Good news, Good FAQs. Blood Angels and Tyranids, they're out.

Wow. The new faq's are out. Exciting..... Here are a few of the basics. Doom of Malanti explained in better detail (doesn't effect guys inside of vehicles). Multiple Tyrants on reserve rolls don't stack (needed this two weeks ago), Special characters are of their creature type.... (Swarmlord is a hive tyrant, doom is a zoanthrope). Blood angels can really use shield of sanguinus to give 5+ cover saves to vehicles (duh), decent of angels only works with jump packs (good clarification for power gamers), any transport can be used if it says any transport can be used (for the illiterate), and so on.  Also, fun stuff, vindicators are back to large blast templates. Glad they fixed this one. Go check it out.

The Holy Light of the Emperor Once Again Shines On Those Able to Read

Wow, once again..... Does a vehicle need to be obscured in order to receive a cover save, such as in shield of sanguinus psychic power. Once again GW sides with what the rule book actually says, and not Internet weird interpretations.

Just for the people that cant think for themselves.... Obscurement is how vehicles deal with cover (cover is not the same thing as a cover save, although you generally need it, unless you are a vehicle). As it says in the book. Its how vehicles use cover, in order to get a  cover save from it. Area terrain doesn't work. If you are obscured you get a cover save. It does not say you must be obscured to get a cover save. There is no obscurement save. You want this explained better.... look up the past article "obscurement.... much to your demise" last month.

So, shield of sanguinus gives you a 5+ cover save. Don't believe me, check the gw faq, and get over yourself.

Inquisitorial Allies... In or out?

Just recieved a link from a friend noting a gw response to the allies question. Here is what it said. (copied and pasted)

I noticed there is a codex: deamonhunters pdf now on the website

The english version is missing the inducted guard/marines, where the german/french/itallian/spanish version includes the allies part

Does that mean that English speaking people got a mistake on the book?

Does this PDF override the paper codex I just purchased for 30$?

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

Mitchell!

The new PDF is up for the people who do not have access to buy the codex anymore. The missing Alies section in the U.S format is indeed a mistake. And whichever one the tournament/event organizer says to use is the one that we have to abide by. I know that for our tournaments we will be using the Physical codex and NOT the PDF. I hope this helps!

Thanks!

John Hollingsworth

Customer Service Specialist

Please do not delete previous email threads as this will help us serve you better!

Games Workshop

Customer Service

6211 East Holmes Road

Memphis, TN 38141

Games Workshop Customer Service is open:

Monday through Friday 9:30 AM to 6:00 PM CST

Contact info:

1-800-394-4263

custserv@games-workshop.com

Or visit us online at:

http://www.games-workshop.com/

Well, we will find out if this is authentic or not. I have sent gw an email using this address posed with a similair question to find out what the deal is.

Faeit 212

I am officially retiring my Faeit 212 army list. It doesnt mean that it wont come out on occasion, (mostly by pre-arranged request) but its not going to be fielded for quite some time. In the mean time, I am preping my dark eldar, and fielding blood angel lists. I probably will continue to do some modeling work on Faeit 212, but otherwise its done. Expect me to be fielding sub-par lists for the time being. This is mainly to increase my generalship, and not my list building.

Here it is. This is the final list.


Imperial Guard 2500 Pts -5th Edition -Lord Inquisitor Faeit 212

Company Command Squad
Unit Type: Infantry; Flak Armour; Close Combat Weapon (x2); Plasmagun (x2); Heavy Weapons Team
Lascannon Weapon 1 3 4 3 3 2 3 2 7 5+ [20]
Team Close Combat Weapon (x1); Flak Armour; Lasgun (x1); Lascannon
Company Commander 1
(i)Flak Armour; Refractor Field; Laspistol; Close Combat Weapon; Senior Officer
Chimera 1 Unit Type: Vehicle (Tank); Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Turret Multi-Laser; Heavy Flamer; Amphibious;
Mobile Command Vehicle

