40k Campaign Game 1: Tau vs Imperial Guard @ 1100 points.

Tonight I played a campaign game against my friends Imperial Guard at 1100 points. We were playing a modified mission with Dawn of War Deployment, Tau deploy and go first, and Night Fighting on turn 1 to represent the Tau's dastardly dawn assault. There was a single objective in the guard deployment zone and the Tau objective was basically kill points.

The battlefield consisted of 3 ruined buildings in each deployment zone, with a no man's land in the middle with several craters and a small ruin to represent a fountain or gathering place. I pictured this as the ruined town centre for a small town destroyed in an earlier Tau assault.

My Tau consisted of Shas'O Darkfall with a Cyclic Ion Blaster and Missile Pod, 2 three man Crisis Suit Teams, 1 with Fusion Blasters and Missile Pods that I planned to deep strike in to take out any IG armour, and 1 with Burst Cannons and Missile Pods for more anti-infantry fire power. There were 2 twelve man Fire Warrior Squads, 2 four man Gun Drone Squadrons (Held in reserve to deep strike), and 2 Broadsides, each  selected as individual Heavy Support choices.

My opponent had a Lord Commissar, 2 Vet Squads with Melta Guns and Chimera and 1 Vet Squad with Gunnery Sgt Harker, cammo cloaks, and plasma guns that he deployed in a ruin for a very annoying 2+ cover save! He also had 2 Medusa taken as seperate heavy support choices and a single Vendetta.

Turn 1:

• Tau Turn 1: This was pretty successful. Taking advantage of my Black Sun Filters to negate the penalties with Night Fighting, my Broadsides were able to destroy both Medusa with a single lucky round of shooting. My Commander with his Crisis Suit squad (Burst Cannons) opened fire on a chimera out in the open with their missile pods and managed to get 2 hull points on it. Lastly I managed to kill a single guardsman in Gunnery Sgt Harkers squad when he rolled a 1 for his cover save. Unfortunately, he wouldn't fail another 2+ cover save on that squad for the rest of the game!!!
• Imperial Guard turn 1 was pretty ineffective, he drove both Chimera 12 inches forward and snap fired at a Fire Warrior squad in the ruins at the center of my deployment zone managing to kill 1 Warrior. Losing both Medusa before they got to shoot put a crimp in his plan for sure.

Turn 2:

• Tau Turn 2: This was another successful turn of putting lead on target. All 3 of my squads in reserve came in. I deep struck the 2 Gun Drone Squadrons behind Gunnery Sgt Harkers location but they scattered far to the left. Luckily, my Fusion Blaster Squad landed exactly where i wanted them and were in range to blast the Chimera this turn. The Fusion Blaster Squad split fire (the Team Leader had a target lock) and blew up both Chimera, the resulting explosions rocked the Guardsmen with one squad taking 50% casualties despite having Carapace Armour upgrades. Both Guard Squads were pinned and were quickly cut down by the combined fire power of 11 rapid fire pulse rifles, and my Commanders Crisis squad. The Gun Drones managed to inflict a wound on the Guard squad at the back, but they passed their pinning test.
• Imperial Guard Turn 2: The Vendetta came in on Guard Turn 2, but over 2/3rds of their army was gone by that point. Harkers squad turned its weapons on the Fusion blaster Crisis Squad and managed to cut down the shield drone and 1 of the suits. The Vendetta promptly melted the rest of the Fusion Blaster squad with its 3 twin linked lascannons.

Turn 3:

• Tau Turn 3: This was the least efficient turn of the game for the Tau. The Broadsides managed to get a hit on the Vendetta but it jinked out of the way of the shot. It also jinked out of the way of the missile shots form the Commanders Crisis squad. At this point the Fire Warrior squads pretty well played no further role in the game as they couldn't get any wounds past the 2+ cover save Sgt Harker's squad had, however the Gun Drones continued to pile on the wounds each turn, causing the Guardsmen to become pinned down.
• Guard Turn 3: The Guardsmen fire was largely ineffective, only managing to kill a single gun drone with the Guardsmen (since they had to snap fire for being pinned) and the Vendetta missed its targets since it had to snap fire due to jinking.

