40k Strategy: Melta, Mech, Mobility, and Missiles? The 3Ms revisited.

Did this change my 3M theory?  Not quite.

I had a request to revisit my theory on 40k I call the 3Ms given the recent declaration of the death of the meltagun and resurrection of the lowly Missile Launcher.  For anyone who isn't aware my theory of 5th edition 40k can be summed up simply in 3Ms: Melta, Mech, and Mobility.  If you want to revisit my original explanation of the 3Ms you can read it here.   With the emergence of the Space Wolf codex and Long Fangs the Missile Launcher has been getting a lot of attention as the preeminent form of AT in the game.  Even Vanilla Marines and BA can get them relatively cheap and with the new FAQ BT and DA can spam Terminator and Land Speeder mounted missiles with the best of them; so is the melta part of my 40k equation now defunct?  No.  Read on after the break for my full explanation.

Ard Boyz 2011!

GW has finally released the dates for this years Ard Boyz!  Check it out here.  This includes 40k, Fantasy, and LotR dates for the United States!

I am personally very excited about the Ard Boyz this year!  how excited are you for Ard Boyz?  Do you like the format or not?  What do you like/dislike about it?

Imperial Guard: A Love, Hate relationship.

If you are a frequenter of CnC you'll probably know I am currently finishing a Nurgle themed traitor Guard army (among other projects)you can find links to my Nurgle Guard project here.  I have been building, but mostly painting, the army while playing it in an escalation league at our FLGS and have found there are aspects of playing Imperial Guard that I love and aspects I really hate.  One thing I really like about the Imperial Guard is the play style and army builds fit with the fluff.  The Guard are a shooting based army not an assault based army and that shows through in the Codex and the army builds that are dominant.  One thing I really hate about the Imperial Guard is they are a shooting based army with very little to offer in the ways of assault.  I have found that I much prefer hybrid codices to one sided ones but I think the Imperial Guard may be able to break me of this.  More after the break.

Poll: Tournament Sizes and You.

This is pretty basic really.  We have been having a bit of a debate at our FLGS lately about how many points a tournament should be played at.  There has been the suggestion of a 3000 point tournament as well as the suggestion we go back to 1850 or try a 1500 point Swiss System.  We currently play 2000 point tournaments.  So what point level do you guys like for 40k tournaments?  Let us know in the poll and by posting a comment or two!

The Warmaster Cup: Current Standings 2/21/11

2 Months into the Warmaster Cups' inaugural season and three events on the score sheet!  Two tournaments from Game Empire Pasadena have been input into the rankings and one tournament from Game Empire San Diego has been added as well.  More tournaments are set to be played and added into the Warmaster Cup rankings including tournaments at Game Empire Pasadena.  If you play in events that you would like added into our rankings just drop me a line and we can set it all up.  If you want to check out the rules for the Warmaster Cup you can go here.  You can find the current rankings after the break.

The Red Thirst: Death Company

Previously we discussed Assault Squads in C:BA and why they are the best troop choice for BA players but there are other options for BA, including a potential Deathstar unit in the for of Death Company.  Death Company squads are units of crazed Blood Angels who have gone over to the "dark side" and become subject to the Black Rage.  While this makes them gibbering mad men who froth and foam at the mouth in their cries for blood, death, and glory it also makes them fierce warriors.  I am not from the camp that believes the Rage USR (Universal Special Rule) makes the Death Company "terribad."  I think they are a perfectly acceptable unit to use in a BA list and in this article I'll discuss why.

The Necromancer's Guide To Souls, Part Three: Ancestry

Afternoon, citizens!

In the previous instalment of this series, I discussed some of the ways in which a Cryx army can actively harvest soul tokens, and put them to creative use in the destruction of the Dragonfather's enemies.  This time out, I'll be looking at the ways in which the Skorne wrangle the essence of the dear departed, and assembling a theoretical list.  I must point out that I've been playing Skorne for rather less time than I've been playing Cryx, and so the list is going to be an experiment rather than something of confirmed value.  As you are about to discover, the whole business of soul-wrangling with Skorne could be described as such anyway...

New Dark Eldar Figs up for Advanced Order!

