Blood Angels 6th Edition Tips, Tricks, and Winners

Here we are again, another blog post about everyone’s favorite 6th edition whipping boy the Blood Angels.   Like a beaten spouse I find myself returning to my beloved space vampires no matter how many times I get my shit kicked in.  They don’t mean it!  It’s not their fault their units are completely over-costed and under performing.  They’re just having a hard time and I won’t give up on them that easily.  The root problem at this time with the Blood Angels codex is that the units that they share with newer codices such as Codex: Space Marines and Dark Angels are dramatically more expensive than their newer counterparts.   Throw in some inane GW 6th edition updates such as making Commander Dante initiative 1 and Mephiston’s sword AP 3 and the play-ability of the army takes a further plunge down the 6th edition shit hole.

 But all is not lost.  The Blood Angels still have a lot of powerful units and combos that mesh well with the current tournament meta.  The key to winning with the Blood Angels is the play to their strengths.  You have to use their unique units and special rules.  Let’s take a quick look at the units and special rules that make the Blood Angels playable in the current edition.

Assault Squads in Drop Pods - Drop pod armies are all the rage with the recent release of Codex: Space Marines.  Did you know that Blood Angel assault squads get Drop Pods for free?  That’s real talk, son.  Take two special weapons and a storm shield on the sergeant and call it a day.

Baal Predators - What’s not to like about fast AV 13 tanks that spew molten death on any unit unfortunate enough to get in it’s way?  While many people lament the death of vehicles in 6th edition, many armies still struggle with AV 13 or above.  Take away the detrimental glancing chart from the 5th edition and the Baal Predators can continue to shit in your opponents face far longer into the game.  I like the standard load out of the twin-linked assault cannons with heavy bolter sponsons but the case can be made for the Flamestorm Cannon with heavy flamer sponsons.

Death Company - These crazy fuckers can still get the job done.  Throw them in a drop pod with a Chaplain and terrify your opponent.

Mephiston - This guy is still the ultimate bad ass.  An infantry sized monstrous creature, Mephiston can dominate an entire section of the battlefield by just doing what he do.  And what he do ain’t very nice.  He is incredibly fast even without his psychic wings and hits like a ton of bricks.   You really need to use him as a monstrous creature hunter and even with his AP3 sword if a Riptide fails one of his 2+ armor saves Mephiston can instant kill them.  Still good after all these years.

Brother Corbulo - I’ve started putting Brother Corbulo in almost every Blood Angel list that I write.  What he really excels at is being a tank with his 2+ Feel No Pain.  I like putting him in a drop pod with a Sternguard squad or running him with Assault Terminators.  His Far-Seeing Eye ability is also incredibly useful for it’s ability to kind of negate the random shit that can lose you the game.  He also gives any units within 6” Feel No Pain and Furious Charge.

Storm Ravens - Codex: Space Marines and Grey Knights get these but the Blood Angel’s Raven gets Blood Strike missiles which give them a leg up on flyer and vehicle hunting.

Fast Vindicators - Moving 12” and firing the Vindicator Cannon can really put the hurting on unsuspecting chump bitches.  Make sure to take a Storm Bolter and a Hunter Killer Missile to make it harder to take off the big gun.

Dreadnoughts - Blood Angels are the top dog when it comes to the sheer amount of Dreadnoughts they can field.  With the advent of hull points in the 6th edition dreadnoughts are slightly better with their overall damage output.

The trick to winning with the Blood Angels is to play to their strengths and use units that you can’t just get cheaper by playing newer, shinier marine codices.  A lot of people will try and tell you that assault is dead in the 6th edition. While it certainly has become harder to get into actual hand to hand combat, the fact is that the top tier armies at the moment completely break down when you get into them.  You have to over load them with your fast moving, hard hitting units.  Get Mephiston running up a flank while drop pods full of pissed off assault marines drop right into their fucking throats.

Blood Angels in the 6th edition work how they've always worked.  You hit the enemy hard right at the word go and you don’t stop until you've got your boot on their neck.

The Rise of Digital Ally Codices and Why They're a Good Thing

OH.MY.GOD. It's a positive topic today.  I've been known to rant and rave about the grave injustice to America that is Games Workshop, but with the unveiling of the upcoming Inquisition digital codex I am starting to see the gold corn in the shit pile that is 6th edition 40k.  I first caught wind about the Inquisition codex through the usual sources, mainly the cool dude over at Faeit 212.  Some of you might remember that at the beginning of 40k 6th edition there were a ton of rumors regarding allies and the limitless opportunities they represented in terms of supplemental codices.  Want to take the Arbites?  Here's a supplement.  Like the Mechanicus?  We have a supplement for that!  Want to take the Inquisition with your Imperial Guard?  HOLY SHIT.  THEY ALREADY DID THAT.  IN THE FUTURE.

An argument can be made that the upcoming Inquisition digital codex is actually the 2nd ally codex to come out, after this month's Adepta Sororitas.  I say this because the reality of the average 40k player to go out and spend several ((several)) hundreds of dollars to build an all metal army is fairly slim.  Most likely the average player will purchase a unit or two for some sweet ass anti-psycher defense and call it a day.  If GW really wanted this to be a full codex release they would have released the models in plastic (with a price increase) and the codex would have been a physical hard cover. I would also like to point out that there is a difference between a codex supplemental and an ally codex.  Where the codex supplemental will expand the stand alone codex, the ally codex will introduce an army that is designed exclusively to ally with a stand alone codex.  That didn't make sense.  I'm tired.

I truly think the rumors of GW getting all of the current codices up to date with the 6th edition and then focusing on supplements is looking more and more accurate.  If GW really wanted to milk this pig for a crap ton of money they would work on releasing a model or two with each supplement. How about new Inquisitor models or vehicle profiles?  If they really take the time to think these ally codices through and actually release a couple models instead of just copy and pasting existing rules/stats these small ally codices could be huge money makers for the company.

