Friday, September 28, 2012

Adapting to 6e

I've managed to string together some games a few weeks in a row now and finding steady progress with the performance of my list with the changes that I have been making.  This week I trimmed out the Aegis Defense line with the Quad gun and the scouts and added in a full Sternguard squad in a drop pod.  There were also so minor gear swaps.

The full Sternguard, it turns out, is exactly the unit I needed to make the rest of this list work.  It is impossible for any army to ignore 10 sternguard in rapid fire range.  I've also got them tooled up with combi-meltas and combi flamers.  They split out of the drop pod and should do damage to two different squads or serious damage to one.  The combi-meltas are for dealing with AV14.  The combi-flamers are for overwatch, because there is a good chance someone is going to try and deal with these guys with an assault as a counter.

This seems like a lot of points to throw right into enemy deployment first turn, and it is.  However, it is enough points at a low risk.  With proper placement, these guys will likely be in rapid fire range and even if they aren't they can still get off a single shot up to 30" now.  Oppoents cannot ignore Sternguard, because these veterans can effect anything on the board: stuff hidden in cover, poison MCs, 3+ with vengeance, or 2+ with the combi-meltas.  10 Marines need a heck of a lot of attention put on them to wipe them out, usually two turns of shooting.  This is all the time that the Death Co. needs to cross the board walking.  If this plays out, it is all I need to take the game. The DC take any serious threat head on, while the assault marines and tactical squads engage anything else to keep them occupied. 

The other half of the tac squads sit back on objectives and put the plasma cannons to good use.  If my oppoent spreads out, it makes picking units apart with the assault squads easier and if they stay clumped up the plasma cannons take care of them.

Things that I need to be wary of are template weapons on the DC.  20 models is a big blob and I need to remember to keep them spread out a bit.  I'm still trying to figure out if I have enough to weather flyers, since I'm not bothering to bring a counter to them.  I think 76 PA bodies is enough, but not having gone against a Necron air force, or Chaos flying circus, I still have some concerns.

Looking to get one more game in at least in the next two weeks to get a better feel for how to run the list.  In the meantime I have plenty else to keep me occupied.  I just ordered a model to make a Sisters counts as Marbo, to make up for Simon, that I'm quite excited about.  Not to mention at least a dozen or so other models of his that he needs touched up.  I have a commission for a couple of reaper minis to look like Thundaar and Ookla, which are going to be fantastic.  I'll have a post up on them this weekend.  I have the models cleaned, primed and started to get some color on them.

My own models are in a complete state of disarray and with everything else above going on I am contemplating just putting them on hold and playing the next tourney without competing for best painted.  Really depends on how much sleep and free time I get...which is difficult because these are both competing for the same time blocks right now.  The the wee little one did sleep a solid 7 straight hours last night, so we may be on to something there!  This is very ambitious, so we'll see how it goes...

20 Death Co. - All need details and highlights
20 Tactical Marines - Not yet primed
5 Honor Guard - Need to redo the arms on all of these.  I originally did them with two plasma pistols for a gunslinger look....before I knew that gunslinger would be a real rule.
4 Assault Marines, need their arms redone.  They all have 2 infernus pistols for counts as melta guns...see above
5 Sternguard - not yet primed
5 Sternguard - Need to get 4 more guns and magnetize the arms
Drop Pod - primed
New Display Board - The board that I made for my 1850 point Deathwing, which is less than 30 models, will definitely not fit twice that number.


Friday, September 21, 2012

The BLOB!

If 5e was a game of mech, I'm firmly convinced that 6e is all about infantry.  I'm sure this is intentional from a GW sales point as it will sell more models.  For an 1850 point game in 5e running my blood angels, I would have had between 25-35 infantry, 4-6 transports, a couple dreadnoughts and a couple of tanks. Last night running a dedicated infantry list I still felt like I was not running enough bodies, with almost 70 infantry models on the table... (5 Scouts, 10 Tactical Marines, 20 Assault Marines, 5 Honor Guard and 25 Death Co.)  At the end of the game I was trying to figure out how to keep the models I had alive longer, or how to add more into the list...I felt like this was not enough scoring units!?

It has taken me a a great deal of mental power to adjust.  It isn't that I couldn't figure out how the game had changed, or even what I needed to do to adapt to it.  Rather it was finding a combination of models that I have and units that I would enjoy playing to make 6e work for me.  I'm finally on the right path.  I love running the mob of Death Co. on foot with Bolters.  I'm not a big fan of tactical marines, they are flexible or tactical enough for the way I like to play.  I want options, every time I play tactical marines I feel like I am picking between shooting or charging and the math in my head tells me quite clearly that I need both to take out units. I'm not worrying about this at all any more.  Death Co. do either or both with relentless and can counter against any Deathstar unit out there.  Death Co. don't have the 2+, 3++, power-weapons or anything else fancy, but how many other death star units have 25 wounds with FNP?

