So What Is Tier one anyway?

I got in a game recently with Old School Terminator, leader and founder of the Dark Future Games crew, at the FLGS. Adepticon fever is sweeping the shop as we get to the finalization of our lists and begin the process of getting the models to paint. Some of us are more ready than others both in terms of lists and paint. I find myself in a dilemma as I am faced with painting an entire 1850 point Dark Eldar force or paint a couple unfinished models and bring the Craftworlders to the show. I digress though from the point of this entry.

OST brought a Blood Angels list that is apparently pretty common on the forums and it considered by many to be a “Tier 1” list. It was a mech list that brought razorbacks and Baal predators. He told me though he had modified the list in the weapons department. Rather than the bevy of heavy flamers he had assault cannons on the razorbacks. After the first turn I was a bit worried, but as soon as I got the wychs into the fray his list and the lists primary strategy fell apart.

I am no Space Marine player, ask anybody and they will tell you how much I loathe them. I saw a list that seemed pretty strong in concept. He had several troop choices and lots of fire power. He had a Librarian to wreak some havoc and a very strong initial push. After dismantling his army and a cry of uncle in the 5^th turn we really started to wonder why this was considered a “Tier 1” list.

This got me contemplating about what really makes up a “Tier 1” list and who really decides its the cream of the crop. Maybe we just play differently than a majority of people on the net, but I have played against several opponents using armies and lists that were considered bush league and tier 2, 3 or even 4.

We have several players who play Daemons and according to many famous and semi famous, sometimes in their own minds, web personalities this army is crap and totally non competitive. They rank Tyranids as “Tier 3”. I know this really annoys OST as he is a nid player and his bugs are always a major contender. Last time I looked I was tied in a win loss record with OST and his bugs.

I have looked at many lists the web at large considers tournament contenders and “Tier 1”. Although they are pretty tough they have so many exploitable weaknesses an experienced player will walk right through them as I did against the Blood Angels Mech list. It's almost as if math hammer is taking priority over common sense and basic list building strategies. Basically people are putting way to much thought into it and forgetting this is a two player game. If it looks good on paper it doesn’t mean its going to do what you want it to do. Having 5 man tactical squads in razorbacks is one of the easiest ways to get all your objective grabbing units killed. I had one Wych squad wipe out most of the 5 man squads while the other tied up and killed one of the daka dreads he had in the list. The wychs even took the predators out of commission while killing the tactical squads. The tanks would have died quicker if old school had not swapped out the heavy flamers for assault cannons. That was the work of two Wych squads, granted one had Lelith in it, and two ravagers. Lady Malys and her Incubi were to busy hunting the librarian to even get involved in the rest of the battle.

I think the game would have ended quicker if it had been a Seer Council and not wychs in the mix.

SO you have to be saying by now SeerK do you have a point? I do in fact and I apologize for the long seemingly incoherent rambling. My point is build your own lists. Don't use lists off the internet that promise killer tournament wins. Don't pay money for a list that is toted as being top tier and is actually a dud. Build your own list and don't listen to the haters and trolls saying its uncompetitive or will never win. Build it, develop it and make it your own. Learn it inside and out. Constantly changing armies or lists in the name of victory is why we have so many people playing space marines and making the tournament circuits the monsters they are today. Just because somebody wins a tournament does not mean you should copy their list. Then we have a bunch of tournaments filled with cookie cutter slap fights between boring uninspired lists. Its like watching grass grow or sea urchins mating. Just plain not fun. This is one of the big reasons I don't publish lists. I don't want to run into my own army at a tournament and play solitaire. Ok rant over. I had to vent, it happens form time to time. So I know I may get trolled and this may generate some comments good and bad. SO chime in I want to discuss this whole “Tier 1” shenanigans.

Next time I hope to have a battle report in using Mandrakes. I am looking forward to seeing what these guys can do.

Until then....................

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mandrakes: They're Ok I'm takin'em Back

Out of all the units in the Dark Eldar codex, both old and new, the one that never really jived with anybody is Mandrakes. They have always been an odd unit that people really did not know how to use and never really had a place in the more popular list types. As we all know, despite being a blogger, I am not a fan of “ The internet says its bad so it must be” kind of mentality. I have a bit of a rant for next time concerning this in the wake of a game with Old School Terminator and a “Tier 1” blood angels list that came from the web, but I digress

So lets take a look at Mandrakes. I am determined to take em back from weird obscurity and ridicule. So we see they have a pretty decent stat line. A strength of 4 base is not to shabby in strength 3ville. Weapon skill 4 is on par with the rest of the codex. 2 attacks base is also nice. The have stealth, move through cover, infiltrate, power from pain and night vision. This is nice. They are the only unit in the codex with infiltrate as well. This means advanced set up from cover. It also means outflanking. These can be two very valuable methods of deployment in an army that can basically deep strike or do nothing. I think the two things people fixate on is the lack of a save, or I should say the save is only a 5+. Ok I will give you that, but it is invulnerably and better than a wyches save out in the open. They also have a 3+ save in area terrain. This is countered by the other reason people complain about them, they don't have grenades.