The future of the hobby looks bright.  Fuck the doom-and-gloomers that portend the fall of Games Workshop.  

The Road to Adepticon 2014: The Coteaz Conundrum

This year I've made the monumental (financially speaking) decision to attend Adepticon this coming April.  This isn't my first time attending the iconic event, as I made the pilgrimage 2 years ago.  The sheer magnitude of the cost to attend this tournament certainly doesn't make this an easy decision to make.  With tickets running about $75 for the weekend badge and the 40k Championship, round-trip airfare running around , $300 from California, and rooms that cost $125 a night you are looking at eating a ton of ramen just to afford this thing.  Cost aside, this is THE tournament to attend if you are a 40k tournament gamer and want to test your metal against the best players in the country.  I believe there are 270-ish players in the Championship, with only 16 moving on to day 2.   The organizers do a good job making other events available after the championships, so when you get the inevitable loss in round one you can look forward to a busy weekend afterwards.

My biggest mistake the first time I went was signing up for too many events, sharing a room with too many people, and drinking my body weight in alcoholic beverages.     Seeing as how I've effectively stopped drinking any kind of alcohol (THANKS, OBAMA LIVER) that takes care of the expensive drunkenness.  As for the room situation, that is almost unavoidable.  I will be at the tournament for at total of 5 nights.  That will be around $550 just for the hotel alone.  I CANT AFFORD THAT SHIT!  So teaming up with 4 or five guys to crash on the floor is mandatory.  As for the events, I only plan on signing up for the Championships and then a couple of smaller events spread throughout the weekend.  I will be socializing a lot more this time around.

OK, so what the fuck is the title of this post going on about?  Well, I had just about finalized my 1850 list for Adepticon when, as usual, a nagging thought came to me (as it do).  Here is the original list I was set on taking,

Space Marines (Iron Hands)

Chapter Master - Terminator Armor, Shield Eternal, Thunder Hammer, Auspex
Tactical Squad- +5, Plasma Cannon, Plasma Gun, Rhino
Tactical Squad- +5, Plasma Cannon, Plasma Gun, Rhino
Scout Squad - Melta Bomb
Terminator Assault Squad- 4x Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield, Land Raider Crusader w/Multi-Melta
Land Speeder x2 - Typhoon Missile Launchers
Land Speeder - Multi-Melta, Heavy Flamer
Storm Talon - Sky Hammer Missiles
Devastator Squad - +3, Missile Launchers
Thunderfire Cannon
Whirlwind

A slight variant from the list that I took to Brawl in the Fall.

Then I got to reading Captain Dees' (Nutz) Feast of Blades tournament reports.  He had seized the initiative twice and that had either earned him an outright victory or made it extremely easy for him to defeat his opponent.  You hear about this all the time and it is certainly one of the most frustrating aspects of 40k 6th edition.  I also noticed an increase in Space Marine drop pod lists under review on various forums around the internetz.  I began musing on an old ally idea I had for Inquisitor Coteaz from the Grey Knights Codex.  With Coteaz you get the peace of mind that comes with his special rule Spy Network which causes your opponent to re-roll successful Seizes.   You also get the incredibly useful against drop pod spam special rule, I've Been Expecting You.  Of course, you have to take a troop choice with Coteaz, and here is where another of his special rules become gold.   Inquisitor Coteaz makes any Henchmen Squads troop choices.  So by adding Coteaz to my list not only do I get solid Seize and Drop Pod protection I also get another troop choice.

 FUCK'IN TITS N' SHIT

 So how would I load out the Henchmen Squad?  I would start with 3 plasma cannon armed Servitors.  Coteaz will have the psychic power Presience, so the ability to twin-link 3 plasma cannons is fan-fucking-tastic.  Remember, his rule I've Been Expecting You makes his unit able shoot at any unit that arrives within 12" of him.  This means that any unit dis-embarking from a drop pod and the drop pod itself are fair game for 3 twin-linked plasma cannons.  DEAL BREAKER.  I would also take 2 Crusaders to get a couple of 3++ saves and round out the unit with 3 or 4 Henchmen with hot-shot lasguns.  I would be giving up all three Land Speeders to get the points for this unit but I think they add so much to my list that it is totally worth it.  This also means the Iron Hands Chapter Tactics might not be the best since I would be getting rid of 3 vehicles so I'll be spending some time trying out the other ones.

So what do you guys think?  Is this a good replacement?  Will this assuage my fears of getting Raped Seized upon?  Am I getting too fat?

Your Screamer Star is bad and you should feel bad

If you are even remotely interested in competitive 40k then you are already familiar with the new hotness, the Screamer Star.  The Screamer Star, much like Riptide Spam or the 5th edition IG Blowjobber, takes advantage of over powered and under costed units to take advantage of weaknesses in the overall  structure of the game.  They also tend to take advantage of rules loopholes that Games Workshop either doesn’t realize exist or don’t care enough to change. For those of you unaware of how the Screamer Star works (and to a lesser degree the Khorne Dogg rush) the Demon player uses several different spells, demonic gifts, and war gear options to create a multi-wound unit that has a 2+ re-roll able invulnerable save.  Yes, you read that correctly.  Yes, your breath does stink.  It’s probably from the Doritos and Mountain Dew you had for breakfast, tubby.  Anyways, there is now essentially a ‘god mode’ cheat available to Demon players.

Unfortunately, this is far from a recent phenomenon in our little niche hobby.   Think about the last tournament you attended.  How many players were sporting 2 to 3 Helldrakes or Riptides?  How many people had armies that were so new you could SMELL the primer on them?  As long as Games Workshop continues to create units with over powered abilities primarily to sell models we will have asshole players who gleefully choose to buy these models instead of paying their minimum credit card payments on their 23% interest Citibank credit card.  That’s a run on sentence.

