Dark Artisan Open ITC Tournament: Game 2- Deathwatch vs Astra Militarum

Game 2 of the Dark Artisan Open ITC tournament would see my Deathwatch take on Sebastian's Astra Militarum army, featuring three Baneblade variants. This would be a tough match up for my Deathwatch!

The second mission was Beachhead. In this game, there is a central objective and one objective in each player deployment zone. At the start of your turn (starting on round 2), you score points for each objective held; one for the one in your deployment zone, two for the central objective and three for your opponent's objective. 

My army consisted of:

Battalion Detachment

Watch Captain- Castellan of the Black Vault (warlord trait), Jump Pack, Storm Shield, Thunder Hammer

Watch Master- Guardian Spear, the Tome of Ectoclades

5 Intercessors- Bolt Rifles, Bolt Pistols

5 Intercessors- Bolt Rifles, Bolt Pistols

Kill Team 1- 7 Veterans- Storm Bolters, Chainswords, 2 Storm Shields, Biker with Twin Bolter, Chainsword, Vanguard Veteran with Storm Shield and Bolt Pistol, Terminator with Power Fist and Storm Bolter

Kill Team 2- 7 Veterans- 3 Combi-Meltas, Meltagun, Chainswords, 3 Storm Shields, Biker with Twin Bolter, Chainsword, Vanguard Veteran with Chainsword and Bolt Pistol, Terminator with Power Fist and Storm Bolter

5 Veterans- 2 Missile Launchers, Storm Shield, 3 Stalker Bolters, Chainswords

5 Veterans- 2 Missile Launchers, Heavy Bolter, 2 Stalker Bolters, Chainswords

5 Vanguard Veterans- Bolt Pistols, Chainswords, Hand Flamer

Razorback- Twin Lascannon, Storm Bolter

Outrider Detachment

Librarian- Jump Pack, Force Sword, Bolt Pistol, Null Zone, Might of Heroes

4 Bikers- Twin Bolters, Chainswords, Sergeant has Storm Bolter and Storm Shield, Teleport Homer

3 Bikers- Twin Bolters, Chainswords, Sergeant has Storm Bolter and Storm Shield, Teleport Homer

3 Bikers- Twin Bolters, Chainswords, Teleport Homer

A fairly standard force for my Deathwatch. I decided to take two full Kill Teams, with a Terminator, Vanguard Veteran and Biker in each one to give me lots of options for falling back from combat and still staying active. I also added a couple of Veteran squads with Missile Launchers and Stalker Bolters for long range firepower, as well as a single Heavy Bolter to use the Hellfire Shells stratagem, and a Razorback for some anti-tank firepower. 

I took the Outrider for the extra CP. I decided to try the Librarian, as his powers would be of use to the Watch Captain. I took three units of Bikers. These should be useful for going after objectives and adding some strong firepower to the army. 

Dark Artisan Open ITC Tournament: Game 1- Deathwatch vs Necrons

Welcome to my first battle report from the recent Dark Artisan Open ITC tournament that I attended. This was a 5 game, two day event, to which I took my Deathwatch army. 

The tournament had some strong restrictions for army selection. It was 1750 pts, mono-faction, so no soup or allies at this event. Detachments were also limited to a single Battalion or Brigade and up to two other of the smaller detachments. 

I like this format, as I tend to run mono-faction armies myself, so was glad my Deathwatch would be on a level playing field at this event. I would have liked to have run a double Battalion for extra CP, but would need to make do with a reduced number of CP. 

The first mission of the day was Visions of Victory, facing off against Robert's Necrons. This is the mission where you draw four cards per turn. For every card activate, you draw two and your opponent gets to decide which one you keep. This means that you will likely be getting a lot of tough to achieve objectives during the course of the game. 

Note, this tournament was held before the release of the new Space Marine codex, so shock assault, drop pod rules, etc, were not in effect. 

My army consisted of:

Battalion Detachment

Watch Captain- Castellan of the Black Vault (warlord trait), Jump Pack, Storm Shield, Thunder Hammer

Watch Master- Guardian Spear, the Tome of Ectoclades

5 Intercessors- Bolt Rifles, Bolt Pistols

5 Intercessors- Bolt Rifles, Bolt Pistols

Kill Team 1- 7 Veterans- Storm Bolters, Chainswords, 2 Storm Shields, Biker with Twin Bolter, Chainsword, Vanguard Veteran with Storm Shield and Bolt Pistol, Terminator with Power Fist and Storm Bolter

Kill Team 2- 7 Veterans- 3 Combi-Meltas, Meltagun, Chainswords, 3 Storm Shields, Biker with Twin Bolter, Chainsword, Vanguard Veteran with Chainsword and Bolt Pistol, Terminator with Power Fist and Storm Bolter

