UKTC Oxford Super Major- Tournament Review Day 1

I recently attended the first Oxford Super Major held by the UKTC. This was a new event for 2024 in the area, and I was keen to try it out since it was so local to me. I decided to take my World Eaters, as I have been using them a lot recently in the club league and they are one of the most competitive armies that I currently own. 

Overall, I had a great time at the event. The venue was really nice and spacious. There was space on each table to place models, drinks, etc, and plenty of space to move around the hall and between tables, something that is not always the case at UKTC events. The event seemed to run really smoothly and I had some tough games, with no easy wins over the course of the weekend. 

The list I took was:

Angron

Master of Execution- Berserkers Glaive

Lord Invocatus

10 Berzerkers

Rhino

5 Berzerkers

5 Berzerkers

10 Jackals

10 Jackals

6 Exalted Eightbound

3 Exalted Eightbound

3 Eightbound

2 Chaos Spawn

I decided to take a second unit of Jackals for screening and move blocking purposes. I swapped out Kharn for the Master of Execution, as he is better into a lot of the meta units at the moment. 

Dark Angels Codex Review: Part 5- Relics of the Rock

This part of my Dark Angels 9th edition codex review will look at the relics available to the army. I will also look at the unique Special Issue Wargear for the army. 

Relics of the Rock

Mace of Redemption- A Power Maul or Crozius Arcanum that is Sx2, AP-3 and 2 damage. Each attack against a Fallen or Heretic Astartes unit, on an unmodified wound roll of 4+ inflicts 2 mortal wounds on the target and the attack sequence ends. 

A decent relic, but a bit situational with the bonus. Going up to S8 AP-3 and 2 damage on an Interrogator Chaplain is a solid bonus, especially after bonuses from litanies. If you want to go with a relic crozius on your Chaplain, you might be better off with the Benediction of Fury from the Marine Codex, but this is a pretty good alternative. 

Pennant of Rememberance- Deathwing Ancient only. In your command phase, select one Deathwing Infantry Core unit within 6". Until the start of the next command phase, subtract one from damage from attacks on the unit to a minimum of 1. 

A very powerful relic for the Deathwing Terminators. They are already pretty tough with the built in Transhuman Physiology and a 2+ armour save. Going to -1 damage is incredibly powerful on an already durable unit, so this will make them very hard to shift off of the table. 

Shroud of Heroes- Bearer gets -1 to hit from attack rolls. 

A nice bonus for keeping a character alive for a bit longer. Not sure I would go with it, but a decent option nonetheless. 

Reliquary of the Repentant- Ravenwing Biker model only. While an enemy unit is within 3" of the bearer, invulnerable saving throws are only passed on a 5+. 

An incredible ability that really neuters the invulnerable saves of enemy units. The short range is the only issue here, but a 6" bubble would be far too powerful. This would be strong on a melee character, such as a Ravenwing Champion or Chaplain on Bike. This should allow you to get a lot of damage in on enemy toughs with high invulnerable saves. More limited on using your firepower, unless you charge the character up into the enemy lines and probably lose them in the following turn. I think this is a very strong relic for the army. 

Foe-Smiter- A Storm Bolter that is 24", assault 4, S5, AP-1 and 2 damage. 

This is actually pretty strong against Marines. In Tactical Doctrine, you will be wounding on a 3+ at AP-2 and killing Marines. Pretty decent if you want some added firepower for your character, but I think there are better Relics. 

Eye of the Unseen- Enemy units within 6" are at -1 Ld. At the start of the Fight phase, any enemy Character units in engagement range of the bearer are not eligible to fight until all other eligible units from your army have fought. 

Another strong relic for a melee character. This stops enemy characters from targeting your units before you strike and have a chance to kill them. This also works well with Engulfing Fear, giving nearby enemy units -2 Ld. This makes failing morale more likely against a range of enemy units. 

Cup of Retribution- Chaplain only. Once per battle you can use this relic to automatically recite the Feast of Malediction litany instead of using another. This litany gives Dark Angels core units within 6" +1 attacks. 

Once per game, but a pretty good bonus for a number of melee units in the Dark Angels army. Combines with Shock Assault to give you some serious attack strength on the charge with this litany. Also very strong if you combine it with the litany of +1 to wound in melee. 

Special Issue Wargear

Heavenfall Blade- A power sword that is +2S, AP-4 and 2 damage. The bearer can make an additional attack with the weapon. 

