40K Hobby Progress: Khorne Daemonkin and Other Hobby Stuffs

Get'n 'er done.
Finally after at least half of a year I've made solid progress on my hobby. Oh, it only took me about one and half months to get ten bloodletters done but progress is progress and I'm happy with the results. Now I've got 20 bloodletters painted for my Khorne army so can't be more happier than that - my army gets more Khorney by the day.

Redstone Rumble list must get done by October.
Yep, updating my Khorne army to this , as explained in my last posting because last year my Redstone list was CSM with Daemon allies but now I am all about the new Khorne codex. So ten new bloodleters done. Check. Now for the rest, heh.

To finish my update this is what is needing to be accomplished:

• Paint Heldrake (Goatboy)
• Assemble & paint six Khorne bikers.
• Buy, assemble & paint 17 flesh hounds.
• Paint wingless Khorne Daemon Prince.
• Optional: assemble (me) & paint three Bloodcrushers (Goatboy)
• Optional: paint Bloodthirster (Goatboy)

As you can see I've got my work still cut out for me and with options in case I want to have those models available for blood tithe summoning.

Wingless Daemon Prince
If I have the blood tithe available early enough in a game I sometimes like to bring in a wingless Prince so to assault the next turn. Of course he will get shot at a lot but that just means more of my other dangerous Khorney stuff doesn't get shot at so win - win.

Anyway, I like to tinker with models since I have tons of chaos bits laying around and so built the prince as you see in the pictures. He was a winged model that was siting around with some ugly neon powder blue half-ass paint job on him. Bought him from ebay last year for a Flying Circus army but that fell through when 7th edition hit. So I threw him into some Simple Green for two weeks, scrubbed off the lose paint and disassembled it.

I added the helm and dangerous looking tentacles to make him look more interesting, he is in beast mode! I think I am going to leave off the giant shoulder pads, thinking this model stands alone without the added distractions of over-sized shoulder boulders. And if anyone seriously claims that the prince is not WYSIWYG without the shoulder pads then I will poop on their heads because they are sh**heads and don't deserve another second of my valuable wargaming fun time.

Oops, I just saw that I forgot to put green stuff in whats left of the wing slots, will get that done before the model is primed. And normally I would send off large models for Goatboy to paint but I'm going to give this Prince a try for myself, it seems like it will be a fun challenge instead of the normal dread I feel when presented with a large model to paint (and paint it well).

The Game Room

Cue the failure music, WAH-WAH-Waaaaaaaaaaaa. Nah, it isn't that bad, just delayed for awhile. You see there is this thing called life and it decided to whammy me with many home repair bills all in a row. That and I've got to get my Redstone list done soon and then there is these other games I want to start investing in. Heh, the life of a gamer.

Actually the making of the game table won't cost me much - it is buying all the terrain for said table that will cost bunches. The whole idea of my game room is to make video battle reports on a biweekly schedule so it has to look good or nobody will want to watch because there is lots of batrep competition out there!

Other Wargaming Hobby Progress, Age of Sigmar

What? There are other games out there besides 40K? *shock*. Well, yeah, there is! Folks, we are living in a golden age of wargaming and there is so much to choose from which means the best eventually rises to the top over time and gets bigger from all the wargaming interest out there in the community right now.

So I split a box of Age of Sigmar with a club mate, of course I got the Chaos half! Those models are OMG beautiful, which is the main reason I bought them. The other reason being is that I wanted to try out this new GW game, it had impressed me with the beautiful models, simple rules and free living document rule set. So far it is a hit with my club, we got over half a dozen people diving into the new boxed set. This is all evidence for my theory that AoS was partially targeting 40K players from the get go - the models are gorgeous and they can all pretty much all be easily meshed into existing 40K armies because they are that accommodating to the look and feel of 40K.

We had a discussion about AoS on my club's last podcast, go give it a listen if you are interested, it is good listening material while you work on your hobby progress. SMG Podcast Episode 24

Even more new games. BOLT ACTION!

Yeah, stoked about this game. I am a long time WWII buff, from as far back when I was a kid watching WWII movies on the TV. The entire war and the historical period surrounding it just fascinates me to this day and I never get tired learning about it. So naturally I have progressed to wanting to play a WWII historical wargame and I have chosen Bolt Action by Warlord Games.. The only other real option would have been Flames of War but that is 15mm based which I don't care for, I like the 28mm heroic models to push around, it feels more real and exciting, and the models are beautiful when painted up well.

