Your opponent can take advantage on this and castle up on his spot and then shoot You to the death

-Have You played against SoB ?? their assault squads with jump packs and flamers can really take the harlies down, and also their vehicles (D6 shots s8 ap1, forgot what is their name) are a pain in the ass

-another problem is when You are playing objective games, if there are 5 objective on a table and You are playing against good ork player (for example) then You will have a hard time winning the game

-how about playing against horde armies ?? You can wipe out one unit but then the clowns will get charged by two other thus wiping them out (especially if those are boyz in the trukks )

Would You mind posting Your saim-hann army list ??

Take care

My Reply:
Hi, let me go through your post to reply:

-what if You are playing capture and control ??? I mean how do You contest Your opponent spot ?? since all the things are on foot Your opponent can take advantage on this and castle up on his spot and then shoot You to the death

C&C is the hardest for my list since I don't have any skimmers to come in crashing in the last moment to contest. So it is all about planning where I need to be on turn five/six starting with turn one. Depending on my opponent's army I'll either push a wraithlord or two forward to contest their objective as a screening unit along with a group of harlequins- peel away their units and then try and contest, along with always outflanking a ranger/pathfinder group to come in that side, and then move up- usually working with the harlequins/WL- getting 2+ cover saves from them.

-Have You played against SoB ?? their assault squads with jump packs and flamers can really take the harlies down, and also their vehicles (D6 shots s8 ap1, forgot what is their name) are a pain in the ass

Never played SOB with my harlies. RE flamers it would be a dance-to see who can get close to who first- sisters to flame me, and clowns to close and assault. Their heavy support tanks aren't a worry for harlequins since they can't taret me thanks to veil of tears and being in the back of the table, less then 24" away.

-another problem is when You are playing objective games, if there are 5 objective on a table and You are playing against good ork player (for example) then You will have a hard time winning the game

Orks are one of the easier armies, and not in an arrogant way that I mean for my harlies to beat- they have flimsy vehicles that explode to S6 shots, and they like to assault- harlies have more attacks, strike first + when combined with doom and fortune is the way to go. If there are five objectives I'm of course looking to hold three and give the other two to my opponent.

-how about playing against horde armies ?? You can wipe out one unit but then the clowns will get charged by two other thus wiping them out (especially if those are boyz in the trukks )

Check out youtube for my harlies vs orks video. The first key is to get the orks on foot, and spread out so at best I can't be multi-charged. If I am then it is all about pulling away my opponent from objectives. I don't mind the harlies getting wiped out, and they always do- they are the distraction in the list.

Would You mind posting Your saim-hann army list ??

Sure, check the army list section of the forum.

-Fritz

Da Orks!

Email In:

hey fritz I think I settled on an ork list finally I have been going back and forth with diffent units for a month now and I think I got a list that works.the opinion on the net is orks suck.But everyone says crons suck and you pull them off.For this list I put in trucks trucks really get hated on they are armour 10 all around open topped with 1 gun that fires at BS 2.they aren't that impressive but I figured if I ran one behind the battlewagon making it so it cant be targeted it would work.the other trukk will stay in reserve.in objectives games I will put to objectives 12 inches to the table edge so when I Come on a can claim it .I will try to abuse terrain so I get cover saves for my looted tanks and trukk try to keep them in play as long as I can.them and wazzdakka are the only thing I have in the long range fire power mech killing department .I tried to throw in lootas or deffkoptas but could not find the points.Wazzdakka will go in the nob biker unit while the warboss will go with the warbikes.one squad will turbo boost to the left first turn and one to the right.The nob biker squad will try to get a rear or side armour shot off because wazzdakka can shoot his Str 8 four shot twin linked gun ever if he turbo boosts.the battle wagon will march up with a threat range of 19 to 25 inches.Nob Bikers will probably die turn 2-4 but by the time they are gone the 'ard boyz will have crashed in to the frontlines.If the warbikes are still alive they will capture/contest objectives turn five as while as any things that's still alive.so what do you think.