GW has 6 new models up in the advanced order section for Dark Eldar!  Sorry guys no Grey Knights yet.  They have Beastmaster, Succubus, Clawed Fiend, two Khymera models, and Razorwing Flocks up now.  Check it out here!

Subtle Dark Eldar Razorwing/Voidraven conversion

Greetings C&C readers,

So after a few weeks of pouring through the Dark Eldar Codex looking for Gems that might make my Dark Eldar army a little less glass, and a little more cannon, I decided to try my hand at scratch building or converting a Razorwing/Voidraven.........

The Sons of Russ: Thinking about Ard Boyz.

I have been giving a lot of thought to what I would like to take to Ard Boyz this year.  I have missed the last 3 years of Ard Boyz events and this year have made a resolution to play no matter what family and social obligations might fall on that Saturday.  Last year I had planned and play tested a brutal Salamander list but this year I have been enjoying playing my Space Wolves competitively.  Still, I kicked around some Blood Angel ideas but I don't own the models I would want to use so I scrapped that idea, I don't find IG to be as powerful as everyone thinks so I scrapped them as well leaving me once again with Space Wolves.  It is my opinion that C:SW is the best one out right now.  The current list I am using in tournaments is strong, fast, and provides Long Range firepower so I went ahead and expanded that one from 2000 points to 2500.  Once I had done that though I realized at 2500 points I could field a lot of Space Wolves in Power armor so I drew up a 100 model list as well.  I'll discuss both lists and my strategies for them after the page break.

Stomraven Painted in a Day. More or Less...

I had an, almost, completely free day to paint today and decided it was time to take on the Stormraven.  Dis built the preview copy and reviewed it here.  Since I have a small Blood Angel force he handed it over to me to take care of the painting duties.  I combed several of the other Warhammer 40k Blogs and other Miniature Blogs for pics of Painted Stormravens but they were a little hard to find; so I embarked upon my painting mission blind.

Luckily I have a very understanding wife and very sleepy 1 week old newborn so painting during the day wasn't too difficult.  I use the Army Painter Red primer for all my Blood Angels and the Stormraven was no different.  I started out at 8:00am and finished at 2:00pm.  It took 6 hours in total not counting the time it took to prime it red and have the red primer dry.  For a description of the steps I took and pictures of the finished product look on after the break.

Work in Progress: Nurgle Guard Part 3 Flyers

Today with my ongoing Nurgle Guard project let's talk about Armor.  I don't like all foot lists for Guard, not because they are not good or are not competitive but they just are not my brand of whiskey.  I have a lot of tanks for this army as well as a Vendetta and Valkyrie.  I personally think Mech is the way to go in 5th ed 40k and if you've read some of my other articles on the subject you'll know it is my belief that the 3Ms; Melta, Mech, Mobility are best utilized in Mech Guard lists.  So it should come as no surprise that you'll see a lot of mobile boxes painted up as Nurgle Guard in the coming articles.  Today I'll walk you through how I Nurglefied the Valkyrie/Vendetta and my plans for iconography.

The Red Thirst: Furioso Librarians!

With the new Furioso Dreadnought kit having arrived on the scene and the many variants of BA dreads all now readily available in plastic I wanted to take a close look at the Furioso Librarian.  I got the new BA Dread very early and built and reviewed the kit in an article found here.  I finally decided on my dread being the Librarian because I like the look of the Force Weapon on a Dread and the idea of flying Dreads with Preferred Enemy was just to funny/amazing to pass up!  Don't know what I am talking about? Then read on after the break for more info and pics of my Furioso Librarian fully painted.

Work in Progress: Nurgle Guard Part 2

My Nurgle Guard project has been progressing pretty rapidly despite being busy with work and a new born.  I am, of course, building a Mech Guard list and the focus has been to try and complete the army in stages.  If you've read the previous article you'd know I am playing in an escalation league at our FLGS and that my goal was to have each new stages list fully painted to play on Tuesday nights.  I have been moderately successful at this so far.  I am actually only a unit of Veterans with Meltaguns and a Command Squad with Flamers away from having my 1500 point list finished, and only 3 Demolishers away from my 2k list.   All those units really need minor work such as washes, and nurgle symbols (actually most of the army still needs symbols I haven't quite figured out what I want to do for that...)  Today I want to take a look at my Psyker Battle Squad, one Command Squad and discuss how I want to use them.