I had a great game with Bill last night that I really should have won, not going to blame dice or anything. But as good as Death Co. if you have them all base to base with each other directly in front of two vindicators...and don't learn your lesson after the first round of pie plates, then you're a moron, or over tired.

Despite getting smacked around by the vindis, I did get to unleash the Death Co. on Lysander and a squad of Sternguard that dropped behind my lines via drop pod turn one.  The sternguard picked off a few after the pie plates did their thing, leaving me with 9 Death Co., Librarian and a Chaplain.

Lysander is big and scary, but I knew I needed to charge.  I strung out the Librarian and the Chaplain so that neither was in base contact at the start of combat, making them not eligible to be challenged by Lysander.  It took a while...and the local rules judge to confirm this would work.  The short of it was that Lysander is going to roll enough ones to bite it when he has to roll 26 armor saves.

This is a really big shift away from how I play.  I love small elite units with lots of gear.  For me that I what the space marines are all about, one man armies that can handle anything.  However, probability can come into play all to often when your elite 5 man squad has such a small dice pool.  25 Death Co. make sure that the pool brings things closer to average...divination to allow re-rolls to hit, and a chaplain for re-rolling to hit and wound on the charge, ensure a much higher rate of success.

So the real point here,  I needed to make sure that I wrote down what a noob I was with my blob placement so that I don't keep making that same mistake.  Bill was pretty much ready to concede after I whiped out Lysander and the squad, until he noticed that I group up the remaining Death Co. again Like I had them during the first round of shooting.  A couple more pie plates and it was just the librarian and 1 or two of the DC left.  Bill decided to keep going after that and we ended up with a tie.



Monday, September 10, 2012

FAQ: Old News by Now

This is old news by now (three days) for the blogging community, so rather than talk too much about the heavy FAQ handed down from on high in detail, I'm going to talk generally what it means to the community and how it will be effecting my lists directly as I prepare for a 1850 in October.

First off let's talk about GW and their release of this FAQ.  The extent of clarification provided is astounding in two ways...

This is a complete turnaround of GW to recognize the validity of electronic rules update, by releasing an unprecedented series of corrections and clarification.  Not only were the rules that were addressed, exactly the ones that the online community has been mulling over since the release of 6e, but the
FAQ came in such a short time since the release.  A testament to the GW attentiveness to what is going on with the game competitively. 

The second astounding point is, why the heck was this even needed in the first place? There are two major changes that have completely changed global meta as a result of the FAQ.  1. How Look Out Sir works, and the redefining of Nobz and Paladins as characters.  I would like to point out that I agree with these changes because of the balance it provides and it helps to speed up the game.  The problem here is really, who, if anyone really tested these rules out?

I am sure that the rules were play tested, but I get the impression based on how every article on their site is written and the scenarios in the books are designed that it was done with the casual approach to the game from designers we are used to.  I get the impression that a bunch of fluffy lists with "cool" units were used and the rules were worked out that way.  I don't get the feeling that rules were really analyzed with the approach of, "How can I break the game with this?"  Working at a software company, believe me, this is critical in both the design and testing of a complicated system.  The bugs, if you will, need to be found by the designers and testers, not the customers!

At the end of the day, I am happy that the FAQ was released promptly and so much has been clarified.  I hope GW takes this as a lesson for the codexes going forward to the next release.  Also, hoping we do continue to see this kind of prompt attention to rules going forward, that at least has been quite refreshing!

So what does this mean for me?  It has the potential to completely change what I had planned to bring to my next tournament in Oct.  Grey Knights are all over the place where I play and I expected at least a handful of Draigowing. Orcs are always on the scene and I was expecting 2-3 Nob Biker list as well.  Because of these I was toying around last week with a Vindicator for the first time.   After how that first game went with it I was planning on adjusting to bring in a second one.  Now I'm less user about the second one.  With both of those lists completely hamstrung, I don't think I'm going to need quite that much Str 10.

From everything I have heard this weekend, people are swapping out the bikes and pallys for mobs, mobs, mobs of guard.  Vindicators take them out just fine as well, but there are so many other options at AP 4 or 5 that take out guard blobs just as well, if no better.  Regular old Flamers for example.  I'm toying with changing the honor guards plasma guns to flamers and sticking with the single Vindicator I am running already, instead of adding another vindicator.

Still struggling to balance fire power and scoring models in the list.  I can't image doing less than 30 scoring models, but am struggling to field the plasma, flamer and anti air elements in all of this at once.