Turn 4:

• Tau Turn 4: The Broadsides managed to get a lucky penetrating hit that caused the Vendetta to crash and burn. Unfortunately, it scatted 1 inch to short to flatten some Fire Warriors! The Gun Drones continued to lay down suppressive fire on the guardsmen, who at this point were down to 4 men including the lord Commissar.
• Imperial Guard Turn 4: Down to only 4 men and trying to prevent a tabling, the Guardsmen huddled down in the ruins out of line of sight of everything but the Gun Drones. 

Turn 5:

• Tau Turn 5: The Gun Drones again laid down a curtain of suppressive fire, slaying the remaining Guardsmen and leaving only the Commissar standing. The Commander with his Crisis suits bounded forward hoping to get another chance to shoot at the enemy commander.
• Imperial Guard Turn 5: The Commissar, looking around and seeing all the bodies of his troopers, bellowed a war cry and charged the nearest Gun Drone Squadron. Unfortunately, armed only with a Bolt Gun and a Chain Sword, the Commissar was largely ineffective in close combat and even managed to take a wound in return from a Gun Drone!

 With close combat completed and the morale check for losing the combat completed, it was time to roll to end the game and my friend rolled a 1.

Victory to Commander Darkfall!! Victory to the Tau Empire!!

What I learned:
1) Gun Drones are actually really good. This is only the second time I have fielded them, and being able to deep strike in and inflict pinning wounds on models and negate part of their cover save was great.
2) Tau guns are awesome!! Seriously, I am used to bolt guns where you need 4's to wound most things. Having a game where every weapon in my army needed 2's to wound the enemy was awesome.
3) Tau need to be able to deal with dug in units like Sgt Harker. lacking any decent close combat units, Tau have to rely on shooting squads out of cover like that so I either need to take some marker lights in my next game, or deep strike in some suits with Flamers.
4) 1100 points makes for a nice quick game for an evening, it took us about 80 minutes to play a full 5 turns and on the plus side, at 1100 points, you cant over specialise or you wind up being unable to deal with one thing or another.

My friend is still learning with Imperial Guard and made some mistakes early in the game, driving the Chimera's out of cover on turn 1 instead of waiting for his turn 2 where I would have also been shooting at the Vendetta, but it was overall a very enjoyable game. He is going to write the next mission for our narrative campaign and I will post again once we have played that.

Codex Tau: The Greater Good and You in 6th Edition 40k.

Tau are one of those old codex's that got a substantial boost in playability for 6th edition due to the changes to rapid fire and a couple really good FAQ's. They still suffer high points costs, especially with their vehicles, but they actually became more survivable due to the interaction between a skimmers 5+ Jink cover save when moving, and the Disruption Pods.

Here are some of the cool things with Tau in 6th edition

1. Rail guns. Rail guns remain the best anti-tank weapon in the game (except for possibly the unreliable Zoanthropes Warp Lance). Strength 10, AP1 can wreck any vehicle in the game in one shot, and with the Hammer and Anvil Deployment, you actually get to take advantage of the 72 inch range.
2. Jet Pack Infantry (Crisis Suits, Stealth Suits, and Gun Drone Squadrons) now move 2d6 in the assault phase instead of just 6". While on average this will not make much of a difference in a game, it does mean you can potentially jump forward 6 inches, shoot, and then jump back 12 inches for a net distance gain of 6 inches which is great when fighting assault based armies.
3. Rapid Fire: Pulse Rifles have a 30 inch range and can rapid fire twice up to 15 inches away. This is huge because on average against non fleet foot infantry, they will fail a 9 inch charge more times than they will make it.
4. Hammerhead Tanks: AV13 with a 3+ cover save, this is a Tough nut to crack. Couple that with being able to move 12 inches and still fire that big gun at full effect due to the multi tracker upgrade, your opponent will have a hard time countering these on the field. And with the sub munition round on the rail gun, its deadly against horde infantry as well.
5. Night Fight Experts: Every pure Tau unit in the Codex has access to a Blacksun Filter. These give the model night vision, and you only need 1 model in a unit with night vision to gain the benefits. This lets you take advantage of your superior long range Rail Guns on Turn 1 when you are most likely to have Night Fight where it will matter.
6. Fish of Fury!: Load a Devilfish with 12 Fire Warriors, disembark 15 inches from the enemy, Rapid Fire 24 Str5 AP5 Shots, then either another 7 shots from the Devilfish (with Burst cannon and Smart Missile Upgrade) or Flat Out in front of the Fire Warriors to get some cover and protection from assaults next turn. If you have 2 of these in position, even Terminator squads will melt!
7. Gun Drone Shenanigans: The basic Devilfish comes with 2 gun drones. If you disembark them, they become a small 2 man denial unit that you can possibly take advantage of on the last turn of the game to get a win!

