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. 

Video Battle Report- Dark Angels Primaris vs Ultramarines

Today I have another battle report featuring my Dark Angels Primaris army, taking on Mat's Ultramarines Space Marine army. 

This game features the new maelstrom of war rules from White Dwarf, which introduces an element of deck building into the game. 

Video Battle Report- Dark Angels Primaris vs Harlequins

Today I have another video battle report for you. This is the first game with my Dark Angels Primaris army, taking on Yarro's Harlequins in an ITC mission. 

Hope you enjoy. 

Hobby Update 05/07/19- Dark Angels Inceptors

Another hobby update for you today, this time featuring my Dark Angels Inceptor unit. This unit packs a mean punch, with two Assault Bolters each and the ability to move around the tabletop with ease, thanks to their jump packs. 

I decided to pin the flight stands in place on this squad. As you may have heard, these are some of the worst flying bases on any model. I originally just superglued them on, but they were snapping off all the time, so decided to pin them in place for ease of transport in the future. 

Hobby Update 04/07/19- Dark Angels Reviers

Another hobby update for my Dark Angels Primaris army, featuring a unit of Reivers. These models were from the Conquest magazine, and were the "easy to build" kits that are available for the Primaris Marines. 

Hobby Update 03/07/19- Dark Angels Intercessors

Today's Hobby Update features three new units of Primaris Intercessors for my Dark Angels army. With these 15 Marines painted up, this now gives me 25 Intercessors for my army, enough to field a battalion detachment. 

Hobby Update 02/07/19- Dark Angels Primaris Master and Lieutenant

Today's Hobby Update features my Dark Angels Primaris Master and Primaris Lieutenant. These two characters will be leading my Dark Angels Primaris army. 

The Master in Gravis Armour is a solid choice for warlord of the army. His higher toughness of 5 makes him a tougher prospect to take out in combat. His Boltstorm Gauntlets are also powerful combat weapons, as well as a multi-shot pistol. 

Hobby Update 27/06/19- Dark Angels Repulsor

Today's hobby update features the Repulsor for my Dark Angels Primaris army. 

This beast of a tank provides some strong firepower and transport capacity for a Primaris army. This model comes with a multitude of weaponry to target the enemy, including a twin Lascannon for taking on enemy vehicles. 

In my first few games, this will probably transport my Hellblasters towards the enemy army. This should allow them to get into rapid fire range with their Plasma Incinerators to do maximum damage in relative safety. 

The fact that the Repulsor has fly means that you cannot tie it up in combat to stop it from firing very easily. In addition, units trying to charge it need to add 2 to the charge distance, making it harder for them to get in. 

Hobby Update 25/06/19- Dark Angels Redemptor Dreadnought

Today's hobby update features my Dark Angels Redemptor Dreadnought. 

With most of the Genestealer Cult new purchases painted up, I decided to go back to my Dark Angels Primaris army. I had started on this model many months ago, but decided to finish off the Dreadnought this past weekend. 

This is one of the "easy to build" Dreadnoughts, so is not armed with the optimal combination of weapons. The only thing I need to finish is adding the transfers to the model. 

Rapid Strike Tournament: Game 5- Deathwatch vs T'au

The final game of the day at the Rapid Strike 40k tournament would see my Deathwatch take on Chris' T'au on the top table. 

This mission was Cloak and Shadows. In this mission, we get three cards per turn, but keep your cards secret from your opponent until you score them. 

My army consisted of:

Patrol Detachment (Deathwatch)

Watch Master- Guardian Spear

Watch Captain- Jump Pack, Thunder Hammer, Storm Shield, Bolt Pistol, Castellan of the Black Vault, The Beacon Angelis

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

10 Intercessors- Bolt Rifles, Bolt Pistols

5 Vanguard Veterans- Bolt Pistols, Chainswords, Hand Flamer

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

Razorback- Twin Lascannon, Storm Bolter

I get 6 command points for the army thanks to the tournament special rules.

Chris' army consisted of:
Patrol Detachment (T'au, Viorla)
Coldstar Commander- Airbursting Fragmentation Launcher, 2 Fusion Blasters, Shield Generator
Ethereal- Academic Luminary (warlord trait), Equalisers,
Shield Drone
10 Breachers- Pulse Blasters
10 Kroot- Kroot Rifles
3 Crisis Suits- 4 Plasma Rifles, 2 Shield Generators, 2 Cyclic Ion Blasers, Advancing Targeting System
6 Gun Drones
6 Stealth Suits- 6 Burst Cannons, Advanced Targeting Systems
8 Pathfinders- 5 Markerlights, 3 Rail Rifles, Pulse Carbines
Piranha- Burst Cannons, 2 Gun Drones
Devilfish- Burst Cannons, 2 Gun Drones

A mixed T'au army with a lot of firepower. I was going to have to hope my power armour could keep me safe for long enough to hit the T'au lines hard with my own firepower and combat prowess.