40K Armies: Khorne Daemonkin Tournament Army List - First Go

My head hurts
Since Friday I have been searching, scratching, crumbling up dozens of pieces of paper and continually cursing at my feeble attempts to hammer together a Daemonkin army that fits my interpretation of a competitive Khorne army (or as close as I can get it). I've come to the conclusion that the new Khorne codex is pretty much more of the same for Khorne but with added points taxes that makes army list creation clunkier. I have also come full circle from trying to fit a Blood Host Detachment into my list to finally admitting defeat at that notion because of the Possessed tax.

Overall, I still love the codex, it looks a heck of a lot of fun and the Blood Tithe system is just great - it's both fluffy and it gives a much needed boost to mono-Khorne armies. I just run into a problem when trying to hash together a tournament army - it seems that the more things change the more they stay the same with Chaos. All the same units that were crappy are still crappy and all the good units are still good. Only now I have to deal with some slight points increases due to Blood for the Blood God! and Mark of Khorne taxes. It doesn't seem like that would amount to very much but it does, throwing a monkey wrench in my army plans, especially when you factor in that the good Formations and the Blood Host Detachment impose unwanted unit taxes on your army.

40K Hobby Progress: Trying to Win With a Chaos Space Marines Army - Update One

Time to update my tournament army, it's an uphill battle.

As the Chaos Space Marine players like to bemoan, the CSM codex isn't particularly competitive these days and adding to that river of tears it appears that the nerf to Invisibility is gaining more steam throughout the community. This newest development throws out one of the codex's last remaining ways to stay somewhat competitive in a tournament. As an owner of a CSM army I know these pains all to well - but luckily I am not a vehement tournament player and play for the sake of enjoyment ( <--- that's what the loser tournament players always say, Doh!, busted). That being said I'd like to be competitive enough to win at least half of my games because losing a majority of the time is just balls. I couldn't even begin to image how a real competitive CSM player feels? Oh right, he probably doesn't feel because his CSM army is on the shelf gathering dust while he plays his more competitive armies, heh.

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 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 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)

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.

Aiming For That Sweet Spot With Chaos

Tactics for a 7th Edition Chaos Assault Army

Tapping that Chaos Sweet Spot

Bow chicka wow wow.
IMHO this seems to be how it is for the current 40K meta: there is a plethora of shooting armies that shoot very well and then there is the rest. How do the rest compete? Well they have to aim for that special sweet spot where their army does very well. For Chaos that sweet spot use to be the Flying Circus and ScreamerStar. And I was well into the beginning stages of putting together my Flying Circus tournament list when low and behold 7th broke and turned my Chaos sweet spot upside down. ( <-- did that sound dirty? Eh, probably just me.)

It was a real shame too, I was enjoying playing the Flying Circus; all the flying and swooping; all the psychic powers; all the very fast models; all the assaulting monstrous creatures and it played fast too. I was having a ball until 7th took that proverbial ball away and poked big angry holes into it. Oh well! Looking on the bright side of the situation one thing can be said about 40K - it is always evolving. It might be a slow evolution at times but it constantly changes and that is a good thing.

My personal feeling.
After about a month of reevaluating Chaos I tossed out the Flying Circus and came to a personal conclusion: The only thing Chaos (especially Chaos Marines) still has going for it in 7th is either a Nurgle list or an all in rush assault. That's it. Neither Chaos army can shoot very well unless you want to argue a daemon Tzeentch list. And I'm not even so sure about the Nurgle list being able to hang against prolific shooting but I do feel much more confident about the rush assault being competitive.

So what do you mean 'rush assault'.
Here are three rules that I believe a successful assault oriented army has to abide by:

1. Be all in.
Pretty much what it says. Forget psychic phase, forget the shooting phase --> live for the assault phase. Basically you are focusing your army all on one phase to increase your potency in that one area. You either sink or you swim so do your best to make sure you swim. Now I'm not saying to completely avoid having psykers or support fire in your army I'm just saying those should be a side dressing at best. Just remember whatever you do you want to hit 'em hard and hit 'em often.

