Battle Report 149- Dark Angels vs Sisters of Battle

This week's 40k 8th edition battle report sees my Dark Angels take on Angus' Sisters of Battle once more in an ETC practice mission. This game was fought before the recent London GT.

The Eternal War mission was Big Guns Never Tire, while the maelstrom mission was Contact Lost (one card on turn 1, then one for each objective held in subsequent turns). We were using Vanguard Strike deployment.

My army consisted of:

Battalion Detachment

Azrael (Az)

Primaris Lieutenant- Master-crafted Auto Bolt Rifle (L)

Primaris Ancient- Bolt Rifle (An)

5 Intercessors- Bolt Rifle (I1)

5 Intercessors- Bolt Rifle (I2)

5 Devastator Squad- Heavy Bolter, Bolters, Armorium Cherub (D)

5 Scouts- Bolters, Heavy Bolter, Chainsword (S1)

5 Scouts- Bolters, Chainsword (S2)

5 Scouts- Bolt Pistols, Shotguns (S3)

10 Hellbalsters- Plasma Incinerators (H)

Outrider Detachment

Sammael (S)

5 Black Knights- Plasma Talons, Corvus Hammers (BK)

4 Ravenwing Bikers- Flamer, Twin Bolters, Storm Bolter (RB1)

4 Ravenwing Bikers- Meltagun, Twin Bolters, Storm Bolter (RB2)
3 Ravenwing Bikers- Twin Bolters, Storm Bolter, Plasma Gun (RB3)

Ravenwing Darkshroud- Assault Cannon (D)

10 Command Points

Codex Deathwatch Review: Part 8- Flyers and Dedicated Transports

Welcome to the final part of my Codex Deathwatch review, looking at the Flyer and Dedicated Transport options available to the Deathwatch. 

Flyers

Corvus Blackstar

The Deathwatch's unique flyer and a fantastic model as well, I just wish it was a bit better to warrant inclusion in most of my armies. 

On paper, the Corvus Blackstar is not too bad. It has T7, 14 wounds and a 3+ save. Not only that, but you get the -1 to hit when it is in supersonic mode. Added up, it is a fairly durable vehicle to have in the army. It also got a 10 pts reduction over the index, which is a nice drop, but not enough for me. 

It also has some decent firepower, with a Twin Assault Cannon and two Stormstrike Missile Launchers as standard. It has the option to take a Hurricane Bolter, swap the Twin Assault Cannon for a Twin Lascannon and/or swap the Stormstrike Missiles for two Blackstar Rocket Launchers. The big problem for me is that it lacks Power of the Machine Spirit, Strafing Run or any other special rule that would boosts its accuracy. 

As most of its weapons options are Heavy, the Corvus Blackstar will be hitting on a 4+ on the move. It is one of the only "big" Space Marine flyers not to get Power of the Machine Spirit, and its lack of this great special rule really does hold it back from being a powerful gunship for the army. You can offset this somewhat by giving the flyer an Auspex Array, allowing it to re-roll 1's to hit. This goes some way to mitigate the effects of moving and shooting, but not enough for me to make up for its price tag. 

Deathwatch Codex Review: Part 7- Heavy Support

Welcome to part 7 of my Deathwatch Codex review for 8th edition. This part will take a look at the Heavy Support options for the Deathwatch.

Heavy Support

Hellblaster Squad

This is an incredibly strong Primaris unit, but are very expensive to field. Their Plasma Incinerators are a powerful weapon, able to take on a whole host of units and do a lot of damage if they overcharge their shots. 

The Hellblaster Squad benefit well from the Deathwatch stratagems, particularly the Teleportarium stratagem and Doctrines. The Teleportarium helps to keep the unit safe from enemy firepower, as well as allowing them to deploy in rapid fire range to get maximum effect from their Plasma Weaponry from the first turn they fire. 

The right Doctrine and Mission Tactics will also really boost the firepower output of the squad. They will be able to wound most units in the game on a 2+ when overcharging and using the right Doctrine, plus re-rolling 1's to wound with the right Mission Tactics. This makes the squad great for causing maximum damage to an enemy target, especially when combined with re-rolls to hit from a Watch Master or Watch Captain. 

Deathwatch Codex Review: Part 6- Elites

Part 6 of my Deathwatch Codex review will look at the Elites section of the codex. This is an area which has seen a few new units added and some improvements to some existing units from the codex. 