Friday, September 7, 2012

Blood Angels vs. Chaos Marines 1850

Frosty and I had another enjoyable game last night.  I brought the list posted yesterday, and he brought something like...

Sorcerer - lash
Demon Prince - lash

Chaos Marines 10
Chaos Marines 10
9 Beserkers

Land Raider
Defiler
3 Obliterators

Nothing too fancy here, but solid enough power armor setup to have a good game.  Clearly, he's anxious for the new book before really deciding what other models to pick up and really work on a competitive list.

We had the diagonal deployment with Crusade (4 objectives).  He placed both of his objectives in ruins firmly in his corner.  I placed one in ruins fairly close to those two, and the other on the opposite side of the table, midway across the board, still in my DZ.

He went first, placing a marine squad in each ruin on each objective, and the defiler behind them for ranged support.  The obliterators and land raider were as much front and center as you can with the diagnal deployment.

I deployed very conservatively.  I placed the scouts on the far lone objective and hid my 4 combat squads of assault marines out of line of site. Devastators were close to the middle of the board in cover.  I left the LRC, Librarian, Death Co., Stormraven w/ Honor Guard and Vindicator in reserve.  Still not overly fond of the limitation of only up to 1/2 of the units being allowed in reserve, but combat squads certainly helps meet this requirement.

Then I seize the initiative...I shouldn't have even rolled and realized it as soon as I rolled it, there was no advantage to me going first at this point.  I would have been much better off letting Frosty start to maneuver and play his hand a bit.  I only had the snipers and plasma cannons to shoot with so there wasn't much benefit there.  Given that it was objectives, I would have been happier having the game end after my turn instead of his later on as well.  A mental slip, but was glad it didn't end up costing me the game.

Turn 1
My first turn I didn't move anything.  I shot the snipers at the obliterators and the plasma cannons took a would off of the demon prince, that's it.  His shooting whiped out the plasma cannons and took out 3 marines from one of the combat squads.  His land raider moves front and center.

Turn 2 the vindicator and my land raider both come on.  I bring the vindi on to my far right, out of LOS of the obliterators.  The LRC come on in the middle with enough cover for a save.I try to lure the Land Raider with the zerkers over.  Since I don't get out he'll likely be out of charge range and need to cap the land raider to get at the DC inside.  The vindicator glances his LR for a HP.  I keep sniping, ineffectualy at the oblits.

Frosty falls for the feint with the Land Raider and cruises forward about 8" away from my LRC.  He manages to take a hull point of of it with a Las shot.  His Termiantors also deep strike in and shoot up 4 assault marines from the other combat squad I had in the area.  This leaves me with a 1 and 2 man assault squads for troops on the right side of the board, where there are 3 objectives.  This is not where I wanted to be!

Turn 3 Stormraven shows up and the honor guard float down.  I take out several termies and knock another hull point off.  Death Co. get out and get ready to take out the Zerkers in the LR.Vindicator repositions to hit the terminators and clip his LR for another hull point. MM on the LRC at point blank range to get at the zerkers and I roll a 1 and 2 to pen.   So there I have my DC sitting in the open with nothing to do.

Frosty lights up the DC with the obliterators, the defiler and some shooting from the zerkers before they charge in.  This was devastating.  Enough DC survive to lock him down for a few turns, but I'm pretty demoralized at this point.  The terminators whipe out the 2 man squad on the objective.

Turn 4 The honor Guard plasma the terminators off the board.  a 5 man squad assaults the obliterators.  Seerg inflicts a wound, but the other 4 die. Stormraven takes out the defiler.

Chaos doesn't do much during the shooting phase.  During the assault the oblits whiff and the Sergeant manages to finish off the first oblit and wound another.

Turn 5 I move my honor guard in to contest one of his objectives and try to shoot his marines off the other with the Stormraven.  I managed 4 kills, but the pass their morale test. At this point I can tell that I am in a great position for a turn 5 win with a 50/50 chance on turn 6.

His 5 he is spread too thin to contest either of the two objectives I am holding.  In CC my sergeant finishes off the oblits...this is a regular assault sergeant, with no wargear BTW.  He consolidates just shy of one the Chaos objectives.

Game ends on turn 5.  Another really fun game.  I have 2 objectives (6 points) to his 1 (3 points), he has first blood, units in my deployment and slay the warlord.  I have the unit in deployment and slay the warlord so I'm up 8 to 6.

I was really happy to try out several units in 6e for the first time, LRC, DC with bolters and Plasma Cannon Devs.  The only one I am not sold on is the LRC.  This was also my first game ever using a vindicator.  Absolutely loved it.  Might try to fiind room/points for a second one.

