Dice Like Thunder

I find that these days, even a quick update is tough to shoot out. Between two game lines and my painting goals, writing an article just isn’t something I have a lot of time for. So I apologize for my slow updates.

I headed down to Frontline Gaming this weekend and got a couple of games in. I learned a lot, especially getting thrashed royally by Israel’s Tau. The new Forge World editions really help those blue skins out!

In the last couple of weeks, I have refused to change my army list. The goal was to learn to play the list, finding all the tricks I could. It was as “refined” as I wanted it, and I promised myself I wouldn’t make any massive changes. I feel I’ve kept to that promise. I have, however, made a few adjustments.

First, I found that the Plasma Siphon just never mattered. Even when plasma was flowing into my units the attacker was more than 12″ away. So I dropped it, in favor of a Warding Staff in my Terminator Squad. It was a small change, after all. I played 3 games with it, and found that I rarely used the grenades that the Xenos Inquisitor was carrying, as well. When I did, I usually didn’t even need them!

Which brings me to the thrashing by Israel down at Frontline Gaming. Oh man did he wreck my dudes. I really took a long hard look at my army list, and I think I found the issue. Coteaz. I just don’t need him at all. I originally dropped my GK librarian in favor of Coteaz, because I thought all I used the Libby for was the Pysmastery 2. Losing Deep Strike was a far larger hit than I thought.

So now I’m back to the Librarian. It’s not a big change, but it is making a world of difference. The list now looks like this:

GK Librarian w/ 2 Servo-Skulls, Psybolt, Master-Crafted Weapon

10 Terminators w/ 2 Psycannons, Banner, Nemesis Warding Stave, Psybolt Ammunition

10 Grey Knights w/ 2 Psycannons, 1 Nemesis Daemonhammer, Psybolt Ammunition, Rhino

10 Grey Knights w/ 2 Psycannons, 1 Nemesis Daemonhammer, Psybolt Ammunition, Rhino

Company Command Sqauad w/Lascannon

Platoon Command Squad w/Rocket Launcher

Infantry Squad w/ Lascannon

Infantry Squad w/ Lascannon

Vendetta

Aegis Defense Line w/ Quad Autocannon

Well, no pictures of my army… yet. I promise that I’ll whip out the new smartphone as soon as I start playing some games. I have, however, figured out the list pretty solidly. It’s a bit minimalist, but I hope it proves competitive over the next month of trials. Rather than just giving you the whole list, I’m going to describe each unit and how I plan to use it. I’ll likely have to adapt my strategy a bit as I play, but here are my thoughts so far.

I love that defenestration is a word.

I tend to like having a large brick to throw through my opponents window. Something big, and tough, that can hold the center for as long as possible. In this case, it’s Coteaz (for his Psymastery 2) and the Xenos Inquisitor (also with Psymaster, and a plasma siphon) joining up with 10 Grey Knight Terminators (with a pair of psycannons, banner, psybolt, and an assortment of weapons). The second Inquisitor is my “eh” unit in the army. I picked him up just in case I face a lot of plasma, but I just needed to fill 85 points and he fit in nicely.

The Screaming Heretics made a really good suggestion, that I might shift over to as well, which would replace my Xenos Inquisitor with two small teams of Heavy Bolter servitors. Even with mindlock, that cheap unit puts out 9 shots for just 30 points.

I should also mention I’ve got a “counts as Coteaz” in the form of a conversion I’m pretty proud of. If I don’t find the siphon useful I could drop it for rad grenades, but I’ll have to test to see if those are even necessary. My hope is that this unit becomes a big deep striking deterrent, combined with Coteaz’s ‘I’ve been expecting you’ rule.

The Workhorses: Strike Squads

I want some maneuverable (or what passes for it) units in my core troops. So I follow up the terminators with two identical Strike Squad units. Each is 10 strong with a pair of psycannons, psybolt ammo, and a hammer. They are then mounted in a rhino. While fairly points heavy, they have a reasonable resilience to small arms fire, and they are quite deadly at 24″. My goal will be to place objectives near the center of the table, so that they can react quickly, and make use of Warp Quake to force my opponent to deep strike near Coteaz if I get the chance.

The world’s greatest “troubleshooter.”