Elites

Primaris Apothecary
The Deathwatch finally get access to an Apothecary! You only get the Primaris version, though it would have been nice to have a normal version to join units in transports or take a Jump Pack. I'm not sure why they didn't include the normal option, it's not like the models are not available or the Primaris Apothecary is specific to the Deathwatch.

I'm not a big fan of taking the Apothecary in a "normal" Space Marine army, but I think there is a place for them in the Deathwatch. With such a small, elite army, every casualty counts, so having an Apothecary to revive members of squads or heal other Primaris models is a nice bonus to the army.

I see the Apothecary supporting backfield units, such as objective holding Veterans or models armed with long range firepower, such as Missile Launchers or Stalker Bolters. I have actually purchased a Primaris Apothecary to add to my Deathwatch army.

London 40k GT Shaming Player- Disgraceful

I really thought I was done with the London GT. Apologies to those who have no interest in this, normal blogging will resume tomorrow with my review of the Elites section of the new Deathwatch codex. 

Several hours ago, the London GT facebook page posted, publicly calling out one of the players on the stream for cheating and have banned him from all of their future events (we should all be so lucky). 

This is absolutely disgraceful!

First off, let me say that cheating or poor sportsmanship should be called out at these events. HOWEVER, to focus on this when they have not, to this point, issued a single statement or apology on the shambolic and disgraceful event that they have just run is an outrage.

I haven't watched the video, so don't know who is in the right or the wrong in the examples they have given. BUT, this game was played after game 3 on the Saturday, some of which didn't finish till 9.30 pm. At this point, both players had been gaming for over 12 hours each, on top of Friday's gaming, so I would have expected them to both be exhausted. I've played four games in one day at a tournament and was barely conscious by the fourth game.

Publicly shaming a single player to cover for your own gross incompetence is shameful. The 40k GT 2018 was an embarrassment to competitive 40k in the UK.

I don't often get mad about 40k, it is just a game we play for fun. However, having spent the time, effort and money to go to this sad excuse for a tournament has left me livid.

As a result the player has been banned from their events, so will not be attending next year's GT. I imagine many of the competitors at this year's GT will joining him. 

As I said, normal service will resume on the blog tomorrow, be sure to like and follow the Facebook page to keep up to date on all the news on the blog. 

London 40k GT 2018 Review- Worst Tournament I've Attended

This past weekend, I attended the London 40k GT for the first time. Here is my review of the event, needless to say from the title, I did not think it went well!

Since moving down to Oxfordshire, I have been fortunate to find a lot of local 40k tournaments to attend, as well as a couple of great gaming clubs. With my close proximity to London, I figured I would attend the 40k GT, one of the biggest 40k events in the UK, if not europe, and test my skills against other great Warhammer players. 

I normally do these reviews after all my battle reports from the event and my own army review. However, you may have seen some of the controversy regarding the GT this weekend, so I thought I would share my own opinions on how it went and my experiences at the GT. 

I shared some of these over the weekend as they were occurring on my facebook page, so be sure to follow and like it to keep up to date on all the info on the blog. 

Opening Woes

The GT was held at the Olympic Stadium in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. 

I set off from Oxfordshire at 7.00 am on Saturday morning. The satnav said it would take about an hour and a half to get to the venue, with registration starting at 9.15 am. I set off so early due to the Royal wedding and FA cup final being on the same day in or near London. I was unsure how traffic would be that morning, so wanted to give myself plenty of time in case it was bad. I needed have bothered. 

There was little to no traffic on the way, so I arrived at the car park I was using (there is no parking facilities at the venue itself) about 8.45 am and headed over to the stadium. There was already a reasonably sized queue of gamers waiting to get in. 

As the doors opened at 9 am, there wasn't much movement from the line. It turns out that security were carrying out searches of all bag and miniature cases. At the start of the day, there were two people at the front door carrying this out. For hundreds of gamers, each with at least one backpack and miniatures case. They eventually added more staff to help with this, but it didn't speed things up too much. 

Battle Report 148- Deathwatch vs Aeldari

Today's battle report is the first outing for my Deathwatch with the new codex, taking on Doug and his Aeldari force, a mixture of Eldar and Dark Eldar units. 

I was excited for the new Deathwatch codex. I really like the look of the army and was excited to see what the new codex could do. For my first use of the army, I took a nice mix of units to test them out. I didn't take any Primaris Deathwatch yet, as I haven't had a chance to assemble and paint them up yet. 

