Blood Angels vs Iyanden Eldar Battle Report


''

Today I played a 1750 game vs Iyanden Eldar.

I used my new standard army list:
Dante
Corbulo
5 man Troop Assault Squad
10 man Tactical squad
5 man combat squad flamer
5 man combat squad Lascannon

4 Death Company with Jumppacks
5 man VAS
Power Weapon x2
Flamer

x2 Furioso Dread
Death Company
Extra Armor
Heavy Flamer

Baal Predator
Heavy Bolters
Storm Bolter
Extra Armor

Vindicator
Storm Bolter
Extra Armor

10 man Devastator Squad
Multimelta
Plasmacannon x2
Lascannon


My opponent had 1 Wraithlord, 2 Warwalkers with 2 starcannon each, 8 man Pathfinders, 3 Guardian squads with Missle Launchers and warlocks, Farseer guide and doom, Wave serp twin linked Brightlance, 5 Wraithguard, warlock, Falcon pulse, scatter shurikan.

The game was for 5 loot counters and we played take ground, he deployed first. He set up all of his troops close to his table edge. On my right he put the pathfinders in cover, with the Wave serp and Wraiths inside of it. He put 2 guardian squads in the center, exposed, and one more in cover on a loot counter. His falcon was deployed behind cover, as well as his walkers which scout moved out. His Lord was just hanging exposed.

I placed Dante and the VAS on the left, the devs, Las combat squad, and vindicator in good fire positions with a nice arc over the battle field, and I placed my DC in a line as far up as possible, with the Furiosos right behind them, and Corbulo right behind that. My strategy is simple. Full out charge. My opponent knows and fears the Death Company, even if they have never played me. The only thing is that they dont know that the DC are now chumps. With the nerfed rending, and the fact that any ap3 and better weapon denies their Feel no Pain, they get shot down like wimps. SOOO, I simply use them as a diversion. I line them up infront of the Furiosos and Corbulo. My opponent will definitely fear the DC more then the dreads, so he will shoot them up as much as possible. He will fire as much as he has to at them to kill em. That will usually result in my Dreads surviving the first round of shooting. Which was the case today. He fired first, and pumped a lot of shots into the DC. They did not survive the round. That was about all he shot aside from shaking my Baal.

On my turn, I moved them up 6 and popped smoke and followed them with Corb. I moved the Baal 18 to the left, and kept it behind cover. Dante and the VAS took up a position to assault in turn 2. The rest of my troops stayed put to grab objectives later, or fire their heavies. On shooting, I ran the dreads, and rolled 6 for both of them. Can any one confirm that I can pop smoke then run? We had the consensus at the store that I could. I arranged them so that they were protecting Corb. I wounded his lord with heavy weapon fire and killed a few guardians with the vindicator.

Round 2:
My opponent figured out he was in deep doodo. My dreads were in range to assault the crap out of him. He moved over his Serp and unloaded the Wraithguard within range to shoot the dreads. He also moved his Lord and walkers over to shoot at it too, as well as his Falcon. You might figure out what happened next... After about 16 shots that coud have killed the dreads, they both were still standing. I made all of the smoke saves and they remained only shaken thanks to extra armor.

On my movement, I moved up the dreads to assault, one went for the Lord and the other went for the wraiths. He pulled his rangers and guardians back so I had to move Dante and his VAS up again before assaulting. I moved the Baal out 6 from behind the cover, and surprised the crap out of him by shooting all of its guns at a guardian squad... The dreads were unable to fire their weapons. My heavies took their toll, they killed a walker and knocked the gun off the falcon. My troops just got into good cover positions, prepared to claim the objective on turn 5. When I assaulted, Corbulo and one dread charged the wraiths, killing a couple, and the other dread killed the lord. Furious Charge on a Death Company Furioso... He rolled a 6 for the extra attacks by the way... giving him 7 attacks, minus 1 for being shaken at initiative 5... the Wraithlord had no chance.

Round 3:
Opponent had his morale broken. But fought on. He moved his lone warlock up to assault the Baal, which was successful... Baal exploded. He hit the Vindicator with twin linked Brightlance from the serp...exploded. Good shooting. On his assault, Corbulo and the Dread finished off the Wraith and their warlok, but lost the dread in the process. The other dread managed to live, killing off all of the guardians of that squad, but leaving the Farseer and Warlock. He assault the VAS with his rangers, killing one vet, but they all the rangers died.

On my turn, things went very badly for him. Dante broke off to kill the Baal killing warlock. The VAS moved up to wipe out another Guardian squad. My heavy weapons shot at the serp and falcon, imobilizing the serp and shaking the Falcon. In assault, Corbulo joined the last Dread trying to save it. He got the Farseer base to base and laid into him, but failed to wound. The furioso killed the last member of the guardian squad but was killed as well. Corbulo was killed by a squad of Scorpians who joined the mess. The farseer was also killed by the Dread. The Vas wiped out their Guardians, killing the last of his troop choices but leaving themselves in the open... It mattered not though, the game was mine to lose. After wiping out his troops all I had to do was claim one objective to win.