A decent swap for a power sword. The extra attack, AP and damage could turn this character into a strong melee contender. Could be useful on the Ravenwing Champion, who is able to fight first against characters. 

Dark Angels Codex Review: Part 4- Interromancy Discipline

Part four of my 9th edition Dark Angels codex review will look at the Interromancy Discipline psychic powers that you can add to your army. 

Interromancy Discipline

Mind Worm (WC6)- Select one enemy unit within 18", he unit suffers 1 mortal wound. Until the start of the next psychic phase, that unit is not eligible to fight in the Fight phase until all eligible units from your army have done so. 

A pretty solid power. The extra mortal wound is nice, but forcing an enemy unit to fight last is really strong against certain army builds. This allows your combat units, such as Black Knights or Terminators, to ensure that they can attack without an enemy unit cutting them down before they get a chance to strike. 

Aversion (WC6)- Select an enemy unit within 24". While the unit is within 6" of the Psyker, subtract one from the attacks characteristic of that unit. Any time an attack is made by the unit, subtract 1 from the hit roll. 

A good power for de-buffing an enemy unit. Getting -1 to hit is not as strong as it once was, as these can no longer stack, but it can still be pretty powerful. Also strong against melee attacks, where -1 is more difficult to get. Reducing the attacks of the enemy unit is also strong. This doesn't specify reduce the attacks by 1 to a minimum of 1, but I expect this to come in the FAQ. If not, this is really powerful against standard infantry. 

This also stacks really well with the Line Unbreakable stratagem. Forcing only enemy models in engagement range to be able to attack, along with -1 to hit and -1 attack really hinders the damage output of an enemy unit and could help your psyker survive or other units survive a powerful enemy melee unit. 

Dark Angels Codex Review: Part 3- Warlord Traits

The third part of my Dark Angels Codex Review will look at the Warlord Traits available for the army. The Dark Angels have access to six standard traits, but also have additional Deathwing and Ravenwing traits to add to your army. 

Warlord Traits

Brilliant Strategist- In your command phase, select one friendly Dark Angels unit within 6" of the warlord. Until the start of the next command phase, the unit considers the previous doctrine to be active for the attack. i.e. if the unit is in the Tactical Doctrine, then the Devastator Doctrine is considered to be active for that attack. 

A decent trait for boosting the firepower of your units with selected weapons. It would be better if you could choose which doctrine was active for the unit, but there are stratagems that allow you to do this. Not one I think I would choose all that often, but could be useful with some army builds. It is not limited to core units, so your vehicles could benefit from this. 

Fury of the Lion (Aura)- When a Dark Angels unit is within 6" of the warlord, if this warlord made a charge move, was charged or performed a Heroic Intervention in this turn, add 2 to the strength characteristic of that unit. 

A solid warlord trait if your army is focused on assault. The one limitation is that your warlord has to have made a charge, so there is a risk you could fail the charge or your other units could fail a charge. Getting to wound most infantry on a 3+ is a big boost. This works better if you pair it with +1 to wound in combat from the Chaplain's litany. 

Dark Angels Codex Review: Part 2- Detachment Abilities

Part 2 of my Dark Angels Codex Supplement Review will take a look at the Detachment abilities that the army gains. 

General Abilities

Jink

Models in the unit have a 5+ invulnerable save against ranged attacks. In your movement phase, if the unit remains stationary, it loses the save until the start of the next movement phase. If the unit advances, they gain a 4+ invulnerable save. 

Ravenwing units in a Dark Angels detachment gain the Jink ability if they do not already have it. 

This is a bike boost for the mobile units in the army. In the index version, only selected Ravenwing (non-codex) units got this ability, but it has been expanded to include all Ravenwing units. This includes Bikes, Outriders, Attack Bikes and Landspeeders, to name a few. This gives the Ravenwing units a big boost in durability for no increased points cost, which is a pretty good deal! 

The Jink ability is also improved over previous versions, as you get it even if you don't get the first turn (a downside of the rule previously). This gives your Ravenwing unit a boost against enemy firepower, helping to survive the initial turn. 

A great rule, which has been improved further with the codex. 

9th Edition Maelstrom of War Review: Part 2- Stratagems and Missions

This part of the Maelstrom of War review will take a look at the stratagems and missions available in the new rules. 

Stratagems

The new rules have introduced four new stratagems to use in your maelstrom games. 