I did a video preview of the army, going over the units I was taking and some of my thinking behind the list. 

My army consisted of:

Battalion Detachment

Watch Master- Guardian Spear, Banebolts of Xeryia (Relic), Lord of Hidden Knowledge (warlord trait) (M)

Watch Captain- Relic Blade, Jump Pack, Bolt Pistol (C1)

Kill Team 1- 8 Deathwatch Veterans, 2 Frag Cannons, 2 Storm Shields, Blackshield with Power Sword and Bolter, Bolters, Chainswords, Vanguard Veteran with Pair of Lightning Claws (KT1)

Kill Team 2- 5 Deathwatch Veterans with Stalker Pattern Bolters and Chainswords (KT2)

Kill Team 3- 5 Deathwatch Veterans with 2 Missile Launchers, Bolters and Chainswords (KT3)

5 Bikers- Twin Bolters, Storm Bolter (B)

Corvus Blackstar- Twin Assault Cannon, Hurricane Bolter, Blackstar Rocket Launcher, Infernum Halo Launcher. (CB)

Battalion Detachment

Librarian- Force Sword, Bolt Pistol, Null Zone, Might of Heroes (L)

Chaplain- Jump Pack, Crozius Arcanum, Bolt Pistol (C2)

Kill Team 4- 5 Deathwatch Veterans with Shotguns, Storm Shield and Chainswords (KT4)

Kill Team 5- 9 Vanguard Veterans with 3 Frag Cannons, Bolters and Chainswords. Terminator with Power Fist and Storm Bolter (KT5)

Kill Team 6- 5 Deathwatch Veterans with 2 Missile Launchers, Bolters and Chainswords (KT6)

Kill Team 7- 5 Deathwatch Veterans with 3 Meltaguns, Bolters and Chainswords (KT7)

5 Vanguard Veterans- Bolt Pistols, Chainswords (VV)

A good spread of units and Kill Teams to mix out the force. I went for two battalions to give me 13 command points in total. 

I went for all four characters to test them out and see how they performed in the list. I took a mix of kill teams, with many to teleport in using the Teleportarium stratagem. 

The Watch Master and Librarian would accompany Kill Team 1 in the Corvus Blackstar. I had three units of Veterans as backfield objective holders, two with Missile Launchers and one with Stalker Bolters. 

I was going to put the Meltagun Kill Team, Shotgun Kill Team and Terminator Kill Team in reserve, with the option to put the Vanguard Veterans and Chaplain in reserve. 

Dark Angels Army List Analysis- London GT

With the London 40k Grand Tournament coming up this weekend, I thought I'd take a look at the list I am taking and how the army has been performing in practice games so far. 

The list that I am taking is:

Battalion Detachment, Dark Angels [1078 pts] +5 CP
HQ1: Azrael (180)- WARLORD- [180 pts] +1 CP
HQ2: Primaris Lieutenant (70)- Master-crafted Auto Bolt Rifle (4), Bolt Pistol (0), Frag and Krak Grenades (0), Eye fo the Unseen (Relic)- [74 pts]
Troop1: 5 Scouts (55)- 4 Boltguns (0), Bolt Pistols (0), Frag and Krak Grenades (0). Sergeant has Boltgun (0) and Chainsword (0)- [55 pts]
Troop2: 5 Scouts (55)- 4 Boltguns (0), Bolt Pistols (0), Frag and Krak Grenades (0). Sergeant has Boltgun (0) and Chainsword (0)- [55 pts]
Troop3: 5 Scouts (55)- 5 Astartes Shotguns (0), Bolt Pistols (0), Frag and Krak Grenades (0)- [55 pts]
Troop4: 5 Intercessors (90)- 5 Bolt Rifles (0), Bolt Pistols (0), Frag and Krak Grenades (0)- [90 pts]
Troop5: 5 Intercessors (90)- 5 Bolt Rifles (0), Bolt Pistols (0), Frag and Krak Grenades (0)- [90 pts]
Elites1: Primaris Ancient (69)- Bolt Rifle (0), Bolt Pistol (0), Frag and Krak Grenades (0)- [69 pts]
Heavy Support1: 10 Hellblasters (180)- 10 Plasma Incinerators (150), Bolt Pistols (0), Frag and Krak Grenades (0)- [330 pts]
Heavy Support2: 5 Devastators (65)- Bolters (0), Heavy Bolter (10), Armorium Cherub (5), Bolt Pistols (0), Frag and Krak Grenades (0)- [80 pts]

