MERRY CHRISTMAS and A New Hobby Direction

Merry Christmas from Astra Chaos Wolf!

I wish the best holiday wishes to you and yours! As for me, I'm having a fine holiday, Christmas has always been my favorite time of year, must be a holdover from my childhood. Well, Astra Chaos Wolf is now about 5 months old and I have been pleasantly entertained by writing for it. It serves as a creative outlet for me, something that I needed to vent some of  my stored up imagination that has been literally hurting my head from too much backlog. Luck for me I enjoy writing. I use to not be so very good at it, it took years and years of practice. Today, I'm no pro at writing, a mere amateur, but I feel I am decent at the craft.

40K HOBBY PROGRESS: Wolf Scout Sniper Pack - Part I

New Project!
It is time to get working on my Space Wolf Chapter, first up is my Thunderwolf army. If you have read my Wolf Scout Tactia then you might know that I am wanting to include a Sniper Pack as a backfield unit. As I continue to collect the various models for my new army I decided to go ahead and get a start on painting this Holiday. Not only is Christmas my favorite time of year, thus I'm motivated, but my employer (being a university) gives me a 2-3 week vacation break for Christmas - lots of free time to do some hobby progress.

Nerfing Invisibility, Is It Good For The Community?

TO's are free to make decisions about how to run their events. They are the ones spending the money and free time to make it happen, so they can do what they want and it is the players whom decide whether to show up or not. So this post is not in any way an attack on event organizers. What I want to do is to continue the discussion about LVO nerfing Invisibility. Discussion is good, it helps to hash out how the community feels and helps to steer towards better informed decisions in the future.

40K TACTICA REVIEW: Chaos Space Marines - Maulerfiend

40K TACTICA REVIEW

Chaos Space Marines

MAULERFIEND

Version: 7th edition WH40K. 2012 CSM codex.

Forward

After playing a game against Chaos Pat he asked a question that neither of us could immediately put a finger onto an answer. I was intrigued. The question was, "Everyone seems to be using the Maulerfiend again, why are they good now?" The Maulerfiend is one of my favorite models so I was determined to figure out the answer. I knew they were better in 7th and it had to do with an improved ability to survive. Then it hit me, the new vehicle damage table was more favorable to the Maulerfiend because it cuts the chances of being made useless by a penetrating hit in half.

40K TACTICA: Space Wolves - Wolf Scouts

40K TACTICA:

SPACE WOLVES CODEX

WOLF SCOUTS

Version: 7th Edition. 2014 Space Wolf Codex

Forward

Yeah, those guys. The ones that fell out of favor when 6th hit because they lost the ability to assault on the turn they outflanked. Wolf Scouts may not be considered competitive anymore but they have their uses and are a fun unit to play. Nothing quite keeps your opponent on his toes like when Wolf Scouts are prowling around his flanks searching for the kill!

40K EYECANDY: Chaos Army Complete and with Pictures!

40K EYECANDY

CHAOS ARMY COMPLETE

This posting is about a month overdue, the army has been done since a few days before The RedStone Rumble in early October. But better late than never, right?

This is the completion of my Chaos tournament army, I have put pictures of the rest of the army in previous Eyecandy posts. You can find those postings by clicking on the Eyecandy label in the sidebar on the left side of the blog.

TRICK or TREAT: Want Scary? Civilization Dodged a Death Bullet in 2012.

TRICK OR TREAT

The Scary Fact That Earth Was Almost Hit By a
Catastrophic Solar Storm in 2012 and Hardly 
Anybody Knows the Truth! 

The Mayans were almost correct about the world ending in 2012, or at least the world as we knew it. On July 23, 2012 a massive solar storm barreled from the sun, a solar storm stronger than any witnessed since the 1850's. Luckily for us the Earth was on the other side of the sun when the eruption occurred. Had we been on the receiving side of that solar storm we would, two years later now, most likely be living in small tribes, growing our own food and defending what's ours from raiders. We would have no electronics, no government, no grocery stores, no outside help, and half of the human population might very well be wiped out from starvation, disease and violence. Sound too unbelievable to be true? It is true. It's real science and we almost entered our own Age of Strife 25,000 years before Earth did in the 40K Universe. And the truly scary part of all of this - hardly anyone knows how close civilization came to the edge of the abyss.

I am not trying to be an alarmist and trying to scare anybody; my intent is to educate. The reality is that Earth has a far greater chance of being hit by a catastrophic solar storm than a world altering asteroid. The good news is that, if we wanted to, we could make our power grid hardened against such destructive solar events. The problem, however, is that politicians would rather spend money on projects that show more immediate results that translates into more immediate votes.

OK, so still don't believe such a solar event could occur to us today? Here are the facts, in 1859 an astronomer by the name of Carrington witnessed a huge solar eruption from our sun. The Corona Mass Ejection tore past Earth some 17 hours later and was so powerful that it disrupted our magnetic fields (which acts like a shield) enough to shower the Earth with an electromagnetic radiation, thus electrifying the atmosphere and ground based electronics (of which almost none existed in Victorian times).

As far south as Cuba the aurora could be seen, something that normally only occurs far, far closer to the polar regions. The aurora was so bright that it is said Colorado miners woke up in the middle of night and started to cook breakfast because they thought it was dawn.