This recently got me to thinking about how little respect I have for people who run these lists.  Now, I’m not talking about someone who has a Riptide here or a Helldrake there; I’m talking about the all out cheese dick lists that make you shake your head in disgust.  Much like the image of your parents having sex without a condom.  You’re welcome.  I truly have no respect for people who take these army lists to a tournament.  I used to think that list building was a large part of the game and we should stand in awe of these killer lists that demolish dicks on the table top.  Now?  Not so much.  How much skill does it take to realize that a 2+ re-roll able invulnerable save multi-wound unit or 3 Helldrakes that have a 360 degree flamer template that is strength 7 AP 3 is a good thing?  Why should we respect these people?  Because they can read?  Because they can break the game and give their opponent no chance to beat them?  Guess what?  I can put my fat ass in my Taekwondo dobok and beat the shit out of a 5 year old in the studio across the street, but was I better than that kid or was I physically bigger than them?  Would you feel good about winning a fight like that?  If so, congratulations on having Tau-Dar list.

When I was 10 I figured out the invincibility code for Doom and I beat the game a couple days later.  Sure, it was nice getting to the end of the game but it wasn't satisfying.  The cheat code had cheapened my experience.  I view these cheese ball lists the same way.  When 6th edition broke I played a game with my Grey Knights using Draigo and a unit of Paladins.  This was before the FAQ took away the Paladin’s ability to look out sir each other and all of their shots were precision.   The game was a slaughter.  The look on my opponent’s eyes as his entire army shot at this unit and couldn't take out a single model was enough for me.  I packed that unit away and never played it again.  I realized that I had unlocked the invincibility code.  I now have far more respect for players that can win tournaments with armies that do not take advantage of the latest hot shit.   Much like Mr. Glass searches for lone survivors in the movie Unbreakable, I scour the major tournament standings for players that win with generic lists.  Those are the truly good players.  Those are the ones to watch out for.

Thanks for reading.

RD

Brawl in the Fall Recap

Gather 'round friends, 'cuz its time for a tournament recap.  This weekend me and the rest of the Team Zero comp 'B' team traveled down to sunny Clovis California to take part in the annual rogue trader tournament, Brawl in the Fall.  Image the delight of the tournament organizers when instead of Reece, Frankie, Dan and Grant they get the slovenly Pascal, Jeremy, Keno, and Jason.  The frightful foursome (porn title patent pending) Oops!

Did you know that Fresno had a bad part of town?  I do now!  Not wanting to wake up at 5 am to make the 3 hour drive to Clovis yours truly had the bright idea to simply google 'Motel 6 Fresno' and make a reservation for the first motel to pop up.  I knew I made a huge mistake when we pull into the motel at 10 pm Friday night and it is literally ringed by prostitutes and semi-trucks.  Needless to say we slept with one eye opened and were up and out of there as soon as the sun rose.  Also, there was a tweeker with a pit bull knocking on our door trying to sell us a bag of priceless gold coins he found in a Crown Royal bag.  THAT HAPPENED TO ME.

On to the tournament!

So here is the basics for the Brawl in the Fall tournament.  It is a  one day 1750 point, 3 round tournament using the Bay Area Open mission format.  If you are interested in running a tournament using this format or just curious about what the hell I'm talking about, you can find the info here.  Let me just say that I LOVE this tournament.  It is capped at around 40 players and draws great locals and out-of-towners alike.  Some of the Sacramento crew like the lovely Liz Foster and the guy with the mowhawk haircut came down as well as some people from as far as Bakersfield.  I really encourage anyone who can to attend this tournament at least once.  Here is their info if you are interested.

Before we get to my opponents, let's go over my list for the Brawl

Jason Butler Raw Dogger
Iron Hands 1750

(Self Portrait)

LIST
Chapter Master - Terminator Armor, Thunder Hammer, Shield Eternal
Terminator Assault Squad - 4x Thunder Hammer +Storm Shield 1x Lightning Claw, Land Raider Crusader
Tactical Squad- +5, Vet Sarg with Power Ax, Plasma Cannon, Plasma Gun, Rhino
Tactical Squad- +5, Vet Sarg with Power Ax, Plasma Cannon, Plasma Gun, Rhino
Scout Squad- +1, Melta Bomb, 1x Sniper Rifle
Storm Talon- Assault Cannons, Skyhammer Missles
Land Speeder x2, Typhoon Missile Launchers
Devastator Squad- +3, 4x Missile Launchers
Whirlwind

A fairly basic Space Marine list.  I wanted to try out the Iron Hands' chapter tactics (6+ Feel No Pain, It Will Not Die on vehicles and characters).  I'm not really impressed with those and in the future will most likely run the army as Ultramarines for the greater versatility.

GAME 1  Primary- Purge the Alien  Secondary - The Scouring 
 Result = Win

Opponent: Grant (lives near Yosemite)
Army: Dark Angels

List:  Grant didn't have an extra army list so this is from memory.

Sammael- On the jet bike thing.
Librarian- Powerfield
Ravenwing Command Squad- Apothecary, Banner, Champion
Dreadnought- Twin Linked Lascannons
Ravenwing- x6 Multimelta Attack Bike and Land Speeder Typhoon
Ravenwing- x6 Multimelta Attack Bike and Land Speeder Typhoon
Dark Shroud
Whirlwind
Whirlwind
Devestator Squad- 4x Lascannons

Thoughts:  This game was tough and went down to the last turn.  I had actually thought I lost this game due to Grant getting some last turn kill points but it turned out that I had one more than he did when the game ended.  I forgot how good that 5+ feel no pain is on that damned Command Squad as when it came down to the assault with my Terminators and Chapter Master and his Command Squad he could not stop rolling 5+ feel no pain to thunder hammer wounds.  Oh well.  I really liked his army.  A mix of fast moving, hard hitting bike squads and artillery and lascannons from the back field.  Also, he yelled 'Khan!!!11!!' whenever something bad happened and that ALWAYS scores bonus points in my book.  Thanks, Grant!