Outrider Detachment, Dark Angels [922 pts] +1 CP
HQ1: Sammael (183 pts)- [183 pts]
Fast Attack1: 5 Ravenwing Black Knights (230)- Plasma Talons (0), Corvus Hammers (0), Bolt Pistols (0), Frag and Krak Grenades (0)- [230 pts]
Fast Attack2: Ravenwing Darkshroud (128)- Assault Cannon (22)- [150 pts]
Fast Attack3: 4 Ravenwing Bikers (100)- Twin Boltguns (8), Chainswords (0), 2 Meltaguns (34), Sergeant with Storm Bolter (2), Bolt Pistols (0), Frag and Krak Grenades (0)- [144 pts]
Fast Attack4: 4 Ravenwing Bikers (100)- Twin Boltguns (8), Chainswords (0), Flamer (9), Sergeant with Storm Bolter (2), Bolt Pistols (0), Frag and Krak Grenades (0)- [119 pts]
Fast Attack5: 3 Ravenwing Bikers (75)- Twin Boltguns (6), Chainswords (0), Plasma Gun (13), Sergeant with Storm Bolter (2), Bolt Pistols (0), Frag and Krak Grenades (0)- [96 pts]

10 Command Points total

Quite a balanced army, I feel. It has a lot of fire support elements, as well as some faster moving units for grabbing objectives and going after the enemy forces. Let's take a look at the units and see how they have been performing.

Army Special Rules
Grim Resolve is a great Chapter Tactics to have. Getting re-rolls of 1's to hit in the shooting phase if I didn't move is great for most of my army. A lot of the squads don't move around much, so getting free re-rolls helps to boost their damage output in the shooting phase. It's not of much use to my Bikers, but my infantry units benefit from it a fair bit.

The morale mitigation is also great. I can't lose more than one model to a failed morale test. In most units, this is not an issue, but it is great for the Hellblasters, meaning I can take a unit of 10 with little to fear from morale.

Jink is also great on the Bikers. While advancing reduces their firepower significantly (for the most part), the 4+ invulnerable save can more than make up for this. This allows my Bikers to focus on going after objectives and gives them a measure of protection against the enemy firepower. 

Deathwatch Codex Review: Part 5- Fast Attack

Part 5 of my Deathwatch Codex review will take a look at the Fast Attack choices available to the army. 

Fast Attack
Bikers 

The Bike Squad got a nice points reduction from the index, going down to 29 pts each. That is only a couple of points over a normal Space Marine Biker, for which you get an extra attack and special issue ammunition.

Deathwatch Codex Review: Part 4- Troops

Today's section of the Codex Deathwatch review will look at the Troops section. I imagine most of the Deathwatch army will be comprised of Kill Teams, so there will be a lot to talk about in this section. 

Troops

Deathwatch Veterans/Kill Team

In 7th edition, the Kill Team/Deathwatch Veterans were the core of the army. In 8th edition, they are still a strong choice, but have a bit of the shine knocked off them by the new boys in the codex, the Primaris Kill Team.

The good news is that the Deathwatch Veterans have got a bit cheaper. They were seriously overcosted in the index. Each Veteran now costs 16 pts per model (down from 19 pts per model). However, they now need to pay 1 pt for their Boltgun, taking each Veteran up to 17 pts. The cost of the Special Issue Ammunition (SIA) has now been folded into the wargear costs. This is great, as you now no longer need to pay for SIA if you take another weapon that doesn't use it.

Some of the more common weapon choices have now gone down in points. A Deathwatch Veteran with a Frag Cannon now comes in at 41 pts (down from 49 pts) and a Veteran with a Shotgun now comes in at 19 pts (down from 24 pts).

The Veteran squad has gotten a bit cheaper, meaning you can field a few more models in your army or take some extra wargear. A nice trick to look out for is that you can replace each Veterans Bolter with a Bolter and a Chainsword in the equipment list, essentially giving each Veteran 3 attacks in combat. You can also take a Shotgun and Chainsword, Combi-weapon and Chainsword, etc.

Deathwatch Codex Review: Part 3- HQ Units

Part 3 of my Deathwatch codex review will take a look at the HQ options that are available to the Deathwatch army.

