Angels of Death Codex Review- Part 5: Raven Guard Rules

This part of my Angels of Death Codex review features the rules and formations for the Raven Guard. These were first released with the Warzone Kauyon book and have now been grouped together with the rules for the White Scars and the rules for the other Space Marine Chapters.

The masters of Stealth and planning get some nice rules to help bring their unique flavour to the battlefield. I plan to use this post to cover the rules and Relics and take a look at the new formations and detachments in another post.

CHAPTER TACTICS
The chapter tactics for the Raven Guard are Strike From the Shadows and Winged Deliverance.

Strike From the Shadows gives all Raven Guard models that are not vehicles or embarked in vehicles with shrouded until the start of turn 2. In addition, you may add +1 to the roll for Night Fighting (so will get it on a 3+). This is a really nice bonus for an army. If you can get Night Fighting (a decent bet with a 1 in 3 chance), your infantry units will get a 4+ cover save in the open and could easily get a 2+ cover save in cover for the first turn, plus jinking bikers will get a 2+ cover save. This should greatly increase the durability of your army against all but Ignores Cover weapons.

Winged Deliverance provides a nice boost for your Raven Guard jump infantry. This rule allows them to use their jump packs in both the movement and assault phases (essentially getting fleet in the assault phase) and even allowing them to re-roll failed Hammer of Wrath wounds. This should provide a great bonus for any jump infantry, helping to ensure that they get into combat and helping with more of their automatic hits to wound.

I really like the Chapter Tactics for the Raven Guard. I don't think they are as good as the White Scars, but they certainly provide a great bonus for your army during the first turn of the game. The bonuses to assault marines (and Vanguard veterans) are useful, but assault marines are not seen as a competitive choice for many players.

Win a FREE Battle-Demi Company: List of Entrants (Please Check!)

My competition to win a FREE Space Marine Battle Demi-Company is coming to an end in just over a week (7th May 2016). Thanks to everyone for the amazing response to the competition, it was way more than I was expecting! If you haven't entered yet, there is still time! Follow the link here and follow the instructions to enter the competition.

 

Below is a list of the current entrants for the competition. If you have entered, please check below to make sure that you are on the list.

Battle Report 52- 1250 pts White Scars vs Dark Angels

This week's battle report sees my White Scars take on James' Dark Angels army. This would be another practice game for the upcoming Stronghold V tournament I would be attending. I have previously discussed the army I would be taking and my thoughts on its strengths and weaknesses. Based on feedback and another practice game, I decided to drop the attack bike and take some of my Scout Bikers that I had recently finished painting. We decided to play the Contact Lost maelstrom mission as this would be used at the tournament.

My army consisted of:

COMBINED ARMS DETACHMENT

Librarian- Level 2 psyker, Bike, Hunter's Eye, Mantle of the Stormseer, Force Sword, Meltabombs (with CS)

5 Command Squad- Bikes, Apothecary, 4 veterans with grav guns, stormshields and 2 with meltabombs (CS)

5 Bikers- 2 grav guns, sergeant with power lance and meltabombs (BS1)

5 Bikers- 2 grav guns, sergeant with meltabombs (BS2)

5 Scouts- sergeant with meltabombs (S1)

Landspeeder Storm- Heavy Bolter, Cerberus missile launcher (LS)

Drop Pod- storm bolter (DP)

3 Scout Bikers- One grenade launcher, sergeant with meltabombs and locator beacon (SB)

Stormtalon- TL assault cannons, skyhammer missile launcher (S2)
Centurion Devastators- Grav cannons and grav amps, hurricaine bolters (C)

My warlord trait was Deadly Ambush (giving me +1 or -1 to reserve rolls), I re-rolled and got the same result. My Librarian rolled on the Librarius deck. These new powers will not be allowed at the tournament, but I wanted to give them a go after reviewing them recently. I rolled on the table and got Fury of the Ancients, Null Zone and Emperor's Wrath. Not the best powers on the table, but could be useful in the game.

Double Trouble Army Lists- Decisions, Decisions, Decisions......

So, Double Trouble is coming up on the 11th June and I still haven't decided what I am going to take. I fired up BattleScribe and started crunching the numbers for all my armies to see what would be worth taking. After putting together lists for my 4 armies, I am still torn on what to do. Below are the 4 potential armies and some comments on them.

 

White Scars (Mercy is for the Weak)

White Scars are one of my strongest armies at the moment and the one I am most likely to take to a competitive tournament. Thinking about Double Trouble, I didn't want to be the guy turning up with grav bikers and a grav command squad, so tried to do something a bit different with my army. The Double Trouble restrictions allow you up to 2 of the same unit, but I decided I would only take one of each (no double bike squads for me).