We talked a lot after the game about what worked well and what didn't for each of us.

Chaos
1. Obliteratos and Lash, its what they do well...until the new book comes out.
2. Zerkers needs the LR and don't need the Sorcerer attached
3. 10 man squads can't sit on objectives for 5 turns and do nothing else.  They need to engage early then fall back later in the game.  There was nearly 400 points of spectators that really could have made a difference early on when he had a clear advantage.

Blood Angels
1. If you bring an Assault unit that's main strength is in the charge...make sure you get the charge.  In this case bring more reliable anti tank, maneuver better, or I should have baited the zerkers out of the LR with a sacrificial unit.
2. Vindicators did a great job getting things done.
3. 5 scoring units was completely necessary.  May need to find a way to get the same effect with less points or find points to give them gear so they are more effective than just objective holding.
4. Need to test more with the LRC to decide if I should keep it or swap out for another vindicator and DC, or a hell of a lot more DC.


Thursday, September 6, 2012

1850 for Thursday Night at BG

This is a rough list of what I plan on bringing tonight.  I want to try a few ideas that are new to 6e for me.

Librarian (divination)
honor guard with jump packs and 4 plasma guns
Death Co. x15 in LRC w/MM
Assault Squad
Assault Squad
Scout Squad CC
Storm Raven
Devastator Sqaud PCx4
Vindicator

I haven't used a Land Raider in ages, so this is going to be quite an experiment.  The versatility of being able to bring it in via deepstrike so that it can come in with the Stormraven is appealing.  Also, having both come in on the same turn should force my opponent to make a more difficult choice of target priority, rather than the LRC getting blown off first turn and the Stormraven whenever it comes in.   I'm also hoping that witha Stormraven and a Land Raider on the board the vindicator will get over looked and get more than a round of shooting in.  I'm planning on reserving or hiding it to start the game, so that the three heavy armors are on the board at the same time.

I'm thrilled to be using a mob of Death Co. and really feel that the LRC delivery is ideal.  I really need to guarantee that they get where I need them to be.  

The other big change for me is going back to Devastator Squads.  I know that I am going to match up against things like Nob Bikers, Paladins and Broadsides on a regular basis. Assuming I can get some good placement I think these should thin out all three of those rather nicely for the DC to finish them off.

Scouts are deployment area objective holders, and the gearless Jump marines will combat squad for any other objectives.  I plan on keeping them out of LOS or in reserve as needed so they won't get shot up by turn 5-6.


As far as scaling up for 2000, for tonight I'll just change the Librarian for Mephiston with Divination if I need to.  Everything is packed and too busy to change the list, so that's what it is going to be.  More tomorrow on how this goes.  I'm really going to try and remember to take some pics of the match.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Avengers and Firey Bases



Cap
The last few weeks have been crazy, sick kids, vacation, sick kids while on vacation!  Anyway, I found a little time in between to work on a fun project for Gundam John.  5 Terminators for him to use as an allied shield wall for his Tau gunlines, to the them of the Avengers.  These were a fun side project that I banged out rather quickly.  They're purposefully "Table Top" rather than my best possible effort.  After starting them, Gundam John pretty much abandoned the idea of using them competitively in favor of a new list special for 6e he has been working on and subsequently mopping up his opponents with.

 But more on Gundam John's exploits later.  This was a great chance for me to use several colors I would not use for my own arm.  The purple for the Hult especially helped to ease me out of my usual earth palette and really add some contrast.  I intend to take advantage and add increase the range of my palette as a result and I am really excited about this.


Spidey
Iron Man


The Hulk
I was really more concerned with theme than actual conversion for this project, so I only made two minor changes.  Cap needed his shield, and a cross wouldn't do so I modified a shield drone down and used that as a shield.  Very appropriate since the main force was going to be Tau.  The other minor change was adding the wings to Thor's head.  Thor looked entirely too much like a Space Wolf and needed something to make it more distinct.  Thank you Dark Angels Veteran kit.
Thor  
Next up on the table are some custom bases for Matt.  I started these last night and they have started out pretty well.  I have no idea what the technique for what I am doing is called, but I think of it as wet dry-brushing....yeah.  Basically, I'm using the dry-brushing techniques most are familiar with, but applying lighter and lighter shades to the stones of the base while the previous layer is still wet. This ends up blending very nicely, while still allowing the layers that were brushed on more heavily underneath to be seen.



 There are also some chains and metal plates on the bases that I took a little more care with.  First a light watered coat of Boltgun. I then applied a couple layers each of blue and green wash, allowing each to dry before adding the next.  Lastly I went over it again with the metal to clean it up.  let me know how you think they came out.