Hobby Update 16/11/20- Deathwatch Primaris Outrider Squad

 Today's Hobby Update features an Outrider Squad for my Deathwatch army. 

Outriders have some great bonuses in a Kill Team for the Deathwatch. First off, you can field them in units of up to 5, compared to the limit of 3 for normal Marine armies. Second, thanks to the Kill Team mechanic, this squad gains objective secured, making them great for taking objectives from your opponent. They can also do some weird movement tricks thanks to gaining the infantry keyword, but I expect this to be FAQ'd at some point in the future. 

For one of the Bikers, I decided to replace the Chainsword with a Heavy Bolt Pistol, just to add a bit of variety to the models. 

Hobby Update 13/11/20- Primaris Chaplain on Bike

Today's Hobby Update features my recently converted Primaris Chaplain on Bike. With the new Deathwatch codex being released, I wanted to paint up some new Primaris units for my force, and the Chaplain was a great addition for the force. 

I managed to get this model painted up at the weekend, working on some other Bikers at the same time as well. 

How to make a Chaplain on Bike from Indomitus

 Here is my how to guide on converting a Chaplain on Bike from the Indomitus boxed set. This will allow you to field your own Biker Chaplain to lead your Space Marine forces into glorious battle.

For this conversion, you will need:

• Outrider Biker. The one with the pistol is the best choice, as this allows you to have the Chaplain wielding the Crozius arcanum. 
• Chaplain from the Indomitus box. 
• Book from the Ravenwing Upgrade sprue, or a suitable equivalent. The book on the Chaplain will also suffice. 
• Other decorative elements, such as purity seals, chapter symbols, Imperial symbols, etc. 

The process was pretty straightforward and you should be able to complete it in under an hour. 

Step 1- Clip off the appropriate parts, and clean up the mould lines. Drill out the barrels on your Outrider Bolters, if you are so inclined. 

Step 2- Take Chaplain part G3 and outrider part E30. Cut off the arm section of G3 to give you the torso alone. Glue the two parts together. 

Hobby Update 08/11/20- Primaris Chaplain on Bike

Today's hobby update features a converted Chaplain on Bike that I made for my Space Marine armies. I've been looking to add a Chaplain Biker to support and boost my Bikers armies, namely the White Scars and Ravenwing contingents of my forces. 

The new rules provide some strong litany buffs for the nearby units and the mobility of a Chaplain on a Bike should prove to be a strong force multiplier. However, the official model is out of stock and I fancied something a bit different. With a few spares from the Indomitus boxed set left over, I decided to convert my own Biker Chaplain from the Outrider and Chaplain models in the box. 

I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. It was easy enough to do, and I'll post an article on how I carried this out later in the week. I had enough spare parts and accessories to add some decoration to the model. Fortunately, I'll have plenty of time during the current lockdown to hopefully get him painted up. 

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. 

Index Astartes Deathwatch- Review and Initial Thoughts

As you will probably have seen, a lot of armies have had their rules updated for 9th edition. The Deathwatch have been folded into the Space Marine codex, and as such, have their own supplement to modify their rules to update them with the new codex. I'm going to take a look at some of the rules that have been presented and what they may mean for the Deathwatch. 

Special Issue Ammunition

This has seen a big change, not only in what the ammo does, but in who and what weapons can utilise it. 

Dragonfire Bolts- Target unit does not gain the benefit of cover. 

This is a great change for Dragonfire bolts. Under the previous rules, I don't think I even used this round type in any of my games, now I can see it being very useful. Not only do you ignore the +1 to armour saves of cover (great with the Doctrines now in effect), but you also ignore the -1 to hit from some cover types. This should help to provide good accuracy for your Bolter weapons throughout the game. 

Hellfire Bolts- +1 to wound against targets that are not vehicles or Titanic. 