 

Below is my 750 pts army:

Librarian- Master level 1, Bike, Hunter's Eye, Meltabombs, Teleport Homer

5 Bikers- 2 grav guns, sergeant with power lance and meltabombs

5 Scouts- Sergeant has meltabombs

Landspeeder Storm- Heavy bolter, Cerberus launcher

5 Tactical marines- Grav gun, sergeant has meltabombs

Drop pod- storm bolter

5 Sternguard- 3 combi-meltas, sergeant has meltabombs

Drop Pod- storm bolter

3 Scout bikers- Grenade launcher, sergeant has meltabombs and locator beacon

A fast, moving and pretty hard hitting force. I've decided to give the Scout bikers and Sternguard an inclusion as I don't often play them. The tactical marines could swap the drop pod for a Rhino.

Better Know a Blogger- Part 4: From the Fang

The latest in my series of Better Know a Blogger features Alex, who writes "From the Fang".

I hope he won't mind me saying, but I consider From the Fang to be one of the UK's premier 40k blogs, with a huge following and excellent content. I think what first brought me to Alex's blog was his great codex reviews, particularly the review of the Ork codex, and his battle reports. Regardless of what he is posting, I find the articles are always quite substantial and well worth a read- no click-baiting type content to be found here.

Alex has also been running the very successful Blog Wars tournament since 2011. Initially aimed only at bloggers, the event was soon opened up to non-bloggers and became a very fun day of gaming with a great atmosphere. Alex's philosophy was to have a tournament that encouraged players to have fun and not go with a super-hard internet list to crush all before them. I was fortunate enough to attend Blog Wars 9 and Blog Wars 10 and had an absolute blast at them both- the atmosphere was great and very friendly, but I still managed to get three very tough games during the day.

Alex on the right, winning a trophy!

In fact, signing up to attend Blog Wars 9 was one of the main inspirations for me finally taking the plunge to start by own blog. Even though the event was no longer just for bloggers, I felt that if I was going to an event called Blog Wars, I may as well go whole hog and get started with my own blog. Alex was one of the people that I contacted for advice about starting my own blog and his early comments and advice on his experiences have helped to shape St Andrews Wargaming into what it has become today, so a big thanks to him for that.

Sadly, Blog Wars 10 was the last of the Blog Wars. It was a huge achievement and two tournaments I will always remember fondly. Fear not, however, as Alex is continuing to evolve his thoughts on running a competitive, yet fun and friendly tournament experience with Double Trouble in June. This is a 40k doubles tournament, but the twist is that rather than having a set partner for each game, you will get a random partner for each game. I'm really looking forward to this, as it should provide a strong tactical challenge for each game. Will you end up with an odd match up that has a blatant weakness or will you mesh well with your opponent's army and destroy all before you?

Anyway, let's get on with finding out a bit more about Alex who took the time to answer my questions.

1. What age did you get into gaming and what started it off?

I think I was probably around 10 when I first played a GW game in the form of Blood Bowl. It seemed insanely complicated but this didn't deter me from getting into 40K probably around a year later. I got the 2nd edition starter boxed set for Christmas and started to collect Ultramarines with allied Eldar shortly after. I stayed with the hobby until sometime around the early 2000s. My main opponent lost interest though, so my collection was boxed up and not seen again until 2009ish when I was planning to put them all on eBay. My friend and I decided to get a copy of the 5th Ed rulebook and have one last game.......

Hobby Sunday 24/04/16- White Scars Scout Bikers

This week I have been working on completing my White Scars Scout Bikers for an upcoming tournament. I managed to complete the bikers and get them based up ready for the tabletop.

Angels of Death Codex Review- Part 4: Salamanders

Welcome to part 4 of my review on the new Angels of Death Codex Supplement. This part will look at the rules and formations for the Salamanders.

CHAPTER TACTICS

The Chapter Tactics for the Salamanders are Flamecraft and Master Artisans.

 

Flamecraft gives all Salamanders models 4+ feel no pain against flamer weapons and allows them to re-roll all to wound and armour penetration rolls when using flamers. A nice bonus and thematic to the army. No doubt a standard Salamanders army will contain a lot of flame weapons to benefit from this.

 

Master Artisans allows each of your characters to master-craft one selected weapon for free. Again, a really nice bonus, particularly for characters wielding combi-bolters as they are more likely to hit with their one shot.

 

Unlike the Imperial Fists and Irons Hands, the Salamanders don't get any rules for modification of the force organisation chart.

Thoughts on Blogging- One Year In

As the blog turned one year old recently, it was suggested that I write about some of my experiences with starting and growing a blog over the 12 months it has been going. Hopefully you will find some of the information and advice useful if you are thinking of getting into wargame blogging, or those of you more experienced than I am will get a kick from reminiscing about your own starts into the world of blogging.

This will be some general advice on what my motivations and thoughts were when I decided to start blogging about 40k and what I have learnt over the course of the year. I like to think that St Andrews Wargaming has come a long way in the last 12 months. I have a decent regular following who comment and contribute and get a decent number of hits each month on many of my articles. There are obviously many blogs out there that are a lot more successful than mine (many of which will be mentioned below as they helped with my inspiration) and this is not the only way to blog, it's just what I have found works for me. I certainly don't want this to come across as an egotistical "This is how to Blog!!!!", as I have been doing this for a relatively short period of time.