Fixed Determination (1CP)- Use at the start of the battle round, before generating Tactical Objectives. Select one of the Tactical Objectives that you generated in the previous battle round but did not score. That Tactical Objective is treated as having been generated for you this battle round and counts towards the limit of how many Tactical Objectives you generate in this battle round. 

A useful stratagem for ensuring that you can score big points in your turn. This reduces the chance of getting a random objective that you may not be able to achieve, and replace it with one that you are likely to score. For example, if you roll Tear Down Their Heroes or Cut off the Head in one turn and are not quite able to achieve it in one turn, but almost guaranteed to get it the following turn, such as removing the last model from a powerful unit or taking the last wound from a warlord or character. 

Probably not going to use it every game, but could certainly be useful to score points every once in a while. 

9th Edition Maelstrom of War Review: Part 1- Tactical Objectives

This weekend, I was able to pick up the new issue of White Dwarf with the new Maelstrom of War rules for 9th edition. I've been looking forward to this release since maelstrom was removed from the game. It was one of my favourite ways to play the game and I am glad to see it return. 

I'm going to take a look at the new rules and see how they compare. This first part will take a look at how the rules work and the six tactical objective categories that are given. 

Maelstrom of War

These rules once more simulate having to achieve random objectives each turn, this time through rolling on tables, rather than drawing cards. I am hoping that they release the cards in time, as it will save a lot of book keeping for both players as the game proceeds. 

There are 6 tactical objective categories that players can choose from in a mission. In most of the missions, each player selects three different tactical objective categories to draw from during the game; Objective categories Alpha, Beta and Gamma. 

At the start of the battle round, each player generates their specified number of tactical objectives (3 in most missions) by first rolling a D3 to determine whether the objective is drawn from the alpha, beta or gamma categories chosen. They then roll a D6 on the table to see which objective is active for their turn. 

Any duplicate objectives are re-rolled, as are any objectives that are unachievable- if your or your opponent's army lacks the keyword necessary to achieve the objective. 

As you can see, this process would be a lot easier with cards, but I think it will not take too long to get used to rolling for them in missions. You could even look to make your own cards to make things a bit easier. 

Each mission uses 6 objectives for a normal sized game, with each player placing three of them. Each objective marker must be wholly within your territory (your table half), but outside of your deployment zone. They cannot be within 3" of a table edge or within 12" of another objective. This forces players to move out, as they cannot simply sit in their deployment zone if they are going to go after the objectives. 

Dark Angels Codex Review: Part 1- Stratagems

Welcome to part 1 of my Dark Angels Codex Supplement Review, which will take a look at the stratagems available to the army. Not only do the 1st Company have access to all the stratagems in the main Space Marine codex, but they now have 17 additional stratagems with which to fight the enemies of the Emperor.

Stratagems

Wrath of the Lion (2CP)- Use in the command phase if a combat doctrine is active. Each time a Dark Angels model from your army makes an attack with a weapon specified in the active combat doctrine, an unmodified wound roll of a 6 improves the AP by 1. Cumulative with the active doctrine bonus. 

This is way too expensive. A one in six chance of getting an AP bonus on selected weapons is pretty poor, especially for 2CP. Might be useful if you really need to kill an enemy unit and it only cost 1CP, but I don't see this getting used that much. There are simply better stratagems to spend your CP on. 

Intractable (2CP)- Use in your movement phase when a unit falls back. The unit can still shoot. If they have the Inner Circle ability, they may fall back automatically and do not need to test. 

Now this is a stratagem definitely worth 2CP. The ability to fall back and shoot is great for most units in the game, especially since it is much more restricted with the changes to Fly. Being able to fall back with an Inner Circle unit is also a great bonus, without having to hinge on a Ld test. Capricious dice stopping your Terminators from falling back could ruin a battle plan, so having a guaranteed exit is probably worth it in some circumstances. 

Deathwing Assault (1CP)- Use when a Deathwing unit shoots. Add 1 to the wound roll if it was set up on the battlefield as a result of a Teleport Homer or Teleport Strike that turn. 

Another strong stratagem for the Deathwing. Getting +1 to wound on the turn they arrive with their Storm Bolters or Heavy Weapons is a great boost, allowing you to clear out enemy infantry with their massed firepower. Can be combined with Fury of the First for +1 to hit, making the unit even more effective on the turn that they deploy. 

2020 in Review- St Andrews Wargaming

Well, what a year this has been! 

I thought I would take a look back at the last 12 months to see my hobby progress and how the blog is progressing. Obviously, this has been a very different year for everyone, and has had a big impact on all aspects of life, including hobby work and output. 

