Early army list ideas!

It is too early for me to be writing lists at this point because I dont know the values. I should be able to do that this weekend. :) But from reading others information, it is becoming clear to me that, as I expected, BA are going to be expensive... IF you want to play the big boys. But you don't have to put a 280 point non IC HQ on the table just because you can. Sure we all want to play these freaks, but it looks like they have been written so as to make them vulnerable point sinks. No matter how strong Mephiston is, a single squad of IG Vets in their Chimera can mow him down.

The secret in writing competitive lists with the new dex will be to avoid the point sinks. As has been pointed out by others, you can get an RAS, in a Razorback, with a Power weapon, meltagun and heavy flamer or bolter on the turret for less then 150 points. Now THAT is a bargain. I don't know what the equivalent cost would be in C:SM, but I do know that their Razors are not Fast Vehicles. The best part is that you can get five of these for 750 points. In an 1850 list, you will still have 1100 points to spend on the toys!

Now to add more to the list. I am thinking that Dante and a Sanguinary Guard will be a must for me. I love Dante and the Guard are beautiful. Do I put them in a Raven? I will probably do so and start them on the table. In fact, I am thinking that I will have to go with three of them on the table. Without seeing the points, I imagine three of them, Dante, SanGrd, and a Libby Dread should eat up the rest of my points. But what an army!

As I understand it, the transport can move 12", and the passengers can disembark then assault. Is this a big deal for assault troops? They can already move 12"... Absolutely! The lander will save them from the first two rounds of whithering small arms fire that normally reduces the effectiveness of any jump squad. They should be getting into combat intact every time. I may drop a couple of the Razorbacks, and fill the other flyers with RAS.

The idea is simple. Two flyers deploy up as far as they can, then move 24" to get into position and gather up a cover save. Or move 12" and assault if possible. In the meantime, the razorbacks move flat out to get into flamer range next turn. The third flyer sits back and fires it's missles at stuff in the way. Or on turn one all three of them sit tight and empty their payload on transports and tanks. That should amount to three dead transports at least. Once the flyers have moved up, the razors follow in and dispense flame and assault as needed, mopping up the survivors.

I know, simple rudimentary plan... but I have made a 40k career out of using simple plans to win tournaments, and that seems to be a mystery to some folks. So there you go! Dudes comment on my Bols articles hating on me for pointing out the obvious and calling me a noob. Whatever. I am willing and do travel across the country to put my army on the table. I invite any one to do the same and meet me at BOLSCON to see how simple I am. :)

Back to topic.

So the first thing you have to do when you break the seams on your new dex is to ignore Mephiston and the other monsters. Build your self an army first. Find the hidden gems, like scout bikers and fast moving Vindicators and exploit them! If you want to go crazy, you can play three Baal Preds, that now have scout which I believe allows them to flank march... I have never used scouts so am still sort of unfamiliar with what "scout" allows. But don't stop there, throw in three Vindicators for 6 fast moving tanks spewing death. For what I estimate to be around 825 you can get the six of them on the table along with your 5 RAS at 750, for a total now of 1575. In an 1850 list you still have 275 points! With that much mobile fire power, you can cut down on the number of RAS razorbacks, and load up on harder hitting elites and sanguinary priests instead.

The name of the game is redundancy. When the boys stormed Normandy they were told to split up... a group of GIs was a juicy target, a single soldier was a waste of ammo. It is the opposite in 40k. A single Vindicator is a juicy target. Eliminate that and you eliminate a huge threat. Psychologically guys will be compelled to shoot a lone Vindicator. It is an easy kill of a deadly target and they can add a mark to their subconscious checklist. If there are three of them however, their subconscious mind may have them looking for less numerous targets. Our mind wants to feel satisfied that we are accomplishing something. Eliminating one of three vindicators will not satisfy that because you have only slightly reduced the perceived threat, but taking down a lone Land Speeder may. The subconscious mind is a powerful thing!

Another angle of this is that most people don't quite fathom what a Fast Vehicle is. To spell it out, Blood Angels Vindicators now have a 36" range. They can move 12" and fire their gun. Or, a Storm Raven can move 6" from behind cover, and fire off all of its weapons. More on this when I talk about Vehicle Tactics later on.

Any way, hopefully this weekend I will have the stats. Then Fritz, Danny Internets and I are going to convene a war council and work out an army. Then I will build it and the blood will spill.