2. Fast, fast and faster.
This is a no brainer really. You want the majority of your army in the enemy's grill turn two, turn three at the latest. Wait any longer and you probably have been shot off the table by then. Your army must live in the Fast Attack section of your codex and I'm not talking about flyers. Then branch out and grab all those fast assault units not found in your Fast Attack section. Chaos players you know what your good fast units are already, for everyone else here is a quick list: chaos spawn, chaos bikers, raptors, maulerfiends, flesh hounds, screamers, daemon princes (winged), daemonettes.

So to elaborate on the mantra from Rule 1; hit 'em hard, hit'em often and hit 'em fast.

3. Have a knockout punch and don't hold back.
To deal with the enemy lynchpin/deathstar/super HQ you must have an answer. You are playing to be all in remember? If you don't have a unit powerful enough to defeat their most powerful unit then you have already lost the battle. At the very least you must be able to weaken, stall or tarpit the enemy super units while the rest of your army murders the rest of the bums.

The knockout unit must be fast so that it can keep up with the rest of the army. Don't let your best unit be left out in the open to be shot off the board - ram them into the enemy immediately. Not only will this put pressure on the your opponent but with so many dangerous units charging them in a hurry your big scary unit has a better chance to make it into the assault. That's what the smart peeps call target saturation. That's what I call bum rush tha' lot and murder 'em all!

The likely prospects for your knockout punch? Take a gander at some of these fast and mean guys: Chaos Lord on Juggernaut/Bike, Chaos Lord in Land Raider, Daemon Prince, Bal'akor, Blood Thirster, Thypus or  Abaddon in Raider, Skulltaker on Juggernaut, Karanak with flesh hound pack. Can you tell I like Khorne? Heh.

To elaborate even further on our mantra; hit 'em hard, hit 'em often, hit 'em fast and hit 'em in the jimmy!

Let's build a tournament list.
Alright, I found a sweet spot that I like and it sounds like a hell of a lot of fun to play with. And after many revisions I have come up with a new army that I'm happy with. Win or lose I know that it is the type of army that I enjoy playing. It is fast playing, all in for assault, steals candy from babies and hits like a bowling ball to the solar plexus.

To be continued.

Coming Soon: Part II
The Angry Red Tide.

Found the Sweet Spot!

Building Armies for 7th: Typhus Zombie Stomp 2000

Detecting Incoming Transmission ...
Source: Blood Star Cluster, Eye of Terror ... The Brigadoom Chaos Legion ...
Initiating 13th Black Crusade Code Verification Protocols ...
Verified ...
Downloading ...   ...   ...
Deciphering Encryptors ...0130V010L11101010101  010130V010L11101001 ...
Displaying Transmission ...

BUILDING ARMIES FOR 7th:

ZOMBIE STOMP 2000

By Uktena

(AKA Ryan)

 South Mississippi Gamers

Dawn of the Dead New Edition.
 It's that time again, time to learn a new edition. Sixth, unfortunate for it, pasted away while still in it's prime. That might have been a good thing, after all, we had a meta dominated by this 'star and that 'star with crazy combos and 2+ rerolls. Seventh, while not a giant leap in rule changes, does attempt to even out the playing field again, albeit by throwing everything but the kitchen sink into the game! That is why I refer to 7th as 'Choosehammer'. Each gaming club, group of friends, tournament organizers or whatever can go through the rule book and pick out the things they like and don't like and play their games accordingly. There is so much to choose from here, everything from maelstrom missions, unbound lists, unlimited detachments, super-heavies, stronghold, a psychic turn and so much more. I have also noticed that they cleaned up some rules and redefined others to make things more streamlined in order to improve game flow. All in all I like what I see. We just need to have an adjustment period to figure out what parts we personally like and what parts we don't and weed them out.

New rule, it's called Objective Secured.

40K Events - Blind Teammate Tournament at McNarb Gaming and My List

2500 Point Random Teammate 40K Tournament at 

McNarb Gaming on June 21st

As the title says there is an event at my FLGS this Saturday, in fact, it will be the first 7th edition tournament held in our area. Our gaming club, +SMGWargaming , has announced the rules to be 7th edition with no stipulations. Heh, this ought to be interesting. 