GAME 2 Primary- Emperors Will Secondary- Big Guns Never Tire
Result= Loss!

Opponent: Joe (redacted)
Army: Eldar

List
Farseer- Jetbike,
Fire Dragons- Wave Serpent
Dire Avengers- Exarch, Wave Serpent
Guardians- Scatter Laser, Wave Serpent
Guardians- Bright Lance
Jetbike Squadron
Warp Spiders- Exarch
Swooping Hawks- Exarch
Fire Prism
War Walkers x2
War Walker x1

Thoughts:  I knew this was going to be an uphill battle going into this game.  Eldar are a nightmare and this list is exactly what I am afraid of.  Serpent Shields that ignore cover and do d6+1 hits demolish my Rhinos, Whilwind and Speeders.  They out range me and and can hit me from anywhere on the board.  The Bright Lances also make short work of my Land Raider, leaving my assault Terminators to hoof it towards their (fast moving) lines, only to be rended to death by their basic troops (who I can't catch).  The game would have been over sooner had there not been a giant line of sight blocking piece of terrain in the middle of the table that I hid behind.

GAME 3 Primary-Table Quarters! Secondary- Purge the Alien
Result: Win!

Opponent: Matt Majchen
Army: Space Wolves

List
Rune Priest- Chooser of the Slain, Living Lightning, Jaws
Rune Priest- Jaws, Murderous Hurricane
Grey Hunters- Plasma Guns, Rhino
Grey Hunters- Plasma Guns, Rhino
Grey Hunters- Meltaguns
Grey Hunters- Meltaguns
Grey Hunters- Flamers, Drop Pod
Grey Hunters- Flamers, Drop Pod
Thunderwolf Cavalry x2, Meltabombs
Thunderwolf Cavalry x2, Power Fist
Long Fangs- Missile Launchers
Long Fangs- Missile Launchers

Thoughts: I have a LOT of respect for the 5th edition Space Wolves horde lists.  That many armor 3 bodies on the table is going to be trouble for anyone to deal with.  Me and Matt talked a lot about his list during the game and we agreed that he is really struggling with anti-air.  If he goes against a 2 or 3 Helldrake list he will be losing 2-3 units per turn.  A great opponent, major balls for taking this list, and a nice guy overall.  Cheers, Matt!

So that's it.  Another Brawl has come and gone and once again, I had an EXCELLENT time.  Overall, I am happy with my list and barring the Chapter Tactics I most likely won't be changing anything in it for some time to come.  The next big tournament will be Adepticon in April.  This will be 1850 so I will most likely add a Thunder Fire Cannon into the mix and call it a day.  Thanks for reading!

Beasts of War Waylaid! Comikaze Cancelled! Alliteration Abounds!

Hello all,

Apologies for not writing for so long, but I honestly just had nothing to say.  They say the key to creating a lasting blog with hundreds of followers is to post consistently and often.  That's probably right.  Anyways, here are some things that happened this week in wargaming that I cared about.

Comikaze Cancelled

After two strong years, the love child of cosplay and 40k has come to an end.  I've gone to both of the previous Comikaze tournaments and had been planning on attending this year as well so I was pretty bummed when the news dropped that the event was being cancelled.  I believe the cap was going to be 64 players, and since not even half of the spots had been filled by last week, the convention organizers decided it was not worth the hassle and cancelled the tournament outright.  It seems strange that they wouldn't even give Reece and the guys at Frontline Gaming the last few weeks (3 weeks) to get sales up.  You can read about it on Dakka here.   It seems to me that they already had another act lined up for the floor space and gave Frontline an impossible target, knowing that they wouldn't be able to sell the tickets in time.  A bum deal all around.  It really was a fun event and drew a TREMENDOUS amount of curious convention goers to the gaming area to see what all these fat guys were doing with their little army men.  Games Workshop could learn a thing or two about marketing from Reece and the guys at Frontline Gaming.

Beasts of War Waylaid

Yesterday, the premier tabletop wargaming news and preview site announced that due to legal pressure from Games Workshop they would be ceasing their partnership with Wayland Games.  You can watch the youtube announcement here.   The quick and dirty is that Games Workshop was not happy with Beasts of War for previewing their model kits and talking about upcoming model releases.  Games Workshop, through roundabout means, continuously sent Beasts of War cease and desist letters which were for the most part largely ignored.  Games Workshop craftily went after Beast of War's partner and financier Wayland Games, and threatened to block their distribution account.  Wayland games wisely took the high road and cut Beasts of War loose.  The worst part about watching that video is Warren's complete disbelief that Games Workshop would do this to him.  While they will be leaving to continue to produce (and fund) the show on their own, it most likely will be a slow and painful death for Beasts of War.  That's business, bitch!

Non-Taudar Dominance?  BULLSHIT

So we had two large-ish tournaments go down in the last week or two and SURPRISE two non-Taudar armies came out on top.  The Golden Throne tournament (Southwest) saw a strong Space Marine showing with a White Scars army come out on top.  I'm not too surprised about White Scars being the front runners of the Space Marines codex, as they are extremely fast and hard hitting.  I still think that  more people should take three Hell-Drakes but that's just me.  At Battle Foam's Duel Con in Mesa, Arizona we saw Daemon dominance on the top tables.  From what I hear the amount of line of site blocking terrain and the crazy amount of Screamer Stars spelled the doom for point and click shooting armies.  Personally I think the people who take the Screamer Stars are just as bad as those people taking the Riptides with characters, etc.

So that's it!  Next week I'll try and get a couple posts in.  I've just finished the heresy novella Mark of Calth that I want to talk about and I'll go over my list for the upcoming Brawl in the Fall.  Peace!