HQ Units
The Deathwatch units are pretty much unchanged in choices, with the addition of some Primaris characters to the army. One of the big boosts in the HQ section is that more units can now take a Jump Pack. In the index, only the Watch Master had this option, leading to a serious lack of mobility for the characters outside of transport vehicles. Now, the Librarian and Chaplain have access to the Jump Pack, making it easier for them to support your units.

Watch Master

The Watch Master is pretty much unchanged from the Index version and still a pretty good option to lead the army.

He comes in at 130 pts, and has a Space Marine Chapter Master's stats, along with a 2+ armour save and 4+ invulnerable save, great for his durability. His Guardian Spear is a solid weapon. In shooting, it is a Bolter with S4, AP-1 and 2 damage per shot, plus it can use Special Issue Ammunition. This gives you the option of going up to AP-3, or AP-2 at longer range, or wounding on a 2+. In combat, he is S5, AP-3 and D3 damage per wound.

Deathwatch Codex Review: Part 2- Stratagems

Welcome to part 2 of my Deathwatch Codex review. This part will take a look at the Stratagems now available for the Deathwatch army. 

Stratagems

The Deathwatch gain access to a number of the useful common stratagems available to the Space Marines, as well as some great new ones of their own. 

Armour of Contempt (1CP)- Use when a Deathwatch vehicle suffers a mortal wound. On a 5+, it ignores that mortal wound and any further mortal wounds suffered for the rest of the phase. 

One that probably won't be used all that often, but could come in useful every once in a while. I can see it being of use to the Corvus Blackstar. This vehicle is more likely to range ahead of the army, so will be the target of Smite attacks more often than other vehicles. If your opponent has a lot of smite or other mortal-wound dealing psychic powers, I can see this being a nice way to help the Corvus survive for a bit longer in a game. 

Auxpex Scan (2CP)- Use when an enemy unit arrives from reserve within 12" of a Deathwatch Infantry unit. The unit may shoot as if it was the shooting phase, but at -1 to hit. 

This is a powerful stratagem that gets even better when you factor in Special Issue Ammunition. Has the ability to seriously harm an enemy unit that arrives from reserve, damaging a potent threat before it has the chance to shoot or charge you. 

Armoury of the Watch Fortress (1CP/3CP)- Allows you to take one additional Relic (1CP) or two additional Relics (3CP). 

The standard stratagem allowing you to take extra Relics. I think this one could be quite useful to taking one extra Relic. As I said in the first part of the review, there are a couple of good relics worth taking, so I think it might be worth the command point. 

Codex Deathwatch- Video Review

Thought I'd try something new on the blog today. I made a video review for the new Deathwatch codex. 

Don't worry, I'll still be doing my written reviews for the codex, the first part of which published today. If you are interested, take a look at the videos and see if you like them. I'll be looking for feedback on them as I move forward. 

Deathwatch Codex Review: Part 1- Special Rules, Warlord Traits and Relics

Welcome to the first part of my review of the new Deathwatch codex. I picked my copy up this weekend and was eager to get started on reviewing what is new for the Deathwatch in 8th edition. 

This first part will look at the special rules, warlord traits and Relics available for the Deathwatch. The next part will take a look at the great new stratagems for the army.

I've also done a video codex review if you want to check that out in addition to the written review. 

Special Rules

And They Shall Know No Fear

The standard Marine rule allowing a unit to re-roll failed morale tests. Great for keeping smaller units relatively safe from the effects of morale, and giving larger units a bit of an edge against losing too many members to a failed morale test. With Ld 8 on Veterans and Ld 9 on the Sergeant, your units will be pretty free from the effects of morale in most cases. 

Special Issue Ammunition 

These are pretty much unchanged from the Index. You get four types of ammunition:

• Dragonfire Bolt- +1 to hit against units in cover. 
• Hellfire Round- Always wounds on a 2+, unless target is a Vehicle or Titanic
• Kraken Bolt- Add 6" to range (3" for Bolt Pistol) and increase AP by 1. 
• Vengeance Round- Subtract 6" from range (3" for Bolt Pistol) and increase AP by 2. 

These are mostly solid options. I'm still not sold on the Dragonfire Bolt. It could be useful against armies that get -1 to hit from their Chapter Tactics or special rules if they are in cover. However, the bonus to the save kind of balances out the bonus to hit. 