This is the biggest change and reduction in power to the SIA. Being able to wound almost any unit on a 2+ was incredible for the Deathwatch and one of the reasons that the Storm Bolter became such a feared weapon for the Deathwatch. I think the change was inevitable, but it is a big blow to the army. The bonus to wound is still great, allowing you to wound all but the toughest monsters on a 4+, as well as wounding Marines on a 3+. I'm not sure how often this will be used in my games now, I will need to run the numbers to see. 

9th Edition 40k Battle Report 213- 2000 pts White Scars vs Orks

Welcome to my first battle report of 9th edition 40k! With everything that has been going on with lockdown and the pandemic, this was the first opportunity I had to play the new edition of the game. In this report, my White Scars Primaris army was taking on Sandy's Orks.  

In this game, we were playing Resupply. This mission has three central objectives and one in each player's deployment zone. In battle round four, one central objective is removed, while another is removed in battle round 5. 

My army consisted of:

Battalion Detachment (White Scars)

• Kor'sarro Khan
• Primaris Chaplain- Chogorian Storm
• 5 Intercessors- Bolt Rifles
• 5 Intercessors- Bolt Rifles
• 5 Infiltrators- Bolt Carbines
• 5 Infiltrators- Bolt Carbines
• 5 Assault Intercessors- Heavy Bolt Pistols, Astartes Chainswords, Plasma Pistol
• 5 Assault Intercessors- Heavy Bolt Pistols, Astartes Chainswords
• 3 Eliminators- Bolt Sniper Rifles
• 3 Inceptors- 2 Assault Bolters
• 3 Inceptors- 2 Assault Bolters
• 3 Eradicators- Meltarifles
• 3 Outriders
• 3 Outriders
• Incvictus Warsuit- Incindiary Cannon, Fragstorm Grenade Launcher, 2 Heavy Stubbers
• Impulsor- 2 Storm Bolters, Ironhail Stubber, Shield Dome
• Impulsor- 2 Storm Bolters, Ironhail Stubber, Shield Dome

With this army, I wanted to go for an all Primaris force. I added a number of elements from the Indomitus boxed set to my existing collection to bulk out the force. 

The army was led by Kor'sarro Khan, who provides some nice buffs to the army in assault. He was backed up by a unit of Assault Intercessors in an Impulsor. A second Impulsor would carry the Assault Intercessors and Primaris Chaplain. I gave him the relic Crozius and the Chogorian Storm warlord trait for extra attacks on the charge. 

I added two units of Intercessors and Infiltrators as troops choices to provide some firepower and objective grabbing ability. 

I then added a number of faster elements, including the Outrider squads and Warsuit, to threaten the Orks early and add some firepower. Two units of Inceptors would provide more anti-infantry firepower, while the Eradicators should deal with any vehicles I came up against. 

Hobby Update 11/09/20- White Scars Eradicator Squad

 Today's hobby update features an Eradicator squad for my White Scars Primaris force. 

These guys provide some potent anti-tank firepower to the army, with their special rules enabling them to fire twice at the same target. With a 24" assault Melta weapon, they can put a lot of hurt on enemy tanks and monsters with their potent firepower. 

The right hand shoulder pad symbol was actually from the Ultramarines transfer set. I cut this out and painted it red (from white). Once dried, I was able to use the transfer as normal. I had tried doing free hand before, but had little success. I think this one turned out much better. 

Hobby Update 09/09/20- White Scars Indomitus Outrider Squads

 Today's Hobby Update features a couple of Outrider units for my White Scars army. 

It'll be nice to get some Bikers back on the table with my White Scars, as they have been a bit lacklustre in 8th edition. I'm looking forward to getting these on the table, as they have some potent firepower and combat ability, as well as being pretty tough. 

I'll need to remember the Skilled Rider stratagem to give one unit an invulnerable save, to help protect them for a bit longer. 

I realised after photographing the units that I hadn't done the eyes lenses on the helmeted Marines. I went back to fix this, but couldn't be bothered setting up the lightbox to take the photos again!