Thinking things out after reading a post about Dark Reapers by Fritz40k. Now I've always put in my 5-man reaper unit to wipe out any squads of Marines who are daft enough to show their faces, but I may have to try doing things differently next game.
See, for under 150pts I can have two BS5 Krak Missiles a turn. That's some pretty heavy anti-tank fire right there. And anti-tank is something I have to admit that I'm lacking right now. Light vehicles shouldn't be too much of a problem with the Scatter Lasers and Shuriken Cannons, but when it comes to anything tougher I would have to rely on shots from my Prisms. With a Reaper Exarch hanging around I've got another chance to pop tanks, and once that's dealt with I'll still have my Eldar Missile Launcher and two Reaper Launchers to shred some Marines.
Are there better ways to get some more anti-tank into my army? Probably. But I've already got my Reapers, and it's an Aspect I really like. And by running a smaller squad I've freed up some points for something else, possibly another Vyper or some extra Warlocks in my Council. Of course talk is cheap, so the real test will be after I've tried it out on the battlefield.
Wednesday, 28 April 2010
Monday, 26 April 2010
Cleaning up the list (1500)
I managed to get back around to some painting this weekend, so I've finally got those Jetbikes and Vyper table ready. I've also pulled out a handful more Guardians to paint up and bulk up my squads of them. After that I'm not sure what will get painted. Before I get too into anything else I want to finish my list.
If I'm playing Ulthwe I want to do it properly, so to start with I'm cutting some of my Aspects. In my 1500 list I had been tempted to run small squads of Dire Avengers, Swooping Hawks, Striking Scorpions and Dark Reapers. However I'm now looking at cutting the Avengers and Scorpions, which not only brings my list back within 1500, it also gives me some spare points to play with.
I get the impression from what I've read online that Hawks aren't a very popular choice, but I think they'll fill a nice role in my list. I've not got a lot of anti-tank, so the ability to deep strike a flying squad with haywire grenades will mean I can threaten tanks anywhere on the battlefield. Their weapons are weak, but good range means a couple of rounds of shooting I might otherwise have missed out on. This will hopefully give enough extra ranged ability to augment the Vyper and Jetbikes for my rapid-strike component, and if opponents get distracted picking off the boys in blue then it means less shots on my objective-scoring Jetbikes.
As well as fitting the Ulthwe fluff, Dark Reapers are making up some much-needed anti-Space-Marine power. This will mean I can rely on something more than a silly number of soup-tin-lids from the Guardians. The only doubts I'm having with the Reapers is that they're likely to be stuck off on their own on a rooftop while the rest of my army advances, but again the speed of Jetbikes, Vyper and Hawks should mean I can pull some forces back to defend them if needed.
I've had a few ideas for changes to make to the list that I can now look at with the points I've saved. I've dropped the idea of taking a Wave Serpent, since it would mean pulling more bodies away from the bulk of my force and into the rapid strike section, something I'd like to avoid. A squad of Pathfinders hiding near the Dark Reapers or going to ground on objectives is also tempting. However I'm currently leaning towards a few Warlocks to support my Farseer. This should improve the power and resilience of my HQ, providing a better anchor for my force. It also fits with the Ulthwe theme, which is something I'm keen to emphasise. But the most important part is that I enjoy painting them. So chances are that that's the direction I'm going to go with this.
If I'm playing Ulthwe I want to do it properly, so to start with I'm cutting some of my Aspects. In my 1500 list I had been tempted to run small squads of Dire Avengers, Swooping Hawks, Striking Scorpions and Dark Reapers. However I'm now looking at cutting the Avengers and Scorpions, which not only brings my list back within 1500, it also gives me some spare points to play with.
I get the impression from what I've read online that Hawks aren't a very popular choice, but I think they'll fill a nice role in my list. I've not got a lot of anti-tank, so the ability to deep strike a flying squad with haywire grenades will mean I can threaten tanks anywhere on the battlefield. Their weapons are weak, but good range means a couple of rounds of shooting I might otherwise have missed out on. This will hopefully give enough extra ranged ability to augment the Vyper and Jetbikes for my rapid-strike component, and if opponents get distracted picking off the boys in blue then it means less shots on my objective-scoring Jetbikes.