Chaos Space Marines: The Heldrake

The Heldrake looks like it is going to be a very tough flyer to deal with. With armor 12 on the front and sides with a 5+ invulnerable save due to its Daemon USR, it has the advantages of being tough, and durable. In addition, it has "It will not die" so it has a 5+ chance to regenerate lost hull points.if your opponent doesn't get a lucky penetrating hit on it, it should be around for a while.

The Heldrake can fill an anti-flyer role in your army if you need it to with d3 Str 7 Vector Strike attacks thanks to its Meteoric Descent rule, but it also packs a 4 shot Str 8 auto-cannon.

Where I think this unit is really going to shine though is in an anti-infantry role by taking the Bale Flamer upgrade. This free upgrade replaces the auto-cannon with a Str 6, AP 3, Torrent, template weapon custom designed for melting Marines.

I am going to try one out soon and will post my additional thoughts once I see it in action.

What were they thinking? Games Workshop and the greed of iApps.

I support Games Workshop as much as I am able to. I own (or have owned) multiple games they put out or license from Dreadfleet and Space Hulk to Death Angel, and the Dark Heresy RPG. Sometimes though they make a bone headed mistake that is bound to alienate a large portion of the players, such as today's Chaos Marine update for the Warhammer 40'000 Psychic Powers app for iDevice.

When Dark Vengeance came out, I bought the Psychic Cards as I generally see the value in buying things like that that make the game run smoother (ditto on the Objective Markers/Dice). When GW released an app for psychic powers, I downloaded it as soon as I was able to, even though the price for an app was steep, and I already had the cards. I thought the app was really great except for the exclusion of the codex powers for those armies that had codex powers. I even rated their app (4 out of 5 stars) based on what I had seen.

Well, what I had not foreseen is that Games Workshop would not provide free updates for their app so it would still be useful 6 months, or even 4 years after release. As it stands now, if you do not pay an extra $5.99 Canadian for the update, it locks out all Chaos Psykers from the App.

So I go to the app store and click on app support, fill out my complaint with GW and ask for my money back, and then see a link on the GW page about how to request a refund, so I follow those steps and guess what? iTunes/App Store direct you to Games Workshop.

My advice to one and all is, do not support Games Workshop digital products. You have no guarantee when or if they will be updated, and once they are they may ask you to pay or lock out key features of the app.
 

Njall Stormcaller

While Njall Stormcaller is not the most powerful psyker in the Imperium (which would be Mephiston), he is certainly one of the most potent psykers in the game based on what he brings to the table.

For starters, he has a 2+ armor save, and is one of the few special characters that can take upgrades. In Njall's case, that is Runic Terminator armor for a 2+4++ Invulnerable save.

Then as Mastery Level 2 Psyker, He gets to use two psychic powers a turn. He knows all Space Wolf codex powers, like Jaws of the World Wolf, but can instead trade those in for 2 powers from the basic rule book, including access to Divination and Biomancy.

On top of that, he has weird storm powers that in later turns of the game can result in lightning strikes!!!

What really makes him stand out though is the 24 inch anti psyker bubble that surrounds him due to his Runic Staff, and unlike regular Rune Priests his nullifies psychic powers on a 3+. Unlike the Psychic Hood which these items mimicked in 5th edition, these work against ALL psychic powers including activating force weapons, and blessings targeting enemy units!!