Inquisitor Lord [WH]
Unit Type: Infantry; Divine Pronouncement; Psychic Hood; Close Combat Weapon (x1); Independent
Character; Iron Will; Psyker
Warrior [WH] 3 Veteran Guardsman; Unit Type: Infantry; Krak Grenades; Targeter; Plasmagun (x3); Warrior

Inquisitor [OM] 1 4 4 3 3 2 4/5 2/3 8 4+ 34
Unit Type: Infantry; Bolt Pistol (x1); Close combat weapon (x1); Independent Character; Psyker
Mystic [OM] 2 Unit Type: Infantry; Close Combat Weapon; Laspistol; Mystic

Psyker Battle Squad 5
Psyker (Santioned Psykers Only); Unit Type: Infantry; Flak Armour; Close Combat Weapon (x5); Laspistol
(x5); Psychic Choir; Ultimate Sanction; Soulstorm; Weaken Resolve
Overseer 1 Flak Armour; Close Combat Weapon; Laspistol
Chimera 1 Unit Type: Vehicle (Tank); Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Turret Multi-Laser; Heavy Flamer; Amphibious;
Mobile Command Vehicle

Psyker Battle Squad 5
Psyker (Santioned Psykers Only); Unit Type: Infantry; Flak Armour; Close Combat Weapon (x5); Laspistol
(x5); Psychic Choir; Ultimate Sanction; Soulstorm; Weaken Resolve
Overseer Flak Armour; Close Combat Weapon; Laspistol
Chimera 1 Unit Type: Vehicle (Tank); Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Turret Multi-Laser; Heavy Flamer; Amphibious;
Mobile Command Vehicle

Veteran Melta Squad 005
Unit Type: Infantry; Flak Armour; Krak Grenades; Close Combat Weapon (x7); Lasgun (x4); Meltagun
(x3); Veteran Weapons Team
Autocannon Weapon Team Close Combat Weapon (x1); Flak Armour; Lasgun (x1); Krak Grenades; Autocannon
Veteran Sergeant Flak Armour; Krak Grenades; Laspistol; Close Combat Weapon
Chimera 1 Unit Type: Vehicle (Tank); Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Turret Multi-Laser; Heavy Flamer; Amphibious;
Mobile Command Vehicle

Veteran Melta Squad 144
Unit Type: Infantry; Flak Armour; Krak Grenades; Close Combat Weapon (x7); Lasgun (x4); Meltagun
(x3); Veteran Weapons Team
Autocannon Weapon 1 3 4 3 3 2 3 2 7 5+ [10]
Team Close Combat Weapon (x1); Flak Armour; Lasgun (x1); Krak Grenades; Autocannon
Veteran Sergeant Flak Armour; Krak Grenades; Laspistol; Close Combat Weapon
Chimera 1 Unit Type: Vehicle (Tank); Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Turret Multi-Laser; Heavy Flamer; Amphibious;
Mobile Command Vehicle

Veteran Plasma Squad 190
 Unit Type: Infantry; Flak Armour; Krak Grenades; Close Combat Weapon (x7); Lasgun (x4); Plasmagun
(x3); Veteran Weapons Team
Lascannon Weapon Team Close Combat Weapon (x1); Flak Armour; Lasgun (x1); Krak Grenades; Lascannon
Veteran Sergeant Flak Armour; Krak Grenades; Laspistol; Close Combat Weapon
Chimera 1 Unit Type: Vehicle (Tank); Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Turret Multi-Laser; Heavy Flamer; Amphibious;
Mobile Command Vehicle

Veteran Plasma Squad 265
Unit Type: Infantry; Flak Armour; Krak Grenades; Close Combat Weapon (x7); Lasgun (x4); Plasmagun
(x3); Veteran Weapons Team
Lascannon Weapon Team Close Combat Weapon (x1); Flak Armour; Lasgun (x1); Krak Grenades; Lascannon
Veteran Sergeant Flak Armour; Krak Grenades; Laspistol; Close Combat Weapon
Chimera 1 Unit Type: Vehicle (Tank); Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Turret Multi-Laser; Heavy Flamer; Amphibious;
Mobile Command Vehicle