Troubleshooters: Imperial Guard

I’ve always had a soft spot for the IG firing line, and the allies rules allow me to use one for fun, rather than as a full strategy. I typically treat this allied group as one tactical element on the table. It has a Company Command squad as it’s HQ, and a Platoon Command Squad with two Infantry Squads as its only troop. Every squad contains only a single upgrade, a Lascannon. This keeps the unit inexpensive, with a single defined roll. Oh, and I bring along an Aegis Defense Line with a Quad Autocannon to put them behind. This gives them some resilience, and a good anti-air weapon.

Armor Hunter: Vendetta

Last, but not least, is a Vendetta, which comes in as my only non-Hq/Troop choice! I use it for anti-air hunting, as well as dealing with tanks on the ground. Honestly, I stopped being afraid I would lose it a long time ago. On the turn it arrives I can usually do a considerable amount of damage, and if I need to start hovering to get another critical shot in, I feel it’s worth the risk.

Possible Changes

If I decide to drop the Inquisitor, I might consider replacing him with a Vindicare assassin. If I do that, I’ll want to also drop psybolt on the strike squads to help make up the points difference. It all depends on which I think is a harder counter for a tough match up I’m concerned about.

Right now, the hardest match ups I have encountered were Tyranids (with a flyrant and plenty of monsters) and the new Dark Angels (plenty of plasma, and the big 4++ blob). Now that I’ve settled on a list, I’m not sure if those two are still going to be a struggle for me. So I need to keep my mind open to meeting that challenge. I might have the tools I need. I’ll want to keep my eye on the possible meta for the tournament, and maybe make my changes there.

Pictures from my visit to Warhammer World

I know it’s been a while. I’ve probably lost more than half of you (although google analytics still shows plenty of daily hits). I’m neck deep in Through The Breach right now, so my time for other gaming and writing articles is extremely limited. That doesn’t mean, however, that I’m not still gearing up for the Bay Area Open.

My wonderful girlfriend is, unfortunately, 2000 miles away. The only silver lining to that black cloud is that I have plenty of free time. I put in a good 8 to 12 hours a day on my real job, but I need to do something to keep from burning out. That’s the terrible downside to being a game designer. For that, I return to my Bay Area Open prep. I’m all painted up now except for one Inquisitor (he is tonight’s painting goal) and one Vendetta (which I should have done by Thursday).

I get asked a lot, why I play Warhammer 40k when my company puts out Malifaux. Well, first of all I play Malifaux as well. But I can’t play it the same. I can’t play to compete, because if I get to close to the game, I won’t be able to make impartial decisions. I love Malifaux, it’s a fantastic world. My job, however, requires that I maintain an impartial view on the rules. Frankly, this means I don’t get to “kabitz.”

Coming out the gate! Another picture from Warhammer World

I don’t think that’s even a real word… or the right spelling of it.

No, instead I play 40k for one simple reason. I get to grumble. I get to think about ways I want my army to win, not ways I want an army to play. I don’t look at my Grey Knights through the lens of a designer. I get to look at it like a player. I get to complain when I roll badly, or mock my friends for running “cheesy” units just because I didn’t have something in my army list to counter it.

I want to have fun with 40k. I simply made that decision. Oddly enough, that’s all it took. I now complain less, and am happier. I look for solutions to “problems” under the assumption that I’m the one that needs to change my tactics, instead of the game changing to suit me. It’s made the money  I devote to my hobby hours much better spent, at least to me. I don’t know if it would work for everyone, but I highly recommend giving it a try. Just go one evening at the game store not allowing yourself to  complain, look for how you can adapt instead. You might like it.

I love the smell of short distance warp shunt into daemonic incursion in the morning?

Then again, some people enjoy bitching with their friends. That’s actually not crazy, it’s just how some guys find their fun. Once you know if you’re that guy, you can embrace it! Heck, listen to any sports radio call-in program and you’ll hear it!

So where does that bring me? Well I’m working on my list. Here is the Screaming Heretics episode where they discuss my army list!

The Orko of DLT

Tomorrow (I promise!) I’ll post an updated army list… and maybe even pictures! February, I’m going to start trying to average a game a day until BOA. That means my Saturday’s will be spent at the shops playing 1750 games and so will 2 or 3 days a week.

I’ll take 1 week to play my list as it is. I’ll be taking plenty of notes and such. Then, I’ll allow myself a revamp of the list. After that, I’m going to only make small changes. I’ll just be developing a practice regiment for myself, and I’ll keep you posted on how that gets built!