The only other race that can even come close for anti psyker is the Eldar with their runes of warding.

Here is my friends Njall Stormcaller that I painted for him.

Grey Knight Librarian

Grey Knight Librarians are a force multiplier for any pure Grey Knight army. The basic codex powers have a large selection of cheap, buffing powers, like Might of Titan which gives +1 Str that stacks with Hammerhand AND an additional d6 Armor Penetration against vehicles.

In addition, they have access to the psychic powers in the Basic Rule Book. Grey Knights can take from divination school, where there are several great powers to maximise the effectiveness of your squads.

This librarian is the GW Finecast Terminator Librarian, with a Grey Knight Terminator storm bolter mounted on the left arm, and the right arm from the Grey Knight Terminator set. I usually take him with a squad of 5 Terminators to help keep him safe.

First Impressions: Chaos Space Marines 6th Ed

Codex: Chaos Space Marine is the 1st codex released since 6th Edition came out this summer, but it is not the first Codex written with 6th in mind. Necrons was the last full Codex of 5th Edition and was clearly written with 6th in mind as lots of little things that didn't make sense in 5th suddenly made sense once 6th hit. Grey Knights was also written with 6th in mind, but at an earlier phase in the game it had to equally consider 5th edition.

First of all, the Codex is impressive. Hard cover and full colour within. It also came with a hefty price increase over earlier editions of the game. Unfortunately that price strategy also carrier over to the new units included in the Codex with the Heldrake approaching Storm Raven prices. Is the Heldrake worth the price? Only time will tell.

So, what changed for the better and what changed for the worst with Codex: Chaos Space Marines?

HQ:

The Good: The special characters seem to overall have received a buff either via reduced points cost, or increased effectiveness. Huron Blackheart in particular stands out as his Hamadrya familiar gives you 1 of only 2 chances to get Divination psychic powers in your army. Some of the special characters have specific warlord traits which lets you build an army around the specific trait instead of rolling on a trait. Also, there were 2 new HQ options in the form of the Dark Apostle (Evil Chaplain) and Warpsmith (Evil Techmarine). Most of the HQ have access to a wide range of upgrades from the armoury ranging from a 4+ invulnerable save, to Daemon weapons and daemonic steeds.
The Bad: Predictably, the best units of 5th got nerfed. Daemon Princes are still powerful, but will no longer be an auto include in most armies. Also the only way to get a 2+ save on a Lord or Sorcerer is in Terminator Armour. This puts them behind the curve compared to Space Wolves who will be able to build a more survivable Lord or Sorcerer equivalent. Lack of Daemon Weapons. There are only 2 in the Codex for use by generic characters and 1 of those requires the Mark of Khorne.

Elite:

The Good: Most of the units received a point overhaul, doing the same as in 5th edition for less points. Possessed received a huge boost, with a much revised random mutation table with 3 good effects on it instead of 3 good and 3 bad. Dreadnoughts became more reliable (they only go berserk once they take damage now).
The Bad: Dreadnoughts still can not take upgrades form the vehicle armoury and can not be marked. Chosen lost the ability to infiltrate. Cult units are now Elites unless you are able to change their Force Org via your HQ (For Example: A Sorcerer of Tzeentch makes Thousand Sons troops)

Troops:

The Good: Cheaper overall with lots of options. You can start with small cheap squads and expand upon that all the way to 20 men units loaded for bear. Chaos Space Marines can also take cultists as a cheap meat shield/scoring unit.
The Bad: We lost our extra close combat weapon and now have to pay for it. To have the equivalent of a Grey Hunter it costs us 17 points (13 base + 2 for a chainsword + 2 for Counterattack from the Mark of Khorne), though for 14 points you can have a marine with a bolt pistol, bolter and Hatred: Space Marines via the Veterans of the Long War upgrade.