Turn 4:
He moved up his Falcon to contest a loot counter. He shot up my VAS and killed them all with Starcannons. There was nothing left for him to do at this point. All he could do was try to tank shock my guys off the objectives, but I had 3 troop squads on 2 different counters.

On my shooting it was all moot. My Devs exploded the Falcon, ending the game. He had nothing that could contest my loot counters. I had 3 scoring units, he had none. He conceided the game to me.

Who was the MVP??? Corbulo and his crazy Death Company Dreadnoughts. They moved up, absorbed a sick amount of fire power, then still managed to kill 2 full squads and deny my opponent the chance to claim an objective. My decision to start them on the table, and instead of buying them Drop Pods use the points to buy Corbulo really worked well. Using the Death Company as a moving shield for them is also a great tactic. My opponents are so afraid of the DC that they ignore the real punch of the army, the Baal Pred, the Dreads, and Dante and his VAS. This will be my final list for the Grand Tournament in Baltimore. :)

Blood Angels Codex: Baal Predator




The Baal Predator is a versatile and Useful. With Storm Bolter, Heavy Bolter Side Sponsons and its Assault Cannon, it can unleash 12 shots on a target. AND it is the only tank I know of that can move 6 inches and fire ALL of its guns. Provided that you roll a 4+. Finally, with its 13 front armor, if its guns have been destroyed and it can still move, it can move 24 inches and RAM! Its front armor gives it a good chance of living but it will hit with a STR 10 shot. Can be pretty surprising for sure. :)

Assault on Black Reach! Here are the two models included with White Dwarf.



Sweet.

Blood Angels, Ultramarines, Dark Angels and Black Templars

The first 3 sets are finished and now available on DVD. Black Templars are in progress and almost complete. Simply click the link at the top right to purchase the sets. The set includes ALL of the videos, including footage not uploaded to youtube, as well as a collection of high res still shots. Feel free to comment with questions.

Blood Angels Required reading! The History of the Blood Angels!








Blood Angels Land Raider

I thought this stuff was pretty cool!






Complete set of Blood Angels videos is now available

Tired of having to search through Youtube to find the videos you want for each step of painting your models? Want to see the videos in High Definition? Now you can purchase the complete set of videos on DVD! You also get a collection of High Def pictures of the models used in the videos to supplement your set. Simply click on the paypal link at the top right of my blog and make sure the proper delivery address is included in your profile. The DVD is selling for 9.99 plus a 2 dollar shipping charge. Enjoy!

Warhammer 40k: Apocalypse! The Horus Heresy



Feel free to add any input. I plan on adding 3 more minutes to the video showing picturs of the actual fight... keep watching!

Warhammer 40k: New Video, check it out! Its posted at the top of my blog.

Check out my new vid!

Warhammer 40k: Is 5th edition the death of creative modeling?




Peek a boo!

Ok, so, the models posed together are logically the same size right? They are both space marine models after all, and are probably on average the same height and stand about the same number of feet/inches/centimeters tall right?... Well, not so says 5th edition! The new Line of Sight rule means that if a target can be seen, it can be fired on. SOOOO, GW is saying a big fat screw you for modeling up your figures in action you crafty artists! Welcome to the new poop on you rule! Do you use nicely sculpted bases instead of our plain and boring standard bases??? Shame on you. Do you have the brashness of putting an assault marine on a post to simulate a landing jump pack warrior?? Well sorry sucker! Forget the idea that the pose is just a snap shot of time, and that model was captured in the act of landing. No wait, the rule book says that most people will have the sportsmanship in the spirit of the game so as not to punish players who take the time and effort to add some individualistic flair to their armies... WHERE ARE THESE PEOPLE??? I have yet to play a game where some guy has not fired a Lascannon shot at my Commander Dante who is taking cover behind a tank/tree/wall because he can "draw line of sight on his head". My explanations of "but wait, he is on a raised base to look cool, shouldn't you not fire on him in the spirit of good sportsmanship?" are met with dull stares and "well...the rule says I can shoot at his head and torso...so I can..." I have also gotten "His arm is actually considered part of his body." in reference to a model who I posed with his arm up above his head in a "the moment before he strikes." pose and Dante who comes with his arm outstreatched as high as his head...

Well Bah, I relent. I give up. In the spirit of fielding a Blood Angel's army that can actually compete, I have decided to make changes to my bases. Observe, the picture of the lonely death company model. He is on a boring GW base. His arms are close to his body and not above his head or extending out from the base. You win power gamers! You win.

Warhammer 40k Space Marines: New Codex Confirmed Rules


This is copy and pasted from my buddy Fritz at Way of Saim Hann.

