Monday, November 19, 2012

A New Army

Hello children. Welcome to the 41st millennium, where chaos rules all, and I, High Sorcerer Ahriman, am the master of Chaos.

ShotDownMind, a good friend of mine, recently talked about the new army itch, and man, am I feeling it. I've gone through a lot of different ideas and desires, and I think I've finally settled on a death guard army. Nurgle is probably the most competitive mono-god list in the chaos marine book, so with that in mind, let's look at some important things when creating this army list.

#1: Special or not?

The first thing I address when picking a new list is whether or not I want a special character present in it. As many of you know, most special characters are capable of changing your list and swapping things around. This is especially true of Chaos Marines, giving you many different options for your lists. With that in mind, let's observe our Nurgle special character: Typhus.


Typhus, in short, is an incredible badass. Toughness 5 in terminator armour, with feel no pain, and causes fear. The manreaper rocks face, as typhus can take the punishment before he swings, and furthermore, he's a nurgle sorcerer, level 2, who generates both of his powers from nurgle's discipline. This is huge, as nurgle powers are extremely strong, and definitely are a big deal in most games. Next are troop plague marines, which makes us very happy, and the zombies; zombies seem pretty damn awesome for holding objectives, but don't forget that enough Str6 vs. T3 will still end them as easily as regular cultists.

So what are his shortcomings? Well, Terminator armour is a double edged sword, as when you're at low points, it's harder to fit in that unit to go with your character. So, if we run typhus, we will need to either walk him with a unit or buy a nurgle-marked unit for him to run with. Also, his points cost of 230 can be a bit tough to deal with, as we're going to start with a 1000 point list, and over 20% of the total list goes to typhus.

All of this taken into account, and I still choose Typhus for my HQ. Moving on.

#2: Troop Base

Your troop base is the next most important decision that you make, and I feel that this one is pretty straight forward. Let's go with running one 7-man unit of plague marines, with a meltagun, a flamer, a rhino, veterans of the long war, and meltabombs and gift of mutation on the champion. 240 points. Easy peasy.

For our second troop choice, twenty zombies will do us just fine. 90 points for a fearless and feel no pain unit of twenty models. This puts a total of 330 points in troops, and adding in Typhus, 560 points. 440 to go.

#3: Game Winners

This is a generally broad category, and in my thousand sons list, the nurgle obliterators and heldrakes fall under it. Heldrakes are probably the most important thing we can bring, so let's add two, as they support each other well, and will bail us out when we face all those enemy flyers.

Two heldrakes is 340 points, leaving us with a meager 100 points to spend.

Ouch. With only 100 points to spend, let's retract and just take one heldrake, so that maybe we can grab a killy unit for typhus to run with.

Only one heldrake leaves us with enough points to fit three mutilators with mark of nurgle and veterans of the long war(195), leaving us with 75 points left. So lets put in a good distraction, and run two nurgle chaos spawn, giving us our 1000 point list for our FLGS escalation tournament.

So there's a little insight into how I write a list, and here's my list for the local tournament circuit that starts at 1000 points.


Typhus - 230
warlord

Plague Marines x7 - 240
Vets, flamer, meltagun, meltabombs, gift of mutation, rhino

Zombies x20 - 90

Heldrake - 170
Baleflamer

Mutilators x3 - 195
Mark of Nurgle, Vets

Chaos Spawn x2 - 72
Mark of Nurgle

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Space Wolf 2000 pt. tournament list

Hello, children. Welcome to the 41st millenium, where chaos rules all, and I, High Sorcerer Ahriman, am the master of Chaos.

Today I'm in the mood for rocking out a space wolf list. This is a 2k adaptation of what I was playing pre-6th edition.