The 1859 solar storm brought the aurora as far south as the tropics, that includes all of the United States.

Throughout the world telegraph machines sparked or outright caught on fire. Amazingly reports of telegraphs working without being connected to a power source were wide spread. No messages could be sent because touching such an electrified telegraph would bring shocks to the user.

The whole affair was called the Carrington Event. Now fast forward to present day and imagine what such an event would do to today's massive world-wide power grids? I will admit what what follows is only conjecture but smarter people than myself have made thought experiments into the idea. It is thought that if such an event occurred today the world's power grid would go dark because the grid's massive, vital transformers would blow up, completely destroying themselves and could not be repaired. The world would be thrust into a world spanning blackout.

Doesn't sound quite so bad, does it? We can fix that right? Well, here is the real kicker. Those destroyed transformers are essential for restoring the power grid and they can't be replaced right away. Some estimates say it will take years to build enough transformers to replace all those lost on the global scale. Our society is utterly dependent on electricity and being without it only invites an inevitable decline that will start to spiral quickly out of control as the dark days turn to even darker weeks.

Don't think we will lose control? Think we can keep it together for those months or even years that we have no access to electricity? Only an optimist would say yes. Here is why ----> food. Grocery stores and home pantries would be emptied within a week. Without power on a global scale there is no new food being canned or shipped to replace the depleted food. What happens then? The bad people start raiding their neighbors for food. The good people whom starve long enough will get desperate and either turn to raiding for survival or perish. Those that are still healthy enough will head out of the urban areas to flee the escalating violence because authority figures that did remain at their jobs will be too overwhelmed to adequately protect the population.

Once in the rural areas people will band together for survival, forming tribes. Some tribes will make it, learning how to work together to hunt, scavenge and make their own food. Other tribes will fail and die off to starvation or turn to raiding. Eventually famine, disease and violence will eliminate about half of the world's population. Civilization will be over, there is nobody left in the urban centers to rebuild the power grids. There is no more central governments, only tribal law. The Age of Strife will have begun.

What it might be like after a modern Carrington-like event.
It's sort of like The Walking Dead but with raiders instead of zombies.

Case in point, New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. For a month the city was in chaos, half flooded and no electricity, it started to spiral out of control from the very beginning. There was an exodus out of the city for the poor, their neighborhoods got swamped and they had no place to go. Many police abandoned their posts to look after family or where simply unable to handle the stress. People in the French Quarter formed tribes and specialized with certain jobs within the new social structure. The authorities had flood refugees living by the tens of thousands in the Superdome and by all accounts it was a lawless hell hole. The only reason the city didn't fall completely into utter chaos was the fact that outside help was available - food and water. Nobody was going to starve and have to to start preying on their neighbors. Imagine what would have happened if there was no food coming into the city? An eventual fall into total anarchy and a near total exodus from the city would ensue.

What a downer. But the global blackout chaos scenario is only conjecture, although, most experts tend to think that civilization is a fragile thing and that it will unravel quickly when facing a global disaster of epic proportions. Governments might be able to keep control for some time with martial law but eventually even they will unravel or perhaps have to retreat into a more secure area, leaving most of the population to fend for themselves.

Still don't believe me? I wouldn't want to believe me either. Here is a video link to drive home the message.

Perhaps those disaster preppers aren't as crazy as we once thought?

Fanboy Corner: Stirling's New Steampunk Video

40K FANBOY CORNER:

Lindsey's new video harks to

the inner Gamer/Geek inside all of us

with Steampunk!

Time to take a brief break from 40K chatter and smell the roses.

Well, if you could smell roses through the ear cavity that is. 

For those of you whom are Lindsey Stirling fans you probably already know about this new video. For the rest of you still living under a rock, give Lindsey a chance and you just might discover an exciting new genre of music that you never before knew existed. So consider this post as sort of a public service message. 

Personally this song is one of my favorites from the new album because it is heavily influenced by Irish jigs (performed by a lively fiddle) which happens to be some of my favorite music. In fact, listening to Irish fiddle on Pandora is how I discovered Lindsey last year (yes, I too was living under a rock). For me, discovering Lindsey's music for the first time was sort of like this cat: 

So check out the new LS video below. Links to follow for related LS music.

Lindsey Stirling: Roundtable Rival

If you liked that video I recommend some of these 

other great songs: 

Stars Align, Electric Daisy Violin and Master of Tides 

@ Lindseystomp YouTube.


If you want to hear more LS and explore the music of similar artists then I suggest this awesome Pandora station:
Classical String Fusion

40K ARMIES: Thunderwolf Spam and Analysis

40K ARMIES & TACTICA

THUNDERWOLF SPAM

A Thought Experiment & Analysis

The purpose of this list.
In my quest to build a competitive Thunderwolf army I have decided to start with the basics: to come up with a list that spams as much Thunderwolf cavalry as possible into a tournament style list. From there I am hoping to get an idea of where the weaknesses and strengths of such an army is and start to put together a stronger, more competitive list afterwards. As a side note I promise not to use any of those annoying images of Spam cans in this article.