HQ
Chapter Master
- Ws6 Bs5 S4 T4 W3 I5 A4 Ld10 Sv3+
- May take a Relic blade and Storm Shield.
- May take Artificer Armour.
- Has around 20 Options
- May take Terminator armour, Jump Pack or a Bike
- Gives a one shot Orbital Strike which is S10 Ap1.
- Has a Bolter, may upgrade to Storm Bolter, Combi Plasma, Combi
Melta, Combi Grenade Launcher
- May replace Bolt pistol and CCW for pair of Lightning Claws or a
Relic Blade

Captain
- Ws6 Bs5 S4 T4 W3 I5 A3 Ld10 Sv 3+
- May take a Relic blade and Storm Shield.
- If he takes a bike, Bikes may be taken as Troops
- Much the same options as above, does not have the orbital strike.

Chaplain
- Ws5 Bs4 S4 T4 W2 I4 A2 Ld10 Sv3+
- Price is about the same.
- Comes with Crozius and Rosarius
- Still allows rerolls to hit.
- Makes unit with him Fearless
- Can replace his bolter with storm, combi-, powerfist, plasma pistol.
- When taking terminator armour he replaces "power armour, boltgun,
frag and krak grenades for Terminator armour and" one shooting weapon.

Librarian
- Ws5 Bs4 S4 T4 W2 I4 A2 Ld10 Sv3+
- Has gotten cheaper.
- Comes with Force weapon and Psychic Hood
- May have 2 powers.
- May be upgraded to an Epistolary which allows the use of two powers
a turn. Apparently this is expensive.
- Psychic hood now has a range of 24" (whether it means that the
power is within 24", or the Psyker I dont know)
- 9 powers:
Avenger - essentially an AP3 heavy flamer,
Force Dome - 5+ invulnerable for Librarian and squad until end of
next player turn,
Gate of Infinity - Librarian and squad Deep Strike back within 24",
but with minor risk...,
Machine Curse - shooting attack causing Glancing Hit on 1 vehicle
within 24",
Might of the Ancients - Librarian gains strength 6 and rolls 2d6
armour penetration.
Null Zone - all enemy units within 24" re-roll successul invulnerable
saves for rest of player turn ,
Smite - 12" range, assault 4 St4 AP2,
Quickening - gains Fleet and Ini.10,
Vortex of Doom - 12" St10 AP1 Heavy1 Blast...failed test = blast
centred on Librarian without scatter.

Master of the Forge
- Ws4 Bs5 S4 T4 W2 In4 A2 Ld10 Sv2+
- Comes with Servo Harness
- Has Conversion beamer which gets stronger and more powerful the
further away he is firing, in three stages. Maxes out at S10 Ap1
Large blast at 72"
- Allows Dreadnaughts to be taken as Elites AND heavy support if he
is there.

Honour Guard (?-10)
- Ws4 Bs4 S4 T4 W1 I4 A2 Ld10 Sv2+ 30+ points as standard.
- Can only be taken if a Chapter Master is present in the army.
- Artificer Armour and power weapon as standard.
- Can take Relic Blades which are a two handed power weapon that
gives St6.
- Can take Aux. Grenade launchers.
- One may take a Chapter Standard which, if it still has the same
rules as now, gives them Counter attack.
- They may take a Chapter Champion, Champion is WS 5.
- Chapter Champion must direct attacks against enemy Independant
characters if he can.
- May NOT take Storm Shields.

Command Squad:
- May only be taken by captains.
- 4 vets and 1 apothecary, Company Champion is an optional upgrade
for one model.
- Chainsword and either bolter or pistol as standard.
- They can have bikes.
- Any can replace pistol or sword with: Storm Bolter, Flamer, Plasma
gun, Meltagun, Combi-whatever, power sword or fist, lightning claw,
thunder hammer.
- Pistol can be replaced with Plasma Pistol.
- Melta bombs and Storm Shields can be taken by anyone.
- Apothecary gives the unit Feel no pain
- One may take a Company Standard which, if it still has the same
rules as now, gives them Counter attack.

Kor'Sarro Khan, Captain of the White Scars 3rd Company
- Ws6 Bs5 S4 T4 W3 In5 At3 Ld10 Sv3+
- Gives models in his unit hit and run and Furious Charge.
- Moondrakkan is a bike he may take. It's a bike which can use the
Run ability and can also Fleet
- Moonfang- A Power sword. Any 6's on the to wound roll become
Instant Death.
- May exchange Chapter Tactics for Outflank.

Kayvaan Shrike
- Ws6 Bs5 S4 T4 W3 In5 At3 Ld10 Sv3+
- Jump pack, Iron Halo and master crafted rending lightning claws.
- May exchange Chapter Tactics for Fleet.
- He has Infiltrate and gives it to his unit.

Pedro Cantor
- Ws6 Bs5 S4 T4 W4 In5 At4 Ld10 Sv2+
- Storm Bolter (Assault 4 and AP 4) and Powerfist
- Sternguard in his army count as Scoring units
- May exchange Chapter Tactics for Stubborn.
- All friendly units within 12" receive +1 attack.