People have to remember that the average armor save in the codex is a 5+. The only real good invulnerably saves are the 4+ Wyches have in close combat and the Shadow Field. The balancing factor in the codex for the crappy saves is the Power From Pain rule. You kill a unit or gain a pain token from a Chronos and you have Feel No Pain. The first pain token is a double bonus for the Mandrakes as you gain an assault 2 AP 4 ranged attack that has a range of 18 inches. Thats 20 shots in a full unit of 10 at a ballistic skill of 4. Pretty nice against anything not in power armor.

I talk a lot about mutual support between units in regard to the Craftworlders. I am seeing an emerging pattern that is almost the same in the Dark Eldar. You have very specialist units mixed in with some very good generalist units that are fast and hard hitting. If you look at mandrakes as a supporting unit rather than a main close combat unit their strengths and uses become to be more obvious.

They can work in close support of a wych or warrior unit. Moving from cover to cover. If you have the ability to get them a pain token they become even more useful and flexible. Killing a small soft unit within charge distance or attaching a Haemonculus after the fact or even using the pain token generating powers of a Chronos Parasite engine. Mutual support is the key once again.

Deploying the Mandrake in cover and using them in guerrilla style warfare is the best tactic. Getting them a pain token as quickly as possible is your first priority. I have been experimenting with tactics involving Wyches and enhanced Aether sails to get amongst the enemy to help break down fire discipline and let the softer units advance and get into position. It basically allows you to tie up exposed units in close combat and chain assault tank walls with haywire grenades on turn 2. Having a unit of Mandrakes to support the Wyches, lets face it casualties will be high in the Wych front, will help keep the momentum of the assault and get them the pain token they need. It also allows you to keep your haywire equipped units engaged with vehicles. Having a Chronos in the back field to suck up the spirits of deep striking and drop podding units will also help the units up long as long as you can keep it within 12 inches.

I will have some more thoughts after getting a couple good games under my belt using the Mandrakes. I will also be talking about what exactly is a “Tier 1” list and who determines why it is so good.

Until then..........

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Close Combat: Round Two

Last time I spoke a little about close combat with the Eldar. Namely I spoke about target selection and keeping your troops in transports. I want to touch on alternate methods of deployment and equipping your units to deal with different situations. I also have been thinking about some different unit mixes in order to increase survivability and killing power. So lets look at deployment.

Deployment

Some Eldar close combat geared units have varied methods deployment. Striking Scorpions and Mandrakes have the Infiltrate ability. This gives you the option of holding them in reserve and out flanking or you can place them well ahead of the army. This gives you some utility. It allows you to deploy differently depending on situation. Rather than your Wyches or Howling Banshees just sitting on a transport and deploying with the rest of the army or floating onto the board, these other units allow you to harass the enemy or at very least draw their fire away and force them to deal with the unit in close proximity. The Dark Eldar have two deployment options that their Craftworld cousins do not currently have access to. The first is the Webway Portal. Archons and Haemonculi have access to this piece of wargear. As you know you deploy the Webway portal and all units in reserve may enter the table from the Webway Portal as if it was your table edge. The only real trick is getting the thing deployed in a good position before you start rolling for reserves. You also can't bring vehicles in so your units will be exposed. This is why placement is crucial. If you deploy it to far away you will expose your wych units to fire which they cannot weather.

I am not a fan of webway deployment personally as you cannot reliably get the thing where you want it by the end of turn 1. I do like deep striking via retro fire jets. You have to do this carefully though as you can't get out and assault another unit with your wyches when you deep strike.

I am going to talk about Mandrakes next time as I think the unit gets a bad reputation and I am determined to take it back.