Hobby Progress

This has been the year of the Primaris! Most of my hobby output this year has been adding Primaris models to my White Scars and Deathwatch army. The release of the awesome Indomitus boxed set provided a bunch of new units for both armies. 

Deathwatch Codex Reviews

 I've recently been posting some Deathwatch reviews on Frontline Gaming. You can find the links for the different sections below:

Stratagems Review

Warlord Traits Review

Xenopurge Discipline Review

Relics Review

Space Marine Codex Review: Part 2- Stratagems (second half)

Welcome to the second part of my Space Marine 9th edition codex review. This part will look at the second half of the stratagems available to the Space Marines. 

Stratagems

Skilled Riders (1CP)- Use when a Biker, Land Speeder or Storm Speeder unit that advanced is targeted by an enemy shooting attack. The unit is at -1 to hit. 

This stratagem went from an invulnerable save (moving or advancing) to -1 to hit. Still pretty useful in some circumstances, but the invulnerable save was much better. I think this should still help the durability of Bikers, especially as they got an extra wound. The only issue is that you need to advance. Sadly, the White Scars have currently lost the stratagem to advance and still shoot (with everything but assault weapons), so there is less use in advancing. Nice if you need to advance onto an objective and want to make it harder to shift the squad from it. 

Uncompromising Fire (2CP)- The unit can shoot and still perform an action. 

Pricey at 2CP, but well worth it in my opinion. This allows your unit to perform an action on an objective or in the centre of the board for your secondaries and still get to shoot with the unit, meaning they are not wasted sitting doing nothing. Very powerful in the right circumstances. Also great for holding the centre of the board with something like Flamer Aggressors and still getting to shoot to good effect. A key stratagem for the Marines. 

Steady Advance (2CP)- An infantry unit acts as stationary until the end of the turn, even if they moved. 

Again, pricey at 2CP. I think this would be amazing if Aggressors could still double shoot if stationary. I can still see a strong use for this for a number of units. Devastators in Drop Pods can now fire their heavy weapons with no penalty, as well as allowing other units to move and fire to full effect. Great for getting into position or grabbing objectives. Also useful on Stalker Pattern Bolters. I think this will be great on the Dark Angles, as you will be getting +1 to hit as well, meaning Devastators can arrive from a Drop Pod and hit on a 2+ with their heavy weapons. 

Space Marine Codex Review: Part 1- Stratagems (first half)

 Welcome to the first part of my Space Marine Codex review for 9th edition. As expected, Marines lead the charge with one of the first codexes for the new edition of the game. This first part of my review will take a look at the Stratagems available to the army. 

Stratagems

Space Marines have a plethora of great stratagems to choose from, stretching four pages in the new codex! This review will take a look at the first 17 stratagems on the first two pages. 

Death to the Traitors (1CP)- When making melee attacks against a Heretic Astartes unit, you can re-roll the hit roll. 

A decent bonus when you are playing against Chaos Space Marines. Situational, but I can see this coming in useful for my White Scars when coming up against Chaos.

Honour the Chapter (2CP)- Use at the end of the fight phase. An Assault Intercessor squad can fight again. 

This stratagem dropped to 2CP, but got a serious reduction in power, allowing it to only be used on Assault Intercessors. No more attacking with your Thunder Hammer smash Captain again if you didn't manage to kill off your target the first time round. Again, could be useful for my White Scars, but I don't see it getting used too often. Nice to get the reduction to 2CP. 

Fury of the First (1CP)- Add 1 to hit rolls for Terminator models in the shooting or fight phase. 

Quite useful for negating the effects of power fists or Thunder Hammers in a Terminator squad in combat. Also great for hitting with your Bolters on a 2+. Could be useful if you are running Terminators in your army, who are a lot better with the extra wound and bonus to armour saves from Storm Shields. 

New Space Marine FAQ

A new FAQ for the Space Marines had dropped today. This shakes up some of the more powerful Chapters and units in the game. 

I think most people can agree that the Space Marines have been dominant in the game since the release of the new codex and supplements. These new rules are an attempt to address some of these issues, let's take a look at how they are doing. 

Doctrines

This is a huge change for the rules and will have a big effect on a number of armies, most notably, the Iron Hands, who have been using the Devastator doctrine to very good effect. 