Marneus Calgar
- Ws6 Bs5 S4 T4 W4 In5 At4 Ld10 Sv2+
- Can be fielded in either power armour or terminator armour. Has an
Iron Halo with either.
- 2 Powerfists and a Stormbolter (Assault 4 AP 2)
- He has a power weapon which he is allowed to use (only when in
artificer Armour?)
- Eternal warrior.
- His Chapter Tactics allows his army to choose to pass or fail any
Ld tests.
- May reroll any failed to wound rolls in both shooting and hand to
hand.
- May take 3 squads of Honour Guard, if they are all 10 man. These do
not take up FOC slots.

Chaplain Cassius
- Ws5 Bs4 S4 T6(!) W2 In5 At3 Ld10 Sv 3+
- Feel No pain
- New background.

Chief Librarian Tigurius
- Knows all(!) the psychic powers available to the marines.
- May use 3 powers per turn.
- Allows army to reroll any reserve rolls.

Captain Lysander
- Ws6 Bs5 S4 T4 W3 In4 At4 Ld10 Sv2+
- Thunder hammer is Master Crafted and gives Lysander S10, he also
adds +1 to the damage against vehicles
- Storm Shield (3+ invulnerable save for him)
- Eternal Warrior (Again?!)
- Bolter Drill- The Squad he is with is allowed to reroll misses with
Bolters, bolt pistols, storm bolters and heavy bolters.
- Allows one piece of terrain to be fortified, to give +1 to its
normal cover save.
- May exchange Chapter Tactics for Stubborn.

Captain Sicarius
- Ws6 Bs5 S4 T4 W3 In4 At3 Ld10 Sv3+
- 1 tactical squad gets Counterattack, Infiltrate, Scout or Tank
hunters for free.
- An army led by captain Sicarius may re-roll the dice when
attempting to seize the initiative.
- Blister pack allows for bare head & helmet in hand or wearing
helmet with plasma pistol in hand.
- His mantle gives him Feel no pain(?)
- Is able to kill a Wraithlord in one hit with his wargear(?)

Vulkan He'stan
- Ws6 Bs5 S4 T4 W3 In4 At3 Ld10 Sv2+
- Chapter tactics allows all meltas and flamers to become twin linked
and all Thunder hammers to become Master Crafted.
- 3+ invulnerable (GAH!)
- Heavy Flamer (which rerolls to wound)
- S6 Power weapon, Master Crafted

Brother Chronus
- Upgrade for a Space Marine Vehicle
- Gives it Bs5 and allows it to ignore Crew Stunned and Crew Shaken
results.
- If vehicle is destroyed he can scurry away and crew another one.

Scout Sergeant Telion
- Upgrade for Scout Squad
- Can give his BS of 6 to another scout in the unit.
- Armed with a long range 'stalker' pattern boltgun with the pinning
and rending special rules.

Elites
Sternguard Veterans (5-10):
- Ws4 Bs4 S4 T4 W1 I4 A2 Ld9 Sv3+
- Come with Bolters and 4 Kinds of Specialised round
- Dragonfire bolts- Normal Bolter, Ignores cover
- Hellfire Rounds- wound on a 2+.
- Kraken bolts- 30" range, S4 Ap4 Rapid Fire
- Vengeance rounds- 18" range, S4 Ap3, Rapid Fire, Gets hot
- Can Upgrade bolters to Storm Bolters (lose the specialist rounds)
- Can take Combi weapons (keep the rounds).
- Can also take from a small list of special and Heavy Weapons
(Flamers, Heavy flamers and such.)
- One of the Sternguard can take a Powerfist or Power weapon
- They may choose which round to use each turn.

Dreadnaught:
Just like now, also may take twin CCW's or twin autocannons.

Venerable Dreadnaught:
WS and BS 5, with most of the Dreadnaught' s basic weapons options.

Ironclad Dreadnaught:
Basic Dreadnaught Stats with front and Side armour 13.
- Probably comes with a Heavy Flamer rather than a Storm Bolter
- Can take a Hunter Killer
- Has Move through Cover.

Terminators( 5-10)
- Basic Terminators just like now.
- Cyclone Now Heavy 2
- 1 Heavy weapon, 2nd may be purchased if squad has 10 models.

Assault Terminators( 5-10)
- As now.

Techmarine
- Comes with a 2+ save.
- Allows one piece of Cover in his deployment zone become +1 to its
cover save.
- Still has servitors. May choose to leave them.

Legion of the Damned
- WS4 BS4 S4 T4 W1 I4 A2 Ld10 Sv 3+ invulnerable
- Their Sergeant has Ws5
- They always Deep Strike, but reroll scatter if they want.