Fast Attack:

The Good: 2 new units, Warp Talons and the Heldrake looks like solid additions to the army. The Heldrake in particular with a Str6 AP3 Torrent Flamer will be very good against Marine armies. For some reason, bikes also saw a huge points decrease. 
The Bad: I cant really think about anything bad with Fast Attack other than you only get 3 slots!

Heavy Support:

The Good: Forgefiend/Maulerfiend. Either one of these will be really good in any list. Defilers increased in points but picked up a 5+ invulnerable save AND It Will Not Die which is a 5+ chance to regenerate a lost hull point. Obliterators went down in points and can be marked now. Tzeentch or Nurgle Obliterators seem like they will be the most popular, plus Obliterators can now fire as Assault Cannons! Havocs can now take Flak Missiles for their missile launchers, giving Chaos Space Marines an edge against flyer heavy armies.
The Bad: Obliterators cannot fire the same weapon 2 turns in a row so you have to switch every other round. No new Land Raider Variants or increased capacity.

Overall:

Overall this is a very solid codex with lots of interesting options. Some things stand out as clear winners at the moment but as the tournament scene adapts to the current flavor of the month new combinations will come to the front. It has the potential to do everything you want it to do, the question is how many points are you willing to spend on that model to do it. The individual units start out cheap, but quickly expand to be more expensive than you would think possible. It would be very easy to see a kitted out Daemon Prince with Mastery Level 3, Wings, Power Armour and the Black Mace and come in nearly 350 points. Then the question becomes how much does he have to kill to get his points back...

Grey Knights in 6th Edition

Lets look at Grey Knights in 6th edition. First of all, keep in mind that I play pure Grey Knights. That is no Inquisitor's or Inquisitorial Henchmen which are so popular in tournaments. Lets look at what is good for Grey Knights:

The Good:

1. Grey Knights are an 'Elite' army in that they individually cost a lot of points, but their points cost compared to an equivalent unit in another codex are actually comparable or cheap. For example every single Grey Knight has a Force Weapon and a Storm Bolter. Even if you don't activate it, the Nemesis Force Weapon counts as an unusual force weapon (Str as user, AP 3). For example, a Grey Knight Purifier (from the Elite Slot) costs 24 points per model. A Wolf Guard (also an elite slot) comparably armed with a Storm Bolter and Power Weapon would be 31!!. You will probably be outnumbered, but model for model, other armies cant compare to Grey Knights.
2. Grey Knights look like an assault army, but they are actually a shooty army with assault elements. What do I mean by that? Well for starters every model in the army is getting at least 2 shots at 24" (unless you take Incinerators). You can also upgrade the basic shooting of the army to be Str 5 with psybolts. In addition, you can get 1-2 Psycannon's per squad depending on what you take. Psycannon's are probably the best ranged weapon in the game in my opinion. 2-4 Str 7 Rending shots at 24". These are souped up Assault Cannons and they destroy men and vehicles alike. Grey Knights should always pour as much fire as possible in to a single target and then follow up with a devastating assault. They are dangerous enough in the assault that most armies will not want to charge you so you stand a good chance of getting the charge off, and if they do charge you, overwatching with 8 storm bolters (16 shots) and 2 Psycannon (8 shots) almost guarantees hits that can whittle down the opponent before they get to swing back. If you throw in some special grenades as well it should be a victory for the Grey Knights. Opponents that expect you to focus on the assault will be in for a shock when you shoot them off the table through volume of fire.
3. Psychic Powers: The entire army is psychic and has some cool tricks up their sleeves. Individual squads have group psychic powers like Hammerhand which gives a +1 strength or Astral Aim which lets the Devestator  equivalent shoot and ignore line of sight restrictions. In addition, Grey Knights have access to Mastery level 3 Librarians and the codex powers are almost all worth taking. On top of that they have access to the Divination school from the Basic Rulebook (BRB). With Divination you can give a squad a 4+ invulnerable save, or let them reroll misses in shooting and close combat. Its like twin linking all your shooting and master crafting every attack dice!
4. Paladins: The toughest, baddest Grey Knights may eventually become Paladins, two wound Terminators with easy access to Feel no Pain. these guys also become scoring if you take one of the special characters. A lot of tournament lists evolved around the use of these guys so I wont go in to them too much here.