Think of this list as a thought experiment and not as a netlist to copy and paste. I am attempting to find a solid place to begin for my competitive Thunderwolf list construction, so why not begin with the the extreme example? I have made one Thunderwolf list before, right after the new codex dropped, and you can see it here. While I like that list and I want to play that list, I'm not quite so sure that it is competitive enough for tournament play. I would love to be proved wrong though.

Let's begin.
All of my lists will be made with the Bay Area Open format in mind. That is the format our club uses, local tournaments use and it seems to be a popular format in this region. So to get the maximum amount of Thunderwolf Cavalry for my chosen format I will need to have both a Combined Arms Detachment and an Allied Detachment. That's not good enough however, I'm using freak'n Thunderwolves, so I am going to replace my Combined Arms Detachment with the Company of the Great Wolf Detachment. I won't need Troops and the +1 WS for my cavalry and Wolf Guard is just too good to pass up.

Filling out the ranks.
Might as well start with the meat and potatoes, I have four Fast Attack slots to fill up in my army. Six Thunderwolf Cavalry go into each of those slots. While naked Thunderwolf cavalry is a force to be reckoned with they need some more tools to excel. I kit out each pack with two Storm Shields and one Thunder Hammer. Ideally I'd like one more Shield for defense and a Wolf's Claw to help mow down power armor chumps but I have to cut back to save points. Besides, this load-out comes in at a cool and easy to work with 300 points. So that's four Cav packs @ 1200 on the button. That leaves 650 left to play with, not too bad.

Time to fill the required slots and make this a legal army. According to the Company of the Great Wolf Detachment I need one HQ and two Elites. For my Allied Detachment I need one more HQ and one Troop. Two Iron Priests on Thunderwolves are a no-brainer choice for this army's Elite choice. As for HQ choices I need to stay thrifty so a couple of Wolf Guard Battle Leaders will fit the bill. As a bonus they also benefit from the detachment's +1 WS boost. I like to load my Lords and Leaders out in a particular way; Thunderwolf, Storm Shield, Runic Armor and Thunderhammer. Boom. Very survivable and with a massive S 10 punch. With any leftover points I might be able to purchase them some re-roll Relics and Fenrisian Wolf buddies. Lastly, we need Troops for the Allied Detachment so I'm going minimal with a 5 man Blood Claw pack.

OK, we have all our required slots filled as well as all our Fast Attack slots like we wanted. After adding everything up I find that I only have 40 points left to spend. I'll throw the Fellclaw's Teeth relic on the Warlord to make him more killy and then buy 3 Fenrisian Wolves for the Leaders to use for Instant Death or last wound soaks.

THUNDERSPAM
(For lack of a better title)

 Company of the Great Wolf Detachment
 and Allied Detachment.

HQ
WOLF GUARD BATTLE LEADER (Warlord)
Thunderwolf mount, Storm Shield, Thunderhammer, Runic Armor,
Fenrisian Wolf x2, Fellclaw's Teeth
WOLF GUARD BATTLE LEADER ( Ally)
Thunderwolf mount, Storm Shield, Thunderhammer, Runic Armor, Fenrisian Wolf

TROOPS
Blood Claws x5 (Ally)

ELITES
Iron Priest - Thunderwolf mount
Iron Priest - Thunderwolf mount

FAST ATTACK
Thunderwolf Cavalry x6 - Storm Shield x2, Thunderhammer
Thunderwolf Cavalry x6 - Storm Shield x2, Thunderhammer
Thunderwolf Cavalry x6 - Storm Shield x2, Thunderhammer
Thunderwolf Cavalry x6 (Ally) - Storm Shield x2, Thunderhammer

= 1849

Strengths of the list.
So whats to like besides seeing 28 mother-beautiful Thunderwolf models on the table? How about 28 S 5 Hammer of Wrath hits? Or how about a total of 136 Rending attacks on the charge? Nearly the entire army is T 5 with decent 3++ protection and some 2+ armor for soaking up AP 3+ hits. The list is lighting fast and should only have to weather one turn of shooting before slamming into the enemy chumps for the win. I think the list might have enough target saturation to deliver a potent blow even if charging into a lot of firepower. With a list like this it is crucial to master using the 2+ saves, 3++ and Look Out Sir in an efficient manner.

Alright, let's talk assault strength because that is what this list does to win. The one thing that pops out immediately about this army is it's ability to slam enemy chumps on the charge with a total of 40 WS 5+, S 10, AP 2. Those attacks are Rending as well which could make a difference if you are attacking a superheavy. The Iron Priest attacks are only WS 4 but they hit at a whooping AP 1 making them ideal slayers of anything that rolls on the vehicle penetration damage chart.

Don't be like me and forget about your Hammer of Wrath attacks - with so many you are probably going to get some Wounds put on the enemy before they even have a chance to swing back. Out of your Cav's normal attacks you get a grand total of 96 on the charge @ WS 5, S 5 and Rending. Impressive. In the end I think this list can handle just about any threat, the problem is getting enough models into assault and keeping the pressure on.