Veteran Demolitions Squad 812
Unit Type: Infantry; Flak Armour; Krak Grenades; Close Combat Weapon (x7); Lasgun (x7); Demolition
Charge; Melta Bombs; Veteran Weapons Team; Demolitions
Autocannon Weapon Team Close Combat Weapon (x1); Flak Armour; Lasgun (x1); Melta Bombs; Krak Grenades; Autocannon
Veteran Sergeant Flak Armour; Krak Grenades; Laspistol; Close Combat Weapon; Melta Bombs

Vendetta Gunship 1v1 1 130
Deep Strike; Grav Chute Insertion; Scouts
Vehicle (Fast, Skimmer); Transport Capacity: 12 Models; Extra Armor; Searchlight; Twin-linked Lascannon
(x3)

Vendetta Gunship 2v2 1 130
Deep Strike; Grav Chute Insertion; Scouts
Vehicle (Fast, Skimmer); Transport Capacity: 12 Models; Extra Armor; Searchlight; Twin-linked Lascannon
(x3)

Hydra Flak Tank Battery 1 225
Hydra Flak TankUnit Type: Vehicle (Tank); Auto-targeting System; Heavy Bolter; Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Twin-Linked Hydra Autocannons (x2)
Hydra Flak Tank Unit Type: Vehicle (Tank); Auto-targeting System; Heavy Bolter; Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Twin-Linked Hydra Autocannons (x2)
Hydra Flak Tank Unit Type: Vehicle (Tank); Auto-targeting System; Heavy Bolter; Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Twin-Linked Hydra Autocannons (x2)

Hydra Flak Tank Battery 1 225
Hydra Flak TankUnit Type: Vehicle (Tank); Auto-targeting System; Heavy Bolter; Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Twin-Linked Hydra Autocannons (x2)
Hydra Flak Tank Unit Type: Vehicle (Tank); Auto-targeting System; Heavy Bolter; Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Twin-Linked Hydra Autocannons (x2)
Hydra Flak Tank Unit Type: Vehicle (Tank); Auto-targeting System; Heavy Bolter; Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Twin-Linked Hydra Autocannons (x2)

Basilisk Artillery Battery 1 375
Basilisk 1 Unit Type: Vehicle (Tank, Open-topped); Earthshaker Cannon; Heavy Bolter; Searchlight; Smoke
Launchers
Basilisk 1 Unit Type: Vehicle (Tank, Open-topped); Earthshaker Cannon; Heavy Bolter; Searchlight; Smoke
Launchers
Basilisk 1 Unit Type: Vehicle (Tank, Open-topped); Earthshaker Cannon; Heavy Bolter; Searchlight; Smoke
Launchers
Total Cost: 2500

The Inquisition Dies RIP

Put them away folks. We really have the first now unplayable group in 5th edition. What GW has said... No allies, no inducted units, no more spending money on the codex, no more reasons to buy the models (Daemonhunters). It looks to me like this would mean they are done with grey knights, permanently. I hope not. I also hope there is something that once again allows people to use allies. Assassins, inquisitors, we all love them. For now though, put them away and dont for the emperors sake, buy anymore models. Its a dead army.

Well, no more allies for either really. These are very very poor pdf's. Cut and pasted that will take gw some time to do yet another set of faq's for, becuase it brings up a whole set of problems. I guess people thought through obvious not playtesting (the loud minority) that allies were over-powered. Its pretty damn funny that people think its changed anything for IG. If anything 200 freed up points and simple bubblewrapping fixes all the problems.