Why Tau Will Rock Your Face 100% of the Time

This past weekend I went to a local RTT that also happened to be a qualifier for the upcoming Feast of Blades tournament in Denver, Colorado.  I brought what I THOUGHT would be a tournament winning Dark Angels/Imperial Guard 1850 point list.  I won't lie, I walked into the game store pretty confident in my list.  If you described me as being a bit cocky it would be an understatement.  Alpha Striking terminators with the Azrael/Guard 4+ Invulnerable save blob of DOOOOOOOOM?  I gots that!  I was ready to beat it like a sore dick, i.e. hard.  Little did I know I was about to be the sore dick getting beaten i.e. hard.

I would like to preface my embarrassing defeat with the fact that I have not really played against nor have I read to far into the new Tau codex.  I knew that they shot dead killy and were almost as tricksy as the light on their feet Eldar, but was ultimately so unprepared for what was to come I'm surprised I was still wearing my pants by the end of turn 2.  By the end of turn 3 I had to call the game, since that's just how I roll (READ: I'm a quitter, Vol.1).  So what happened, Raw Dogger?  What caused you to consider Tau the new hottest thing?  The best army since sliced bread?  Please keep in mind that I STILL have not read through the Tau codex so I'm basing my opinions off of what beat me to hell in the game.

• Did you know that Tau can take Interceptor for basically ALL of their units for around 5 points?  I sure didn't!  Having an all reserve (deep striking) force really, REALLY sucked in a game with 6 Intercepting Missile Broadsides and 2 Intercepting Riptides.  This should also be a lesson on NOT reading your opponents list.  I told my opponent that he could just tell me what things were when he was deploying, and I didn't really pay attention to what he was telling me.  As in 'Hey, your whole army is rendered obsolete so you know...want to get any early lunch?'
• Cover saves?  How you are supposed to operate in a game against an overwhelming shooting army when you cannot get cover saves?  'Why don't you kill the units with Marker Lights, Fatso?'  Well, dick, most of their units HAVE the Marker Lights so if you want to take them out you need to kill the whole army.
• Riptides.  FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU.  My opponent had two of these bad boyz, and to be honest, so would I.  Yes, they CAN hurt themselves when over charging their weapons but that never happened to me.  So yeah.
• NO COVER SAVES.
• Blocking Terrain gets negated by their no line of sight weapons.  So even if you try to avoid being seen, you still get blasted in the face.

I'm sure there is a LOT more that makes them insufferable, I just didn't last long enough to find out.  I think the thing that makes me the most upset is the fact that there is LITERALLY nothing you can do about getting shot off the board.  All I could do was hunker down and hope I had models left on objectives by the end of the game.  This isn't enjoyable.   

The Curious Case of Christina Campbell

If you had 'identity fraud' as the next issue to plague our wargaming community, step up and claim your prize! What prize you may ask?  A swift kick to the nuts.  Yes, the 40k wargaming podcast community (this is a thing) was recently 'catfished' in a surprisingly underexposed scandal.

  

Yes, in a community that explodes whenever Games Workshop gets up to scratch its balls, the story of a person (man) pretending to be an attractive woman who plays Warhammer 40k gets a reaction I can most closely replicate as 'meh'.  Check out the Dakka Dakka thread here where BolingbrokeIV spills the juicy details in this strange and twisted story,

For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about (i.e. you don't waste your time listening to 40k podcasts or reading online 40k forums) Christina Campbell was a 'woman' who joined the 40k podcast Deepstrike Radio after an on air interview where she apparently detailed her near death experience and her new found love for all things 40k.  I was actually aware of her through The Independent Characters' (another 40k podcast) Facebook page, where she was an avid poster.  I believe I actually checked out her profile once, thinking she looked a lot like the actress that plays the secretary in The Office and now that I think of it, those might have been the actual actress' pictures....

Hello, I'm Christina..err..Erin..err..Mike

A couple of weeks ago, Christina Campbell died.  Remember that previous near death experience?  Well, it finally got the best of her and she died suddenly.  There was much wailing and lamenting from the 40k community.  We lost one of our unicorns!  We only have like, two left (that I'm aware of).  How unfair for us!  That could have been the end of it.....

Soon, several 40k podcasters got together to host a memorial show where many fond memories of hearing her voice were conveyed.  Christina's grieving widow, Alexander, was interviewed and two tearful hours later the 40k community was silently cursing all of the dust in their mom's basement.  That could have been the end of it.....

A few days ago, Deepstrike Radio posted a message on their blog stating that Christina Campbell was not dead.  In fact, Christina Campbell never existed at all!  What about her grieving widow?  Alexander?  He was also fictitious, and most likely was the same person who had claimed to be Christina Campbell in the first place.  How could this happen?  Remember, Deepstrike Radio is a podcast that uses dial in hosts from around the world.  Many people had claimed that her voice sounded a bit...off..but reasoned it was her computer's microphone causing the distortion.  All traces of Christina Campbell have disappeared.  Her Facebook profile has been deleted, as has her friend's (fake) and family's (fake).  Needless to say, all of those involved are highly embarrassed and are hoping the story blows over.  The fact is, this is the most amazing story that has involved our strange, niche 40k community in quite some time.  Some person (man) went through a LOT of trouble to troll the wargaming podcast community....and completely pulled it off.  So, Christina Campbell, wherever you are...a tip of the cap....like so...

Terminator Ain't No Hollaback Girl!

Hello gentle readers, today I want to talk about something that really gets my goat.  A topic that really grinds my gears.  An issue that violently slaps my nuts (like that's a bad thing...).  The idea that all units should be able to eliminate terminators with ease.  For those uninitiated few reading this post who have no idea what a 'terminator' is and are wondering why their google search for Gwen Stefani's iconic Holler Back Girl sent them here, let me take a moment to explain.