Weakness of Thunderspam.
This year I have pretty much switched my play style over to assault oriented armies. In that time I've had the hardest time playing against Tau and Eldar (serpent spam). Even hiding in or behind cover won't help you that much against either of those races shooting. Plus they are both very mobile so it is hard to keep them hemmed in. I'm not quite sure how this list would perform against them, however, I'm guessing it might be able to weather a decent amount of shooting with the 2+ and 3++; every model you lose hurts when you only have a total of 33 models in your entire army.

Unlike a Wolfstar pack you don't have nearly as many Independent Characters to rely on to split off and take objectives and kill important targets. What you do have is four Thunderwolf packs and I suppose you could view them as Characters themselves because they are big, bad and hard to kill. And just like all Thunderwolf armies you have to manage your limited number of models well; don't fall for traps, be sure to target prioritize and don't move any pack to far out of position to make it useless next turn.

Controlling objectives is going to be a problem. My Redstone Rumble list had this same exact problem, especially since the normal mission objectives were mixed with Maelstrom objectives. My list went 3-2 but out of five games I never won the Maelstorm mission but I did tie it twice. From this I gather that most all-out assault armies have the same problem: a weak backfield. The Thunderspam list has only a single Blood Claw pack for such duties. In an objective heavy game a Thunderwolf pack (or two) and maybe some ICs will have to be redirected for objective grabs/guard duty.

Flyers will, of course, be a nuisance. The meta right now seems to be light on flyers so this list has a chance to flourish. About all you can do with this list against flyers is to linger about cover and objectives and wait for the flyers to come down to skimmer mode (if they can), because they can't score while flying. You will just have to concentrate on cleaning up everything on the ground and hope you can get those flyers later in the game if they come down.

Conclusion and looking forward.
Actually, for a thought experiment, I like this list. I don't know if I will ever have enough Cav models to pull it off but I just might play this list one day. I love the speed and power output of the list but I feel it needs more 2+ and 3++ saves. Looking forward to my competitive list I will, sadly, have to drop some numbers from the Cav packs so I can add a Wolf Lord and at least one or two more Independent Characters. I do not want to go the Wolfstar route, I want to instead have multiple big packs with multiple ICs so to spread the love and destruction around.

I'm going to need more objective takers/sitters because once the Thuderwolf tide has washed over the middle of the board I'd like for them to concentrate on keeping the pressure on. I have thoughts about some Wolf Scouts with camo cloaks sitting on a backfield objective. Sprinkle in maybe another Blood Claw pack or something fast like a minimal Wolf Guard Jump or Bike pack. I don't think Drop Pods will work very well with what I have in mind. I'd love to put some distraction/screening units in the list but I know I won't have the points. I will just have to hope that my plan of having multiple strong packs will be target saturation enough to see me through and into assault.

Anybody have any thoughts on the list or how I can change it for the better?

40K EVENTS: The Redstone Rumble After Action Report & Pictures

THE REDSTONE RUMBLE

AFTER ACTION REPORT

PLUS PICTURES

The Redstone Rumble 2014, October the 4th and 5th, where much fun was had, much booze was consumed, much gaming was done, many friends were there and some friends gained. For me, my club and those running the Redstone I think we can declare this year yet another huge success.

Warhammer was in force with Fantasy and 40K players fighting it out over five games during two days. The Fantasy side was actually bigger than the 40K side, good to see that Fantasy has a strong following in some places. On the 40K side we had a field of 48 players, many of them were very good players. Speaking of great players, Shawn Williams and his Space Wolves won the event by a single point with Jeff O'Neal and his Orks coming in second. Each of them finished as the only undefeated players and both are from the same club, Sons of Vulcan. Congratulations, guys. I'm always happy to see Wolves coming in first. The Redstone Rumble results are here with all the results and final scores listed.

The Redstone Rumble 2014 - Day 1 - Game 3 - Hinkel of South Mississippi Gamers

How did we do as a club?

As a club I think South Mississippi Gamers had a great showing. Martino finished with 4 wins and most of the rest of us finished with a 3-2 winning record. The club as a whole went 20 - 15 for a .57 percent win record; throughout most of the tournament SMG was rocking the middle and top tables. The competition was tough and the best players in attendance got the best of us, with some exceptions, so there is lots of room for improvement next year.

How did I do?

I met my goal of finishing in the top 50% for my second ever big event. And boy, oh boy, was it a razor-thin finish, just like all of my wins. I finished exactly at 50%, placing 24th out of 48 competitors. It was a messy winning record of 3-2. I could have just as easily have lost my games than won them, every win came down to the very last round and some luck. Well, a win is a win, right? I don't feel super great about it but I'm happy to have met my goal.

My opponents were all terrific, everyone of them. Thanks to all of them because playing against someone with a bad attitude just sucks all the whole fun out of the game. Two of my opponents, Andrew Gardenhire and Ryan Johnson, placed 6th and 7th respectively, and those were the guys I lost too. Congrats, guys, I was happy to be a part of your victory. 

As a side note, my army came in 4th overall for painting. I didn't get a painting award but it felt great knowing that all the money I put into the army was worthwhile. I have to give credit due where it is due, Goatboy painted all the large models in my army. While I painted all the smaller models, and they looked very good IMO, it was clearly Goatboy's larger models that got all the attention.

Oh, yeah, I did take home the Best Chaos Space Marine Army award. Full disclosure, I was the only CSM player. Hah!