HQ
Wazdakka GutsMek 180
Warboss(-Power Klaw,Shoota/Skorcha,Warbike,Bosspole,Attack
Squig) 155

Troops:
5 Nob Bikers:All Have Cybork Bodies 380 Total
1:Power Klaw
2:Power Klaw,Bosspole,Shoota/Skorcha
3:Big Choppa,Waaagh Banner
4:Big Choppa,Shoota/Skorcha
Painboy-Grot Orderly

19 Ard boyz-2 Big Shootas 200
Nob-Power Klaw,Bosspole 50

11 Ork Boyz-Big Shoota 71
Nob-Power Klaw,Bosspole,'eavy armour 51
WarTrukk-RPJ,Armour Plates 50

11 Ork Boyz-Big Shoota 71
Nob-Power Klaw,Bosspole,'Eavy Armour 51
WarTrukk-RPJ,Armour Plates 50

5 Warbikes-125
Nob-Power Klaw 60


Heavy Support:
Battlewagon-Deff Rolla,Armour Plates,Grot Riggers,2 Big Shootas,RPJ 140
2 Looted Wagons-Boomgun,1 Big Shoota,'Ard Case,Armour Plates 135 x2

1849


----AutarchAndrew

Reply Out:

Ok, so let’s talk orks! Really a question here- is your list good, can orks be played that way? Can you play orks like Eldar or are they better off playing another style? Not playing orks myself, but being familiar with the codex and having played against them both at the club and tournaments I know the list I would look to run. Consider this, and of course let the blog readers and full time ork players chime in. If I was given a pile of orks and told to run a list I would be looking at something like this…

Battlewagon in the center with the kustom force field for the cover save- behind the battlewagon and around it are the truks. I would be looking to use terrain and the usual tricks for the 4+ cover save, and the 5+ is there as extra insurance. Take first turn if I can, deploy as far forward and move out on turn one. By controlling the center it means I can close sooner on my opponent if they castle up.

In the back are lots of looters shooting to pop light/medium tanks so when my boyz arrive in the trucks they can get out and assault. I’d also get snotrick, snikrot, or whatever his name is and outflank with a group of storm boyz. Nobz on bikes or in a vehicle for the extra punch, and a small group of deffkopters to round it out.

Kopters get the buzz saw thingy so I can scout move turn one, and then move/assault turn one to take out my opponent’s deathstar unit or tie something up. Objectives and the like- move out and flood your opponent, as a unit or two gets mauled then I’d pull them back to objectives to hold/contest. Forget about sitting around on them.

-Fritz

Army Touchup By The Warmaster Black Matt

So here is a quick little plug for my good friend Black Matt’s awesome work now that I hear he is taking painting commissions…

Last week I was over his place playing a game of Chaos in the Old World, which by the way is an awesome game, when I dropped my grey knight dreadnought on the floor shattering it into a few dozen pieces. The dread has nothing to do with the game, I was just taking it back from lending it to the warmaster for hard boys.

Naturally being the great guy he is, he offered to pin it back together along with repainting it, and if not the dread, what about my entire GK army? I’ve talked here and there about repainting my ‘knights but couldn’t really bring myself to do it for sentimental reasons. See, back when I started playing GK’s they were a black and gold armored codex chapter, and that is why they are black and gold, and not the grey of the current or should I say 7+ year old GK’s in the daemonhunters codex. Lots of fun history with the army... Here are some "before" shots of the army from a recent game...

But if the warmaster wanted to give it a little facelift then why not? So the next night I gave him the army basically with a license to do anything he wanted to do with it. Literally one week later I got the army back and the pictures below speak for themselves. Yes, this is the same army...

I've got two dreads in the army, I can't even tell which one fell and broke...

His work really got me jazzed up to start playing them again, amazing how some different colors can make it an entirely new army. I’m adding some storm troopers and inquisitorial goodness to it for even more fun. I'm actually pumped up to play Daemonhunters!

So, if you’re looking to give that old army a much needed facelift, looking for some conversion work, or maybe even interested in an entire army commission then contact Matt over on his blog here.