I hate moving.

Apologies to all. I know I was cranking stuff out, but I have been moving all this past week and classes also started. I have been a bit busy. Once stuff settles down and my brain gets unfrazzled I will continue trying to do 3 or 4 entries a week. Probably more like 2 or 3, but still a greater effort.  I hate it when real life throws a monkey wrench in my gaming and blogging.

Tactics articles is what I am going to try and focus on for a bit. These take time to develop.

In the mean time check out my eBay auctions. I posted a link for them. I am going to be putting up a blood bowl boxed set including death zone. I will also be putting up about 7 different teams. There may be some assault marine stuff, venerable dreadnought and a space hulk librarian if nobody at the Evolution wants to buy them.

Check out the auctions if you like Blood Bowl or know somebody who does.

So next time some Eldar Tactics.

Until then

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

I see Dead people: Wraithguard

Well this started out as an entry for the Elites section of the Eldar Codex. Then I realized I had already kind of covered the entire Elites section with the Aspects of Khaine Series. So rather than be redundant I will cover the last unit in the Elites section. The mighty and often wrongly used Wraithguard.

Next to Dark Reapers these are the most expensive troops in the codex. At 35 points each they are expensive. Add in the Warlock and you have a unit that has the potential to do some real damage if used correctly. Many on the Forums scoff at Wraithguard and the concept of the “Wraith Wall”. The “Wraith Wall” is basically an Iyanden Ghost Warrior army. You have 2 units of 10 Wraithguard with a Warlock upgraded to a Spirit Seer and at least 2 Wraithlords making up the bulk of the points of the army. With a Maxed out, points wise, Warlock leading the 10 man unit the squad clocks in at around 396 points. Hefty for a troops choice. This is the only way to get Wraithguard as a troops choice though.

The whole strategy is not so different from a Necron Phalanx formation. You march the Wraithguard and Wraithlords forward while you advance your other foot troops behind them in support. Since they are toughness 6 and you can hit them with Conceal they become hard to kill and when they get into weapons range the opposing army is supposed to fold due to the nature of the Wraithcannon. In theory anyways. I am not here to debate the “Wraith Wall” though, although I may in the future.

Wraithguard are tough and pack a mean punch at close range. I use them in squads of 5. this way I can pack them with their warlock into a Wave Serpent. Given the small number in the squad I use them to take out tanks and monstrous creatures. Small command squads are good to but given the short range of the wraith cannon you want to make sure whatever you are hitting is not going to be able to shoot back or assault you. If you are busting vehicles you want to make sure you arm their wave serpent with Anti-infantry in mind to help support the unit. Shuriken cannons, scatter lasers or even Missile launchers are all good choices. Even if you are using Wraithguard to take out big nasties like trygons or carnifexes or even daemon princes using high strength anti infantry weapons like scatter laser are recommended. This will force more rolls and possible kill any retinue. You cannot rely on an instant kill from the wraith cannon with only 5 in the unit. Also if the target has an invulnerably save you cannot rely on the instant kill to go off. Use of doom is recommended just to maximize your kills. Rolling a 1 with only 5 in the unit takes away 20% of your kill potential. Also I like to actually put a Farseer into the unit just so he can guide them and provide better backup than a warlock You want to make every shot count. I still also include the Warlock though. Having 2 invulnerably saves in the unit you can re-roll is nice.

This is why most people do not use or just don't use Wraithguard properly. They must be protected and delivered to the front line as fast as possible where they can make up for their points value. They can be very devastating. I have taken out unwounded mawlocs and trygons with one hit. Remember above all else to support them with the other units in the army. Take out the hand to hand specialists with you scorpions or banshees. Rain down death with your dark reapers. Keep the other units to busy to really be able to do anything about the Wraithguard walking ominously amongst their army. Wraithguard, mush like the Wraithlord is what I like to call a terror troop. The enemy generally douses their pants at the sight of them and then make rash and hasty decisions in order to get rid of them. Layers the protections and the support for Wraithguard continues this illusion by saying “these guys are valuable and I don't want them to die” Most players would not think that you would blow so many points on a very lethal distraction. 40K is as much a psychological game as it is a game of strategy and generalship. If your opponent is freaking out then you play on that fear and turn it to your advantage. Wraithguard and Wraithlords are generally feared because of one used to great effect against the person at one time or another or they have never faced one and do not know how to counter it. You must use that to your advantage. Make the unit stand out prominently and make it seem its the lynch pin of your army. This could cause the expenditure of a lot of resources by your opponent to kill the unit. This distracts him or her from the real goal or threat.