Troops
Tactical Marines(5-10) :
- Start at 4 marines and a sarge for 90 points, full squad is 165.
- Sergeant is included in cost, may take powerfist, storm bolter,
combi-bolter.
- Variable squad sizes are possible.
- Special and Heavy weapons are unavailable unless there are 10
marines in the unit, but then they get free Flamer and a free
Multimelta or Heavy Bolter or Missile Launcher. Meltagun- 5 points,
Plasmagun 10, Lascannon- 10, Plasma cannon- 5
- Bolter, Polt Pistol, Frag and Krak grenades as standard. (NB: they
do NOT have a CCW)
- Sarge can take Power weapon, Power Fist, Lightning Claw, Plasma
Pistol, Storm Bolter, Combi Flamer, Combi Plasma, Combi Melta (and
maybe combi grenade Launcher)

Scouts
- Ws3 Bs3 S4 T4 W1 In4 A1 Ld8 Sv4+
- Sergeant is WS4, BS4.
- Sergeant may take combi-weapon, plasma pistol, power weapon or
powerfist.
- Shotguns probably S4
- May be an option for Teleport Homers.
- Their Heavy bolter can take hellfire Rounds
- Squads can be equipped with camo cloaks, granting the Stealth USR.

Bikes
- Requires a Captain on a bike.
- Requires 5+ bikes. For details of bikes see Fast Attack options.

Rhino:
- Probably will drop to 35 points ala Dark Angels and Blood Angels.

Razorback:
- Comes with heavy bolter included in cost.
- May upgrade to: twin-linked heavy flamer, twin-linked assault
cannon, twin-linked lascannon, lascannon and twin-linked plasmagun.

Drop Pod:
- Drop pod assault means that Half of all Drop pods come in on the
First turn (GW doesnt want Deep striking armies to come on turn 2 or
later...understanda ble)
- Drop pods in the first wave can act as guiding beacons for pods in
the Second wave.
- Costed at slightly more than 2 marines.
- Holds 12 marines or 6 terminators or 1 Dreadnought or 1 thunderfire
cannon.

Fast Attack
Bikes (3-8+trike):
-May combat squad, requires 8 bikes plus an attack bike. Divides into
4B/4B+1AB.

Attack Bikes (1-3):
- Must pay for Multi-Melta.

Scout Bikes (3-10):
- Can upgrade bike with a grenade launcher
- Can booby trap areas of terrain with hazardous cluster mines.
- Sergeants can be equipped with locater beacons. These function as a
teleport homer for any deep-striking unit (drop pods, jum packs etc.)

Assault Marines (5-10):
- Sergeant may take a Storm Shield or combat shield.
- Only sergeant may have melta-bombs.
- Special weapons are 1 for every 5 models
- Specials include flamers and plasma pistols.
- May remove jump packs and get a free rhino or drop pod in return.

Vanguard Veterans (5-10):
- Ws4 Bs4 S4 T4 W1 I4 A2 Ld9 Sv3+
- Sergeant may take a Relic blade and Storm Shield.
- Come with Bolt Pistol and Close Combat weapon, can all take from a
bunch of upgrades including: Power weapons, Power fists, Lightning
claw (yes, one)
- Probably have an option to take Bolters
- May also take Combat shields and storm shields.
- Jump packs are an upgrade which gives them the Heroic Intervention
rule. May take a transport instead.
- Heroic Intervention allows them to assault the turn they Deep
strike.

Land Speeders (1-3):
Pretty much as now.
- Typhoon missile launchers fire as Heavy 2 missile launchers.

Land Speeder Storm:
- Has a Jammer which disrupts deep striking close by.
- Scouts charging from it -2 from the enemy Ld.
- Carries 5 scouts (and scouts only) and counts as Open Topped

Heavy Support
Thunderfire Cannon
- Has techmarine crew.
- Can fire in 3 different ways (all heavy 4): St 6 AP5 blast, St 5
AP6 blast ignores cover, St 4 AP- blast causes difficult terrain test
in next turn/dangerous terrain for vehicles(inc. skimmers)
- May be mounted in a Drop Pod.
- Techmarine attendant can bolster defences, providing a 1 point
bonus to the cover save of a single ruin in the Space Marine
deployment area.

Predator:
Pretty much how it is in Codex: Blood Angels (i.e. expensive)

Vindicator:
- Siege Shield allows it to auto-pass terrain tests.

Devastator:
- Sergeant has a Signum, allows one Marine to fire at BS 5.

Whirlwind:
- Has BA/DA style ammo. (Including incendiary?)

Land Raider
- Machine spirit allows an extra weapon than allowed to be shot at
any available target.
- Multi Melta is now a pintle option for all variants.
- Can Carry 12 models

Land Raider Crusader
- Machine spirit as above
- Frag Launchers as normal (useful too, now.)
- can carry 16 Models

Land Raider Redeemer
- Machine Spirit as normal
- Redeemer cannon: Range- Template S6 Ap3 Heavy 1
- Transport Capacity: 12 models

Not unit specific:
Decision to split in to combat squads is made at the time each unit
is deployed or when a unit disembarks from its Drop Pod.
Combat Tactics – allows any unit to automatically fail any Morale
Check it takes (from shooting and CC).
Combat shields now give a 6+ invulnerable save.
Storm shields now give a 3+ invulnerable save.
Aux. Grenade launchers are short range, can fire in tandem with
another weapon.
All sergeants are veterans now, so are just called sergeants.