2000 Pts - Space Wolves Roster

HQ: Wolf Lord in Power Armour (1#, 220 pts)
   1 Wolf Lord in Power Armour, 220 pts (Wolftooth Necklace; Thunderwolf Mount; Storm Shield x1; Wolf Claw x1; Rending in CC only;  Warlord; Saga of Majesty)

HQ: Rune Priest in Power Armour (1#, 150 pts)
   1 Rune Priest in Power Armour, 150 pts (Master of Runes; Jaws of the World Wolf; Living Lightning)

Troops: Grey Hunters Pack (9#, 200 pts)
   7 Grey Hunters Pack, 200 pts (Wolf Standard; Meltagun; Power Axe)
      1 Grey Hunter w/ Mark of the Wulfen
      1 Rhino

Troops: Grey Hunters Pack (9#, 200 pts)
   7 Grey Hunters Pack, 200 pts (Wolf Standard; Meltagun; Power Sword)
      1 Grey Hunter w/ Mark of the Wulfen
      1 Rhino

Troops: Grey Hunters Pack (6#, 160 pts)
   5 Grey Hunters Pack, 160 pts (Plasma gun)
      1 Razorback (Lascannon and TL Plasmagun)

Troops: Grey Hunters Pack (6#, 160 pts)
   5 Grey Hunters Pack, 160 pts (Plasma gun)
      1 Razorback (Lascannon and TL Plasmagun)

Fast Attack: Thunderwolf Cavalry (3#, 265 pts)
   1 Thunderwolf Cavalry, 265 pts
      2 Thunderwolf Cavalry (Storm Shield)
      1 Thunderwolf Cavalry (Storm Shield; Power Fist)

Heavy Support: Long Fangs Pack (7#, 215 pts)
   5 Long Fangs Pack, 215 pts (Missile Launcher x5)
      1 Squad Leader (Bolt Pistol; Close Combat Weapon)
      1 Razorback (Lascannon and TL Plasmagun)

Heavy Support: Long Fangs Pack (6#, 140 pts)
   5 Long Fangs Pack, 140 pts (Missile Launcher x5)
      1 Squad Leader (Bolt Pistol; Close Combat Weapon)

Elite: Wolf Guard Pack (5#, 205 pts)
   1 Wolf Guard Pack, 205 pts
      2 Wolf Guard in Power Armour (Combi-Meltagun x1; Wolf Claw x1)
      3 Wolf Guard in Power Armour (Combi-Meltagun x1; Power Fist x1)

Elite: Wolf Scouts Pack (5#, 85 pts)
   5 Wolf Scouts Pack, 85 pts (Meltagun)

Composition Report:
HQ: 1 (1 - 2)
Elite: 2 (0 - 3)
Troops: 4 (2 - 6)
Fast: 1 (0 - 3)
Heavy: 2 (0 - 3)
Fort: 0 (0 - 1)

Total Roster Cost: 2000

Definitely an all-over list, though I will admit, there's not much in the way of anti-air. For some strange reason, I've found that my space wolves do just fine against flyers, though I haven't had to deal with more than two at a time. The rune priest typically runs divinations and gives prescience and hopes for ignoring cover with the long fangs, and the thunderwolves are the support to the infantry. 3 razorbacks is not at all a spam of mechanized forces, and I could've brought up to 6 or 7; something natfka would still think wasn't enough, and he'd be right. But the extra lascannons and plasmaguns gives me crucial anti-armour and anti-terminator that I don't necessarily have otherwise.

Missing my space wolves and thinking about taking them out for a spin for this weekend. We shall see.

Monday, November 12, 2012

CHAOS MARINES/DAEMONS LIST 2000

Hello children. Welcome to the 41st millennium, where chaos rules all, and I, Lord Ahriman, am the master of Chaos.

Today we have a list for daemons and marines allied with each other, for a little more fast and heavy punch against the enemy.

Primary Detachment:

Ahriman - 230
Warlord

Thousand Sons x9 - 292
Gift of mutation, Meltabombs, Rhino

Cultists x20 - 118
Autoguns x18, Flamer x2,

Cultists x20 - 118
Autoguns x18, Flamer x2

Heldrake - 170
Baleflamer

Heldrake - 170
Baleflamer

Obliterators x3 - 228
Mark of Nurgle

Total Points: 1326

Allied Detachment:

The Blue Scribes of Tzeentch - 130

Pink Horrors of Tzeentch x10 - 180
Bolt of Tzeentch

Flamers of Tzeentch x6 - 138

Screamers of Tzeentch x9 - 225

Total points: 673

Total: 1999

Phew. Lots of daemonic power in this list. Ahriman brings dakka dakka psychic powers and infiltrating infantry, typically the 3 nurgle obliterators, while the Tzeentch daemons bring a ton of anti-vehicle and infantry, and some close combat punch in the screamers. As always this is an army that takes some time to get momentum, but once the momentum is there, all enemies beware.