It wasnt mystics that was overpowerful, nor divine pronouncement, it was the tablewide psychic hoods. Other than that...I have used allies to their most for well over a year, and let me tell ya, mystics did hardly squat in 98% of all games. What did mystics stop? sternguard melta that will blow up a chimera? Grow a brain, the chimera was smoked, and you didnt blow it up anyways, since you were bubblewrapped outside of 6" double die melta range. It takes an idiot to think these were overpowerful. Mostly it was annoyance, and took up an elite slot. What it did work well against, was either poor players with bad armies, or decent or good players with bad armies. A good player with a good list, didnt give a flying hoot.

What did these pdf's really do. Kill the inquisition, and stop people from buying models.

Moral. Playing the Moral Game in the 40k universe.

It seems that so few people really know how moral works in the 40k universe, so I thought I would do a quickie on it. First things first.

A unit that is falling back, automatically fails all moral checks. How is this done to someone? The most obvious is multiple tank shocks. A squad is tank shocked and breaks. It falls back 2d6. The player then sees that the unit is still within range of another vehicle, and tank shocks you again. Once again you are required to make a check, and becuase you autofail, you are required to fall back another 2d6. Certain psykers and weapons can do this to you as well during the shooting phase. Most notably, Divine Pronouncement, and Fear of Darkness (Blood Angels.). These make you make an immediate moral test of fall back immediately. When this happens, and you take 25% casualties during that phase, you will fall back again. Witch Hunters also have flamers that can do this.

Next you have modifiers to leadership, and things that just lower it. The difference is a modifier simply gives you a negative modifier to your roll. Your leadership stays the same. Stubborn units are immune to this.

Lowering leadership. This is not a modifer, so stubborn does not protect against this. Most notably, Psyker Battle Squad's with weaken resolve, and Celuxus Assassin's ability to change everyone's  leadership to 7 within a small radius.

Next. Assaulting a unit that is falling back. Declare the assault. The unit that is falling back must immediately make a leadership test. If it fails, the unit is wiped out, and the unit that declared the assault does not move. If they pass, they immediately regroup w/o a consolidation move, and the unit assaulting does so normally.

When falling back. The unit falling back must fall back directly towards the board edge. They move over dangerous and difficult terrain, not around it. This means its possible for them to fall back, run over a destroyed vehicle, take 25% casualties during that phase, and would then be required to run another 2d6. Any phase that you take 25% casualties you are required to make a moral check. A unit falling back must always take the shortest route towards their board edge, even if that means running forward and around units. Its only when there is no way out, and they are required to move a distance that cannot get them anywhere that they are trapped and destroyed.

Vehicle Squadrons: Use them Right

Most people look at vehicle squadrons as risky, dangerous, fragile, a waste of points etc. I figured it was time to set the record straight. Vehicle squadrons are tough to take down. I wont get into speeders much, becuase in all honesty, its much easier to bring down squadrons of armor 10 than it is an imperial guard vehicle squadron.

Here is the deal. Most heavy weapons are generally fired in single shots, or in pairs. What this means is that a vehicle squadron gets shot at by a lascannon, it gets hit, and damage is done. A smart player will put that hit on one of the vehicles..... then another unit shoots at the vehicle squadron. It hits, it penetrates, and the hit is alocated to the same vehicle that was already damaged. Yes I know that an immobilized vehicle is destroyed. This doesnt happen as often as you think. More often, you get stunned or shaken, then you recieve another stunned or shaken which is placed right on top of that same vehicle.

Next lets talk about cover saves. In order to recieve a cover save, all you have to do is have half of the squadron obscured. That means that in a two vehicle squadron, you pop smoke with one, and they both now recieve a cover save. Block 50% of the two out of three and they all recieve the cover save. Remember that a unit is recieves a cover save, or it does not. So a mechanized force with vehicle squadrons is now something that can be very hard to destroy.