What needs improvement on my part?

I improved my sportsmanship score this year over lasts, it was well above average. I guess when you are having fun it is easy to joke around, be pleasant and too compliment your opponent when it is appropriate. So that is already improved, as well as my paint score as mentioned earlier.

What I did notice in the tournament is that only in one game did I get past turn 4. I can only blame myself and not my opponents because not getting past turn 4 consistently happened. This bothers me. I don't want to be that guy that people think is too slow or even slow-playing on purpose. I'm not sure where the problem is but I need to practice on speeding up my turns. I think I am going to start with some dice discipline. I have to roll a lot of dice to attack at times and I think grabbing for, adding up and rolling all those dice is taking a good chunk of time. Perhaps I will start to use a timer, or death clock, to help me gain some time management skills.

Clubs South Mississippi Gamers & Laughing Corpse.

It's the pictures, dummy.
Well, enough about all that, I'm sure you are more interested in the pictures than the report. Before I go, one last kudos to Jeff and the crew whom made the 3rd Annual Redstone Rumble an amazing event! Case in point (among many), this year everyone participating got some great freebies, 10 Redstone Rumble dice and 5 very nice objective tokens. It's the little things like those that make players feel appreciated and help to build upon a positive tournament experience. Well done Redstone Rumble, well done! South Mississippi Gamers and myself can't wait until next year! Ahhhhh-yeah!

Be'lakor leading the charge.
 Note the Redstone objective token in the middle, freebies!

Andrew Gardenhire's awesomely painted Knight.

My Maulerfiends hiding behind cover because there are Tau over there!

Holding the line against the Matthew Gilliland's Green Tide formation.

And still holding that same line, it was literally a wall of orks and Chaos in the center of the table.

The cat stole my Best Chaos Space Marines award.
Emilou stole it in retaliation for having to put up with a cat sitter for 2 days!

fin

40K EVENTS: The Redstone Rumble Pre-Report and List

40K EVENTS:

THE REDSTONE RUMBLE

PRE-REPORT

The Redstone Rumble is just 1 week away in beautiful Huntsville, Alabama. This annual event is being put together by the folks from The Rocket City Gamers and headed up by Jeff Weibelt. These folks do an amazing job and I believe they are expecting their biggest attendance yet this year bringing in gamers from all over the Southeast area to play 40K, Fantasy and other games.

The 40K format this year has changed from the big 2500 point brawls of the past Rumbles and evolved to fit the new Edition and time restraints. It is a 1850 point tournament basically using the Bay Area format although there are some differences like the elimination of Lords of War and all Forgeworld models.

Those of us in South Mississippi Gamers, and our regional friends, are pumped to go again this year. Last year was a roaring success and everyone raved about the easy-going atmosphere and the good times that were had. Indeed, last year Redstone felt not like an actual tournament but more like an enjoyable mini-vacation that involved much good times and playing of 40K.

This year SMG is losing one former Rumble player due to work but we are picking up two extra club members and it will be their first times at the Redstone Rumble. South Mississippi Gamers will be represented by Carl Short (Tau), Anthony Hinkel (orks), Will W. (Daemons), Logan Short (Wolves), Steve Martino (serpent spam) and myself (Chaos). And just like last year, from Florida's TBS Comics our Rumble travel group will be joined by club friend, Carter Leach (Deldar).

The Redstone Rumble brings out a handful of the best regional players, enough to make it very hard to get on those top tables unless you are an excellent player. I don't see myself anywhere near the top tables, if I break the top 50 percent I will be quite happy. Carter Leach, however, is a tremendous competitor. If he can stay away from the booze at The Rumble this year (he was tanked last year) he might actually find himself battling it out on the big boy tables. Steve Martino, on the other hand, is a top notch player but rusty with the game right now. If Steve is on his game at The Rumble he could rock the top tables.

When all is said and done, it is the experience that our club enjoys the most about The Redstone Rumble. If we happen to pick up some prizes along the way, then hey, all the better!

These guyz. >.< These guys like to roll low random attacks for me.

My Redstone Rumble List

Well, if you have been reading any of my blog (anybody?) you will have seen my Redstone list in the article here. The list has evolved 5 times due to playtesting and a general rethinking of play mechanics. Heck, I really don't even recognize the original list anymore! A lot has changed, for starters, the whole Khorne theme is out the window but it is still very much a Khorny army. Instead of trying to explain all the changes (there is a lot) I think it is best to just show you the new list. 

Got my Axe and my mojo back. Yeah baby, yeah!

My Offical
REDSTONE RUMBLE LIST - 1850

Chaos Space Marines CAD

Chaos Daemons ALLIED 

HQ
BE'LAKOR
CHAOS LORD of KHORNE 

Juggernaut of Khorne, Mark of Khorne, Sigil of Corruption, Melta Bombs, Axe of Blind Fury

HERALD of KHORNE (ally)
Juggernaut of Khorne, Lesser Gift, Locus of Wrath

TROOPS

Chaos Space Marines x5

Chaos Cultists x10

Nurglings x3 (ally)

FAST ATTACK

Chaos Spawn x5, Mark of Nurgle

Chaos Spawn x5

Flesh Hounds of Khorne x19 (ally)

HEAVY

Maulerfiend - lasher tendrils

Maulerfiend - no upgrade

Maulerfiend - no upgrade

=1847

The List Overall
I am getting more of a feel for this army and let me tell you this: it is playing less like the cleaver I thought it would be and is playing more like a game of chess to jockey for position to assault. Or at least it feels that way when playing fellow assault themed armies. Not that I am complaining or anything, I am quite pleased that this is not just a brainless hack and slash type of army.