As well as fitting the Ulthwe fluff, Dark Reapers are making up some much-needed anti-Space-Marine power. This will mean I can rely on something more than a silly number of soup-tin-lids from the Guardians. The only doubts I'm having with the Reapers is that they're likely to be stuck off on their own on a rooftop while the rest of my army advances, but again the speed of Jetbikes, Vyper and Hawks should mean I can pull some forces back to defend them if needed.
I've had a few ideas for changes to make to the list that I can now look at with the points I've saved. I've dropped the idea of taking a Wave Serpent, since it would mean pulling more bodies away from the bulk of my force and into the rapid strike section, something I'd like to avoid. A squad of Pathfinders hiding near the Dark Reapers or going to ground on objectives is also tempting. However I'm currently leaning towards a few Warlocks to support my Farseer. This should improve the power and resilience of my HQ, providing a better anchor for my force. It also fits with the Ulthwe theme, which is something I'm keen to emphasise. But the most important part is that I enjoy painting them. So chances are that that's the direction I'm going to go with this.
Thursday, 25 March 2010
Tovarisch!
So there's three of us around that play Aetherverse, a little indy-game from Triskele which is sadly no more. It's a "design-your-own-army" type of thing with some fun mechanics like drawing initiative counters to activate units and such like. Well, we'd tried some various 1/72 scale gaming with it before, and are now going to try setting about it in a more organised manner.
Given the sheer number of models available in this scale, WWII was the sensible route to go down. One of our players already has a good collection of 1/72 WWII stuff, so is just dusting off his Germans (possibly runnign them as Polish SS) and he'll be sorted. The other guy has decided to play British Commonwealth (just using regular Brit models). After briefly toying with the ideas of Italy or Japan I've now settled on playing the Soviet Union.
The one problem I'm having is settling on a TEK level. TEK 3 suits the period and the army I want to build, but since there's no way to increase the TEK on a vehicle my tanks are going to be stuck with sub-standard weapons. If I do go with TEK 4 for the tanks all of my infantry becomes overpowered. Alternatively, I could overpower the guns on the tank, as I'm setting them up as anti-infantry any backfire shouldn't do them any harm. Of course this is all still theory, I've got some more research to do into how the T-34/76 was used in combat (was it more infantry support or did they operate seperately using high speed?).
Anyway, I've got about 100 infantry, two T-34s and a pair of Zis-3 anti-tank guns showing up in the next few days, so I'll have to get my list sorted and organise a game.
Given the sheer number of models available in this scale, WWII was the sensible route to go down. One of our players already has a good collection of 1/72 WWII stuff, so is just dusting off his Germans (possibly runnign them as Polish SS) and he'll be sorted. The other guy has decided to play British Commonwealth (just using regular Brit models). After briefly toying with the ideas of Italy or Japan I've now settled on playing the Soviet Union.
The one problem I'm having is settling on a TEK level. TEK 3 suits the period and the army I want to build, but since there's no way to increase the TEK on a vehicle my tanks are going to be stuck with sub-standard weapons. If I do go with TEK 4 for the tanks all of my infantry becomes overpowered. Alternatively, I could overpower the guns on the tank, as I'm setting them up as anti-infantry any backfire shouldn't do them any harm. Of course this is all still theory, I've got some more research to do into how the T-34/76 was used in combat (was it more infantry support or did they operate seperately using high speed?).
Anyway, I've got about 100 infantry, two T-34s and a pair of Zis-3 anti-tank guns showing up in the next few days, so I'll have to get my list sorted and organise a game.
Wednesday, 24 February 2010
Lining up the next game
So I'm looking to get a game organised in the next few weeks against a fairly regular opponent who's got no problem with the fact my army's not fully painted yet, in fact large parts of his are barely painted at all! Though I've been writing my list for 1500 points so far I'm going to see about pulling out some under-used models and pushing it up to 2000 for added joy.
I can do this from either the Eldar or the Terminators, and will be up against Black Templar. I think both armies are in a position to give some Marines a run for their money, though as both are also fairly genericly-built lists I doubt either will excel at dealing with the Templar.