Warhammer 40k Battle for Salvation! Banner Project







I am painting two new full sized banners for a 40k point Appox game coming up this weekend. We are forming this game for the Basement Bash event coming up in White Dwarf. In our game we are recreating the Horus Heresy, and fielding every loyalist marine chapter vs every traitor marine chapter. Should be fun! Here are pics of the banner as I make it. More to come!

Warhammer 40k Blood Angels: Battle Report BA vs Salamanders






I took on a generic marine force colored as the salamanders last night. I say generic because a true salamander force would focus on flamers and meltas. This force focused on Lascannons. The mission was Anhialate and the deployment was table corners. My opponent won choice and selected the corner with hard ruins as cover. The other corner had nothing but brush and grass. His force included 3 vindicators, and a librarian with a jump pack. The rest of his force was small squads in Rhinos and Razorbacks with heavy bolters. Every squad had a lascannon it seamed and plasmagun. There were also two speeders with flamers and multimeltas.

I fielded my standard force with a few modifications. I dropped the Honor Guard, and added a Baal. I added a Rhino to my Tac squad, and beefed up my armor with Extra Armor. I deployed very risky with my assault forces pushed up, but covering each other in the cheezy 5 man cover formation. I gave my heavy weapons as much cover as I could and lined up my Rhino and Baal back a bit and ready to move up on him.



Turn 1: He opened up with his Vindicators. The first scattered wide. On the second, the model he targeted was just out of range. On the third, he scattered and only managed to wound 2, killing one Death Company because they were not in the cover formation. He immobilized my Rhino with a Lascannon shot.

On my movement, I pushed up my assault forces. The DC moved up in range to assault 2 vindicators, and my AS moved up to assault the third. Dante and the VAS were out of range to assault any thing this turn so they took cover behind terrain. My shooting was all but useless. None of my heavies landed a kill. But in the assault, my AS used their krak grenades against the vindicator and knocked it out. One of the DC knocked out his Vindicator, while the other was unsuccessful. Unfortunately, the AS exploded their Vindicator, leaving them wide open to shots and assault...

Turn 2: Salamanders speeders moved up and opened up with Meltagun fire. They knocked out my VIndicator, and took the AC off my Baal. The last vindicator knocked out most of the VAS. On his assault, the Librarian wiped out my entire AS.

On my turn, I fired back trying to knock out the speeders in prep for my Furiosos to come in. They failed to land turn 2. However, I did not knock them down. Dante moved up on the last VIndicator, and destroyed its weapon, the last to VAS assaulted it and knocked out its other weapon. It was also immobilized.

Unfortunately, this would be just about all the killing I would get in.

For the rest of the game, Dante would go on to wipe out a Razorback and a 6 man squad before falling to Lascannon fire. My Dreads came in and failed to do much before being shot up with Lascannon fire. I would get sweet revenge on the Librarian after he wiped out one of my Dev combat squads. I shot him down with a Lascannon myself.

In the end, my opponent would win by 4 victory points or so. But I believe that no matter what, a Blood Angel army is just out classed by a generic mechanized 4th edition Las/Plas army. He had way too many tanks on the table, and way to many Lascanons. Would it be different if he was using a 5th edition book? Yes. His prices would be more in line with mine and he would have less models on the table. He would be unable to get a Las and Plas on the table by fielding 6 marines in a Razorback. He will still be able to field the Razors with Las and Plas, but he will simply be down some points because he will have to field more marines to do so. This will result in less Lascannons. I think that I did fairly well against this army. The all star for him was the Speeders. They move fast and can get the double d6 shot from 12 inches away. My armor popped like balloons. When my dreads came down, he was able to redeploy his cannons quickly and knock them out easily, but more devestating then the cannons were the plasmaguns. He would pop guys out of the Razors and rapid fire at the back armor.

In order for me to have a chance, my DC had to be successful at knocking out the last vindicator. That would have freed Dante, the VAS and the rest of my guns to deal with his Speeders. I had to waste shots on the Vindi that should have gone to swatting down those speeders. With the Vindi down, and the speeders taken care of by heavy weapons, Dante could have gone on to intercept that Librarian who tore up my tac and devs. Then I would have been free to fire Las/Plas cannon shots at his troops and support my Dreads when they finally came down. Hell, I could have dropped them all the way in back and just popped his transports for kill points with Lascannons.

Changes to my force? He and I discussed possibilities. He suggested deploying the Dreads on the table and using Run to get them into combat. I could then deploy the Tac in the drop pods on top of objectives, or just use them as LoS blockers to protect the dreads. I am thinking I will take off the jump packs from the AS and give them the Rhino. I will also take off the jump packs from the DC. I can free up enough points to get Brother Corbulo back on the table. He will be able to join the DC, and since there are only 4 DC, the 5 of them can hop in the rhino with the AS. That will be a Rhino full of hurt! I can move it up behind the Baal and Vindicator, allowing them to swallow up shots with their 13 front armor, and supported by Dante, and the VAS. Coming up behind them are the Furioso dreads, and finally a 5 man combat squad coming down in a drop pod to claim an objective. Or hell, I could put all 10 men of the tac squad into the pod and then use the Lascannon for the last 3 rounds of the game. 5th edition had me leaning more and more towards armor, and anti armor. I guess I will have to see!

