Warhammer 40k Video Battle Report- Space Marines vs Astra Militarum

Today, I have another video battle report for you. My White Scars Space Marines take on Angus' Astra Militarum in a maelstrom of war mission. 

St Andrews Wargaming on Warhammer Community!

I've just had an article go up on the Warhammer Community page! 

I was contacted a few months ago to see if I would be interested to write an article for the Warhammer Community page. After thinking about it for a nanosecond, of course I accepted. I wrote up the article you an now read on the page about one of my favourite ways to play the game, maelstrom of war. 

I honestly never thought it was going to be posted, it had been so long. But with a long release schedule, it finally went up today. To say I am happy about this is an extreme understatement! 

Battle Report 166- Dark Angels vs Space Wolves

This week's battle report sees two ancient adversaries take to the battlefield, as my Dark Angels take on Ben's Space Wolves in a 2000 pts maelstrom of war game. 

This game was played just after the new FAQ dropped, so we didn't use the new rules as we hadn't had a chance to go through them in detail. We played the Race to Victory maelstrom mission. This is where the game ends when the first player reaches 10 cards scored. 

My army consisted of:

Battalion Detachment

Primaris Master- Power Sword, Master-crafted Auto Bolt Rifle, Brilliant Strategist (M)

Ravenwing Talonmaster- Twin Assault Cannon, Twin Heavy Bolter, Heavenfall Blade (T)

10 Intercessors- Bolt Rifles (I)

5 Scouts- Bolters, Sergeant has Chainsword (S1)

5 Scouts- Bolters, Heavy Bolter, Sergeant has Chainsword (S2)

5 Devastators- Heavy Bolter, Armorium Cherub (D)

Ravenwing Landspeeder- Heavy Bolter, Assault Cannon (L1)

Ravenwing Landspeeder- Heavy Bolter, Assault Cannon (L2)

Outrider Detachment

Sammael (S)

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

Ravenwing Ancient (An)

Ravenwing Apothecary (Ap)

Darkshroud- Heavy Bolter (DS)

5 Ravenwing Bikers- Twin Bolters, 2 Meltaguns (RB)

A bit of a different force for me to try out with my Dark Angels. I decided not to take Azrael and the Hellblasters (my favourite 80s prog rock band), they are pretty much an auto-include, but I wanted to try out something different.
I thought I would go with a heavy Ravenwing contingent, backed up by some Scouts and Primaris Marines. I made the Primaris Master my warlord, he would go to the back and buff the nearby squads, while trying to keep safe from the enemy army. I took a big unit of Intercessors. The -1 AP on their weapons should help against other power armour. Big squads don't worry the Dark Angels, as they can't lose more than one to a failed morale test. I also added a couple of units of Scouts and a unit of Devastators for the Hellfire Shells stratagem.

For the Ravenwing contingent, the force was led by Sammael and a Talonmaster. Sammael is great for buffing the nearby Ravenwing units, as well as being pretty good in combat, which should be handy against the Space Wolves.

I haven't really used the Talonmaster much, so wanted to see how he would perform in the list. His Twin Heavy Bolter and Twin Assault Cannon should be of use, I also gave him the Heavenfall Blade to help him out in combat too.

I decided to take a big unit of Black Knights, backed up by a Ravenwing Apothecary and Ravenwing Ancient. I was hoping the Plasma could take care of any Space Wolves, while using the Apothecary and Ancient to buff the unit in combat and keep them alive for longer.

I wanted to try out some Landspeeders too. I had heard some good things about them, so wanted to see if their mobility and firepower was worth taking in my army.

Army Showcase- Ricki's Blades of Caliban

Today I have another Army Showcase for you, with Ricki's Blades of Caliban Dark Angels force. 

I spotted this army on one of the 40k facebook groups and was blown away by how impressive it is. I quickly contacted Ricki to see if I could feature it and ask some questions about how the army came together. This initial force is part of an escalation league he is taking part in, and I cannot wait to see how the army progresses in the coming months. 