So, what do these squadrons fear the most? Multiple shot units mostly... or being assaulted by a assault squads with power fists. Hydras, Autocannon Havocs, Devastators, etc......These tend to make short work of squadrons. Assault terminators, normal terminators, etc..... Deliver multiple hard hits to a squadron, and they go bye bye. Take single shots here and there, and your opponent is just laughing. Dont forget that a single squadron of Leman Russ's (up to 3 tanks) is only worth a single KP.

A few tricks. Leman Russ Demolisher squadron of two. Take Creed, give them scout. During your scout move, pop smoke (yes its legal) with one of them, and in order to get your cover save round one. Shoot one of them during the first round, and pop smoke with the other. This way you are getting multiple rounds of cover for the entire unit.

Use one or two vehicles to give a cover save to the entire squadron. You only have to block 50% of the vehicle, and 50% of the vehicles need that 50% coverage. So you can do more with less to provide your own cover saves.

Dont forget to pop smoke with any vehicles that are shaken or damaged from shooting. You can pop smoke with the ones that cant shoot that round, providing they have unused smoke launchers, and continue to fire with the ones that are still operational. Even if only one vehicle pops smoke, its not hard to move a chimera in front of one more, to provide a unit of three tanks cover. One smoked, one 50% obscured, = entire unit cover, and 2 shooting this round.

Keeping your artillery or other heavy units firing every round of the game is a huge distraction to your opponent, not to mention how much they can really hurt.

Using Sternguard

Something I have noticed over and over, is that most people play sternguard one of two ways. Either in the drop pod, loaded with combi-meltas with 5 or 10 veterans, or the less popular but still effective 5 man squad with two heavy weapons.

Now the problems. Drop pod them in, they are a "I hit you, and now I die unit". While on paper they look great, the problem really is the die issue. If there is no land raider or high value target that you can get in close to, you end up wasting the value of these units. The problem is this unit really isnt normally reliable enough to do something effective. So I do tend towards the second listed layout of these marines. Two lascannons for 15pts apiece is a nice choice.

Considering this, there is another option for this unit. One that maximizes their use. 10 veterans, 5 with combi-meltas ( for a unit that will probably just die most of the time and keeps the ammo optons flexible), 2 with lascannons, and then give the unit a drop pod for the combi meltas. This maximizes flexiblity, adds in long range firepower, with a short range punch that you will be sacrificing anyhow. I would also suggest a powerfist on the sergeant. This will give you some extra punch just encase you survive what will be counter punching you.

If anyone here reads this and uses this build for sternguard, or has other opinions on how to use this squad more efficiently, I would love to hear your comments.

The Hammer Unit - Blood Angel Assault Terminators

Blood Angels have a couple unique and interesting options when it comes down to what to field. Super cheap devastators, scout moving Baals predators with flamestorms, Assault squads, and my favorite possible hammer unit- Blood Angel Assault Terminators.

Now I normally don't play games under 2000 pts, so we will be ignoring the huge cost of these in skirmish games. What we have is a hugely expensive squad that can be made out of these. For the sake of argument, I will be talking about a 10 man squad. 10 assault terminators, 8 with thunderhammer and stormshield, 2 with lightning claws. This is 440 points. Add in a single Sanguinary Priest in Terminator Armor for another 85 points. Now we have assault terminators with Furious Charge and Feel no pain. Now we add in a Reclusiarch, so that all these terminators can re-roll failed to hit rolls when they assault.

Yea, I know its 685 points. How cool is it though to field the toughest and most elite unit the Imperium can field. This is not a matter of opinion, after all just look at it. 15 power weapon attacks at int 6 and 5, all at str 5 (8 of which will get re-rolls to wound). Did I mention re-rolls to hit?. Yes I did. Now at init 1 we get 24 re-roll to hits with thunderhammers.

Now the defense. Do I even need to write it out. Probably........... Terminator armor of 2+, 8 of which have a 3+ invul, and then the best part. The way to get rid of assault termies has been to just rapid fire the crap out of em. Now we get feel no pain. Just say wow, and move on cause I ain't even done yet. Throw in Astorath the Grim, and there is a good chance this unit is also feerless. Before the game roll a 1,2, or 3, and bam.... fearless with furious charge.