The Bad:

1. Grey Knights rely more on psychic powers than other armies, this can be a hindrance if your opponent has a way to shut down your psykers, like Eldar Runes of Warding, or Space Wolves Rune Priests.
2. 24" Range - Grey Knights fight heavily at the 24"-30" Range. A mobile opponent can take advtange of this. There are ways to overcomes this (Interceptors have an effective 36" range with their Jump Packs + 24" Shooting) but true long range firepower, like Lascannon's, come from Vehicles or Dreadnoughts and those are expensive and/or fighting for slots better spent on other things.
3. Grey Knights can struggle with AV14 vehicles. There are not a lot of options in the Codex for pure Grey Knights to take anti tank weaponry, and all of them are based on Vehichle or Dreadnought chassis.

The Ugly: (How 6th changed things)

1. In 6th edition, weapons in close combat have AP values now. All of the Nemesis Force Weapons except the Daemon Hammer are AP3. This means that Grey Knights have a hard time dealing with 2+ armor saves in close combat. If they are unable to shoot 2+ armor off the table through volume of fire they will have a hard time getting a scoring 2+ squad like Deathwing Terminators off an objective.
2. In 5th, Grey Knights were awesome because you could outshoot almost everything at the 12 to 24 range due to all the weapons being Assault 2. In 6th edition, rapid fire weapons can now shoot once up to 24" (twice up to 12") even if they moved, which has lessened the fire superiority that Grey Knights enjoyed in 5th
3. Psychic Powers/Defense: The best powers in 6th edition are those that buff your own models. This is because with a few notable exceptions, you can not do anything to interfere with enemy powers that target their own guys. While this does help Grey Knights, it is more of a hindrance than a help because letting a squad of Plasma Cannon Devastators or Long Fangs ignore covers and reroll misses will screw you up more than any offensive power ever will.

Blood Angels' Reclusiarch/Ulrik the Slayer

Last one for today, here is a Blood Angels' Reclusiarch I painted along with my friends Ulrik the Slayer I painted for him.

Blood Angels are one of the few Chapters that still have access to 'good' Chaplains. They get 3 wound Chaplains as HQ and can take 2 wound Chaplains as Elites.

Unfortunately with 6th edition, Chaplains took a bit of a beating with the 'Nerf Maul'.

For starters, their weapons (Croziuz Arcanum) count as power mauls which are only AP4, and on top of that, the primary awesome thing is allowing the squad they join to be both Fearless, and in a turn they charge, they get to reroll misses (Death Company also get to reroll failed wound rolls!!)

The issue is the availability of the Divination school for some armies. Blood Angels Librarians get access to this school and the Primaris power lets you reroll all misses in shooting AND close combat. Its like twin linking all of the squads guns and giving them all UBER Masterworked melee weapons.

When a Librarian can do that (for less than the cost of a Chaplain) and be more killy because they can take Axes or Swords as their Force Weapon, its hard to justify taking a Chaplain.

Special rules dont make up for crappy weapons!

Khorne Hellbrute (Dreadnought)

Here is one of my Chaos Dreadnought (Hellbrute) conversions using bits from the Furiouso Librarian, a regular Dreadnought, some Chaos Warrior shields, Plasma Cannons from a Storm Raven, Chaos chain swords for fingers and bayonets and some extra spikes.

In 5th, this guy spent most of the time in a Frenzy, now in 6th I cant even do that unless you shoot me first!

A single plasma cannon looked wimpy so I doubled up on the Plasma Cannon (still only counts as a single Cannon). Unfortunately, GW still neglected to allow us to mark our Dreadnoughts with Marks of Khorne. In fact, GW decideded Hellbrutes should not be allowed any updated from the Chaos Armory at all (in 3rd I at least had a daemonically posessed Dreadnought.)

Abbadon the Despoiler

So theres this guy, you may have heard about him, he likes to lead Black Crusades out of the Eye of Terror and the current one (13th) sounds like it might actually make it all the way to Terra (if they ever advance past the current timeline).