How Do I Think I Will Do?
I have no delusions of grandeur. I have never been a very good tournament player - but I've improved by developing my killer instinct. No longer will I correct my opponent when he does something in my favor such as: makes a rules mistake, forgets something or reads his dice wrong. Yeah, in the past I've been much to friendly for my own good during a tournament.

My primary goal this year is to stay away from the bottom tables where I lived during the last Redstone Rumble. My poor Imperial Guard got gutted, every single opponent had an answer to my gunline. I did manage to win one game so I wasn't a complete loser! Ha. My number one goal this year, besides having fun, is to compete at the middle of the field but if I place in the top 50 percent I will view that as a win!

40K EYECANDY: More Chaos! Juggernaut Khorne Lord and other Khorne Goodness.

40K EYECANDY

MORE CHAOS FOR THE HECK OF CHAOS!

My new army if getting closer to the finish line.

It's getting there. I can finally see the finish line after about four months and an aborted Flying Circus army (7th happened). While my new Chaos army isn't super competitive (lots of Khorne you see) it is my kind of army to play. And when you are playing the kind of army you enjoy one tends to have boat loads more fun than just playing those lists with the most competitive units you can find.

To see my army list click here but it has changed some, no more Skarbrand. Mr. Red and Angry got swapped out, along with the bloodletters and some sundry things, for Be'lakor. My army just feels and plays better with his added psychic hijnks.

Now on to the Eyecandy.

Behold! Awesome Chaos painted by Goatboy!

The first of three Khorny Maulerfiends.
These Guys have to be my second favorite Chaos model.

The first of two Juggernaut Lords.
It has a bit of a conversion with a khorne icon behind the head as a 'halo'.
This pic shows the magnetized arms for the Axe of Blind Fury.

The same JuggerLord but with Powerfist/L Claw arms.
Juggernaut Lords are my favorite Chaos model, I guess we all have our personal favorites.

And Chaos Models painted by me.

The Apostles of Murder
Chaos Cultists of Khorne

Chaos Spawn a la Red and Angry

The same Spawn, close up.

Red, red everywhere! Red is my favorite color and so I love painting with it. All the more reason why I've always wanted to put together a Khorne themed army.

TO DO PAINT List:

Maulerfiend 2 (Goatboy)

Maulerfiend 3 (Goatboy)

JuggerLord 2 (Goatboy)

Be'lakor (Goatboy)

10 Chaos Cultists (me) - 4 done already

5 Chaos Spawn (me) - 3 done already

17 Khorne Dawgs (me)

Geez, I better get on those Dawgs. I got The Redstone Rumble in just one month! I'm using this method here, same models, and it looks quick.

40K TACTICA: Space Wolves Thunderwolf Hammer and Anvil 1850 Army List

Unleash Your Inner Beast:

THUNDERWOLF HAMMER & ANVIL

1850 ARMY LIST & TACTICA

By Uktena
South Mississippi Gamers

Forward

Welcome to my first Thunderwolf list, it was a long time coming and the new codex has made it well worth the wait. Thunderwolf armies have come into their own with a points cost drop, cheap Storm Shields and an HQ choice that improves their effectiveness. I have already discussed in detail a Review and Tactica for Thunderwolf Cavalry if you would like to take a look at that.

So why Thunderwolf Cavalry?

Since their introduction the Thunderwolf Cavalry (TWC) have come to symbolize the ideals of the Space Wolves themselves; aggressiveness, individuality, anti-authoritarian and glory in battle. The models themselves look great and touch a sense of nostalgia that harks back to a time when warfare was heavily romanticized. A time when no solider was more revered or more idolized than the stoic cavalryman, proudly sitting up high on his expertly trained mount as he bravely galloped off to war.

Maybe that wasn't the best of comparisons, Thunderwolf Cavalry are a snarling rage of fur, fang and steel - but it works for me. As for play styles I enjoy assault armies, shooting armies just annoy me. If one wishes for a Space Wolves assault list then one should look no further than the Thunderwolf Cavalry.

Enough already, now on to the glory of battle!

THE LIST

THUNDERWOLF HAMMER & ANVIL 1850

Detachment Type: Company of the Great Wolf
(From the Champions of Fenris Supplement)

40K REVIEW: Space Wolves Codex Thunderwolf Cavalry Review & Tactica (updated)

SPACE WOLVES CODEX FAST ATTACK REVIEW

THUNDERWOLF CAVALRY 

Fenris has risen, Wolf Brothers!

Version: 7th Edition, 2014 Space Wolf Codex

Updated: 10/28/2014

First Impressions of a new Codex.

Some things stayed the same, some things changed a little and some things got better. I will give you a no BS impression in one paragraph.