Now on using these expensive units, I am not going to help with. Do I plan on fielding this..... Yes. There are lots of good flexible ways to field a unit like this nowadays in 5th ed. If you need a Hammer unit, there really isn't much better out there. The purpose here is to field what you like, and design an army around those.

Some Pics from Ard Boyz

First off Congrats to Travis for taking the semi's 1st place. I personally had a bad day at the table, breaking some of my own cardinal rules. More on that later. Here are the pics.

Ok, Nice table set ups over-all with only one really non-playable table. (Meaning if I had to set up a pitch battle, there wasnt even the room for me to deploy.) Oh yea, check out the size of that chicken (stormraven). Not a cool model. Here it is in all its aaaa hem...... glory.

Notice the broken table. It was playable, just not pretty. Great job hosting though. Olypic Cards and Games was a great place to play. (minus one really weird ruling). Judges were good, made good calls as I had put them to the test. Good tournament. Just wish I had played better. I broke the cardinal rule. Dont get out of the transport stupid.

Know your opposition pt.2 Alpha Strike

Whether seen loaded with tons of hunter killers, heavy armor, or massed devastators/longfangs, massed firepower sitting across from you can be quite daunting, especially when they go first. The first mistake people make when facing this army type is fail their "player moral" check. They then spend the rest of the game playing their opponents game instead of theirs. Relax, take a deep breath, and play your game.

Options.... There are a few. If you go second, reserve everything. While I wont advocate this tactic, I see it alot. It allows you to avoid being alpha struck in the first round of shooting. Your army had better have been designed with this alternative in mind for this to be effective. Eldar are known to use this tactic well, others.. well, I'll leave that to you to decide.

Next. You just take it in the head. You cannot do this if you cant return fire, or are not able to deal with this kind of punishment. Here you will need to be able to take advantage of any terrain that is there (dont rely on this, and learn to create your own cover). Rhinos, Land Raiders, etc, are all great at providing some sort of cover where you cant seem to find any terrain. Having devastators and other squads with enough wounds are great ways to take an alpha strike. If you are a shooting army, and are about to get alpha struck, you had better be set up to return the favor. To do this, simply make sure you have heavy weapons in your transports. When they get destroyed, your already out of your vehicle and sitting in place to return fire. Your army list is often what helps you in this situation. If your list sucks, you will die alot to alpha strike.

Other things to consider. Placing transports near area terrain for when you need to disembark. Also note the range of your opponent. Its very rare that I see alpha strikers or just shooting armies that go first, able to shoot all their weapons at me. I will deploy to limit what is incoming, as well as making it just as rough as possible at deployment.

Main lession here. Know how your army will take an alpha strike, and still be able to function. Otherwise design your armylist to be able to go into reserve and come on fighting. Army list and deployment are 90% of this battle.

Dark Eldar News

Here is the latest rumor along the Dark Eldar Front. We dont know when yet, but it looks like we might be looking at an October release date. At least so the rumors say. Here is a little tidbit of the new weapons.

Splinter Rifle: 12" S:2 AP:5 Rapid Fire, Poisoned (4+)
Splinter Pod: 18" S:3 AP:5 Assault 2, Poisoned (4+)
Splinter Cannon: 24" S:2 AP:5 Heavy 6, Poisoned (4+)

Too excited to even really comment.

Off to the Semi-finals of Ard Boyz

Well, Im headed up to Olympia Washington come Saturday morning. From what Ive heard, they are not turning away anyone that qualified for the semi's. I signed up there 2 days before they announced where the semi's were being held (thx Andy for the heads up). When I did sign up, I was number 20. This means that it could very well be the largest semi-final event in the country. How do you prepare for that? Well, no clue. Ha.

