Dark Angels Analysis - Scouts

I've managed to get over my 40k fatigue a little today, although all I have to show for it is a repaired Drop Pod. I'm still considering what I'll take to Throne of Skulls, I may bring the Orks back out of retirement and throw my 5^th edition list straight into it, alternatively I may dust off my Rainbow Footdar and see how they fair, although the latter would require a huge amount of painting. I'll try to get that done this week though so that come Friday I will at least have a choice.

None of that matters though, up for analysis today are the Scouts.

Dark Angels Analysis - Tactical Marines

I write this on Saturday evening after Perils of the Warp 2, and I am ridiculously 40k fatigued right now (by my standards). But no matter, on with the blogging.

Today sees the start of my second series of Codex analysies. This time around being the Dark Angels. As an unfamiliar Codex in 5^th/4^th edition, they are possibly even more unfamiliar right now with the new Codex, as not many people played them before and I doubt that this Codex will have sold as many as the Chaos one so it's probably useful to understand what's going on.

Starting again with the backbone of the army. The Troops.

Perils of the Warp 2 - Tournament Report

Today I attended the Perils of the Warp 2 tournament at the Outpost in Sheffield. This was a 1 day, 20 player event which allowed Forge World, and was at 1,500pts. This was also the first tournament that I had ever attended that submitted to rankings, so as well as being a slightly different meta to what I'm used to, with my list being developed in Oxford, it was also kicking it up a notch.

Just a quick plug before this gets started. The Outpost is an independent store in Sheffield. It's open late and sells a variety of products for a variety of systems like Warpath, Dreadball, Warmahordes, Dystopian Wars, 40k and Fantasy, etc. I'm not selling out, I just really enjoyed today's event and feel like I should give the store a mention. If you just Google 'The Outpost Sheffield' it should be the first option. They're also running another 40k tournament on the 23^rd February. Unfortunately I can't attend as I'm at Battlefield Birmingham but I'd recommend it if you're in the area and have the day free. There are only 6 places left though so you'll probably want to hurry.

Throne of Skulls Prep 2

I've had various ideas for posts that I'd like to get in before Saturday, when another new Codex hits and I start to break down another load of units, but before I do I feel as though I should at least get in 1 piece of tournament preparation. I know that Throne of Skulls isn't the most competitive tournament in the UK, but for me it's a good marker to see how much I've improved, and where I should be.

For example; so long as I don't get my ass royally kicked (like last time, where I had only played a handful of games with my Wolves after picking up the army a few weeks before), I will be comfortable in extending into the independant tournaments, where no doubt, I will get my ass kicked again, and learn a lot more.

I've got several advantages 6 months after my first attendance though. The first of these is that I will actually get some sleep. With 12 days to go, I have 3 Wolf Guard Terminators, a Primaris Psyker and a Mortar team left to paint, so I shouldn't be up most of the night painting.

The second advantage is obviously that I've been playing my Wolves for a while, and although I haven't been able to play the 2 games a week that I was in Oxford (I've played 1 game in almost 4 weeks), I have plenty of time to catch that up, as I have a load of games lined up in the next 2 weeks.

As well as a game against my club's strongest tournament player on Friday, I also have a 3 game tournament on the Saturday against some strong opponents, and then a video battle report in which I am participating (and trying not to embarrase myself) the following Friday, to advertise the club.

Lists were due in for this tournament over the weekend, and this is what I'm running. I don't mind plastering my list all over the internet because if you're tailoring for it then I'm vastly overated.

Is Dual Force Org Bad? - A Response

I thought I'd do something a little different for the last post of 2012. Therefore I'm going to be doing a response to something that was posted earlier in the year.

The post that I'm going to be replying to is from a very famous 40k blog. 'Yes the truth hurts' run by Stelek, and although it is extremely unlikely that he reads this poky little blog, I'd like to make my point anyway. I disagree with Stelek 99% of the time, but I've picked this post in relation to the fact that at its core it regards the big 40k news for the year. I could have gone with the whole, 'Forge World in tournaments' debate, but as it stands I haven't attended a single Forge World allowing tournament, and so have a lack of experience, although I do have 3 of them lined up in the next 2 months.

I'm not going to link to the post in question here, but if you go to Yes the Truth Hurts and enter '2 FOC is bad' you'll get the post. It came out a week after 6^th edition, and so was probably a bit hasty and a bit full of nerd rage but that's no excuse for a poorly thought out argument, especially from such a well known blog and especially when you're going to use demeaning and offensive language to describe anyone that doesn't agree with your proposition.

Onto the subject of this post, as you may have probably guessed, the proposition made by Stelek is that dual force org is bad for the game. By this, we mean the rule that states that once a game reaches 2,000pts or more, you double the number of force organisation slots available to you. You now have access to 4 HQ choices, 6 Elites, and so on.

He begins the article with the following introduction,

'Here are some broken lists.

Are the Unbeatable at 2k?

Well, you tell me.'

He then ends the post with,

'Seriously, you thought 40k5e was boring?