 A terminator is a 7 foot tall human turned biological weapon called a Space Marine in an incredibly ancient suit of neigh impenetrable armor.  These warriors are the finest members of an already elite chapter of 1000 warriors.  They carry devastating weapons that are used to fully eradicate whatever is unfortunate enough to be in front of them.  In the actual game of 40k they come in at a hefty 40-45 points and you are required to take a unit of 5 (usually).  These 5, with a decent weapon load-out will most likely cost you between 225-260 points.  Not an insignificant allocation of points.  In short, they came to chew bubble gum and kick ass.  Just your luck, they're out of bubble gum.

Unfortunately, for some time now any discussion regarding the merits of a unit will inevitably cause someone to compare said unit with terminators.  Usually, it will go something like this,

Newb: Hey guys, what do you think about (x)??
Dork: They're ok, but they can't kill terminators.

WHAT.  Of course they can't kill terminators.  Do you know why? BECAUSE THEY'RE FLIPPING TERMINATORS, CUNT!  BITCH!  They cost 40 points per model.  Oh, I'm sorry you feel your 15 point model sucks because it cant easily eliminate my terminator models.  I just don't get why people feel that they're unit of (x) should for some reason cost half the points of other models and be able to go toe to toe with them.  When a Banshee costs 40 points (or more with weapons) give me a call.

I would like to go further and claim that terminators are now TOO easy to kill.  Yes, they have a 2+ save, but at toughness 4 they are fairly easy to wound and with the prevalence of plasma weaponry (another article) their 5+ invulnerable save will get you dead more than 50% of the time.  At toughness 4, you are taking a lot of armor saves.  How many 1's will you roll on 10 dice?  2 most likely (or 5 in my case).  Even the ubiquitous storm shield/thunder hammer terminators are toughness 4.  In order to have them survive past the 3rd turn you are forced to take them in large numbers, which will eat up your points right quick.  I would propose making terminators HARDER to kill.  Fuck, at 40 points, they better be!  How about toughness 5? Why are they the same toughness as marines in regular power armor?  Maybe making them come with 2 wounds standard?  Lower point cost?  I would like to see them move to a 2+/5+ Feel no Pain that can be taken no matter what type of weapon causes the wound.  Something.  ANYTHING that will make them better reflect the fluff that is written about them. Also, why is Dante not eternal warrior and why is he initiative 7 but the FAQ gave him a power axe? Why women be shopping! TELL ME ASSHOLES!  Ok, I'm sweating now.

Next up!  Kublacon 1500 point tournament with Azrael and Friends!

A turd by any other name....

....... is my Grey Knight's list that I took to a local 1750 point tournament this past weekend.  I don't want to go through the entire list again, and one needs to look no further than my last post (over a week ago) to see the list in detail.  Let's just say that with only 17 models in the entire list (not counting the Bastion) I did manage to go 2-1, though lady luck has more to do with that than any discernible skill on my part.

I had a whole plan for this post, but seeing as how I attribute most of the positives from the list to luck I'm just going to go over some of the pros and cons of the list that I think might interest people.

 *I'm not taking the time to go over my list again. Please go back and read the last post to get the details...Don't be an asshole...*

PROS

• Low model count.  This made taking the time to set up properly not so much of a hassle.  A lot of games are lost due to poor deployment, and having a large army can lead to this at times.  If you only have a few units, they more than likely each have a specific job and you can spend a good amount of time making sure they are set up to do their job properly.
• Powerful units. Lord Kaldor 'd'Brikashaw Ferguson' Draigo and Paladin friends make for an intimidating unit, and there wasn't much on the table that could handle them.  I believe in my last game against Necrons, d'Brikashaw aka Draigo took every wound from two Annihilation Barges....TWICE.  Yes, friends, placement is everything.  
• Coteaz is the Grey Knight tax, and putting him in the unit of Paladins/Draigo is just mean.  I've Been Expecting You with two Psycannons and strength 5 Storm Bolters will make most players rage quit 100% of the time.  PRO TIP: Don't tell your opponent about I've Been Expecting You. 
• A Vindicare in a Bastion firing from fire points can make sure your opponent is going to have a bad day.  In the same game that Draigo was taking wounds from Annihilation Barges, the Vindicare exploded both of the same Barges.  Now, to be honest, he did make about 400 4+ Invulnerable saves and about 10 6+ Feel No Pain saves from being glanced by 60 rapid firing Warriors....
• A Dreadnight with a heavy incinerator deep striking will ruin a LOT of people's days.  Especially Necrons.
• A Storm Raven's mindstrike missles make Paladins die (and shit their pants).

CONS

• Low model count.  With two troop choices and the majority of book missions being objective based, you are going to have a really steep hill to climb.  Throw in the fact that we use the BAO (Bay Area Open) format in most west coast tournaments now, which mix in objectives in EACH mission, and 17 models starts looking REALLY unattractive.
• No real anti-horde.  I was fortunate to not have faced any horde armies or else I would have been in big trouble.  Yes, I had a Storm Raven, but it was kitted out to take out enemy fliers.
• Draigo AKA d'Brikashaw Ferguson ain't what he used to be.  Yes, he can still destroy most enemies, but with his sword now being AP3 and unless he is fighting a demon or psycher, he has a hard time taking out anyone with a decent armor/invulnerable save.  I actually forgot his sword was AP3 and challenged Belial in my first game.  I almost lost Draigo to that pigeon toed fucker (He was making his 2 ups and I was failing my 3 ups...).
• A Vindicare assassin might look cool, but he dies to mass bolter fire just the same.  With just a 4+ invulnerable save, and even with a 3+ cover save most of the time, he only has two wounds and you are GOING to roll 2 twos when rolling for 12-15 saves.
• Low model count.  I'm going to say this again.  With that low model count, when you lose a unit it REALLY HURTS.  

So with that said, here is how I would improve the list.