All I am doing is getting my stuff ready, my army is ready..... with some minor decal adjustments, and I was going to put grenades on my melta bomb (demolition team) squad. Other that that, there is not much to do. Read the missions, make sure I have everything and go.

I put my name on my templates, and my scatter dice. My second opponent tried to steal mine at the prelims. Speaking of which, after the games, I will be doing a set on my gaming experiences during this years ard boyz. I am hoping the semi's run a much tighter ship than the store I did the prelims at. The prelim store was a mess. Stealing dice, models not wysiwyg(some bad proxies), people either stalling or just not decent enough to get through games (80-90% of the games did not make the time limit, some only getting into round 3), and store owners talking down the Ard Boyz event (apparently they like fluffers, alot of pew pew pew down there)..

Anyhow, no more bashing the place. Its all about getting up to this years semi-finals, and having a blast. Playing new competitive players, and seeing tons and tons of games going on. I will have to remember to take better pictures when I get the chance this year.

Know your Opposition pt.1 Deepstrikers

What most people do... Make an army they like, and then fail when they run across an army type they did not expect or know. Some of the obvious examples are when you play armies like necrons. While you cant plan for everything, having a break down on what you will do against different army types is very important for your army composition and how you will deploy and play. In other words, it will effect your game in every imaginable way. So get a clue on what is out there.

Its important not only to know some of the basics of each codex army, but as well as types. Close range shooting, assault, drop pod's, alpha strike, horde, heavy armor, and mechanized.

Lets start. This is not inclusive, but just a start for you to start thinking about.
First off the army specifics you should think about.......

Drop Pods. Know how to deal with these. They come in fast, accurate, and can be very damaging. Expect meltas to come out of these. Ideas on handling... Bubble wrap to protect heavy or vulnerable targets with heavy short range or assault nearby so that you can wipe whatever comes out. Also, if you go first, don't forget to pop smoke against the first drop. Don't forget to blow up the drop pods. These can be annoying drop pod walls, can contest objectives etc. The main idea... Punish those that come out of the pods quickly and efficiently, and protect vulnerable areas during deployment. Your deployment means everything here. Minimize the first strike, and then wreck your opponent. If you can't do well against a first round drop, Choose to go second and hold everything in reserve. 50% of their reserves should be on the field before you appear. Divide and conquer at this point.

Deep strike armies...... Like decent of angels. However, some will be able to assault when they appear (vanguard). Set up is very similar to above.

Demons. Set up is very similar to above. Kill things as they appear. Don't get yourself isolated and too spread out. Rapid fire is your friend. One tactic I have seen work well against demons, is to deploy loose and forward covering a good amount of the table, but semi close with a planned tighter drop back location. What this does is make a demon player deploy farther out, allows you to shoot, and keeps them out of assault range for yet another round.

Tyranid deepstrikers. Be aware that mawlocs can hurt tightly formations, so give yourself some room. If they don't hurt you when they appear, you will devastate them in return. Spore pods, are nice, but because of lack of models I haven't run across them that much. Be aware they exist, and zoanthropes or Doom of Malanti might catch you unaware.

Regardless of army type though. Having an idea of what is out there, and how your army is going to deal with it, is what makes you a tough opponent. I will post more army types that I think about later.

Ard Boyz Missions for casual games

First off, for the casual games that I play, I tend to use all the Ard Boyz missions that Ive saved up over time. I have this and last years, prelims and semi's. If you take these missions and mix them up really well, drop some dice, you end up with a pretty decent and diverse mission list. I tend to have lots of fun with these missions. I normally play 2000 or 2500, but even skirmish sized games of 1500 or 1750 can be used effectively.

The standard missions can only really be used so many times before boredom drops in. There is the mission book, which is a decent alternative, but I still prefer the Ard Boyz mission list I have been keeping. Granted that the prelims this year were some of the worst of it, but if you add in all 6 I have from last year, and the 6 total this year... It all balances out to some very interesting lists.