It breaks down to these two things: Shooting has gotten a little better with Hellfrost weapons, some cheaper Long Fang weapons and of course, two great new gunships. Assault has gotten much better. Across the board the fast and aggressive units have gotten cheaper and more killy. Where to begin? Cheaper Battle Leaders, cheaper Blood Claws, better Lone Wolves, Venerable Dreads with Blizzard shields, Murderfang, deep striking Terminators, cheaper Storm Shields, cheaper Thunderwolves, cheaper Sky Claws and more. And lets not forget the new Unleashed Detachment - also good for assault armies.

So, if you like your Wolves shooty with only a dash of assault then you might be disappointed. However, if you like your Wolves charging into glorious combat, like the author does, then this is the Space Wolf codex you have been waiting for Wolf Brothers!

Presenting the new old Rock Stars of the Space Wolf Codex!

SPACE WOLF CODEX LEAKS & HAIL HARALD DEATHWOLF!

LATEST SPACE WOLF CODEX LEAKS 

& HARALD DEATHWOLF, MY CUP OF TEA!

Straight from the Inter-webs comes some interesting Codex leaks. Check them out!

Note: This is translated from Spanish or German so a few strange translations are seen.

Source: Faeit 212 SW Codex Leaks

via an anonymous source who has seen the codex.

Let's start with Björn,, 5+ invul. +1 to steal ini at the start of game. can exchange his assault cannon for the others at no point cost, +5 for laser iirc. Got 4 attacks at WS 6, but is ini 3. Björn is AV13 yes. His warlord sage grants 12" bubble reroll morale and pinning.

Another warlord trait grants outflank + cover improvement skill. I think it was stealth.  

40K Rules Review: MURDERFANG

SPACE WOLF DREADNAUGHT KIT

MURDERFANG

Wolf Brothers, Feast yo' Eyes Upon This....

Click Image for bigger Picture.

What? What? Did that read 135 points for a death train o' destruction!?
Yep. That is exactly what it said. A cheap aggressive model with so many special rules on it that it reminds me of the Chaos Space Marines Maluerfiend. Only this one has freak'n Relics of Murder on it. Makes me wonder if they put them on the wrong model in the wrong codex?

 OK, the comparison isn't perfect, because the Maulerfiend has Move Through Cover, a 12" move, ignores terrain and has Fleet. Murderfang is, unfortunately, much less maneuverable. I would have been happy if he had just gotten Fleet, but he didn't. What this means is that when taking Murderfang to battle a Drop Pod is an automatic buy for him; it is the only way you should ever try to deploy him unless you can find a way to give him Outflank.

OK, lets break it all down.

SPACE WOLF FLYER: STORMFANG, Yes, it is a Thing.

SPACE WOLF FLYER: STORMFANG

 Yes, it is a Thing.

Woah.

I've said it earlier today and I will say it again here:

" Only the Space Wolves can put some engines and oodles of guns on a flying brick, bling it out Wolf style, and make it look great! "

It's for Reals.

Since this appears to be real and no longer a rumor I have taken the information from the reputable Faeit 212 blog and present here:

via an anonymous source on Faeit 212

The Stormfang Gunship has the look of half of a Caestus Assault Ram, and is on the cover of next week's White Dwarf. The previous rumors really list out its abilities well. It comes with a Helfrost Destructor, two twin-linked heavy bolters, two stormstrike missiles and ceramite plating, with power of the machine spirit.

Heavy bolter upgrades to skyhammer missile launcher or two twin linked multi-meltas

stormstrike missiles can be upgraded to a twin linked lascannon.

Helfrost Destructor

Dispersed 24" S6 AP3 Hvy1, Helfrost, Large Blast

Focused 24" S8 AP1, Hvy1, Helfrost, Lance

Stormstrike Missile 72" S8 AP2 hvy1 Concussive one shot only

Well as a Space Wolf player I am stoked. I love the look of it and as I would expect from the Wolves it is an aggressive gunboat teeming with weapons including the new Helfrost Destructor. From rumors (and I guess it still is) is that the Helfrost special rule means that if you take a wound from it you must make a strength check or die! Nice.

I've also seen reports that this thing has options to carry models inside. YES! I've been wanting this for a long time. Since we can't teleport our Terminators into battle I have so been waiting for a way to get them there without having to walk them or land raider them.

The bad side of all this seemingly awesomeness is the fact that the Stormfang costs around 215+ points. Ugh! Well I suppose we will be paying for all that awesome. I was thinking the Wolves would make a sleek, light and aggressive fighter for about 130 - 150 points but it looks like when the Wolves throw in they throw in BIG for flyers. Hah!

Color me excited yet cautious.

YES, PLEASE!

Aiming for That Sweet Spot with Chaos: Part II

Tapping that Chaos Sweet Spot, Part II

The Angry Red Tide

A 7th Edition Chaos Assault Army & Tactics

The Second Act.

Greetings again, last week I discussed what I thought was the Sweet Spot for my new Chaos tournament army. You can read about it here: Aiming for that Chaos Sweet Spot, Part I.