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Chaos Space Marines 2000 pt. list

Hello children. Welcome to the 41st millenium, where chaos rules all, and I, High Sorcerer Ahriman, am the master of it all.

Tonight we are posting up the 2000 point extension to the 1750 tournament list from yesterday. Same exact idea with some added firepower.

Ahriman - 230

Warlord

Thousand Sons x9 - 297

Gift of Mutation, Meltabombs, Rhino, Dozer Blade


Thousand Sons x9 - 297
Gift of Mutation, Meltabombs, Rhino, Dozer Blade

Cultists x20 -118

Autoguns x18, Flamer x2


Cultists x20 -118
Autoguns x18, Flamer x2

Heldrake - 170

Baleflamer

Heldrake - 170

Baleflamer

Chaos Spawn x4 - 144

Mark of Nurgle

Obliterators x3 - 228

Mark of Nurgle

Obliterators x3 - 228

Mark of Nurgle

Total points: 2000

Friday, November 9, 2012

Chaos Space Marines 1750 List

Hello children. Welcome to the 41st millenium, where chaos rules all, and I, High Sorcerer Ahriman, am the master of it all.

Today we have a 1750 tournament list, so without further ado, here it is.

Ahriman - 230
Warlord

Thousand Sons x9 - 317
Gift of Mutation, Meltabombs, Icon of Flame, Rhino, Dozer Blade, Warpflame Gargoyles

Thousand Sons x9 - 317
Gift of Mutation, Meltabombs, Icon of Flame, Rhino, Dozer Blade, Warpflame Gargoyles

Cultists x20 - 118
Autogun x18, Flamer x2

Cultists x20 - 118
Autogun x18, Flamer x2

Heldrake - 170
Baleflamer

Heldrake - 170
Baleflamer

Obliterators x2 - 152
Mark of Nurgle

Obliterators x2 - 152
Mark of Nurgle

Total: 1744

Bringing the pain by winning the war of attrition.

Almost any list you play from the chaos marines book is a late game army. Meaning, as long as you play ahead of your opponent, you're going to outlast them with your tough as nails marines. This is especially true of thousand sons and plague marine lists, as these two units will typically outnumber most opponents on turn 7, though probably be outnumbered on turn 1.

Play to your strengths, don't take the bait that your opponent will set for you, and MAKE SURE YOU ARE PLAYING 2-3 TURNS AHEAD. No one can stop you otherwise, except for slow players, and if someone is slow playing you, you better get yourself a judge.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

BATTLE REPORT - NECRONS VS. CHAOS SPACE MARINES 1750


Welcome back to another installment of conquest of the galaxy, children.

Today, the Warmaster does what he does best against the ancient necrons, played by Mr. Guy here.


His army is something along the lines of an overlord with mindshackle scarabs, a res orb, and a phase shifter, illuminor szeras, one unit of twenty warriors, one unit of ten warriors with a cryptek of the storm and lightning field attached, a ghost ark, a triarch stalker with heat ray, a single heavy destroyer, one unit of ten immortals with gauss weapons and a res orb lord with warscythe attached, a unit of 7 sword and board lychguard, and a monolith. Scary tough stuff.



Today I ran Abaddon, two heldrakes, two maulerfiends, two squads of ten CSM with flamer, meltagun, veterans, and 5 additional CCW in rhinos, two squads of 15 autogun cultist with one flamer, and a squad of 8 terminators with two chainfists, two combimeltas, a heavy flamer, and a single lightning claw.

Game was practice for our local tournament coming up, so we played both the relic and purge the alien, with dawn of war deployment. I won the roll-off to deploy, and we had no night fight, so off I went setting up a hard push to the middle.




His deployment was pretty widespread and prevented me from coming after him and getting turn 1 charges with the maulerfiends.