5 Veterans- 2 Missile Launchers, Storm Shield, 3 Stalker Bolters, Chainswords

5 Veterans- 2 Missile Launchers, Heavy Bolter, 2 Stalker Bolters, Chainswords

5 Vanguard Veterans- Bolt Pistols, Chainswords, Hand Flamer

Razorback- Twin Lascannon, Storm Bolter

Outrider Detachment

Librarian- Jump Pack, Force Sword, Bolt Pistol, Null Zone, Might of Heroes

4 Bikers- Twin Bolters, Chainswords, Sergeant has Storm Bolter and Storm Shield, Teleport Homer

3 Bikers- Twin Bolters, Chainswords, Sergeant has Storm Bolter and Storm Shield, Teleport Homer

3 Bikers- Twin Bolters, Chainswords, Teleport Homer

A fairly standard force for my Deathwatch. I decided to take two full Kill Teams, with a Terminator, Vanguard Veteran and Biker in each one to give me lots of options for falling back from combat and still staying active. I also added a couple of Veteran squads with Missile Launchers and Stalker Bolters for long range firepower, as well as a single Heavy Bolter to use the Hellfire Shells stratagem, and a Razorback for some anti-tank firepower. 

I took the Outrider for the extra CP. I decided to try the Librarian, as his powers would be of use to the Watch Captain. I took three units of Bikers. These should be useful for going after objectives and adding some strong firepower to the army. 

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.

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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. 

Army Showcase- David's Sons of Medusa

This army showcase features David's Sons of Medusa, an Iron Hands successor chapter. David recently played me in a battle report, and has a great themed force that I wanted to show off.

The army features a number of nice conversions, mixing Space Marine and Ad Mech parts to create a lovely themed and unique force. 

40k Battle Report 184- Genestealer Cults vs Salamanders Space Marines

This week's battle report sees my Genestealer Cults take on Chris' Salamanders Space Marine army in a maelstrom of war mission. This game was played after some of the reveals for the new Space Marine codex, so we decided to incorporate some of the new rules into this game. We would be using the updated Salamanders Chapter Tactics, as well as the Shock Assault rule. 

We were playing a simple Cleanse and Capture mission (3 cards per turn). 

My army consisted of:

Battalion Detachment (Rusted Claw)

Jackal Alphus- Sniper Rifle

Magus- Force Stave, Mind Control, Might From Beyond

Sanctus- Sniper Rifle, A Gift From Beyond

10 Neophyte Hybrids- Autoguns, 2 Mining Lasers, Grenade Launcher

10 Neophyte Hybrids- Autoguns, Heavy Stubber, Grenade Launcher

10 Neophyte Hybrids- Shotguns, 2 Flamers

Atalan Jackals- Shotguns, 4 Demolition Charges, Wolfquad with Atalan Incinerator

Goliath Truck- Twin Autocannon, Heavy Stubber

Brood Brothers Heavy Weapons Team- Mortars

Battalion Detachment (Cult of the Four Armed Emperor, Deliverance Broodsurge)

Acolyte Iconward- Rending Claw, Autopistol, Cultist Knife, Icon of the Cult Ascendent, Augur of the Insurgent (warlord trait)

Magus- Force Stave, Mass Hypnosis, Psionic Blast, Inscrutable Cunning (warlord trait)

Primus- Bonesword, Needle Pistol, Alien Majesty (warlord trait)

Clamavus- Autopistol

20 Acolyte Hybrids- Rending Claws, Cultist Knives, Autopistols, 2 Heavy Rock Saws, 2 Heavy Rock Drills

10 Acolyte Hybrids- Rending Claws, Cultist Knives, Autopistols, 2 Heavy Rock Drills

10 Acolyte Hybrids- Rending Claws, Cultist Knives, Autopistols, 4 Heavy Rock Cutters

Vanguard Detachment (Cult of the Four Armed Emperor)

Patriarch- 2 Familiars, Mental Onslaught, Might From Beyond, Biomorph Adaptation (warlord trait)

Primus- Bonesword, Needle Pistol

Clamavus- Autopistol

Nexos- Autopistol

8 Abberrants- 4 Heavy Rock Hammers, 4 Power Picks, Rending Claws

10 Purestrain Genestealers

I decided to go for a couple of Cult Creeds for the army, as well as trying out the Devilerance Broodsurge Vigilus specialist detachment for the first time. 

I made one Battalion Rusted Claw. This gives the units in it +1 save against AP0 or AP-1 weapons, boosting the armour save of most units to 4+ (or 3+ in cover). This is generally the units I will deploy on the board, as the ground forces before my ambushing reserves come in. This contains three squads of Neophyte Hybrids, with some heavy weapons for fire support. It also includes the Atalan Jackals and Jackal Alphus. These units get to benefit from the Rusted Claw stratagem, allowing me to throw grenades at +1 to hit and +1 to wound, making the demolition charges very powerful. 