If you are local, I may put together my mission packet for you if you ask. Two stores that I frequent will be getting copies if they are interested. Not to mention that I carry full print outs of these when I show up.

Off to War!!!!!! New semi-final Ard Boyz missions.

Its time to march off to war. The new missions are out, and they look like good missions. Im looking forward to playing them and getting down into them. A much better job GW of writing missions.

Here is the link.

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?catId=&categoryId=&section=&pIndex=2&aId=9500009&start=3

Assault vs Shooting Armies

Assault or Shooting.

We all work hard on our army lists, even the fluffers do so (they just suck worse or more). The question often comes down to, what works best, assault or shooting. Do we work towards a harmonious balance of the two?, Or do we strive to perfect one or the other? I suppose in order to decide our direction we have to do a little analysis.

First off, lets not take what army we play into consideration. Lets look at army list building from what and how each type works overall.

Assault Armies. For these to work, you need to get in, hit hard, and dominate assaults. It is often easier to table your opponents with this type of army, as multiple assaults pulled off well kill squads much faster than shooting them to death. Win the assault (especially against multiple uits) and wipe them out with a sweeping advance. A shooting army normally cant remove this many models in a single turn, leaving assault armies to be the most efficient killing machines. Dont forget that shooting armies might have 3-6 rounds of shooting, while an assault army gets a turn every player turn, effectively almost doubling the number of rounds you are removing your opponents models off the board. Getting there is the problem. Once solved, charge forth and destroy.

Shooting armies. Technically on the table top, these can be the easiest of the two to play, although not generally to win against decent opponents. Your job is to hit the enemy so hard and quick, that they are on their heels the rest of the game. Alpha strike lists, or leaf blower type lists seem to be all the rage, although durable resilient shooting armies are starting to appear. Target priorities are the critical here. You need to master it, or that unit or two you were not dealing with well will destroy you. You only have a few rounds to do this. By rounds 4+ if you are not mopping up, you are losing or struggling. If you have mastered this army type, you will have many games only last an hour or so. These are often the quickest games, not counting deepstrike list types.

Now we come to the hardest of army compositions. Armies that balance out both, assault and shooting. Marines do these the best. Here you have to balance both and make both work effectively and cohesively. This army type is probably the most balanced with the least amount of weakness's. You dont have to overcompensate your army list here, as you can do both, or at least have specialty units that can do one or the other. This area is probably were most people fall. Its the most giving style of play.

40k Community Epic Failure. Pew Pew Pew

Read the following for the upcoming BOLSCON doubles tournament. http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2010/06/bolscon-pairs-faq-update-40k-and-wfb.html

More importantly, here is a quote to how they are handling a tournament. Note, this is the wrong way a tournament should be done.

Quote "For both tournaments, I've already fielded some questions that make it important to remind p0layers that the point of pairs is do interesting and fun tricks, not to craft the most horrible abomination of a list that you can come up with."

Apparently fun and interesting means, fun and interesting if it doesnt kill or stop an opponents army or tactics. So much for this being a wargame. It continues..........

Quote "Yes, it is possible to make two IG armies with a total of 6 psyker battle squads. Yes, I will do something terrible to you (and maybe to your armies) if you do so."

What kind of crap is this? Touch my army and I'll knock out your teeth punk. This is what keeps the 40k community down, why there will always be newer trendy games nipping at GW's heels, and why new players get discouraged. Disagree all you want, but just reading that crap makes my vomit the bile you keep feeding me. I normally like what bols does, at least sometimes, but this is beyond me. Its saying "tone your army way way way down. Becuase if you cant read my mind and know what "I" consider to be cheesy, I will do something horrible to your army."

If this is all we are down to, Lets just get out the army men, and run around going pew pew pew. We dont need friggin dice for a tournament ran like this.

And thanks Travis for the Pew pew pew. Great very descriptive phrase that defines so many of our "Only play for fun" "fluff players"