• Drop the Bastion and Vindicare and take two Psyflemen Dreadnoughts.  I know this has become cliche, but it's for a good reason.  They tear shit up and do it on the cheap.  Vindicare's are cool, and If I went up to 1850 I would most likely drop a Paladin and take him.  They can be made scoring with Draigo.
• Drop the lascannon on the Storm Raven and bring the assault cannon and find points for the hurricane bolters.  With Psybolt ammo it's just too good and I still think Storm Ravens are where it'st at (it's no Vendetta).

So that't it.  I hope you found this remotely useful.  Next blog post will be about Terminators and why you're an asshole for thinking every army should have a cheap counter for them.

Why BOLS sucks more than your mom (A Rant in A Minor)

Not able to leave a critical comment on BOLS? It’s more likely than you may think.  Would you like to know more?

I think most people who have the faculty of both their eyes and half of their brain know that the infamous war gaming blog Bell of Lost Souls has become synonymous with poor writing and non-existent editing.  Every other post is now either a loosely veiled advertisement (Man Boy Genius) or one of four writers reviewing the same blog at the same time.  I honestly think that the only reason I still visit the site is to get my blood pressure up in order to concern my doctor.  I’ll give a few more dollars to Larry Vela in order to get ideas for my own blog, and hey, he needs to feed his family, too.  Above all of the advertisements and incoherent, borderline unintelligibly written articles there is one contributor who fully and completely activates my nerd rage.  He goes by the name of Mercer.  I think my biggest complaint about Mercer is that his articles always feel like they were written 5 minutes before the deadline.  I can image him waking up hung-over, a slight stubble growing across his neck.  He scratches his belly and looks around at the devastation he caused in his studio apartment.  He slowly becomes aware that it is Tuesday, and his article for BOLS is due in 5 minutes.  He walks to the computer on his milk carton desk and quickly posts a picture of a yellow rhino and a blue rhino.  He then writes a line of text under the pictures that reads ‘so what do you like better, yellow or blue?’  He submits his article and gets 10,000 views. 

While the above story is entirely fictional, and perhaps a bit harsh (I’m sure Mercer is a nice guy in real life) the article he posted is basically an article he posted on BOLS a couple months ago verbatim.  It’s this type of lazy bullshit that gets me so irritated with Larry Vela.  He makes a great deal of money on his website, and with the amount of people that regularly read the website (myself included) you would think he gives more of a shit in regards to what is posted on his website.  You have four authors writing the same review for the Deamon codex!  Larry, I’m going to give you a quick editing trick and I won’t charge you a cent for it.  PLAN YOUR CONTENT EVERY MONTH!  Don’t just pick people you like to write articles and then give them a hard deadline.  You have a responsibility to give a fuck.  People give you money by visiting your site.  Maybe, for once, pretend you care about them and stop posting bullshit advertisements for Man Boy Genius and half assed reviews that read like a high school freshman’s first review of Moby Dick.

It also appears that BOLS now moderates comments that might be critical of their writers.  This morning during my morning cup of coffee, I read Mercer’s article Flesh Hounds vs. Seekers.  Here is an example of the fine writing I’ve come to expect,

“Ok I lie about the Seekers, I do not think they are that interesting. I think they are ok so don't get me wrong, just I see the internet saying how awesome they are and not a lot of people seem to give the Flesh Hounds a second thought.”

If anyone can break this down into English, please do so for me.  After leaving a comment to the effect that they should edit their posts, I was notified the comment was awaiting approval.  This is the first time this has happened to me, so  I looked at every other comment in the article.  Not one negative comment!  That’s very impressive; I cannot image not ONE person leaving a comment regarding the horrendous grammar and spelling mistakes, or at the very least commenting on the weak review of the models themselves.  The only explanation is that not one comment that was critical of Mercer was allowed to be posted.  Bravo, Mr. Vela.  If you can’t find competent writers or editors you might as well artificially make them appear to be competent by not allowing legitimate criticisms to be voiced.

How rage quitting made me a better player. And so can you!

This is the game that will define your life.  You've spent hours writing and re-writing the perfect list.  You've covered every possible angle and have an answer to any conceivable enemy combination.  You’re tired because you spent most of the previous night and much of the early morning putting the finishing touches on your beautifully painted army.  Everything seems to be going so well, you've won all of your games in the first day of a tournament and you’re two games away from bringing home the trophy.  Your cat will be so proud of you!  That will teach her who the boss is.  Then it happens.  Your opponent lines up against you with a formation you've never seen before.  They then proceed to blast every model you own off the table by turn two.  Your girlfriend looks on with pity.  You RAGE QUIT. 

For those of you not aware of the term rage quit, it refers to the act of losing your temper and either quitting a game before its conclusion or vowing to never play the game system again.  This can be due to rolling 7 dice and rolling 5 ones (this HAS happened to me) to completely kill your entire Terminator Squad or in protest of some imaginable sleight against your person by the game company themselves.

I not only witnessed this first hand at my recent foray to the Broadside Bash, but was an active member of the rage quit club myself.  That’s right; your old pal Raw Dogger is guilty of taking my righteous indignation and going home (literally).  I justified the early withdrawal from the tournament by saying that I wanted to get an early start on my drive back North, and after my loss (to my good friend, Steve, aka Stave Stiff) there would be no way for me to win the tournament.  While this may have been true, the truth in the matter is that I quit.  I RAGE quit.   I was so thoroughly defeated by turn 3, by an army I couldn’t believe had so much fire power, that I angrily made the decision to leave the tournament and possibly give my game 5 opponent no one to play against.  I was so upset that my brilliantly planned army list could be so embarrassingly trounced I selfishly cost some poor player the opportunity to get one final game in.  No matter how much I justified leaving the tournament early or how many sympathetic nods I received from fellow tournament players, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was no better than the man with the cane that quit day 1 after learning that Forgeworld was being allowed into the Bash.  That’s right, poor old Raw Dogger is just as bad as the dimwit long haired man who spent all of the money to travel to and participate in the Broadside Bash, only to quit after getting blasted in the face turn one and rage quit.  We are equal partners in embarrassment.

