Blood Angels 6th Edition: Brother Corbulo, Super Hunk

Long time no talk, drunken readers!  Apologies but life has once again reared it's ugly head and I've been unable to fit in gaming hobby time as of late.  I wanted to quickly talk about one of my go-to models when putting together a Blood Angel's army in 40k 6th edition, the ultra-hunky Brother Corbulo.

Broken camera? Check.  Backpack in the shop?  Double Check.

Corbulo is is the High Sanguinary Priest of the Blood Angels.  He's basically an Apothecary that gives off a 6" Furious Charge bubble and comes in at the price of a Librarian with a Melta Bomb.  He basically has the stats of a Space Marine with one less Wound and Weapon Skill.  Corbulo also comes with a couple of war gear items and a special rule that rocks a lots of cocks [citation needed].

Heaven's Teeth:  A chainsword that gives Corbulo +1 Strength (5) and has the rending special rule.  Seeing as how he come with 4 attacks base and he is usually hitting on 3's you have the potential to do some damage to high armor foes or medium armored vehicles.

The Red Grail:  As stated above, Corbulo is an Apothecary that grants any unit within 6" of himself Furious Charge and Feel No Pain.  As an added benefit his pimp chalice grants Corbulo a 2+ Feel No Pain.  Awesome pizza sauce.

The Far-Seeing Eye:  Once per game Corbulo can use his super powers to divine the strands of fate.  What the fuck does that mean?  He lets you re-roll one dice per game.  This can be any roll of the dice, including the role to seize the initiative.  This has gotten me out of a jam more times than I care to admit.

So, now that you know about this hunk how the hell do you use him?  I've been having a lot of success plopping him down in a Drop Pod with a unit of Sternguard with combi-plasmas.  He sits in front of the unit and tanks wounds with his 2+ Feel No Pain while the Sternguard do what they do.  Corbulo isn't too bad in combat and gives the unit a 5+ Feel No Pain and Furious Charge bonus, which is great for the Get's Hot nature of combi-plasmas.  Another great way to use him is in a Storm Raven with a unit of Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield Terminators.  They will hit like a ton of bricks and if the 5+ Feel No Pain really helps if the damn funky chicken explodes before they get to their destination.

All-in-all Brother Corbulo really helps the struggling Blood Angels in the 6th edition.  So, what are your coolest moments using the hunky Hercules?

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!

How to Lose with Vampire Counts: A Process

Hello again to my reader (s), it’s been a while since my last post and for that I apologize. Today I want to talk to you about something that happened a few weeks ago that honestly got me to thinking. I eagerly joined the local Ork Town Warhammer Fantasy League, which is a 2K 6 week event which has a total of around 9-10 players. I would be using my Vampire Counts that I have been feverishly painting for the last 2 months, even though I had not ever used them in any kind of competitive environment. There would be a certain comp restriction in that your special and rare choices could not exceed the point total of your core units, though this seriously hamstringed my choices seeing as how VC lists depend on their special and rare choices to win games and have very over-priced and weak core units (more on this later), other than that there is a 10 wizard level cap (i.e you can’t have 4 level 3 wizards, as this would put you at 12…k?) of course bound spells count as 1 level and VC’s got dinged with a +1 before any list building began (yeeaahhhhh…..). So that’s enough rambling, what follows is what I brought in my first list and why it all failed so miserably..


Large blocks of skeletons: The reason I wanted to take these was because a) I happen to have a lot of these skeleton models b) a large block meant more of a point cost, which meant I could take more special and rare choices and c) they look cool.

The reason they failed me: Taking the initial large blocks prevented me from using more points to buy them magical banners and other important core choices such as Corpse Carts, etc. There is really no reason to start the game with more than 15 skeletons in a unit, as it is unlikely that anyone can destroy the unit in one shooting turn and you can usually raise more skeletons anyways with a nearby vampire (even above their starting number) if you need to.



One unit of fast cavalry: Ok, everyone knows that the VC options for fast march blockers are extremely limited, i.e we have the Dire Wolves and Bat Swarms. Now, in my infinite wisdom I thought that I would only need one unit of 7 Dire Wolves to use to outflank the enemy and to be used as march blockers or prevent the dreaded flank charges that will deny my combat troops their rank bonuses.

The reason they failed me: Dire Wolves are going to die their first round of combat weather you have 5, 7, or 10 in a unit. The only way to get around this is to charge and declare a challenge with your doom wolf (though this only works against single character units). I found it is better to take multiple units of 5 in order to cover more of the board and provide an effective screen for your more valuable combat troops as they try to maneuver into position.

Super Combat Vampire Lord: While it seemed a cool idea at the time to make a character that could chop the head off most units, it was ultimately a bad idea to put the only model keeping you army from crumbling to dust in the front lines.

The reason he failed me: This guy came in at a staggering amount of points, and to be honest, no matter how much of a combat badass you make your Vampire Lord, he is still going to be owned by a lot of units out there. Once that happens say goodbye to your army and to the game. It is much better to make a Lord magic oriented and stick him in the back, away from the danger. You have Hero Vampires that can be used in the combat roles.

Wights and Banshees: What’s not to love about these guys? They are Ethereal (they can’t be hit by anything that isn’t magical) have great weapons (strength 5) have 3 attacks and 2 wounds each (except for the Banshee who has an awesome shooting scream).

The reason they failed me: While VC players got away with the Wight and Banshee shenanigans a few years ago, the rest of the Warhammer world has gotten wise, and now most competitive armies have so many magic weapons and magic attacks (Skaven, Lizardmen) that this unit usually just gets pulverized before they are able to do anything worthwhile. Add in the fact that most competitive tournaments or leagues will have a fair share of Daemons (which count every attack as magical) and your 50 point per model (75 for the Banshee) unit starts to look less and less appealing.

One Hammer Unit: It’s tempting to throw all of you points into one single hammer unit that can make or break the game in one round of combat. For some people it’s a great idea, for me, it proved disastrous.

The reason it failed me: I decided to go with a large block of Grave Guard with a magical banner and the super combat Lord character included for good measure. Now, this unit was able to chop through just about anything, and for the most part, they did. However, they are slow as hell and can be avoided by many things that they, as the only real killers in the army, are tasked to eliminate. Trying to chase a Blood Thirster with movement 4 units is a great way for an army to get picked off piecemeal.



And there you have it. There were plenty of other things that led to my humiliation such as not having adequate magic support for a VC army and misusing some of my units (as I am still relatively new to the game). In the future I will be utilizing some of the other VC units such as Ghouls and Black Knights and will let you all know how those future games go.

Stay Tuned for another update later this week!