One of the big boost of the codex is that Special Issue Ammunition now applies to many of the weapons carried by Primaris Marines, as well as Storm Bolters on infantry. This is a huge bonus for Terminators and Primaris Marines. I'll go into more detail in the unit reviews, but the additional range and AP of Intercessors makes them a very strong option in the Deathwatch army now, thanks to access to special issue ammunition. 

Mission Tactics

These are essentially the Chapter Tactics of the Deathwatch army. You select a different battle field type at the start of the game (Troops, HQ, Elites, etc) and get to re-roll to wound rolls of 1 against enemy units with this battlefield type. 

This is a nice generic chapter tactics to have with the army and will apply to all Infantry, Dreadnoughts and Bikers, so much of the army. 

I'm not sure it is as powerful as some of the standard Space Marine ones in the codex. It has some nice general useability, but getting -1 to hit from shooting attacks, free re-rolls or the ability to fall back and still shoot would be very powerful for the Deathwatch. It should prove useful in practice though. 

Hobby Update 11/05/18- Dark Angels Shotgun Scouts

Today's hobby update is the final unit for my Dark Angels London GT army. These are a unit of 5 Scouts armed with Astartes Shotguns. 

With this unit completed, I just need to add my transfers to my squads for them to be completely finished. 

Battle Report 147- Dark Angels vs Necrons

This week's battle report sees another outing for my tournament Dark Angels army, this time facing the new Necron codex for the first time, commanded by Moz.

In this game, were were playing Kill Confirmed from the Chapter Approved Maelstrom of War missions, using Vanguard Strike deployment. This mission uses three cards per turn, and you cannot discard any cards that require you to kill an enemy unit. In addition, you earn a victory point for each enemy unit destroyed.

My Dark Angels army consisted of:

Battalion Detachment

Azrael (Az)

Primaris Lieutenant- Master-crafted Auto Bolt Rifle (L)

Primaris Ancient- Bolt Rifle (An)

5 Intercessors- Bolt Rifle (I1)

5 Intercessors- Bolt Rifle (I2)

5 Devastator Squad- Heavy Bolter, Bolters, Armorium Cherub (D)

5 Scouts- Bolters, Heavy Bolter (S1)

5 Scouts- Bolters, Heavy Bolter (S2)

5 Scouts- Bolt Pistols, Combat Knives (S3)

10 Hellbalsters- Plasma Incinerators (H)

Outrider Detachment

Sammael (S)

5 Black Knights- Plasma Talons, Corvus Hammers (BK)

4 Ravenwing Bikers- Flamer, Twin Bolters, Storm Bolter (RB1)

4 Ravenwing Bikers- Meltagun, Twin Bolters, Storm Bolter (RB2)
4 Ravenwing Bikers- Twin Bolters, Storm Bolter (RB3)

Ravenwing Darkshroud- Assault Cannon (D)

10 Command Points

After the recent FAQ, I dropped the Dark Talon from my list and added a third unit of Ravenwing Bikers. As much as I like the Dark Talon, I'm not sure it is worth 200 pts in my list. It has the potential to do a lot of damage, but it rarely survives past turn 1 in my games. Perhaps I am just playing it wrong and need more practice, but it didn't really bring much to my list.

Hobby Update 09/05/18- Azrael, Grand Master of the Dark Angels

Today's Hobby Update features my completed Azrael, Grand Master of the Dark Angels and leader of my army. 

Despite it's age, I still think this is a great model for the Dark Angels army. He is a bit smaller than a regular Marine now, but his awesome rules more than make up for his short stature. I really enjoyed working on this model, it was a lot of fun to paint. 

With this being my Warlord model, I spent a bit more time on it. In particular, I tried to add a bit more detail to his face. I think this was reasonably successful. I was worried it would look a bit goofy, but I don't think it turned out too bad. 

New Blog- UK 40k Tournaments

Today I wanted to introduce you to a new venture that I have decided to embark upon, a blog called UK 40k Tournaments. 

I frequently get asked where I find out about the tournaments that I attend and write about on the blog. Most of these come from Facebook or from speaking to other gamers and bloggers, but finding out about them can be quite random and just depends on whether they pop up in your feed. 

I decided to try and put together a resource for gamers in the UK to find out about events that are occurring across the country, so I made a new blog, UK 40k Tournaments. 

If you are a budding tournament novice or a seasoned tournament veteran, please check out the site and let me know what you think. I am hoping to grow this as a site that players will look to to find out about events in their area and provide links and information on the events.