Unit Mix

What you equip your Wych Squads with and who you attach to the squad can make a big difference in its survivability and killing power. I always include a Hekatrix with an Agoniser and Phantasm Grenade launcher. This cuts down on attacks the enemy gets when you get charged and gives you a power weapon that will always wound on a 4+. I also like to give the squad Haywire grenades. This is to deal with dreadnoughts and hit vehicles. This can be a risky proposition though with only a 6+ save. I like to include shard nets and impalers in the unit as well. I will mix it up sometimes and go for a razor flail as well. The razor flail is nice because of all the re rolls. It gives you a little more killing potential. Some people like to include a Haemonculus in the unit. Although this does give you a pain token right off the bat you have to separate the Haemonculus from the unit for it to be fleet. If they are crammed in a Raider you also only have 9 in the squad which means only one special weapon. I also don't like the extra squishy kill point just kind of floating around. 50+ points is kind of a lot to pay for a pain token. If you are adding any Independent Characters to the unit make sure they add something. Make sure they are also fleet. Adding a succubus or Archon to a unit increases the killing power by quit a bit. They can also benefit from the combat drugs.

I also have one quick tip that many people overlook. Two actually. The first is for the love of God shoot the unit with your splinter pistols if you are close enough to still charge. People either forget to shoot or they shoot when they are barely in range for the charge. If you don't have to run and can still make it if casualties are moderate from shooting then shoot. Smart players will pull models form the direction they are getting charged. You can avoid this little maneuver by making sure your unit is in good position. If you have the leader of the unit or a special weapon as the closest model many players are not willing to sacrifice the power fist to save the whole unit. Make sure your Special weapons and Hekatrix are up front so they get to use all their weapons and attacks. The second thing is take casualties from the back. You will get shot at. Don't let casualties cut your charge short. Wyches are at home in close combat so send them to their home as quickly as possible and keep them there. One thing though. Try not to get the last pain token if you can help it. A fearless wych unit is very bad in a quagmire combat. You will loose the unit to attrition very quickly with only a 6+ armor save. FNP can help, but don't rely on it.

Well next time I am going to talk about a very misunderstood and ill used unit. Mandrakes are the red headed step children of the Dark Eldar Codex. I think its time I took a long hard look at them and see if they are as bad as everybody in the inter webs claims they are. I think they have their uses and can be quite lethal if used correctly.

Until then...........................

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Test Of Khaine: A Craftworld Lansing Tournament

In celebration of the upcoming 1 year anniversary of Craftworld Lansing I have decided to host a tournament at the FLGS Evolution Games.
"The Test Of Khaine" Will be held at Evolution games in Lansing Michigan on March 19th.  It will be an 1850 point tournament using the Standard force organization chart.  Models do not have to be painted, but it is encouraged as I will be awarding a trophy for the best painted model as chosen by the participants.  The models must be WYSIWIG.  Counts as will be allowed as long as the models are the same size as what they are representing.  I will be posting a FAQ as questions are asked and I flesh out the details.

Registration will be starting at 11 a.m. and Dice will start rolling slightly after noon.  I will have pre registration information at the beginning of March.  Please feel free to email me for questions.




Next time I will have the second part of my close combat tactics. 


Until then.........


Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lets Get Up Close and Personal: Close combat

I have been contemplating some things. After my recent games VS Papa Nurgle and Old School Terminator I have been really contemplating close combat. My Dark Eldar lists have been leaning towards wych cult as of late. This means lots of close combat. The obvious weakness inherent to Eldar is the fact they are only strength 3 base. Barring weapons that increase strength the Eldar always wound on a 5 or 6.

The Craftworlders can deal with this handicap, usually only really a handicap vs high toughness critters or space marines, by using Doom rather liberally and choosing your targets carefully. Careful target selection is very essential for squads of Wychs and Hekatrix Blood brides. You have some staying power thanks to high initiative and an array of weapons. The 4+ invulnerably is also nice. The problem lies in going more than 3 rounds of combat. This is especially true if you have no pain tokens.

I ran into this problem when I was mired down by plague bearers. Toughness 5 is pretty rough when you are only strength 3. So in response to my recent games I have really looked at close combat strategy with my wyches.

Choosing Targets

You must be very selective about the units you assault. Running a whole squad into a big bad because you have an agonizer does not make sense unless you know for a fact you can deal enough wounds to kill said big bad with extreme prejudice. I am guilty of this myself. You really have to stop and think, is this worth possibly giving up a unit? This is doubly true if its a scoring unit. Everybody knows I am stickler for kill points. I like to minimize them to a bare minimum and still have a very functional list. Getting into combats that have little chance of success is basically like handing a kill point to your opponent.