For the other two detachments, I took the Cult of the Four Armed Emperor, giving me +1 to charge and advance rolls on the turn that I arrive from reserve. The Battalion was also Deliverance Broodsurge, allowing me to re-roll charge rolls within 6" of the Acolyte Iconward (thanks to his Field Commander Warlord Trait). Combined with the Clamavus and Cult Creed, this gives me a 7" re-rollable charge from ambush reserves. This is a huge boost for the cult units, helping to ensure that they get into combat on the turn they arrive. 

I was able to take four warlord traits thanks to the Field Commander and Broodcoven stratagems. Combined with the Specialist Detachment and extra relic, this gave me 10 command points to start the game with, having used four already. One of my warlord traits gave me D3 extra CP, and I was fortunate enough to roll 3 for this, giving me 13 to start the game. 

I then took a unit of Aberrants and Genestealers to be the hard hitters in my army. These units should hopefully do a fair bit of damage to the Marines in combat. 

Space Marine New Units- My Thoughts

Another day, another big set of reveals for the new Space Marine codex. Today, the Warhammer Community page released a whole host of information on new units in the codex. Here are some thoughts on what they previewed. 

Incursor Squad

A new unit for the Space Marines, these seem to be a new addition to the Vanguard forces that have already been released. The squad comes armed with the Occulus Bolt Rifle. Based on the existing profile for the Master-Crafted Occulus Bolt Rifle, this is most likely 24", Rapid Fire 1, S4, AP0, 1 damage, and ignores cover. This is similar to a standard Boltgun, so will be good against most standard infantry. 

The squad do not suffer any penalties to hit, so will be able to lay down a lot of accurate firepower. This is a nice bonus against a range of squads, but as GW appear to be scaling back the ability to get -1 to hit on units, you may not see as much use out of this as you might currently. 

They also come with Paired Combat Blades. This gives you an extra hit on each roll of a 6 to hit in combat. With 3 attacks on the charge (most likely), you should get an extra hit for every 2 models that attack. I would prefer a combat blade for the extra attack always, but you don't tend to get these on firepower squads anyway. 

They also have haywire Mines, allowing you to cause D3 mortal wounds to enemy units that move in range (or D3+1 if they are a vehicle). This allows you to lay down some booby traps to hurt the enemy if they move into range. This is going to be a serious prospect for small units, such as other Marines, but will probably not bother large units too much. 

I think this sounds like a decent unit, but not essential at the moment. The ability to shut down enemy reserves with the Infiltrators seems like more of a bonus. Useful if you are facing a lot of armies with negative modifiers to hit. Maybe the full codex will give additional rules or stratagems to make these guys more useful. 

Space Marine Chapter Tactics Reveals- My Thoughts

The updated Chapter Tactics for the Space Marines were revealed on Warhammer Community yesterday. I had a look at the new traits for the Marines and am very excited by what this might mean for the codex. 

First off, it appears that vehicles will now be getting access to the Chapter Tactics as well from now on. This will be a nice boost for them, as most other armies' vehicles were getting access to their own version, so it's nice to see Marines brought up to date with this. This will give some of them a nice boost to their firepower and durability. 

The Ultramarines Chapter Tactic was pretty much unchanged. As it was arguably one of the best in the old codex, this isn't too bad. What is a big change is that vehicles will now benefit from being able to fall back and still shoot. This is a big boost for many tough vehicles such as Predators or Land Raiders, as they will still be able to put out a decent level of firepower when falling back from combat. It will also be even harder to shut down their firepower, as you will need to surround them and stop them from falling back to block their firepower completely. 

Blog Update

Hi everyone, just wanted to update you all on what is coming up with the blog. The content has been a little light recently for a number of reasons. First up, I am in the process of moving house, so have been busy with that, and have most of my hobby supplies boxed up at the moment! 

I also know that written battle reports have been a little light recently too. The reason for this is that my gaming club is on a Friday night. As a result, I've not been able to attend much recently due to other social commitments. However, in a few weeks, I will be attending the Dark Artisan Open tournament, so will hopefully have some great new battle reports to write up. 

I've also been making some purchases for my Dark Angels Primaris army. I picked up a copy of Shadowspear to add some powerful new elements to the force. I hope to get these painted up in the coming weeks to add some more firepower and mobility to the army. 

You can also check out my articles on Frontline Gaming. I've been writing about my experiences with the Primaris army, as well as a bunch of reviews on the Genestealer Cults. 

Thanks to everyone for continuing to support the blog, you can join the facebook page for more regular updates, as well as the YouTube channel for more video battle reports. 

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.