My turn 1 was a push forward. Both maulerfiends made a B-line for the monolith, and both rhinos surged forward. The left rhino charged through terrain to get to the relic, while the right rhino moved flat out to hide behind a ruin, setting up a melta shot on the monolith.

His turn 1 was a scary amount of shooting. So much shooting. I really underestimated the amount he puts out as a necron army. The maulerfiends were both destroyed by the end of his turn 1, but the air cavalry was about to arrive.

My turn 2 saw one heldrake and Abaddon's speartip arrive. The heldrake flew towards the 20 warriors with szeras to devastate them, while Abaddon attempted to deep strike into the center of the board. A wide scatter caused him to mishap, but luckily he went back into reserve rather than dying. The left rhino saw the marines disembark and swarm the objective, and the rhino screened the squad from the gigantic warrior unit.

On the right side I made a very stupid gambit and disembarked the chaos marines through terrain in an attempt to get a tank shock on a warrior squad. The movement they scored was 2 inches, and kept the melta at 7" away from the monolith. The rhino then tank shocked the warrior squad that had come through the portal and the lychguard, both of which passed their morale checks. The melta bounced harmlessly off of the monolith.

The cultists shot from a distance at the immortals and the large warrior squad, as did the chaos marines on the relic. The heldrake killed 6 of them, and at the end of the phase, quite a few came back.

His turn 2 saw aggressive counter attacks, as he swarmed and blew the right rhino while attempting to shoot down the heldrake - to no avail. Lots of shots resulted in some dead marines, but otherwise this was an uneventful turn.

My turn 3 sees Abaddon return, though the second heldrake stayed off - oh well. Abaddon deep struck a little more conservatively this time onto the right side of the board, in front of a warrior squad, the lychguard, and the monolith. The chaos marines come around and prepare to charge the ten warriors, and the other chaos marines begin to withdraw with the relic, pursued hotly by a destroyer, a stalker, and szeras and warriors.

The charge failed and I was left out in the open to die from a particle whip, though i was fairly confident about what Abaddon and his terminators would do.

His turn 3 saw more shots. The chaos marines with the objective finally started to die, though it was only a few who did, the monolith shot everything it had at the terminators, the warriors shot my marines, and everything else he had shot at the heldrake, who crashed directly onto the lychguard, though he killed nothing. The lychguard attempted to charge Abaddon's unit and failed. My turn 4.

The heldrake arrived and killed his entire immortal squad in one use of his baleflamer. Guy found this pretty startling. Abaddon and his terminators moved towards the lychguard to put an end to them. The chaos marines got closer to shoot and hopefully succesfully charge the warriors this time, while my marines fell back and got the objective into range of the culists. Nothing spectacular happened with my shooting, so onto assaults.

Abaddon and his terminators charged the lychguard, and my terminator champion declared a challenge - I didnt want to face abaddon killing himself, though surprisingly the champion passed his leadership and brought the lord down to 1 wound remaining. the lychguard were wiped out, and the warriors and chaos marines got tarpitted with each other. The lord fled, and my terminators were at the mercy of the monolith and its portal.

At this point, the store was closing and we were forced to rush through, so alot of the details run together for me, but I brought the monolith to one hull point remaining, lost the objective, though he didn't gain it either, and abaddon killed the lord in single combat. The final tally war 6-7, Guy's favor. First blood and the amount of killpoints he achieved were just a little bit much for me. Had I had another turn I may have had a chance at winning the game, but... we shall never know. Until next time, children of the dark gods.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Finally Moved

Well, I've finally finished moving. Sorry about the absence, or I would've been posting more. The schedule has been hectic and I haven't found time to go play games to make batreps.

Practicing some painting and list building have been all that I've done in the meantime. I've got some pretty gnarly lists that I'm eager to show off as soon as I can, so worry not, my cultists, for I shall soon deliver.

I work swing shift, which will be changing in about two weeks, so look forward to triple tournament batreps once a month after that. And many more, as the shift change frees up sundays, which are 40k days at my FLGS.

Chaos is on the mind, and I wanna know what you guys think are the best competitive components of the chaos book, be they single units or devastating combos. And, what do you fear the most when playing your chaos on the table? Leave your comments below.

And never forget... the galaxy shall soon burn as it once did ten thousand years ago.