Space Marines now have the Devastator doctrine in turn 1, the Tactical Doctrine in turn 2, then in turn 3 can choose the Tactical or Assault Doctrine, and the Assault Doctrine from turn 4 onwards.  This new rule forces players to move through the Doctrines, so they cannot stick with the most powerful one for their army for most of the game. 

This is a big counter to the power of Iron Hands and Imperial Fists armies that were very powerful in the tournament setting. The ability to move and fire heavy weapons without penalty, as well as re-rolling 1's to hit was a massive boost for the firepower of Iron Hands armies in the game, getting this ability from turn 1 for the whole game made them one of the strongest armies in the game (in combination with a number of other abilities). 

Now, you get one turn with the bonus to your firepower, then must move into the Tactical Doctrine. Additionally, the Tactical Doctrine has become slightly less effective for the Raven Guard, as you can only get the bonus for a maximum of two turns. 

This actually makes armies that have a doctrine bonus in the Assault Doctrine a bit more powerful, as this is the doctrine you will be using the most in games. Depending on when you switch the doctrine, you have to spend around 50% of a standard game in the assault doctrine, or up to 70% in a seven turn game. 

White Scars Tournament Army Review: Warfare 2019

I recently attended Warfare 2019 with my White Scars army. I have been developing the force since the release of the new codex and supplement, and it was proving to be a powerful force on the table top. The event was 1750 pts, and featured 5 missions from Chapter Approved 2018, a mixture of eternal war and maelstrom missions. 

My army consisted of:

Battalion Detachment

Captain on Bike- Twin Bolter, Thunder Hammer, Storm Shield, Chogorian Storm, Master of Snares, Wrath of the Heavens

Librarian- Jump Pack, Force Stave, Mantle of the Stormseer, Ride the Winds, Storm-wreathed

5 Intercessors- Bolt Rifles, Bolt Pistols

5 Intercessors- Bolt Rifles, Bolt Pistols
5 Intercessors- Bolt Rifles, Bolt Pistols

5 Scouts Bikers- Twin Bolters, Shotguns, Combat Knives

Battalion Detachment

Captain- Jump Pack, Master-crafted Thunder Hammer, Storm Shield

Lieutenant- Jump Pack, Power Axe, MC Bolter

5 Scouts- Bolters

5 Scouts- Bolters

5 Scouts- Bolt Pistol, Combat Knives

Spearhead Detachment
Chaplain- Jump Pack, Crozius Arcanum, Bolt Pistol, Litan of Hate

10 Vanguard Veterans- 5 with 2 Chainswords, 5 with two Lightning Claws

5 Vanguard Veterans- Chainswords and Plasma Pistols
5 Devastators- Bolters, 2 Missile Launchers, Heavy Bolter
5 Devastators- Bolters, 2 Missile Launchers

Thunderfire Cannon- Techmarine Gunner with Flamer, Plasma Cutter, 2 Servo-arms

I'll take a look through the army and see what worked and what did not.

Captain on Bike
The Captain on Bike is one of the hard hitting combat units of the army. With the Wrath of the Heavens relic, he has incredible mobility on the battlefield, able to advance up to 22" and ignore intervening models and terrain in the movement phase.

With the ability to advance and still charge, this gives the Captain an incredible threat range on the tabletop. This allows him to get a first turn charge in most games, if I want him to. With the Chogorian Storm warlord trait and Shock Assault rules, this gives him between 6-8 attacks on the charge. This gives him incredible combat potential with the Thunder Hammer.

He was able to do a lot of damage on the charge in combat, dealing with many threats in the enemy army.

The Master of Snares ability is also very useful in games. It allows you to prevent enemy units from falling back from combat, keeping the Captain safe from enemy firepower in the enemy turn. You can also use his abilities to fall back and charge in your subsequent turn, thereby getting the most out of the Captain.

With using the Captain so aggressively, he can be slain by enemy army, giving up slay the warlord. However, he has a decent level of durability with the Storm Shield and T5, and can take on most threats in combat with ease.

St Andrews Wargaming- 2019 in review

I thought I would take a look back at the year of blogging in 2019 for St Andrews Wargaming, and seeing what the new year has in store.

Blogging
My blogging content has been down significantly in 2019. I posted 160 articles on the blog in 2018, compared to only 81 in 2019, a reduction of about 50%. These articles have been exclusively hobby updates, battle reports and codex reviews.

There are several reasons for this. One of the main ones is that I think blog interaction and views appear to be down across the board. I think a lot more readers are migrating to social media and Youtube channels to get their hobby content. This has left a lot of bloggers behind and I think my average article views are well down compared to a couple of years ago.