The Necromancer's Guide To Souls, Part Two: Application

Image 'from DeviantArt' and used uncredited by source -if it's yours, please get in touch!

Last time, I took a brief shufti at the various methods by which Cryx, Skorne and Protectorate of Menoth players (I'm sure other factions have some means of generating soul tokens, but it's these three that can make it a cornerstone of their play) can acquire soul tokens, whether through aggressive harvesting or passive accumulation.

In part two of this three-part series, I want to look at what the Cryx do with their collection of adorable green skulls* once they've built one, and explore some sample builds.

New Poll - Breaking Out of the 'Funk'

Hello everyone!

Well, the Fluff factor has been polled and the results are quite clear: the majority of you out there consider the fluff, but not to the extent that it would hurt the list's effectiveness, when you're putting together an army. About a quarter of respondents look to the fluff first, and build their lists around it before taking strength into consideration, and less than a fifth of you think that fluff is fun to read, but not a factor in putting together a list. Thanks again for voting and letting us know what you think!

This time we're looking to find out what you like trying to break out of the dreaded 'funk'. Sometimes you just don't have the mojo to build models, paint, or throw dice. What do you like to do when the funk settles in? Do you try working on something from a totally unrelated army or game? Do you work on something completely non-gaming for a while to come back with a fresh attitude? Maybe you build terrain, or re-tool your lists to try and bring in some wins? Let us know!

-Dis.

The Red Thirst: Blood Angels Troops Choices part 1 Assault Squads

Since the day C:BA dropped a debate has raged all across the internet about Assault Squads, Tactical Squads, Scout Squads and Grey Hunters.  Dakkaites ripped this one up and the BoLSitters had a few debates about this as well.  I have to say though that I am not a fan of comparing Apples to Oranges.  The idea that Assault Squads being troops suddenly made them awesome is just as flawed as comparing Grey Hunters to Assault Squads.  I understand the purpose, even the necessity, for comparing units across codices but I feel to get a truly good idea of how a troops, or any, choice works within a given codex you have to take out those cross codex comparisons.  If I play Blood Angels why should I care that you believe Grey Hunters are better?  Did I ask about Grey Hunters? No, so don't start comparing Apples to Oranges when that isn't what I want.  I lifted and paraphrased this from a thread on Dakka in which the OP (original poster) had asked about how to load out his troops choices in C:BA, it was a response to his post being hijacked by people arguing about Grey Hunters v. Assault squads, luckily a Mod jumped in and put the thread back on track!  It is with this spirit in mind that I want to discuss C:BA and in particular with this post, its troop choices!

The Necromancer's Guide To Souls, Part One: Acquisition

The soul is placed in the body like a rough diamond; and must be polished, or the lustre of it will never appear.
-- Daniel Defoe

To a certain kind of mind, models in Warmachine and Hordes armies are soul tokens waiting to emerge, rather like little flourescent green butterflies, which the owner of the devious mind admires for a moment before viciously hoovering them in and using them as fuel for some sort of nightmarish death engine.

As a player of Cryx and Skorne who often faces the Protectorate, I am in possession of such a mind, and propose to share with you some of my perverse insights regarding the use and abuse of soul tokens over a three part series.

Choose This, Not That- Part III, It’s So Fluffy I Want to Die!

When differentiating between competitive, friendly, and fluffy lists I imagine a pendulum with the resting, bottom position as friendly play. Swing one way and you move into the competitive arena, swing the other and you’re in fluff territory. The keys are that on each swing there is movement through the testing/casual area, fluffy lists and competitive lists are on opposite extremes, and there is a clear separation between any one area and another. So many people – myself included - build competitive lists and then try to fluff them up by personalizing unit choices with bits, modeling, customization, back story, etc. so they won’t feel so bad about playing a list designed to win. Yes that was a bit of self-awareness there, don’t act so shocked. This type of faux fluff is a cop out, plain and simple. Building a fluff list is the last step of a process, not the beginning. You have to arrive at fluff after a journey, sort of like being backed into a corner. Since misery loves company, why not embark on the journey together so at least someone gets to listen to me whine.