It's deep strike that swings it

I've seen a few articles on deep striking recently (From the Warp, Tech Bay Four, probably some others I've forgotten), which is a subject I've been thinking about recently.

The last couple of times I've played my Slaanesh Terminator force I've been using the Space Wolves codex. Besides simply being shiny and new the Wolves get stronger independent characters and more fun wargear/rules toys. And lets not miss out the main reason I switched to Wolves - real Cyclone missiles!

But I'm thinking of going back to a Deathwing based list. The Cyclone thing isn't too big a deal, I don't really play tournaments so I can just pay the extra point for a proper Cyclone launcher. The weaker characters are a bit of a pain, but this is Fifth Edition where troops choice swings it, and with the selection of models I've got it's about six and half a dozen between the codices.

The Deathwing have deep strike. Ok, so Space Puppies can climb into drop pods, but it's just not the same. For one thing, I don't want to go spending all that cash on a drop pod model for each squad. On top of that, teleporting is just plain cool. And let's not forget that deep strike should put me close enough to dish out some heavy flamer based pain.

Now that still leaves my Dreadnaughts and Land Raider. I could put the Dreads in pods, then either ditch the Raider or run it solo, but I'll probably be better off keeping them on the go. They'll form a solid anvil to complement my deep striking hammer. Trundle up to pin the enemy down with that lot, Dreads can screen each other and the Raider while popping smoke and that will buy me time to get into position and start zapping Terminators onto the battlefield.

So far it's all theoryhammer, and may turn out to be full of fail. Regardless, I'm pretty tempted to give it a go and find out how it works, it's not a style of play I've ever had a chance to use before so if nothing else it's a learning experience.

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.

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!