Play against any of these armies and your brain will shut right off'

During the article, he then proceeds to create lists for 4 different army books, all of which he deems broken by telling the reader what they will think when they face them across the table. Those who agree with him, also post more of these 'broken' lists, often using different Codecies, in the comments section of the post. Now here's the hypocrisy.

Let's say that the dual force org Space Wolves army that he has built plays against the dual force org Ork army from the same article. This is a perfectly legitimate situation, as in a dual force org 2,000pt game both armies have access to the dual force org. Now, if these 2 lists come against each other are they both still unbeatable?

Now let's assume that all Codecies have the potential to make what Stelek defines has, 'unbeatable' combinations using the double force org, and let's say that you're at an extremely competitive 2,000pt tournament that allows double force organisation, or you're in the top bracket of a GT in the U.S which is allowing double force org, and everyone has brought one of these lists. Are they all still unbeatable? Does this mean that no-one will win any games, and no-one will lose any games? Does every game result in a draw?

Of course it doesn't. I am always very hasty before labelling a unit, a Codex, or a list as broken. This is because if everything in a room is broken, then nothing is. If you have 2 armies that are broken fighting against each other, are they still both broken within the context of that game? No they are not, they cancel each other out. Sure, the game may be a better match up for one army than the other, but lists don't have to be broken for this to apply. You can turn up to a fluffy tournament with your fluffy list and play against another fluffy list, with your list essentially able to cope with your opponents better than your opponent's is able to cope with yours, but does that make your list any more broken? No, it means it's a good match up.

In the same way, in a room full of 'broken' lists, because dual force org has been enabled, is your list still broken? Broken can generally be defined (in my opinion, feel free to disagree with me) as so powerful that it ruins the game for your opponent. If you have 2 of these lists pitched against each other then they are evenly matched, and so are not ruining the game for your opponent and so are not broken or unbeatable.

If you have a dual force org list playing against a list that is only allowed 1 force organisation chart, sure the dual force org list has a huge advantage. But at the end of the day, this is never going to be the case. In the same way, if you wanted to play a triple force organisation game, and both armies are subjected to this, go for it, you're both subjected to the same restrictions, or lack thereof.

I realise that I'm probably repeating myself here so I'm going to wrap this up.

My favourite quote from the article is a comment that is left by Stelek himself, and it reads,

'No, 2 FOC is just bad. Period. There are no ifs.'

Making an absolute statement that dual force org is bad for the game with no evidence to support this claim other than posting a number of army lists that would be evenly matched against each other is not a strong argument.

If everyone's army list is 'unbeatable', nobody's is.

Chaos Marine Analysis - Possessed

Today comes the conclusion of the Chaos Marine Analysis segment, and about time too really, this concluding over 2 months after the release of the book. However, if you have enjoyed this segment, never fear, for it will be back in January with Dark Angels. I also hope to be releasing a PDF of all of the articles that I've done on this subject with additional visuals aids and pictures to try and break up the enormous wodge of text that has gone up here, so stay tuned for that. In the mean time, here comes the final unit on the agenda. Possessed.

Compared to a base marine, they have quite a bit going for them statline wise. +1 attack, leadership and strength are all very useful in close combat. They also come with a 5+ invulnerable save, fearless and fear (whoo!).

In essence, this is a close combat unit that is designed to mash marines. A be squad. 15 attacks on the charge, 7.5 hit, 5 wound, 1.67 dead marines. Not fantastic, but then take a look at the Vessels of Chaos special rule, whereby you re-roll to wound, count as AP 3 or get +1 attack and initiative.

So, the first possibility. 7.5 hits, 5 wound, 6.67 wound. 2.2 dead marines. Maybe the next one will be a little better. 7.5 hits, 5 wounds, 5 dead marines. Now that's a bit more like it. Now the last one. 10 hits, 6.67 wounds, 2.2 dead marines, the same as the first. Ah.

So essentially, you have a 33% chance of doing a decent amount of damage to marines in combat. They aren't great against much else either, against hordes they churn out too few hits for their points for the opponent to care and they don't have the AP to deal with Terminators.

Granted, you can take them in a squad of 20 but that's one enormous points sink that you've got there, coming in at over 500pts before marks and icons.

Plus, they have to make it into combat, they're fearless marines with a 5+ invulnerable. Granted the invulnerable is nice when I'm throwing missiles at them all day look but I have enough shots to bring them down, especially when considering that a possessed Marne costs more than a long fang with a missile launcher.

So you can stick them in a Land Raider, but why would you waste over 200pts on transportation when a squad of 10 won't do too much damage considering how much it cost when it hits, bearing in mind that the champion (yes, there's a possessed champion) will be in a challenge. Maybe they could jump out and take 2 assault phases to bring down their prey, but even if they get a second squad they're still unlikely to make their points back including the raider.

Marks. I'd say that the marks of Tzeentch and Nurgle are the best here. If you're running them in a Land Raider yes you could go for Mark of Khorne but then you're more likely to win the combat in a single assault have and get shot up in the next turn.

Tzeentch provides the improved invulnerable save but with the increased effectiveness of rapid fire in this edition I'd go Nurgle, allowing you to shrug off more 'small arms' fire, and yet some of the heavier stuff will be soaked up by the invuln. The Nurgle mark is also slightly cheaper per model.