Here are Ricki's answers to my questions:

1. Why did you start the army?

For the past few years I have been primarily an Age of Sigmar player, having stopped playing Warhammer 40,000 midway through 7th edition as I sought the more narrative and open structure of Age of Sigmar to indulge my own personal obsession with conversion-based, narrative armies rather than the more competitive matched play scene perpetuated by Warhammer 40,000 in my area (entirely anecdotal of course). With my brother getting back into the Warhammer universe and picking up 40,000, and a friend nearby looking to start gaming for the very first time who also preferred the lore behind 40k, it seemed like a natural start point for me to rejoin the far future and put my Age of Sigmar projects temporarily on hold.

2018 Big FAQ 2 Review video

Hi everyone, I've put together a review video of the Big FAQ 2 that was released on Friday. This features some expanded thoughts of my written review article that I posted yesterday. Hope you enjoy!

Big FAQ Sept 2018 Review

The September big FAQ dropped yesterday to the joy and lament of 40k players everywhere. Like many others all over the internet, I'm going to do an analysis of the changes to the game, and what it might mean for my own armies. 

The Big FAQ 2

Battle Brothers, Psychic Focus and the Character targeting rules are now official and no longer beta. I think most players could see this coming, so no big surprise there. 

Even with the change to Battle Brothers, Imperial armies are still incredibly strong, able to gain access to cheap brigades and battalions to rack up the command points. This still makes them incredibly strong in the current game. 

No real change for me here, as I don't really play Smite-heavy armies or run many mixed forces in my games. 

Tactical Reserves

The biggest change here is that no units may arrive from reserve on turn 1. This is quite a big change for many armies in the game. 

One thing that immediately sprung to mind was no more "hiding" Dark Reapers or Ravagers in reserve to stop them being shot at in turn 1. Your Aeldari opponent will now have to start them on the table from turn 1 (and potentially vulnerable), or wait to turn 2 to use them. With a fast moving army, you can potentially block off a lot of area of the board and restrict the reserves arrival of more powerful enemy units, even if you didn't get the first turn now.

The change also restricts you to half the number of units and up to half the points total in reserve now. I think the change from power level to points level was expected, and I'm surprised they didn't do it from the start. I may be wrong, but I don't think many players used power level regularly in games, so points make more sense. In addition, points are now being updated in Chapter Approved, whereas power levels seem to be staying as they are, so this makes it easier to adjust the army to cope with changes to the game.

My White Scars and Deathwatch may be affected by this change. I would sometimes bring my reserve units down on turn 1, depending on how aggressively my opponent was playing. It didn't happen too often, but it was a useful tactical choice to have. However, I used it so rarely that I don't think it will really have an effect on how I use these armies.

This change to the rule will probably hit my Genestealer Cults the hardest until the new codex comes out. No longer being able to arrive from reserve and assault on turn 1 is a big deal for the Genestealer Cults. This was one of the few things the Cult had going for them in terms of special rules. While this will probably be sorted in the codex, it will be a long few months of using the Cult in the mean time. They simply don't have a lot of durably infantry units that can start on the board and potentially survive 2 turns of the enemy shooting.

The Cult are one of the few armies that needs most of its strength in reserve to get into combat. Their transports are expensive and not too durable, and their infantry are basically Guardsmen when it comes to enemy guns and will melt away long before they get into combat.

The change from power level to points shouldn't have too much of an influence. In my recent video battle report, my units in reserve totalled around 950 pts, so I wouldn't have been able to put much more in reserve anyway.

Space Wolves Codex Review: Part 2- Warlord Traits, Relics and Psychic Powers

Part 2 of my Space Wolves codex review will take a look at the Warlord traits, Relics and Psychic Powers in the new codex. 

Warlord Traits

The Space Wolves warlord traits are different from most other warlord traits in the codexes. The ability is always active on the warlord. However, by completing special conditions, the warlord trait turns into a 6" bubble, granting the effect to all nearby Space Wolves units. This gives you the ability to provide further additional buffs from your warlord to boost nearby units. 