I think another issue is the way that GW have changed their release schedules and release practices. In previous years, Codex Reviews were a big draw to the blog, as people wanted to read about the new releases and new rules and units for an army. For much of 8th edition, GW have started giving advance copies of the codices to the bigger Youtube channels and websites. As a result, most people are getting their information about the new releases from those sources, weeks before anyone else can supply these highly sought after articles.

Another issue for me has been the increased release schedule of the new books. We have gone from one to two codices a year, to almost one a month with 8th edition. It can be hard to keep up do date with the reviews for just the armies that I have. For most of my reviews, I have focused on the special rules, warlord traits, psychic powers and stratagems, rather than reviewing each unit in turn. I have saved the more indepth reviews for my Frontline Gaming articles.

As I will discuss below, the battle reports have also been a time-consuming part of blogging. This has limited the number of posts I can put out.

Changes in my social life have also limited the amount of time I can spend on the blog. I started a new relationship this year and have taken up some hobbies that have cut down the time I can spend on blogging each week, which has helped contribute to the lower output this year.

Another aspect that I need to work on for the new year is interacting with other blogs. Potentially one of the reasons for the reduced readership and comments on the blog has been that I have also dropped off in reading blogs and commenting on other blogs. As I have said previously, interacting with other bloggers is a great way to keep the community going and get more people interested in your own blog. I've been trying to start this up again more recently, and hope to improve on this in the new year.

Many of the people I starting blogging around the same time as, and many of the blogs I used to follow on a regular basis have either stopped altogether or seen a dramatic reduction in their posts; Confessions of a 40k addict, The Burning Eye, From the Horus Heresy to Infinity and Beyond, From the Fang.

A big shout out to some recent bloggers who have taken up the mantle, producing great content most weeks; Stylus from the Woffboot Chronicles and Redtoof from Redtoof's mostly 40k blog.

I also want to call out some blogs that have continued to go from strength to strength; Old School Gaming, WeeMen and Cascadian Grimdark. If there are any other blogs you think I should be following, please leave a comment and let me know.

Many thanks to all of those that continue to read and comment on the blog on a regular basis, and for helping to keep my motivation up in the past year.

Surrey 40k Tournament: White Scars Army Review

I recently attended a three-game Eternal War tournament in Surrey with my White Scars. This is the first time I had taken them to a tournament since the start of 8th edition, and the new codex game them a lot of useful tools to use in a new list. 

In the tournament I managed two wins and a draw. I was really pleased with that, given how few practice games I had with the White Scars before going to the event. This article will take a look at the army and what changes and improvements I would make to the list for future events. 

My army consisted of:

My White Scars army consisted of:

Battalion Detachment

Khan on Bike- Twin Bolter, Khan's Spear, Chogorian Storm, Master of Snares, Wrath of the Heavens

Librarian- Jump Pack, Force Stave, Mantle of the Stormseer, Ride the Winds, Storm-wreathed

5 Tactical Marines- Bolters, Heavy Bolter

5 Tactical Marines- Bolters, Plasma Cannon

5 Tactical Marines- Bolters, Power Sword, Flamer

5 Scouts Bikers- Twin Bolters, Shotguns, Combat Knives

5 Bikers- Twin Bolters, 2 Meltaguns, Force Stave

5 Devastators- 4 Grav-cannons, Combi-grav

Rhino- Storm Bolter

Rhino- Storm Bolter

Drop Pod- Storm Bolter

Battalion Detachment

Captain- Bike, Twin Bolter, Teeth of Terra

Lieutenant- Jump Pack, Power Axe, MC Bolter

5 Scouts- Bolters

5 Scouts- Bolters

5 Scouts- Bolt Pistol, Combat Knives

10 Vanguard Veterans- 5 with 2 Chainswords, 5 with Chainsword and Plasma Pistol

5 Sternguard Veterans- Special Issue Bolters

Thunderfire Cannon- Techmarine Gunner with Flamer, Plasma Cutter, 2 Servo-arms

1750 pts.

This was not an optimal army by any means. It was simply some useful units that I had in my collection and some options that I wanted to try out with the new codex and supplement.

White Scars Codex Review: Part 2- Warlord Traits and Stormspeaking Discipline

Part 2 of my White Scars codex review looks at the new warlord traits and psychic powers available to the army. 

Warlord Traits

The codex supplement contains six new traits to help out your forces. 