Yep, I'm talking about Abbadon the Despoiler. This guys been around since the Horus heresy and hes a total bad ass on the table top. Armed with Drachnyen the Daemon Sword and the Talon of Horus (the same weapon that slew the primarch Sanguinius and laid the Emperor low), Abbadon has the right tools for the job when it comes to punking loyalists in challenges.

The official GW figure for Abbadon is pretty cool, but dated, and looks small compared to the newer plastic terminators. This led me to convert my own using the Chaos Space Marine Terminator Lord kit as the base and adding some left over bits from a Chaos Space Marine box and some Warriors of Chaos. I painted him in my warbands paint scheme so I can use him as a counts as Abbadon (im not a fan of the Black Legion).

Who needs a helmet when you have hair like that?

In case you are wondering, those are Chaos Marine bolt pistols mounted on the back of the lightning claw from the Lord kit. I used the pistols with the bolter ammo hanging down in belts so I could use the belts as the ammo feed for the Talon of Horus. The sword is just a sword form a Chaos Warrior. I would like a fancier looking sword but I couldnt find one and didnt feel up to the challenge of making one from greenstuff. I also decided to use the cloak from the Lord kit. I like cloaks on my characters and it helps bulk up Abbadon a bit.

Storm Raven Gunships

The Storm Raven Gunship is arguably the best flyer in the game right now. It has the suvivability of an AV12 (all round) flyer (Need skyfire or 6's to hit), Melta invulnerability (no extra D6 to penetrate at 1/2 range), the fire power of a Predator Tank AND the transport capability of a Land Raider Redeemer PLUS a Dreadnought. It is one of the few flyers that can actually take advantage of a zooming flyers ability to fire FOUR weapons at normal balistic skill. Loaded with a forward mounted Typhoon Missile Launcher, turret mounted twin linked Assault Cannons, twin linked Lascannon, or twin lined plasma cannon. and 4 one shot missiles it can put out an insane amount of fire power in a small amount of time. In addition, it has special rules to allow you to disembark even if you moved more than 6 inches in the turn, and if you do only move 6 inches it has the assault vehicle rule so you can assault the turn you come out of it. (or the turn after you are shot down if you survive!!!)

I painted mine in two different pain schemes, a red one that I usually use as the personal transport for Mephiston and a Furioso or Death Company Dreadnought, and a Death Company version that I like to take a 5 man Death Company, in Jump Packs with Lemartes for. I built both mine with Hurricane Bolters on the side. The extra fire power from those are usually good for an extra kill or two a round.

I also use these with my Grey Knights army (GW got enough money from me on this kit that im not buying a 3rd SR just for Grey Knights!!). The mind strike missiles are excellent at killing enemy psykers. Two missiles are enough to guarantee a kill against almost any psyker in the game if you dont scatter. For those that dont know, mind strike missiles cause perils of the warp on psykers that are hit in addition to the other effects. With 6th edition, you no longer get invulnerable saves against perils so I have used these to great effect 'sniping' a rune priest out of a squad.

Did somebody order an angry Space Vampire?

Nothing says 'Ride of the Valkyries' like a Storm Raven

Blood Angels: Mephiston and Astorath

Here are some pictures of some Blood Angels I painted. Excuse the camera Quality, its taken on my iPhone.

For Mephiston, I used a backpack from a Chaos Space Marine. He just didnt look right with a normal back pack because he is so built up around the head and shoulders with the hood and all the icons that you can barely see it. Mephiston was my first attempt to make glowing eyes (like with witch fire) and I am pretty pleased with how he turned out.

Mephiston, Lord of Death

On Astorath I tried my hand at painting the grey on each feather individually.

Astorath, Redeemer of the Lost

Podcasts

I am fortunate in that at my current job I can listen to music while I work. Often, I will listen to a podcast instead. Here are the 40k podcasts that I think are worth checking out. I access these all directly through iTunes on my iPhone. I am sure they have websites and alternate downloads but I have never needed to check that out. These podcasts are mostly store/small kid friendly.