As promised, this week I am presenting my tournament list to illustrate all the sweet spots that I like to touch upon. And without further ado, I present to thee:

The Angry Red Tide

PRIMARY CAD: Crimson Slaughter Chaos Space Marines

HQ

CHAOS LORD of KHORNE

Mark of Khorne, Juggernaut of Khorne, Sigil of Corruption, Melta bombs, Power Fist, Lightning Claw, Daemonheart

CHAOS LORD of KHORNE

Mark of Khorne, Juggernaut of Khorne, Sigil of Corruption, Melta bombs, Power Fist, Lightning Claw

TROOPS

Chaos Cultists x10
Chaos Cultists x10

FAST ATTACK
Chaos Spawn x5
Chaos Spawn x5

HEAVY SUPPORT
Maulerfiend w/ Lasher tendrils
Maulerfiend
Maulerfiend

ALLIED CAD: Chaos Daemons

HQ
SKARBRAND

TROOPS
Plague Bearers x10 - Instrument of Chaos
Bloodletters x10 - Icon of Chaos

FAST ATTACK
Flesh Hounds of Khorne x15

Total Points = 1850

Tactica Overview
This list, if anything, is all in for the assault phase: it's hard, it's fast, it steals candy from babies and hits like a wrecking ball to the face.

It's the bomb stoopid.
OK, so this list isn't so single minded, you see there is a Skarbrand bomb in there to act as a force multiplier. The bomb hits when your tide charges into the enemy chumps on turn 2. That is the secret to the list's hopeful chances in a competitive environment.

For those of you not in the know, and I will forgive you if not because Skarbrand is often the red-headed stepchild of Chaos, Skarbrand has a special rule called Rage Embodied. What this rule does is give Skarbrand a 12" bubble of pure, unadulterated ANGER. Any unit, friend or foe, within that 12" bubble gains the universal special rules of Rage and Hatred. Imagine landing that force multiplier into the middle of your assaulting front lines and you will start to see the obvious rewards; an extra attack per charging model and you are re-rolling misses to hit.

To give myself a little bit of insurance I have my Plague Bearer unit sitting in deep strike reserve with an Instrument of Chaos. This will double my chances of getting Skarbrand in turn 2. Perfect! Then to make sure I can put Skarbrand exactly where I want him I have a unit of Bloodletters, with an Icon of Chaos, following just behind my charging front lines. With all that other scary junk charging the enemy I'm thinking that the Bloodletters will avoid being targeted, thus being able to deliver Skarbrand exactly where I want him to be.

When he does comes in, try to place Skarbrand in a spot to benifit as many of your units as possible without giving the enemy the same benefit. Remember you can still Run after deep striking - just in case you need to move a little more.

So there is a bomb but what else? Kill, Murder, Maim.
Pair your Chaos Lords with the Spawn units and hurl them towards the enemy. The Lord with the Daemonheart should seek out the toughest to kill units. The Lords must watch out for S 10 and Force Weapons and be sure to drop wounds on the spawn escorts because they have 15 to spare.

Khorne dawgs are useful for distraction and running down infantry. On the charge they can bring down vehicles with their Furious Charge and can operate outside of the Skarbrand bubble just fine. Use them to flank so to help your other assaulting units or get back behind the enemy lines and wreck havoc. Because you have so many other assaulting things in your army the Hounds will have the luxury of being the utility unit that they always wanted to be.

The Maulerfiends are your anti-vehicle weapons. Use the magma cutter Fiends to slice up anything from Rhinos to Land Raiders and everything in between. Don't forget to use your Daemonforge ability because it is easy to forget just like your It Will Not Die roll at the end of your turn. If facing Knights gang up on them with your Maulerfiends and tear them apart. Don't fear Monstrous Creatures either, they can only Smash you once this edition. If no good targets present themselves for the Fiends then think about running one up each side of the board to flank.

The single Lasher Tendril Maulerfiend is best used when helping other units assault as the tendrils will cut down the attacks against you. Don't assault the Lasher Maulerfiend by himself, he usually needs help because of his paltry few attacks and WS 3.

And lets not forget Skarbrand! He can't move fast so try and move him towards the biggest and baddest unit in range and DESTROY them. It's Skarbrand after all - things die easily to him. The only thing Skarbrand fears is lots of shooting. Doh! Try not to make him a target, that is his weakness along with his slow movement.

Lastly are the troops. The Bloodletters can be used to mop up behind the main assault. All other troops are  pretty much for objective taking once the tide has washed over the board.

Weakness of The Angry Red Tide
This list will live and die on match ups. Either the opposing army will fold up and perish or they will have an army that can out maneuver you or spit out so much torrent of fire that it destroys your big push. Going first helps and going second sucks, it gives them more time to shoot you off the table.

If you fail to get the Skarbrand bomb in on turn 2 then that is not according to plan. This will happen on average about once every five games. Suck it up and rethink your plan for when he arrives next turn (hopefully).

Flyers are another weakness, you have no way to deal with them. This is a consequence of going all out on the assault phase. Hopefully you can ignore them, which you can up to a point. Extreme flyer armies like the Necron air force will spell almost certain doom for The Angry Red Tide.

Have Fun.
Win or lose I believe that I'll always enjoy playing this list. It is the kind of list I've always wanted to play and 7th Edition is the time for it to step forward. Sweet spot found.