Deadly Hunter- After your warlord finishes a charge move, select one enemy unit within 1". On a roll of a 2+, the unit suffers one mortal wound. 

Not the best trait available. The chance to do a mortal wound on an enemy units is a decent bonus, but there are better traits available to your warlord. 

Chogorian Storm- If your warlord makes a charge move or performs a heroic intervention, add D3 to their attacks until the end of the turn. 

One of my favourite traits for the White Scars. With Shock Assault, you will be getting D3+1 attacks on the charge. This really boosts the damage potential of your warlord, making them great with a number of weapons and relics that the army has access to. With the Teeth of Terra relic, you will be getting 8-10 attacks on the charge with a Captain. 

White Scars Codex Review: Part 1- Stratagems

The first part of my White Scars Codex supplement review will cover the new stratagems in the book. 

My own White Scars army has been sitting in the cupboard neglected for most of 8th edition, so I was hopeful the new rules will give them a new lease in life.

If you enjoy the content on the blog, you can follow me on Facebook to get notification on all reviews, hobby articles and battle reports. 

Stratagems

The White Scars get two new pages of stratagems to add to their flavour and strategies in the game. 

Born in the Saddle (1CP)- A Biker unit that advances can still shoot. 

A solid stratagem for the army that was present in the last codex. There are a number of great stratagems that give bonuses to the unit if they advance, so this is great to keep their shooting power up. Given that White Scars can now advance and still charge, this is a great boost for the Biker units in the army. 

Butchered Quarry (1CP)- When an enemy unit falls back from a White Scars Infantry or Biker unit, each model can make one attack with a melee weapon if there are no other enemy units within 1". If the enemy unit is not destroyed, they can fall back. The White Scars unit can then move 3" as long as they move closer to the enemy unit and not within 1". 

Not one that I'll probably use a lot. Only a single attack each limits the utility of the stratagem, so it is pretty useless on characters unless there is a single model left in the enemy unit. Could be useful for weak enemy units such as Guard or Genestealer Cults. 

Wind-Swift (2CP)- Use after a White Scars unit moves. The unit can move again. They can only advance if they did not advance as part of the first move. They may not shoot, charge or manifest psychic powers. 

Very useful for a Biker unit, or other fast moving unit. This gives bikes a move of 34" in a single turn. Great for grabbing or denying an objective, or getting linebreaker on the last turn. A bit pricey at 2CP, especially as you can't do anything after it, but could be useful once in a while. Not sure if this would stack with Born in the Saddle to allow you to shoot. 

Schemes of War- New Maelstrom Rules Review

July's White Dwarf saw some new rules for maelstrom of war released. These are a modification of the standard rules, allowing you to bring an element of deck building into your maelstrom games. This review will take a look at the new rules and see what they can add to your games of 40k. 

Anyone who follows the blog will be aware that I am a big fan of maelstrom missions. I think that they give any army a chance to compete in the game and reward tactical thinking in your games, as opposed to just "kill everything in your opponent's army". I was excited to see the new rules that were presented to see if they would improve the game further (thanks to Doug for making me aware of the new rules in White Dwarf!). 

Schemes of War

Constructing Your Deck

When fighting a maelstrom of war mission, you must construct an objective deck, made up of 18 Tactical Objective cards. No more than one copy of each uniquely named Tactical Objective may be included in the deck. 

The new rules means that you are playing with half of the maelstrom deck in your hand. This allows you to choose the optimal cards that your army can achieve during each game, better suiting your army composition and playstyle. You can only take one of each unique card, so this only really applies to "Secure Objective x" cards, as there are two of these in each deck. This stops you from loading up on securing objective cards, though you can still take the set of 6 Secure and Defend Objective cards to play the objective game. 

North East Open Tournament- Army Review and Tournament Review

Welcome to my review of my Deathwatch army from the recent North East Open tournament. This will look at how the army performed and what changes I could make to the force in order to try and improve my performance. I will also be reviewing the tournament itself, taking a look at what was great about the event and which areas could use improvement. 