Eldar will mean playtesting my new group of Jetbikes and Vyper for some fast response action, largely inspired by the tactics at Way of Saim Hann. I've also got a small squad of Hawks in there that will be used to drop in and haywire any Predators or Land Raiders lurking near the back. Guardian squads are bringing scatter lasers which combined with my Jetbike squads shuriken cannon and the shuriken cannon/scatter laser combo on the Vyper should give Rhinos something to worry about. Fire Prisms either bust up big tanks or fry Marines one foot (or those whose transport has been destroyed) and Dark Reapers fill the usual role; total Marine destruction!
With the Terminators I'll be trying to switch at least one Dread to pure tank-busting with a lascannon/missile launcher combo, other two most likely on lascannon/combat so they can fry armour for a couple of turns then wade into any Marines close enough. Terminator squads have a mix of cyclones, assault cannons and heavy flamers and all are set up with power fists so I'll be trying to flatten any power weapon squads before they reach me. Land Raider is likely to do the same thing as last time I played against him; sit up the back absorbing lascannon fire that could be aimed at my Terminators or Dreads. I'll have to go back take another look through the Space Wolves codex to see quite how I'm best kitting up my psyker, for all the awesome Wolf psykers are meant to have he was a major under-performer last time.
So, it looks like I've got about two weeks to settle on which army to use and how my list will look, and hopefully I'll get some more painting done in the time running up to it, but I wouldn't bet on that happening.
I can do this from either the Eldar or the Terminators, and will be up against Black Templar. I think both armies are in a position to give some Marines a run for their money, though as both are also fairly genericly-built lists I doubt either will excel at dealing with the Templar.
Eldar will mean playtesting my new group of Jetbikes and Vyper for some fast response action, largely inspired by the tactics at Way of Saim Hann. I've also got a small squad of Hawks in there that will be used to drop in and haywire any Predators or Land Raiders lurking near the back. Guardian squads are bringing scatter lasers which combined with my Jetbike squads shuriken cannon and the shuriken cannon/scatter laser combo on the Vyper should give Rhinos something to worry about. Fire Prisms either bust up big tanks or fry Marines one foot (or those whose transport has been destroyed) and Dark Reapers fill the usual role; total Marine destruction!
With the Terminators I'll be trying to switch at least one Dread to pure tank-busting with a lascannon/missile launcher combo, other two most likely on lascannon/combat so they can fry armour for a couple of turns then wade into any Marines close enough. Terminator squads have a mix of cyclones, assault cannons and heavy flamers and all are set up with power fists so I'll be trying to flatten any power weapon squads before they reach me. Land Raider is likely to do the same thing as last time I played against him; sit up the back absorbing lascannon fire that could be aimed at my Terminators or Dreads. I'll have to go back take another look through the Space Wolves codex to see quite how I'm best kitting up my psyker, for all the awesome Wolf psykers are meant to have he was a major under-performer last time.
So, it looks like I've got about two weeks to settle on which army to use and how my list will look, and hopefully I'll get some more painting done in the time running up to it, but I wouldn't bet on that happening.
Thursday, 18 February 2010
Where we stand
Just a quick warm-up post on what position I'm in with my 40k gear.
My Ulthwe Eldar are probably closing on half-painted, currently finishing up a Fire Prism, working on a squad of Jetbikes and getting ready to start a Vyper.
My Terminators (Slaanesh Renegades using a Space Puppies Wolfguard list) are built and (mostly) converted up, but I've only started painting one squad.
The Termies are a pain to paint, so they're staying on the back burner while I do my Eldar, so at least I'll have something to put down on the table.
This blog's a bit of an experiment, don't think I've blogged on 40k stuff before, but been reading plenty of them so that makes me an expert, right? >_> I'm mostly hoping that having a blog will keep me focussed getting some painting done... and maybe even get me playing a few games!
My Ulthwe Eldar are probably closing on half-painted, currently finishing up a Fire Prism, working on a squad of Jetbikes and getting ready to start a Vyper.
My Terminators (Slaanesh Renegades using a Space Puppies Wolfguard list) are built and (mostly) converted up, but I've only started painting one squad.
The Termies are a pain to paint, so they're staying on the back burner while I do my Eldar, so at least I'll have something to put down on the table.
This blog's a bit of an experiment, don't think I've blogged on 40k stuff before, but been reading plenty of them so that makes me an expert, right? >_> I'm mostly hoping that having a blog will keep me focussed getting some painting done... and maybe even get me playing a few games!
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