The problem then comes with if you want to walk them across the field, meaning that you'll have to increase their unit size to survive, meaning that you're pumping more points into the squad and it is also attracting more attention, meaning that it will eat more shooting so you'll further need to increase the squad size.

All in all, I think that Possessed will struggle to see combat, I played against them on Friday and although the did make it that was when a Lone Wolf charged them and made his points back pretty quickly.

So, I think that this is another unit that I am tempted to get, as it fits in with my Word Bearers and it looks like a lot of fun. But f I was building a competitive army here, I would steer clear if I'm being perfectly honest, more points for your Fast Attack.

And there we have it, this segment is done. So I'll quickly sum up.

The Fast Attack slot is clearly the most competitive in the Codex, with Bikers, Heldrakes and Spawn very legitimate choices. That said, I think that you will really struggle to do well in this edition without some firepower, and although your Heldrakes can help to neuter your opponent's equivalent, you really need to look to the Heavy Support slots. Obliterations and Havocs are your friend.

I don't think that the Codex will be mono-build, and although Typhus is far and away the best special character in the book, I still think that it's possible to build a good list without him.

All in all, the book is generally well costed. I may be coming back to this in the near future to see how my opinion has changed, along with list ideas and the suchlike, but in the next few weeks I would mainly like to concentrate on some other stand-alone ideas that I have rattling around in my head.

Chaos Marine Analysis - Helbrute

I postponed this post by a day in an attempt to get my Word Bearers Helbrute finished paint wise but unfortunately this has not happened so I'm going to release the post anyway.

The Helbrute is essentially a Chaos Dreadnought, which isn't a great starting point in this edition. Traditionally, there have been 3 ways to kit out a Dreadnought. For Close combat, for ranged support and for dropping in and shooting a tank.  We can rule out the latter because drop pods are not available in the Chaos Codex. Also think that we can discount the former.

With the coming of 6th edition close combat Dreadnought suffered a serious downgrade. Firstly, you can't tie up things as effectively any more, due to the fact that now if you are unable to harm a unit you can choose to fail your leadership check at the end of the combat, leaving it.

Additionally, anything that can hurt you is probably going to be doing so with Grenades, and I'll likely have enough bodies to bring you down. Even if they don't , they may have combat tactics to simply walk out of the combat anyway and shoot you to death.

Even if the Helbrute does somehow end up tying a unit up, it doesn't do enough damage to make up his points. Besides, he's slow and unlikely to get into combat with anything that wants to avoid him.

So, the only option left is to build him in a shooty kind of way. Right? Well there are a few problems with this. Ok, he's 100pts stock and for his durability that's not appalling. It's not fantastic value but it is not that bad.

So how much damage can he put out? Well the first point of call would be to swap out his power fist, as a close combat it is kind of redundant. You can swap this out for a missile launcher for an extra 10% of its points cost, and that's it. It doesn't even come with Flakk. So the only really variety in shooting weapons comes when you swap out your stock shooting weapon, which makes sense, but isn't very helpful.

You can get another power fist, which you shouldn't touch. A twin-linked heavy bolter for 5% extra, a reaper autocannon for the same, a plasma cannon for double, or a twin-linked Lascannon for an extra 25%.

You're going to want something that complements the Missile Launcher. Something long range, that can deal with light-medium armoured vehicles and high toughness models but also able to do a little against infantry.


Well the only option that matches the range of the Missile Launcher is the twin Lascannon, which is overcosted and not great against infantry. And then everything else is 12" shorter, which isn't bad.

I probably wouldn't go for the heavy bolter. It isn't high enough strength to damage vehicles and it doesn't pump out enough shots with that and it's medium AP to be fantastic against most infantry. Anything with a low armour saves has too many bodies to care, and anything with a good armour value doesn't care because of it.

So that leaves the Autocannon and the Plasma Cannon. The Autocannon is Twin-linked, and is probably a tad better for vehicle killing, whilst the Plasma cannon benefits from the lower AP and thus is better for heavy infantry death. It's all a matter of preference, because in my mind none of this really matters.

The Helbrute also 'benefits' from the Crazed special rule. This comes into effect every time it suffers a glancing or penetrating hit.

The first possibility is quite helpful. Although it is immobilised, all of its weapons fire twice that shooting phase. Although the target unit must be the one that caused the damage, which is why duality is important. The problem being that you don't get to choose the target, meaning that your opponent can often bait it's fire.

The second one is ok now that rage isn't a downside, so it recovers from shaken and stunned results.

The third one is equally unhelpful. It is the same as the previous roll but also means that your Helbrute must run toward the enemy, robbing you of your shooting phase and forcing you to move backwards to avoid running out of the cover that you will have initially placed your Helbrute in to make it more durable.

So, if your Helbrute is damaged, there is a 66% chance that you won't be able to fire at your preferred target this turn.

To sum up, you can't drop out of the sky and take out a vehicle, close combat dreadnoughts are dead, and you'll struggle to make a decent shooting platform out of it. Cool model, fun rules, but not particularly competitive. That said, as I have the model, I might as well try to make it work.