You must be aware of your surroundings. Try and look at things a turn ahead and predict what you opponent will do. If you have a nice soft unit to assault look at what is near it. Hitting a squishy unit of termagants is all well and good until you realize there is a winged Hive Tyrant within reach of the squad. You also have to look at the terrain. Hitting units close to terrain can be very advantageous as you have cover to consolidate to. Wychs only have a 6+ armor save so you better consider where they are ending up after a combat. Nothing sucks worse that loosing a whole squad to rapid fire because you were not thinking and out of position.

Transports

Unless you are jump infantry, transports are essential. Dark Eldar have an advantage, one of the few with open topped vehicles, that they can move 12 inches and still jump out and assault. With the 2 inch deploy and the 6 inch charge this means a squad of wychs can get into combat with an enemy unit that is within 20 inches. Not to bad especially since this is conservative given the variability of a run move. This also includes Incubi kids given that they are fleet now. Since 5^th edition is all about mechanized forces, which is funny to me considering I have played mechanized armies in every edition, You have to have your close combat units in a transport. They will get shredded otherwise.

For my wych Raider I like to really out fit them. I give them Torment grenade launcher and Grisly Trophys and keep the Raider within 6 to bolster the unit. The -1 leadership to the enemy and a re roll on failed leadership is nice. I also give them Flicker fields and Night shields to help get them to where they need to go. Enhanced Aether sails are not a great option though as they cannot disembark in the same turn you use them. SO this gives the enemy time to light you up with the big guns.

You can obviously use the raider to pop any potential targets as well with the dark lance. I personally like to give the wych Raiders Dizzy's. This helps you thin the heard a bit. Strength 5 AP 2 is nice to clear out some of the ablative wounds in a squad so the Wychs attacks are spread on less targets. This is also one of the reasons why I only run 2 Dark Lances on My Ravagers. Its a trade off for a mix of anti tank and anti infantry.

OK so this was a good start. I have some more thoughts to gather on the subject. I am in the process of moving and transferring to a new job so things are a bit hectic. I also promised a video blog, but alas the camera did something funky and it was not useable. So I have to try again. Next time more close combat talk and I start to pimp my tournament in March.

Until then.............

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thoughts on Lady Aurelia Malys

Well I have only two losses so far with the “Lelith Fair” list as I write this. I had a game last night with Old School Terminator and his Tyranids. This took place before we were set to record the first issue of my Podcast “It Came From the Webway”, but sadly The Stormlord backed out at the last minute. He had the equipment. I will cut him a little slack, he is an older guy like myself and just started a Master's program at Michigan State. We did record a video blog though where we discuss the new GW releases. So look for that soon.

So the biggest change I have made to my list is the addition of a Ravager and the Addition of Lady Malys and a retinue of Incubi. Lets take a look at the Lady that makes this a true chic fest of an army list.

Lady Aurelia Malys is the Archon of The Kabal of the poisoned tongue. She is a youngin by Eldar Standards at only 1200 years old. She is a former consort of Vect and has a mind like a steel trap. Thanks to some Webway alien mojo she has a power similar to Eldrads Divination power. She can place units in reserve though. She lacks the usual Shadow field, but still benefits from a 4+ Invulnerably save. She is armed with what is basically a Djinn Blade and an additional close combat weapon.

Her big claim to fame though is the fact she is immune to all psychic powers and also bestows this ability to any squad she joins. This makes her quit the added bonus to a unit that has killing power. Adding her to a unit of Incubi or even a unit of Grotesques can really make the unit that much more nasty, especially if it has pain tokens.

The drawbacks as I have come to find with her is she is only strength 3. Like Lelith she gets a raw ton of attacks in close combat, but still is only strength 3. She does not have combat drugs also so there is no chance of a strength boost. This was a Major thing in the last two games I have played. The big issue was against Old School Terminator as he defended the Honor of Dark Future Games with his Tyranids. Although she was immune to any shenanigans from big Tyranitus , his Hive Tyrant, she and her Incubi got spanked due to the inability to wound it effectively. It would have been better having an Archon with a shadow field, agonizer, soul trap and Djinn blade and you have some staying power with some better potential killing power for only 10 points more. Granted you don't have the psychic immunity. This is really situational though. There are ways of dealing with psychic powers that don't involve blowing an HQ slot. I, for instance, should have kept my distance from Old Schools tyranids and just Dark Lanced the big critters until they died. Note to everybody, blast the hive tyrant first. I was also surprised to see she does not even have a splinter pistol so not shooting for the Lady.