SO there you have it my 2 cents on the remaining Elites choice in the codex. As soon as I figure out how I want to illustrate it I am going to start covering army set up and deployment. Then we will move into tactics based on mission.

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

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

The End of Days: Aftermath

The guns have gone silent and the dust has cleared. The “End of Days” Tournament is over. All in all “Team Ramrod” did pretty good. We won our first two games. Game one saw us against a combined Eldar and Tau force being backed up by a Daemon Prince and a Space Marine Predator. The Tau were slain to the man With Eldrad making short work of the Daemon prince. The veterans of Dave's Imperial Guard force dealt with the Crisis suits and Commander while at the same time laying waste to the Eldar hanging back with his manticore. We held one objective and so did they, but we got the win from kill points.

Game two Saw us face down Captain Obvious and our resident Daemon player Jake. This game was a close one and saw one of the biggest and bloodiest combats I have ever been in. Now the Rules for the Tournament state that you can take one unit form a different HQ that cannot be from the main army your partner is fielding. I was using Sanguinary Priests with both my Seer Council and Howling Banshees. Dave was using one of my Ravagers with his 2 veteran Squads, 2 Psyker Battle squads, scout sentinels and manticore. Game two saw us meeting up against Failbaddon The Failspoiler with Brother Corbulo, The Emperors Champion and 10 Black Templar Initiates in a land raider crusader. We also had to contend with 12 Blood Crushers, a Blood Thirster and a unit of Pink Horrors. Eldrad and his coterie of Warlocks Along with the Banshees met with The Failspoiler and his big unit of Hurt. They came out with no casualties. All 10 initiates and Failbaddon died with the Emperors Champion taking a wound. The Blood Crusher Unit that was close, and down to 4, charged in and killed 9 banshees. Eldrad and his boys stood firm and killed one crusher. The combat ended the next turn with Eldrad and his warlocks finishing off the Blood Crushers. They then dealt with the Land raider which had been immobilized. The Guard were doing their best to defend our objective, this was a capture and control mission. The second Blood Crusher unit was reduced to two from the shooting onslaught. The Horrors eluded death on several occasions thanks to Dave's dice rebelling. The blood thirster was reduced to 1 wound though thanks to sentinel auto cannon fire and the dizzy's on the Ravager. The sentinels held the Blood Crushers in Combat, but sadly when the Blood Thirster added his attacks to the melee they were destroyed. The game was close as our objective was contested and they did not claim theirs. We tied on kill points, but thanks to Eldrad's Head Hunting of HQ's we won the game.

Game three did not go well. We had, shall we say, Deployment issues. I held Eldrad in Reserve when I should have put him on the table. The opposing force had just about every cheesy trick in the book on their side. Duel Lash Princes, Thunder Wolf Cavalry, Thousand sons and a blood thirster. We stalled and they got first turn. The guard was valiant but died to the man. They took a major toll though as they took down all that came against them and killed them. The Wolf Lord and one Thunder wolf cav guy were all that was left. When Eldrad decided to join the mix around turn three he and the boys killed both lash princes and all the Thousand sons including their Rhino. If I would have put him on the table turn one he would have been able to kill the obliterators and the Broadside suits on that side of the table. This team won the tournament. We ranked high though and walked away with some store credit at good old Evolution Games.

This was fun I want to thank Old School Terminator of Dark Future Games for running a very fun and smooth tournament.  I also want to thank my partner Dave and His Imperial Guardsman.  They did the Guard proud. Congrats to the winners. The Judge took home the Castellion Award for the most objectives taken. The Kill point winner Alex took home a nice plaque with a real Marine k-bar, a cool knife, on it. The Judge got a nice big box of MRE's. Austin took home the Head Hunter Award for most HQ kills.

Me thinks this means that I will be hosting a tournament in the next year. I am thinking a 2250 point Gladiator Tournament. Perhaps on the Year anniversary of the blog. Maybe sooner.