Deathwatch Army Review

My Deathwatch army consisted of:

Battalion Detachment

Deathwatch Watch Master- Guardian Spear

Watch Captain- Jump Pack, Thunder Hammer, Bolt Pistol, Storm Shield

9 Deathwatch Veterans- 9 Storm Bolters, 2 Storm Shields, Chainswords, Vanguard Veteran- Bolt Pistol, Storm Shield

10 Intercessors- Bolt Rifles, Bolt Pistols

5 Veterans- 2 Missile Launchers, 3 Stalker Bolters, Chainswords, Terminator- Power Fist, Storm Bolter, Cyclone Missile Launcher 

5 Veterans- 2 Frag Cannons, 3 Shotguns, Storm Shield 

5 Veterans- Missile Launcher, 2 Heavy Bolters, Bolters, Terminator, Power Fist, Assault Cannon

10 Veterans- 6 Bolters, Meltagun, 3 Combi-Meltas, chainswords 

Rhino- Two Storm Bolters 

Rhino- Two Storm Bolters 

Razorback- Twin Lascannon, Storm Bolter

Outrider Detachment

Watch Captain- Jump Pack, Relic Blade, Bolt Pistol, Lord of Hidden Knowledge (warlord trait), The Tome of Ectoclades (Relic)

4 Bikers- Twin Bolters, Sergeant with Storm Bolter and Storm Shield, Chainswords 

4 Bikers- Twin Bolters, Sergeant with Storm Bolter and Storm Shield, Chainswords 

4 Bikers- Twin Bolters, Sergeant with Storm Bolter and Storm Shield, Chainswords

The tournament did not allow double detachments, otherwise I would have started with a couple of Battalions to give me access to more command points. As it was, I started with 9 command points, but only 6 really after using the three command points on the Teleportarium stratagem that I need to use to get my reserves set up.

HQ Units
The army featured a Watch Master and two Watch Captains with Jump Packs.

The Watch Captain is still a solid addition to the army. He provides some great re-roll buffs to the force and tends to shadow the Storm Bolter Veterans, and the Meltagun Veterans in this list.

The Smash Watch Captain is also a nice addition to the list. He provides some strong melee support for the army, able to do a lot of damage to an enemy unit in combat and has some decent durability thanks to the Storm Shield.

The final Watch Captain tended to hang back with my firebase. With the Tome of Ectoclades, I could pick the key Mission Tactics re-rolls for my anti-tank firepower each turn, as well as getting re-rolls of 1's to hit in the shooting phase. As my warlord, he was able to stay relatively safe at the back of my deployment zone, but has the mobility with his Jump Pack to move out and threaten the enemy army if necessary.

I would consider making the Smash Captain the warlord and give him the trait that makes his Thunder Hammer 4 damage. Coupled with the +1 to wound stratagem, this may give him some strong combat ability to go after Knights or other enemy vehicles.

Kill Teams
The Storm Bolter Kill Team is a key part of the army. The firepower that this unit can put out is incredible, able to decimate most enemy units with ease. With re-rolls to wound and the +1 to wound stratagem, they can do a lot of damage to an enemy Knight warlord if you can position them right.

I would probably look to add more Storm Shields to the unit. They are cheap enough to equip everyone in the squad and give me some very strong defensive abilities against units such as the Castellan.

In a change from my normal gameplay, I chose to keep the Intercessors on the board in all three of my games. I normally put these in the Teleportarium at the start of the game. However, I decided to have the Meltagun kill team take the second spot in this tournament. The change to the Bolter rules meant that the Intercessors could still put out a lot of strong firepower at ranges up to 36", so there was good use for them in my games. I would consider adding another squad to help me grab objectives and give some strong firepower in the future.

In this list, I added a Kill Team with 4 Meltaguns in order to give me some anti-tank firepower. I thought they would help me to take on Knights and finally do some damage to them. However, this proved to be much less effective than I had hoped for. The ability to easily access a 3+ invulnerable save on a key Knight means that single shot anti-tank weapons are much less effective than they should be. In order to have a decent shot, I would probably need to go for a whole squad of combi-Meltas, which would get ridiculously expensive. Plus, they would only get one turn of shooting before being targeted and eliminated with ease in most cases.

The Missile Launcher Kill Team was also a new variation. With the reduction in points for the Cyclone Missile Launcher Terminator, he is now a good addition to the army, giving the squad four Missile Launcher shots, as well as a 2+ save against small arms fire. The squad performed pretty reasonably, able to take on a number of vehicle threats. However, any invulnerable saves still prove difficult for them to take on.

The Heavy Bolter Kill Team was a new addition. I took these to allow me to use the Hellfire Shells stratagem, giving me the chance to do more mortal wounds to tough enemy targets. This squad was ok, but didn't really do much in my games. The lack of command points in the force meant I couldn't use the mortal wounds stratagems too often, limiting their use in my games.