All in all Lady Malys could be a good addition to a game in which you know psykers are going to e a major issue. I think I may be swapping her out for a regular Archon. We will see. I may keep her in just to keep the theme up and work on my strategy a bit.

Well next time I am going to cover some tactics. Namely Eldar in close combat. I have had some revelations after my past two games that I wish to share. Also look for my video blog in the coming days. Its my first so I apologize in advance if it seems rough

Until then..............

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!

Changing the LIneup: "Leltih Fair" Evolves

The list I call “Lelith Fair” has gone through some development. I have gotten in 5 games with it and it has a 4 and 1 record. My only loss so far is to Inquisitor Lord Vogrin and his hellacious Imperial Guard army. I swear his Manticore is like the hobby project of the Fabricator General of Mars. It is uncanny in its ability to fire 3 missiles a turn. Once again its the sheer weight of tanks overwhelmed me. That and Vogrin uncanny ability to seize the initiative. So far I have squared up against 2 Space Wolf armies and beat them soundly. I have also beaten codex marines. I still need to figure out my issues against Imperial Guard.  I really think it has more to do with the way I deploy rather than the force make up.  The sheer number of tanks is what is getting me down.  Usually I just send in the Seer Council and watch the tank commanders panic as I smack the tanks with Witch Blades.  I can almost do that with Wychs armed with Haywire Grenades.  I am packing a lot of dark lances but I need to really work on deployment and target priority.  The target priority thing is hard when even a bolter can bring down my transports and most heavy weapons glance on a 2 or even just by rolling a dice.  I do have to say though there is really no bad roll on the combat drug table.  All of them have helped, granted the pain token right off the bat is nice.  You all may have also noticed in the comments on my blog and DFG there are a lot of Dr Rockso references. I blame combat drugs.  Wyches love their combat drugs as much as Rick James loved Cocaine.  This lead to me making Dr. Rockso jokes as I played my Wych lists.  Needless to say it lead to some sound beatings as Old School Terminator uses it to get me going and charge headlong into his Tyranids.  Won't make that mistake when I play him with this list.  Lelith Fair has beaten everybody Except Vogrin so far.  I have to play Old School and Farseer Re-Rolls yet.  Should be interesting.

The “Lelith Fair” list has changed only slightly. It has morphed and developed after every game. I dropped Harlequins in favor of Beast Masters. After my Game with CSVinton I dropped the Beast Masters and Hekatrix Blood Brides in favor of Hellions. Now After my Game with The Judge recently I dropped the Hellions and Void Raven. I needed a power unit to deal with power armor and psychic powers. SO I added a Ravager and now it is a chic fest because I also added Lady Malys to the mix.

I am hoping this will give me some killing power to deal with those pesky Rune priests and Librarians as well as dealing with terminators and tough units. I ran into Terminator trouble against both the Judge's army and CSVinton's. Especially CSVinton's as he had a 12 man death star of Terminators that included a Librarian and Vulcan. There is a question though that I pose to the readers. Lady Malys special rule says she ans the unit she joins are immune to all psychic powers.

So does this include force weapons? The entry in the rule book says that force weapons give the user an additional psychic power that is usable in close combat. It also says all the normal rules for psychic powers apply to the use of this power. This means one power per turn unless they can cast two.

So from my interpretation this makes her immune to the instant killing power of a force weapon. Putting her in with a squad of Incubi makes the unit a very effective psyker killing unit. You can deal with most everything standing between you and the Psyker and Those nasty force weapons can't wipe her out. This would even allow you to walk unmolested, no difficult or dangerous tests, to a rune priest and give him a good smack.

So opinions are welcome. Well I know I promised some battle reports vs The Judge and CSVinton, but I have not had time to write them and to much time has passed for me to remember the details. I am however finally doing my first podcast on Wednesday. I will be joined by The Stormlord of Chaos Kingdoms. Since its our normal 40K night at the FLGS I imagine some of the Dark Future Games crew will be present to make some statements and banter a bit.

In a related note Inquisitor Vogrin and I played in the “Bound by Blood” team tournament at Evolution games this past Saturday. There was very stiff competition, but we emerged the victors. The Craftworlders lead by Eldrad and the Imperial guard of Inquisitor Vogrin took the top prize. In fact we had a grudge match against the same team we faced in round 3 of the “End Of Days” tournament this past summer. Go check out Vogrins report on Dark Future Games. Needless to say we dominated and spanked the team that beat us last time.

Until next time......

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!!!!