Saga of the Warrior Born

You can always choose to fight first in the Fight phase. If an enemy unit charged or has a similar ability, alternate which units can fight, staring with the player whose turn it is. To activate the Saga, your warlord must kill an enemy Character. 

This provides a powerful ability for your warlord, giving you a free interrupt essentially in a protracted combat. It is pretty easy to activate, given that most Space Wolves characters are likely to be buffed up for combat. It should also be reasonably easy to activate against most opponents if they have weaker buff characters that can be targeted. 

Once the saga is activated, this gives your nearby units a huge boost in protracted combats, essentially allowing you to strike before most enemy units and do a lot of damage before they can be chosen. 

Saga of the Wolfin

Add 1 to the attacks characteristic of units in the Fight phase if they charged, were charged or performed a heroic intervention in the same turn. To activate the saga, your warlord must kill 5 models in the Fight phase (keep a rolling total). 

Again, a nice boost for your warlord, who is likely to be armed for combat. The combination of +1 attacks and +1 to hit on charging or being charged is a great bonus, turning your warlord into a potent combat machine. When this activates, you are going to get a lot of bonus attacks for nearby units. Strong units such as Thunderwolf Cavalry and Wulfen are going to chew through enemy units with this activated. Should be pretty easy for your warlord to achieve after a couple of Fight phases against most enemy units. 

Space Wolves Codex Review: Part 1- Stratagems

Welcome to the first part of my Space Wolves codex review, looking at the new stratagems available to the army. 

For this codex, I am not planning to do a full codex review. I will simply be looking at the generic army special rules, such as stratagems, psychic powers, warlord traits, etc in the book. 

Stratagems

The Space Wolves have a whole host of new stratagems to boost their effectiveness on the tabletop, as well as some of the common Space Marine ones that other Chapters have access to. 

I'm only going to look at some of the Space Wolves specific stratagem, as I have covered most of the basic Marines stratagems in my Space Marine Codex review. 

Overwhelming Impetuosity (1CP)
Use at the start of the Fight phase on a Blood Claws unit that successfully charged this turn and is within 1" of an enemy unit with a higher power rating. You can re-roll all failed hits for the Blood Claws unit that targets that unit.

A decent stratagem for only 1CP. You get full re-rolls to hit against one specific enemy unit. With the +1 to hit from the Space Wolves' Chapter Tactic, this should give you a lot of hits in combat. You can only use it against enemy units with a higher power rating, so may be too powerful for the Blood Claws or difficult to get one if you have a big unit. It also might be difficult to remember which enemy units have a higher power level.

Cloaked by the Storm (3CP)
Use in the psychic phase. Select a Rune Priest that successfully manifest a psychic power. All units within 6" are at -1 to hit when targeted by enemy units with ranged weapons.

This is an expensive stratagem at 3CP, but could be very powerful in the right circumstances. Normally these types of stratagems cost 2CP and only affect a single unit. However, with a 6" bubble on the Rune Priest, this has the potential to affect several enemy units for a single turn and well be worth the 3CP cost to use it. It does rely on you successfully manifesting a psychic power, but you can wait to see if successful before using it, so as not to waste the command points.
This would suit a rune priest supporting a gun line to help keep them safer from enemy firepower and the range should allow him to protect a large number of units. At 3CP, you won't be able to use this for very long before running out of command points.

Video Battle Report- Genestealer Cults vs Night Lords

Today, I have another video battle report for you to enjoy. In this game, my Genestealer Cults army takes on Mike's force of Night Lords Chaos Space Marine army. 

This game was played at the weekend on my new cityfight mat and terrain. We were playing the maelstrom of war mission, Targets of Opportunity in a fun and casual game. 

I'm still trying to improve the video battle reports, so if you have any comments or suggestions, please let me know!

Hobby Update 21/09/18- Sector Imperialis ruins

Another hobby update this week, with the final set of ruins for my new cityfight board. For the final three pieces, I have a ruined tower, a large manufactorum building and a city fountain.