Until then

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

Stop Dying You Cowards! Campaign Game 3

The third game of our campaign was yesterday. Once again I found myself up against The Judge. He narrowly defeated the forces of the Cabal of the Jade Dragon last time and once again he pulled victory out of the rear of his power armor.

The forces of the Cabal were on the defensive and this 1000pt match-up was heavy on the fast attack. This meant 2 squads of 5 Reaver Jet bikes and a squad of 3 Hellions. Even though I did not have to field and HQ I did. I had Archon Asurcanix with 8 of his Incubi. I also took a Warrior raider squad. The judge brought a 10 man vanguard veteran squad all with storm shields and power weapons. They had jump pack and Captain Shriek was leading them A scout squad and land speeder rounded out his list.

Turn one saw the Vanguard Veterans advance. The Archon and Incubi dismounted form their raider to meet them as the raider moved off and fired a volley of disintegrator fire into them. One of the Reaver squads was wiped out by the veterans and the hellions, warriors and second Reaver squad moved to hit the veterans on the flank.

The Archon and Incubi hammered on the Veterans and a few of the Incubi fell as well. The scouts came on and engaged the second Reaver squad. All was going well until The Archon, thinking of self preservation, ran from combat after the last Incubi was slain. The Mon-Keigh were slow though and did not catch him. The raiding party abandoned by their Archon did not phase them. The warriors cut down the scouts after they beat on the jet bikes and slew the last of them. The warriors then took out the land speeder. They also killed the remaining Vanguard veteran and inflicted 2 wounds on Shriek in a hail of splinter fire.

Sadly only Shriek and the scout sergeant survived. I was wiped out and even though it was a kill point game I could not have won as he only had 4 and I had 8. It was more of a moral victory to take every last one of the wretched Mon-keigh with me as the warriors died..

Things would have gone differently if the Archon had not run. Oh well There is always next time.  Maybe The Archon will be be over his concussion by then.  He is really starting to make me mad.  We owe paybacks to Chaplin Stonewall, Brother Overkill and now Sgt. Badass and the Sunshine kids.  Bright yellow scouts ugh.
Vengeance will be mine and it will be very slow and very creative.

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

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death wakes, War calls!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Swift Death: Eldar Fast Attack

Being able to close quickly with your opponent is important in 5^th edition. The usual method is transports and deep striking units. Most units fall under the Fast slot in the organization chart. The Eldar being a quick and fast race have some very nice fast attack choices. Warp Spiders, Swooping Hawks, Shining spears and Vyper Squadrons gives you four very different options for your army.

Since 3 out of 4 fast attack choices are Aspect Warriors I will only touch on them briefly since they were all covered in individual detail in my Aspects of Khaine series.

Warp Spiders are deep strike specialists. Since they are jump infantry and have the warp jump packs they are very mobile and can cause a lot of chaos in the enemies rear. Armed with strength 6 weapons they can easily deal with tougher infantry and light vehicles and then jump away from harm. I don't use them often which some find odd. Don't get me wrong they are great back field skirmishers but they don't fit into my play style often. They are a stronger choice than swooping hawks though in most situations. Swooping Hawks are more lightly armed but are better at taking out vehicles. Since transports and mechanized forces are a lot more common now I use Swooping hawks more. They have the Intercept power so they never have worse than a +4 to hit vehicles and they have Haywire Grenades which are very effective in disabling vehicles. Especially vehicles with high armor values, since you don't roll for armor penetration. They are mobile and can bring some nice massed fire for light infantry. I have an idea for an 1850 list for Adepticon this year that involves the Hawks, but more on that as it develops.

Shining spears are quite specialized and really don't fit well in most lists. This is a shame because they really are effective in dealing with heavy infantry and light vehicles. They work well in support of Guardian Jet bike Squads and Vyper Squadrons. They can hit and run squads so they can take maximum advantage of their laser lances. Firing a volley in before assaulting usually wipes most squads out. You only run into problems if they fail to hit then run and get stuck in combat. I personally like turbo boosting them across the table and killing any manticore or other long range artillery that might give my advancing troops some trouble. Drawing lots of fire is ok when you have the unit fortuned and a +3 cover save thanks to the turbo boost.