I expect to see Imperial Knights, Lords of War and daemon summoning spamming. I'm not so worried about the summoning spam, it seems to be a dud really. But I am not looking forward to playing anyone whom brings that kind of summoning list because it slows down the game and if they are using proxies for summoned daemons it will be confusing as all get up. Do us all a flavor daemon summoning spammers, don't do it during a tournament. Friendly games are a different story and I would be happy to battle you without the time constraints and extra stress of a competitive environment.

Each tournament participant will be bringing a 1250 point list (unbound is legal) and will be randomly paired up with another participant not of their club or home area. So what this means is that we will be partnered up with people we don't know or have any experience playing with. From what I am hearing we will have people playing not only from our club but from +South Alabama War Gamers, people from the Hattiesbug area and maybe some folks from +TBS COMICS in Florida if we are lucky.

I've been playing almost exclusively with Chaos since my last bout of 40K burnout ended earlier this year. My Space Wolf army is still, after 2 years, 95% unpainted. Sigh. But I'm getting super-super-super excited about rumors of a new codex! I was enthusiastic (somewhat) about Astra Militarum when the next codex hit but I don't have any desire to play my Steel Legion army now. For some reason 6th edition has just put a sour taste in my mouth for shooting armies. I just don't like the tediousness of shooting armies. I prefer assault, it plays faster and it's a whole lot more fun - at least I think so.

In preparation for the team tournament I've put together a 1250 Chaos Space Marine list which is actually a cut down version of a 2000 list I had created for an article on the SMG blog. Right now the article has still not been posted but after it is I will place it on my blog. 

Here is a look at my 1250 list and some of it's photos.....

Typhus and his Plague Terminator retinue.

TYPHUS ZOMBIE STOMP 1250

Primary Detachment: Chaos Space Marines

HQ

TYPHUS

SORCERER - mastery level 3, terminator armor, spell familiar, force axe, combi-melta, melta bombs

ELITE

Chaos Terminators x3 - mark of Nurgle, power axe x2, chain fist, combi-melta x3

TROOPS

Chaos Cultists Plague Zombies x24

Plague Marines x5 - meltagun x2

-----> Chaos Rhino - combi-melta

Plague Marines x5 - meltagun x2

-----> Chaos Rhino - combi-melta

HEAVY

Chaos Land Raider - dirge caster, dozer blade, extra armor

=1249

For 7th edition, and especially in a tournament with no rules or list limits, I want to pack as much melta into my lists as possible so to have a chance against all the vehicles and Lords of War I am expecting to see. Much of this list has been explained in detail in my article and I will get that posted to my blog before too long. For now, I will give a quick summary of the list tactica.

The main strategy of this list is twofold; solid and unwavering troops with both fearless and feel no pain and a big "stomp" unit to threaten (and destroy) the lynch pin enemy units.

The Plague Zombies are tactically flexible, albeit slow, ideally they will sit on an objective in ruins and be a rock-solid anchor for my army. They can also be used as a screen or tarpit as needed. They might be useful for the relic mission as well.

The Plague Marines are the flexible arm of the list, able to do almost anything. They have the melta to deal with armor and they have the staying power to hold objectives. Their rhinos will give them the speed they need to take forward objectives and to attack as needed. They may support the Land Raider if it is threatened by enemy anti-armor units.

The "stomp" unit of Typhus includes a Sorcerer (for buffing himself or Typhus with Biomancy) and 3 chaos terminators. All these have 2+/5++ and T 5 (except the sorcerer). I've got melta, axes and a chainfist to deal with armor and 2 force weapons to slash through enemy units in assault. Typhus is a locomotive as long as he avoids S 10 and force weapons. The Land Raider is kitted out to insure it keeps moving and places the stomp unit where it is needed to assault.

Overall, considering the new meta, I think this list will do OK but not great. I think all that Chaos Space Marines has going for it in 7th is either all out fast assault or full Nurgle. So I will give this a try and see how it goes, list experiments are what we need to be doing right now.

Plague Zombies will eat you.
OK, so they are really Plague Bearers but they proxy close enough as zombies.