Warhammer 40k How to paint Space Marines: Next in line!

The poll is closed, and the results are in. Dark Angels scored 24 votes, and the next in line was Space Wolves with 12, so there we go! Dark Angels coming up after Ultramarines. Enjoy!

Success Stories! Blood Angels how to paint videos success stories!


Here is an assault squad submitted by 0mila58




Here is a pic sent in from one of my youtube subscribers who painted this Blood Angels helmet on the trophy rack of his Chaos Marine. Not quite the intention I had in mind when I started posting videos to help people paint Blood Angels, but I still like it. Nice job man.



Here is a youtube video of a subscriber who used some of my Blood Angels techniques to paint his red ork bikes. Nice job man!

Warhammer 40k Blood Angels: Combat Squad Corporal






What happens when a tactical squad is ordered to split into two combat squads and the Sgt. has to leave half of his command in a ruined tower with a Lascannon? Well he puts his second in charge! Here is my Tactical Squad Corporal. He looks a little apprehensive as he watches Sarge run off with half the squad and it's flamer, but I am sure he is up for the task of assigning target priority and helping to zap those tanks. :)

Warhammer 40k Grey Knight Conversion: Emperor's Champion as a Justicar







Here are some pictures of a Grey Knight Justicar conversion that I did a while back using a Black Templar Emperor's Champion model. Enjoy!

Warhammer 40k Blood Angels: Tactical Squad Sgt.



So here is the Sgt. from my new Tactical Squad. After discussing this with BlackMatt from The Annointed blog, I decided on a blue accent and painted the purity seal blue. I dont have the points in the army to give him a power maul, so I didnt paint it with the power weapon blue I use for my VAS, but I did give it a blue wash. Enjoy!

Warhammer 40k Ultramarines: How to paint Ultramarines!




Here is video 1 on how to paint Ultramarines. Enjoy!

Ive added a pic of the finished Sgt. Now it is just a matter of finding time to upload them all!!

Warhammer 40k Blood Angels: Battle Report BA vs GK

Last night I played a Grey Knight army. The army was pretty straightforward and in your face. Sorry I dont have any pics. Forgot to pull out the cam. I used my standard list. The GK had 2 Land Raiders and a Land Raider Crusader. Inside were two 10 man GK squads, and in the LRC was a 9 man squad with a Brother Captain in Terminator armor. The mission was loot counters with Dawn of War deployment. I grabbed a central terrain piece and placed my Tac squad split into combat squads, and my assault squad, along with Dante. He placed his 2 troop choices and his commander on the far edge. I gave him first turn.

Turn 1 he moves in his last troops and the land raiders. The troops embark. One LR moves up and attempts to fire, but the DoW stopped him. My lascannon fires back, is able to reach him, hits, but fails to penetrate. I rolled my Vindicator into the terrain piece I was holding central, and moved then ran my Dev squad split into combat squads to get them into position for turn 2. Every else moved up and into or behind cover.

I made a huge tactical error. I failed to place one of my tactical combat squads in range to hold a loot counter that I had deployed on my side. I could have put him right next to it, and out of line of sight. This error would cost me the game.

Turn 2 My opponent fired, but only stunned my Vindicator. One Dread comes down. I choose to keep him in the pod. He cannot fire out but is safe. I drop it right in front of the LRC. I move up Dante, VAS and AS behind the pod, leaving Dante LoS on the LRC. I am forced to move my Lascannon Dev squad up in a building to give them LoS. I also moved my plasma cannons into better position as well. Dante immobilizes the LRC. I moved up my DC and Honor Guard in mutual cover formation on the right flank.

Turns 3 and 4. My opponent fires most of his guns at Dante, faiing to wound him. He fired at my DC and HG, but grimaced when I explained that they give each other cover saves... In his assault, he disgourged the commander and 9 GK from the LRC. They assaulted Dante, the AS and the VAS. Dante and the Commander killed each other. Dante delivered 5 Wounds with the Axe of Mortalis, and the commander failed 4 saves. The commander only managed to get one wound past Dante's defenses, but it was a force weapon. The psyker used his powers to instant kill Dante. Oh well, he did his job. The rest of the GKs remained locked in assult with the surviving assault marines. On my shooting turn, I opened up. First of all, my second dread came down. I dropped it infront of the LR on the left side and popped out the Furioso. The first furioso to come down also popped out. This was classis... I deployed him within 2 of the pod, moved him 6, fired his meltagun at the LR on the right flank, and popped it. In the meantime, I had moved up my DC to help deal with the guys in side. The LR exploded and my opponent placed all of his GKs on the very back edge of where the LR was, conveniently on the very edge of assault range... I fired 2 las cannons at the LR on the left. One got through and popped a Lascannon sponson off it. Not happy with that, I hit it with my vindicator. That got it. The LR was destroyed. The guys deployed and were within range of a loot counter. My plasma cannons fired on the clustered GKs at the right, killing a few and knocking them out of assault range for my DC. On the next turn, they would assault the DC And get locked in combat.