Vypers have always been my favorite. I remember when they came out in the mid 90's. It really set the tone for the models that came later. Vyper squadrons are my favorite mobile heavy weapons support unit. You can give them a nice mix of weapons and upgrades and they are fast skimmers. My typical Vyper squadron consists of 3. Two armed with scatter lasers and one with a bright lance. This gives a good mix of anti infantry and anti tank. Though you have the option to give them holo-fields I would not do so. They are only armor 10 and are open topped so you would be essentially wasting 105 points. I would however arm them with shuriken cannons as the secondary weapon though. This allows for multiple weapon destroyed results and still gives you a decent heavy weapon in the event the turret weapon is destroyed, which it will be. You can also really lay into units if you only move 6 inches. My only complaint is of course the ballistic skill of 3. Oh how I long for Crystal targeting matrices. A well placed doom can make up for lack of hits though by maximizing wounds.

Vypers act like a fighter screen for the tanks and Wraithlords. They can't be ignored because of the weapons they carry. It forces your opponent to choose his shots wisely and split his fire. This is really important when you are out numbered and your opponent is maximized for heavy weapon spamming. The less he can concentrate fire the better.

So there's my two cents about Eldar Fast Attack. Next time we will tackle Elites. Before that though game 3 of the campaign and the “End Of days” Tournament this Saturday hosted by Evolution games and brought to us by the boys at Dark Future Games.

So until then................

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

Good books and even better Fluff

I love to read. I have read fantasy and sci-fi books since I was 6. The first book I read cover to cover was 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Vern. I Skipped the books for kids and tweens and jumped right into Bradbury, Clark, Heinlein and of course Tolkien.

The point is I love to read and the Black Library is probably the only branch of GW that does not anger me. Other than the lack of good 40K fiction from an Eldar's perspective, Gav Thorpe let me down with “Path of The Warrior”, I enjoy the books immensely. For new players the books are an excellent source of fluff and background to the game. Not everybody has been playing since the hallowed days of Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader. I thought I would share some of my favorites and ones I have recommended to those who want to get to know the universe. One of the players in my Rogue Trader Campaign asked for recommendation for background since he does not play 40k and for a good RPG character you need background information. So here are some of my favorite series.

You will notice a theme as to who writes my favorites as well. Dan Abnett is my favorite author. He really captures the universe and the characters are memorable. There is a very real and visceral feel to his books. The newest series he had contributed books to is of course the Horus Heresy series of novels. These are great books that really shed light on a past that is shrouded in mysticism and legend. “Horus Rising” is the first book and written by Mr. Abnett. Graham McNeill Actually wrote my favorite book in this series. “Fulgrim” details the fall of the Primarch of the Emperors Children and really gets disturbing at points. Plus there is a cameo by everybody's favorite Farseer.

My favorite Series though has to be the Gaunts Ghosts series by Dan Abnett. These are a very good and really show you things from the average grunts point of view. The characters are very colorful and you get attached to them. The Eisenhorn books are also great. You follow the adventures of Inquisitor Gregor Eisenhorn. Its in the same realistic style you come to expect from Abnett. The Enforcer trilogy by Matt Farrer is also a favorite. It follows the Adeptus Arbitus officer Shira Calpurnia and her enforcement of imperial law in the Hydraphur system.

I really don't read novels about space marines though. They tend to be epic and over the top in just about every aspect. The Death Watch series and the Book Rynns World is pretty good though.

If you want good fluff book Xenology is awesome. Not only does it have a nice narrative in the form of a series of log entries it also details most of the races in the 40k universe in epic detail.

So read the Heresy books and Gaunts Ghosts for some good reads. Basically Read Dan Abnett and you will get all the fluff you can stand.

So next time we will be talking about Eldar Fast Attack and about the End of Days Tournament being hosted at Evolution games on August 21^st and run by Dark Future Games.

Until Then......

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

Say Hello to My Little Friend! Eldar Heavy Support.

Long range support and big guns are an essential part of an army list. The Heavy support choice provides your list with much needed killing power for both armor and infantry. The only trouble you really run into is that you are limited to three choices and you have several good ones. The Eldar codex itself has seven. Dark Reapers, Wraithlords, War Walkers, Support Platforms, Night Spinners, Falcons and Fire Prisms. It can be very hard to choose only 3 units at times.