There is one silver lining to this sad tale of woe.  Getting pummeled and rage quitting has made me want to be a better player.  I don’t WANT to be that guy that is getting written about on some assholes blog.  I don’t WANT to be that guy that ruins someone’s tournament by not letting them get their full games in.  The games that they paid good money for so they could get some quality games in.  I want to make better lists so this doesn't happen again.  I want to be PREPARED for the list that blew me off the table.  Let my embarrassing tale be a lesson to all of you.  When you rage quit, you are raging against yourself.  You are raging against yourself because you were unprepared for the match.  The games company does not have some secret agenda that is screwing you over personally.  Your cat might, but certainly no one else.  Take your ass whipping as a lesson to be a better player.  Your opponent will respect you more, your girlfriend will have more sex with you, and your boss will give you a raise.  Well, at least one of those things will happen and if you are reading this blog it most likely will not be the sex.

So have you ever rage quit or have had someone rage quit on you?  Is it ever ok?

A Gentleman's Case Against Forgeworld (kind of)

A couple of weeks ago I packed up the car and headed south to San Diego to take part in the annual 40k tournament, the Broadside Bash.  An RTT that focuses not only on competition but appearance and sportsmanship as well, the Bash lived up to its reputation as a premier west coast event that I’ll be sure to make the trip down for next year. First, a couple notes about the Broadside Bash.  It is 2000 point tournament (no double force organization) with 40k approved Forgeworld units allowed.  Appearance and sportsmanship points are a large factor in the tournament, but having a fully painted army is not required to win.  Composition scores might have played a part in the overall score, but from what I could see most lists were extremely powerful and fluff bunny lists were few and far between.  Despite my excitement in traveling to San Diego to take part in the tournament, there were a couple of factors that I was concerned about. The first was the point level of the tournament. In my opinion, 2000 points in too high in a competitive environment. It gives too much power to certain armies who have a greater abundance of powerful units to choose from.  It also takes a lot of the challenge of list building out of the equation, since with 2000 points you are able to take just about everything you want (and a bag of chips).  The second concern I had was with Forgeworld 40k approved units being allowed.  

I normally do not have a problem with 40k approved Forgeworld models being allowed in tournaments, and I think my main concern was the point level of the tournament. 2000 points gives players a LOT to work with when deciding to take high point cost units.  It is no surprise that certain 40k approved Forgeworld units are more powerful than others, and it certainly shouldn't be a surprise that some of the most powerful are available to an army that certainly doesn't need any additional help in the current edition.  I am speaking, of course, of the Imperial Guard. With the amount of cheap, effective firepower the Imperial Guard have at their disposal I am left to wonder at the necessity of allowing them to take cheap anti-aircraft weapon platforms and flying murder vultures that disintegrate your horde of infantry with contemptuous ease.  I understand that Hell Turkeys are a broken unit, I really do.  I am just as frustrated with their 360 degree marine melting death as the next guy.  Throw in the ridiculous looking model as well as the laughable premise and you have a unit that is just asking for a nut punch.   

Yes, it is dumb when someone brings 3 Hell Turkeys or 9 Necron flyers in a list but allowing Forgeworld units into the competitive environment in order to counter the cheesy flyer lists has given birth to newer, cheesier Forgeworld 40k approved armies.  It’s like the Simpson episode where Bart finds the exotic lizards that eat all of the pigeons and breed uncontrollably, so the town plans on bringing in snakes to eat all of the lizards.  When the snakes get out of control they plan on bringing in Gorillas to eat the snakes, which will then die when winter comes around.  While playing against 3 Hell Turkeys or 9 Necron flyers is annoying, so is playing against someone with 2 Mortis Contemptor Dreadnoughts, 6 Sabre Platforms, 7 Missile Batteries, and a Vulture (this, by the way, is the list that wiped me off the table in game 4).  Is it fun to play against someone who takes multiple toughness 7, 2 wound platforms that are surrounded by guardsmen (who count as toughness 7 for some reason) behind Aegis Defense Platforms?  No, it’s not.  Who is more of the asshole, the guy who brought 3 Hell Turkeys or the guy who brought 9 Sabre Platforms?  They both are, in my book.  

An opponent at the Bash made the comment that Forgeworld brings 40k into the realm of Magic the card game, in that the people with the most money have the advantage of purchasing expensive units that have the ability to dominate the battlefield in ways that mundane units cannot.  It is not surprising, therefore, that an army comprising of majority Forgeworld models won the tournament handily.  Does this mean we should not allow 40k approved Forgeworld units into games of competitive 40k?  I don’t think so, at least not at lower point level tournaments.  I do, however, feel strongly that they should not be allowed at tournaments over 1750 points.  What about cheesy flyer lists that adhere to legal GW codices?  Should we not allow spamming of these units in tournament play?  Again, I would have to say no.  With the Dark Angels codex having Flakk Missiles and the new Tau Codex having several brutal anti-air units and upgrades, it appears that GW got the message about the overpowered nature of flyers and are giving new armies the ability to take them down using codex units.

 Ultimately, I believe the problems of Forgeworld approved and spammy flyer lists can both by solved by adhering to a 1500 point limit at all major tournaments.  At 1500 points, you must be much more conservative with your points and spending too many in any one force org slot will result in an imbalance that will lead to a lot of losses.  I also believe that there should be a limit to the amount of Forgeworld that should be allowed at tournaments.  One unit per army should be more than enough to fill any gaps in the GW codex.   I know this is a hot button issue at the moment, with angry people on both sides of the argument gnashing their teeth and yelling at their cats.  This article is not meant to cause anymore division on the subject but to evoke thoughtful dialogue that can hopefully bring some consensus to the community.  So tell me, what do you think?  Are Forgeworld models still filling a necessary gap or are we now allowing power gamers with deep pockets new ways of blowing their opponents of the table, like so many leaves?