On turn 5, my HG moved in to free up the Assault squad who was locked in combat since round 2. There was one scoring marine left and I put him into position to jump onto a loot counter turn 6. The Furioso on the left rolled double 1 on his assault and was unable to contest the counter, or engage the GKS sitting on it.

Here is what SUCKS. We rolled to see if the game ends at the end of turn 5, and I rolled a 2. Ending the game there. All said and done, I lose 4 assault marines, 5 veteran assault marines, and 3 Death Company, and Dante. My opponent only had 6 Grey Knights left on the table, and a disabled LRC. However, none of my troops choices were in range to hold an objective. One of his was. He got the victory. Lesson learned! Had I simply placed my combat squad on that loot marker, the best he could have gotten was a tie. Instead he lucked out and got the victory.

Oh well. :(

Warhammer 40k: Rules Clarificaton on assault wounds allocation???

Ok, I would love a little clarification here. I think I have it down, just need confirmation. Here is the scenario. Three Grey Knights are locked in assault with three Blood Angels. There are two normal GK with Halbred and Storm Bolter, and one Justicar. The three BA are a Veteran Sgt. with a Power Weapon, and two assault marines with Chain Swords. The assault is joined by a 5 man Honor Guard. 3 of them have Power Weapons, one has a chain sword, and the other is carrying the Chapter Banner. The HG assaults and we decide to resolve their wounds first. 2 wounds are scored with power swords, and 4 are scored with chain swords. The GK player then allocates a Power Sword wound to one GK, a Chain sword to another GK, and a chain sword wound to the Justicar. Here is where he gets cheezy. He allocates the second Power Sword wound to the same GK that got the first one, then gives the other GK a chain sword wound, and the justicar a Chain sword wound for a total of 2 power swords on one GK, 2 chain swords on the other, and 2 chain swords on the Justicar. That makes me furious. BUT thats how it goes, its bye the rules! According to the allocation process, you can do that. He rolled his saves. The Justicar failed a save and made a save, but died. The GK with the two chain swords made both. The GK with the 2 Power swords died. The GK player removed 2 models. The justicar who failed his chain sword save, and the GK who sufferd wounds from the power sword. I believe this was WRONG. Since the two normal GKs were similarly equipped models, they should have shared the total wounds delivered to them. SO the two of them must share the pool of 2 power weapon wounds, and 2 chain sword wounds DESPITE the fact that 2 power wounds were allocated to the same maodel. That would have meant that they each take a power weapon wound and die as per the second paragraph, right column on page 25 of the 5th edition rulebook. Oh and the other three Blood Angels failed to wound. The GKs scored two wounds and tied the combat, killing the two assault marines.

The end result of this, not that it really matters since it is just a game after all, was me losing. But I will cover that in a battle report... :(

Any rule mongers out there???

Warhammer 40k Black Templars: Assault Pods!!!???

Soo, after looking at the Black Templar codex and discussing the issue with my friend. It seems that GW may have missed something OR intentionally set a precedent. Under the Black Templar codex, Drop Pods are listed as Open-topped under Type. In the 5th edition rulebook, models may assault out of opened-topped transports. Here is my new BT list taking this rule into consideration:

HQ:
Marshal 80
Power Sword 15
Bolt Pistol 1
Holy Orb of Antioch 10

Emperors Champion:
Champion 90
Accept Any Challenge 50

Reclusiarch Chaplain 95
Bolt Pisol 1
Melta Bombs 5

Troops:

Crusader Squad 1:
Initiates x5 80
Neophytes x5 50
Drop Pod 30
Power Weapon 10

Crusader Squad 2:
Initiates x5 80
Neophytes x5 50
Drop Pod 30
Power Weapon 10

Crusader Squad 3:
Initiates x5 80
Neophytes x5 50
Drop Pod 30
Power Weapon 10

Crusader Squad 4:
Initiates x5 80
Neophytes x5 50
Drop Pod 30
Power Weapon 10

Crusader Squad 5:
Initiates x5 80
Neophytes x4 40
Drop Pod 30
Champion attached

Elite:
Sword Brethren Squad 1:
Sword Breth x9 171
Drop Pod 30
Power Fist 15
Furious Charge
Attach Commander

Sword Brethren Squad 2:
Sword Breth x9 171
Drop Pod 30
Flamer 6
Furious Charge
Attach Chaplain

Sword Brethren Terminators 1:
Sword Brethren Terminators x5 200
Furious Charge 15
Drop Pod 30

Total 1750

Hmmmm.