For those of you whom do not know, Bolt Action has been around for about three years now and it is gaining popularity. Warlord Games is doing right by this game and they already have a vast and colorful model range and not just for infantry and vehicles but also for terrain. And wow, the terrain! Most of it is from a company called 4Ground and I highly recommend them, such gorgeous terrain and it is affordable and some of it even pre-painted! Sorry, GW, your terrain is good but I'm going with 4Ground, it is even better.

Two more big reasons for wanting to start BA comes from the fact that Warlord Games wants to interact with their gaming community, they listen and give back. Huge props to them for doing this, it is the modern way a gaming company should treat it's customer base. The other reason is that the rules are what I call '40K light'. BA rules really are a compressed and simplified 40K ruleset, probably because one of the game designers was a former GW employee. It flows quickly and intuitively but it doesn't feel like you are giving too much realism away for a smooth flowing rule set. 40K players will recognize and pick up on BA game mechanics super quick.

I highly recommend this game and I have high hopes for it within my club. Can't wait! I will be writing more about Bolt Action in the future.

And you guys?

What are you guys working on? 40K still keeping you occupied or are you branching out to other games also?

All your game are belong to us.

40K Tactica: The Bloodletter - The Best Khorne Daemonkin Troop Choice?

I recently noticed that when I put together my Khorne Daemonkin lists I tend to gravitate towards the Bloodletters as Troop choices - this I find odd as I would normally never touch them if playing from the Chaos Daemons codex. So I decided to do some comparisons with the other Troop choices from the new Khrone codex and attempt to find a logical reason for my Bloodletter madness.

I'm going to start by jumping right into the comparisons and focus on the most important characteristics like cost effectiveness, special rules and usefulness for utilizing the Blood Tithe game mechanic.

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 Armies: Khorne Daemonkin - Codex Review

We have a winner.

If you are a chaos player, specifically a Chaos Space Marine player, and you are bad mouthing the new Khorne Codex I have four little words for you: Shut The Hell Up. This is the best chaos codex to come out in years since the Daemon codex and well, we all know that one is growing long in the tooth. Hands down this codex is the best for CSM in like three codex editions, maybe even more! Yeah, that old CSM codex, I gots no more use for it anymore, here let me illustrate for you.

40K Rumors: Khorne Daemonkin Codex - No Mo' Daemonic Instability!

As the title says, Daemonic Instability may be a thing of the past for the new Khorne Codex - sweet Khorney good times indeed!

40K Armies: Praise Khorne and Pass The Chainaxe - Khorne Codex Inbound!

THE RUMORS ARE COMING TRUE!

It appears that we long awaiting Chaos players, specifically Khorne players, are getting our own Codex and it came right out of left field, total surprise. We heard rumors about new Khorne datasheets (true) and new Khorne units coming in late March but I didn't recall ever hearing about a new Codex, especially one God specific like this.

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 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 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.

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.

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!

40K Eyecandy - The Hellsquid by Cataphract

40K Eyecandy - The Greatest Heldrake Conversion Ever

Check out this amaaaaaaazing conversion from Cataphract from over at Independent Characters. I don't know Cataphract but I hope he doesn't mind me sharing his work - something like this has to be shared.

Behold! The Hellsquid!

Best. Heldrake. Conversion. Ever.

The Hellsquid - I SO want one.

I know you want one too!

40K Events - Blind Teammate Tournament at MacNarb Gaming Part II

Blind Teammate Tournament at MacNarb Gaming on June 21st 2014

Part II

The Results

Following a late Friday night after an exciting  Dungeons & Dragons  Pathfinder game I couldn't sleep for a couple of hours afterwards so I only got about 5 hours sleep the night before the Saturday Tournament. I was the last to arrive with only five minutes to spare. Swiftly I paid for my entry and bought a box of Fantasy Skullcrushers because I needed 2 new Juggernaut Lords for my new 7th Edition tournament list. Anyway, that is for a future full article.

We had about 16 people show up, half from +SMGWargaming  and the rest from +South Alabama War Gamers  (SAWG) and TBS Comics in Florida. As the co-T.O. +SMG Hinkel called out the randomly created teams I waited, and waited and waited to hear my name called. Finally, the last team was proclaimed and it was I and Carter from TBS Comics. Carter is a great guy and a great competitor, I got to know him a little when he joined forces with our club for the +Redstone Rumble in Huntsville, AL last year. I couldn't have asked for a better pairing and we couldn't have brought more complimenting lists. His was a fast attacking Dark Eldar army with some gunboat support. My list, the one I talked about in Part I, is an objective controlling list. Perfect! He blitz attacks and I control the objectives while lending support, sounds like a super friends combo.

Game One Deployment - Right before they steal Initiative. Doh!

First Round: vs. Tau Super Heavy and Iron Fist Space Marines. Crusade Mission.

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.