The Burning Eye posted a nice article back in February on "Getting into Blogging" and I would recommend reading that, as it contains a lot of valuable information, some of which will be similar to the information here.

Before I start, I want to give a big thanks and shout out to Dave from "Confessions of a 40k addict" and Alex at "From the Fang". They were kind enough to give me advice on blogging when I was thinking about starting, and much of the evolution of St Andrews Wargaming is based on that initial advice. If you are thinking of starting your own 40k blog, you could do a lot worse than looking to these two highly successful blogs for inspiration.

To start off, the best advice I could give to anyone thinking of starting a 40k blog (or other such gaming blog) is this- DO IT! If you have a passion for the hobby and want to share it, go ahead. Your opinion is as valid as anyone else's (unless of course you play Tau or Eldar, in which case, shame on you!). I am always on the look out for new takes on 40k and new blogs to read.

Now that you have decided to get into the world of 40k blogging, hopefully you will find some useful advice in my subsequent ramblings.

random picture!

What's in a name?
There is a serious affliction that can affect a lot of 40k bloggers. There you are, all excited and ready to get started, then suddenly it's all over and you are left with a feeling of trepidation, dread and fear. I speak of course about premature appellation- naming your blog too early. As Nick has mentioned in his post, choosing the right name is key for your blog. To repeat his advice (seriously, go read it), pick something simple and hobby related that people may reasonably be searching for.

Angels of Death Codex Review- Part 3: Iron Hands

Welcome to part 3 of my review of the Angels of Death codex supplement that was recently released. This part will focus on the new rules and formations for the Iron Hands chapter.

 

I think that Iron Hands are regarded as one of the more competitive chapters in the Space Marine codex (along with my favoured White Scars) thanks to the improved durability of their forces through access to army-wide Feel no Pain (6+) and It Will Not Die. I think the new rules and formations detailed in Angels of Death will help make them an even more competitive choice for marine players.

CHAPTER TACTICS AND RULES

The Chapter Tactics for the Iron Hands are The Flesh is Weak and Machine Empathy.

 

The Flesh is Weak provides infantry with a 6+ feel no pain roll. In addition, if they have access to another source of feel no pain, they get +1 to their roll (so a Narthecium would provide a 4+ feel no pain roll).

 

Machine Empathy gives Iron Hands vehicles It Will Not Die. It also gives Iron Hands techmarines +1 to Blessings of the Omnissiah rules.

 

Angels of Death also gives the Iron Hands a couple of new special rules for army building. March of the Ancients allows Dreadnoughts to be taken in a Heavy Support slot, while Scions of the Forge allows you to take up to 3 techmarines for every HQ choice (who don't use up a slot in the force organisation chart themselves). This allows you to load up on Dreadnoughts and Techmarines if you wish to better utilise the Iron Hands' special rules.

 

I like the bonuses that the Iron Hands get. If it wasn't for the White Scars, I would consider using these as my regular marine army.

Angels of Death Codex Review- Part 2: Imperial Fists, Crimson Fists and Black Templars

Welcome to the second part of my review of the new Angels of Death codex supplement. Part 1 looked at the new Psychic powers that were released in the book, part 2 will look at some of the new rules, Relics and formations for the Imperial Fists (plus their successor chapters).

As siege specialists, a lot of the new rules and wargear for the Sons of Dorn focus on maximising the damage output on buildings.

 

CHAPTER TACTICS (IMPERIAL FISTS)

The Chapter Tactics for the Imperial Fists are Bolter Drill and Seige Masters.

 

Bolter drill allows models in the army to re-roll to hit rolls of a 1 when using bolter weapons such as boltguns, bolt pistols, storm bolters, etc. It also includes Sternguard special issue ammunition. This is a nice chapter tactic for slightly improving the accuracy of your army, assuming you take lots of tactical squads and other bolter-armed units. It will come in very handy for the Sternguard using Vengeance rounds to help reduce the chance of them killing themselves with Gets Hot rolls.

 

Seige Masters allows Imperial Fists to re-roll armour penetration rolls against buildings and adds +1 to rolls on the building damage tables. Devastators and Centurion Devastators also gain the Tank Hunters rule. The bonus for building damage is nice, but I so rarely see buildings and fortifications being used in my local gaming club, so not sure how much use it would be. Gaining Tank hunter on devastators is a great bonus, ensuring that you will be able to damage enemy vehicles. It will also prove useful for Centurions armed with lascannons and missile launchers.

 

A new rule introduced in the Angels of Death is Centurion Warsuits. This allows you to take Centurion Devastators as elites and Centurion assault squads as fast attack. This could prove useful for freeing up elites slots for more Sternguard or Terminators, but in most cases you will probably want the free heavy support or fast attack slots. In theory, you could use this to take 6 units of Grav cannon Centurions, but good luck with your new life with no friends.