As with most Eldar lists you have to choose the right tool for the job that will work in conjunction with the rest of the army. If you read the blog a lot you should notice a running theme. A mantra if you will of how to build and Eldar list. There must be balance and support. One unit has a job and supports the other units that cannot do that job or do not do it well.

If you look at the different choices in the heavy support section, or any of the different option sections, you will start to see the different units fill specific rolls and will excel in different situations. For Example, take the Falcon. The Falcon can be very well armed and has a transport capacity. Its weapons load out for the second turret weapon can be different depending on what roll you want it to fill. Outfitted with a scatter laser and its pulse laser it can be a support vehicle to assist a small unit of Dire Avengers hold an objective. Put a bright lance on it and you have a tank killer that can deliver anti tank troops close to the enemy. The falcon can be the focus or a unit taken to support the unit it is transporting. In this way it is like the ubiquitous Dire Avenger. It is a multi role lynch pin unit. It can provide fire support, tank busting, and transportation. In contrast the Fire Prism is a dedicated main battle tank. When used I conjunction with other Fire Prisms you can bust open pretty much anything. It can be used as an anti infantry unit though once the enemy armor is gone. Thanks to having the ability to fire in two different modes and the ability to combine beams the large blast mode can easily deal with massed troops, especially when you combine beams with another Fire Prism. Since this makes the tanks big targets it may be advisable to equip shuriken cannons to them for the inevitable main weapon destruction. Holo Fields also increase your chances of living. There is some utility, but the unit has a specific main function. Kill Tanks.

Night Spinners and support platforms fall under the artillery classification. Support platforms are actual artillery while night spinners are tanks that have a weapon that is basically long range support artillery. Units like these are best used to defend static locations. The night spinner can move and still fire so this works the best with a mobile force. I don't use either that often. When doing a planet strike mission or an Apocalypse game I use them heavily especially if I am defending. Distortion cannons are nice for denying heavy targets access to your position while vibro cannons can indiscriminately lay into any units. The night spinner basically replaces the Shadow Weaver support platform as the Weapon is better rules wise. Dark Reapers also kind of fall into the category as they need to sit back and pepper the opposing force from afar. Dark Reapers can kill light vehicles, or at least glance them to death. The Exarch can bring vehicles down but I tend to use Dark Reapers sparingly unless I know I am facing heavily armored foot troops, like my favorite genetically enhanced frat boys the space marines. Dark Reapers are best used for killing infantry. Decent strength and low AP means lost of dead troops. As always Guide and liberally Doom units for best effect.

Wraithlords and War Walkers are seen in a lot of my lists. I have never seen so much fear from an opponent, as when I field more than one Wraithlord. Blessed with high strength and a toughness of 8 Wraithlords are line breakers. Keeping them in close support of a Guardian unit or Seer council is best. This keep them close to a warlock for wraith sight tests. Always remember to have at least one Spirit Seer centrally located moving with the lords. I always make my Guardian unit Warlocks Spirit Seers if I am fielding Wraithlords. Wraithlords take a lot of fire and can dish out a lot of punishment. Most infantry units can't hurt it in close combat and most vehicles can't withstand an assault by it. Be wary of snipers though. Yes lascannons and melta guns can hurt them, but massed sniper fire can bring them down a lot quicker.

War Walkers are great for massed fire. The particular favorite is 3 all armed with scatter lasers. 24 strength 6 shots anybody. That spam aside arming them with a mix of scatter lasers and bright lances, maybe missile launchers, makes them a very flexible and deadly unit. Being able to outflank and use them as scouts is also a perk. I like to outflank them usually as they come in usually around turn 3 and lay into the rear guard of the enemy to great and devastating effect. They can support units already advanced up or take the heat off of them so they can advance.

So there you have it Heavy Support. So I think we will cover Fast attack Next time. Also I will be detailing plans for the next campaign game and the machinations of my partner and I for the End of Days Tournament that Dark Future Games is having on August 21^st at Evolution Games here in good old Lansing. Find details Here.

So until then...................

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