 (In no particular order)

Turn 8:
This podcast does a pretty decent job of covering the hobby, and narrates their battle reports, making them entertaining to listen to.

The Heroic 28's:
This podcast does an excellent job covering the hobby in their area (Texas I believe). They are also currently reviewing the Codex's with their opinion on how good the different parts of the Codex are in 6th Edition.

The 11th Company:
This blog is now the longest running weekly 40k podcast (since Overlords went bi-weekly). Packed full of rules and hobby discussion, it seems to be focused more on the tournament player, but the quality of the podcast, as well as the interviews with leaders in the community are work checking out.

The Overlords:
Hailing from Great Brittain (London area I believe), they guys put on an entertaining podcast. Mostly community focused there are several good rules/codex discussions too, as well as a History of the Imperium thing they did that basically gave a history of how the Imperium of Man was founded. They have awesome jingles when they use them. Unfortunately, they recently went bi-weekly.

The Independant Characters:
These guys are worth checking out soley based on their coverage of the books from Forgeworld. Id rate them a Lascannon (Str9, AP2). Check out their blog and you will know what I mean.

Rumors: Nothing to see here.

Im not going to post much in the way of rumors here, I get all mine from another blog, but I do intend to post here when I see a rumor that I think is worth posting about.

If you are looking for rumors related to 40k, I reccomend stopping by

Faeit 212: Warhammer 40k News and Rumors

Link: http://www.natfka.blogspot.ca

Welcome to the 41st Millenium

The 41st Millenium is my place to post my thoughts, feelings, and experiences with Games Workshops Warhammer 40'000. I will also be posting miniatures I have converted and/or painted for other people to view.

This is my first blog so bear with me as I learn the ins and outs of making a great blog.

About me:
I have been playing Warhammer 40k since the start of 2nd Edition. My first army was Chaos Space Marines and I played many many games with them before finally trading those for a friends Space Wolves. In 2nd edition, I also had some Tyranids and some Eldar. When 3rd edition dropped, I was heavily in to Space Wolves and converted wolf pelts for all my terminators from greenstuff (a very poor job compared to my standards today!).

In third, I also had a small Dark Eldar force as thats what came with the Basic starter set and I had expanded it a bit before giving it to my brother in law to get him in to 40k. I had traded my Tyranids off for something else I cant remember now, and given my Eldar to a friend to get them in to 40k as well. When the local GW store went out of business, I got a Chaos Army box set cheap and restarted my Chaos Space marine force. This was also about the time that metal Grey Knight figures came out for the first time (and they were amazing so I had some!)

After a few years in third, my interest in the game started to fade and I stopped playing for several years before getting back in to 40k.

By that time, we were on 5th edition. I had skipped 4th edition completely. What got me back in to 40k was the Space Hulk box set with those incredibly awesome Blood Angel Terminator models. I started a Blood Angels army and quickly had more than I could hope to field in a single game (but choice is good!!). I had decided that I was done with Space Wolves (despite their incredibly broken codex!) and worked on modelling and painting my Blood Angels, as well as my Chaos Space Marines. I also started a Tau Empire force (Currently about 2500 points) and after reading Path of the Warrior and Path of the Seer, I built up about 3000 points of Eldar. About a year and a half after the Grey Knight Codex came out, I picked up a couple boxes of Power Armored Grey Knights and started a force of those guys (Love the fluff, love the models, love the codex as long as you play by fluff and dont spam overpowered units). I also built up almost 3k of Tyranids.

Dark Vengeance saw the start of a small Dark Angels force. I was able to pilfer several units from my Blood Angels to quickly expand to an (unpainted) 2500 points. Those guys are really awesome, and I remember back in Second Edition I had a friend playing Blood angels out of the old Angels of Death Codex.

October 2012 brought me back full circle and Chaos Space Marines are the army I am looking to expand upon now. I love the way this codex seems to work really well in conjunction with itself and doesn have any clear 'winning' units at this time. Its completely unlike Grey Knights but I think has the potential to be better than Grey Knights in many ways, but more on that to come!