One of the features of the blog I want to highlight is the tournament map section. This highlights all of the tournaments listed on the blog and gives you a quick way to find any events in your area. 

With that in mind, I'm asking readers and other bloggers to help me spread information on the new blog. Encourage your local TO to get in touch to provide information on their events. If you have any details on an event that you are attending, please let me know so that I can update it. 

If you have any suggestions on the format of the site, or what you would like to see, please let me know. You can contact me at uk40ktournaments@gmail.com

Hobby Update 07/05/18- Dark Angels Devastator Squad

Today's Hobby Update features my finished Dark Angels Devastator Squad. 

This unit was completed for my upcoming London GT army. The squad has a single Heavy Bolter and an Armorium Cherub (not pictured, as I need to get it done!). This was originally a Tactical Squad, but after the recent FAQ, I decided to make them a Devastator Squad. 

The reason for this is that the Signum on the Sergeant allows the Heavy Bolter to hit on a 2+. In addition, if I use the Hellfire Shells stratagem, the Heavy Bolter hits on a 2+ and gets to re-roll 1's to hit if the squad didn't move. In addition, I can use the Armorium Cherub to fire the stratagem again for no cost, doing 2D3 mortal wounds to a single target. 

Codex Deathwatch Reveals- Initial Thoughts

This week, there were several posts from Warhammer Community about the upcoming Deathwatch Codex. This is one that I am really looking forward to, as Deathwatch were one of my favourite armies at the end of 7th edition. 

I've been following the reveals with some interest, and here are my thoughts on what has been shown so far.

Special Issue Ammunition

These rounds look to be pretty much unchanged from their current incarnation. I would like to have seen a change to Dragonfire Bolts. These give you +1 to hit against units in cover. For me, the trade off of +1 to hit vs +1 to your opponent's save is pretty much a wash on Deathwatch Veterans. 

The big news is that Primaris Marines will be able to now use Special Issue Ammunition on their weapons. This is a huge boost, making their weapons even more powerful. Intercessors will be great with the special issue ammunition, thanks to their boosted range and -1AP on their Bolt Rifles. This will make the Dragonfire Bolts useful, giving you +1 to hit units in cover and effectively negating their cover save thanks to the Bolt Rifle. The other rounds will also be very useful, the Vengeance rounds giving you -3AP at 24" range! 

Unless Deathwatch Veterans get a big points reduction, I can see them being replaced by Primaris Intercessors in most armies, due to the extra wounds and attacks. As it is now, the Deathwatch Veteran is more expensive than the Primaris Marine. 

The only benefit of the Deathwatch Veterans will be their access to a wider range of wargear and transport options. 

Another reveal was the Tempest Shell stratagem. This is essentially Hellfire Shells, allowing you to do D3 mortal wounds with a Bolter weapon. This is a great boost, allowing most basic troops in the Deathwatch to do mortal wounds on the fly. 

Battle Report 146- Dark Angels vs Sister of Battle

This week's battle report sees my Dark Angels army take on Angus' Sisters of Battle in an ETC practice mission. 

The Eternal War mission was Resupply Drop. This was a slight modification of the normal mission, where four objectives are left at the end of the game. The maelstrom of war mission was Race to Victory. In this game, the first player to score 10 maelstrom cards stops the maelstrom mission. We were also using Search and Destroy deployment. 

My Dark Angels army consisted of:

Battalion Detachment

Azrael (Az)

Primaris Lieutenant- Master-crafted Auto Bolt Rifle (L)

Primaris Ancient- Bolt Rifle (An)

5 Intercessors- Bolt Rifle (I1)

5 Intercessors- Bolt Rifle (I2)

5 Tactical Squad- Heavy Bolter, Bolters (TS1)

5 Scouts- Bolters, Heavy Bolter (S1)

5 Scouts- Bolters, Heavy Bolter (S2)

5 Scouts- Bolt Pistols, Combat Knives (S3)

10 Hellbalsters- Plasma Incinerators (H)

Outrider Detachment

Sammael (S)

5 Black Knights- Plasma Talons, Corvus Hammers (BK)

3 Ravenwing Bikers- Flamer, Twin Bolters (RB1)

3 Ravenwing Bikers- Meltagun, Twin Bolters (RB2)

Ravenwing Darkshroud- Assault Cannon (D)

Dark Talon- Rift Cannon, two Hurricane Bolters (DT)

8 Command Points (this was pre-FAQ).