How to Win Warhammer 40k: The Psychology of 40k

40k is as much about using your head as it is about playing with plastic models. I had the master, Fritz to teach me... and I learned. I hesitate to use the term 'head games' but what it boils down to is just that. If you can get inside your opponents head, you have already won half the battle. The easiest way to do that is through knowing your opponent. That is what I bring you today.

Let me begin with some psychology. I am no psychologist. I am a middle school teacher though... that makes me part psychologist, psychiatrist, parent, and lunatic for hundreds of kids a day. One of the most important things I learned in college is this:

The pre-teen child lives in a world where there is one glowing beacon of right... themselves. Every moment of their lives is spent satisfying that one and only truth. The teenage years are where we start becoming adults, and begin learning that for the greater good, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one. (Thanks Spock!) So we start to practice consideration, and as we morph into adults, hopefully we master it and employ it.

In general, you and I, are just large versions of that pre-teen narsisistic, self-centered entity. We play a game, and control our army. We put in hours and hours of time on our armies, and our egos and attitudes about them grow proportionately to how much time we put in. As does that inner child! The more serious we get about our armies, the more likely we are to revert back to the age of 8 and forget about all those rules we learned on the way towards being a functional adult. And the more likely we are to treat the person across from us in a less then desirable way... and become pliable to certain tactics...

Once we have come to understand that when we step up to a table we are dealing with an individual who is very capable of reverting back to the mentality of a 1st grader, we can begin to figure out how to use that to our advantage. I have learned how to use my classroom management techniques and child psychology tactics to give me an advantage.

Back to Sportsmanship:

I wrote a post not long ago about sportsmanship and how it impacts tournament performance. Black Matt wrote a post about sportsmanship a few days ago and it is quite a lively discussion on his blog and strikes right at the heart of this post. For the most part, my opponents enjoy playing me in tournaments. Most of them at the end of the game thank me for being a good opponent and playing a great game, and usually right after I just finished smacking them all over the table for two hours. But some of my good friends might not see it. Black Matt, Charly and Brother Captain James might be shaking their heads right now because I am such a dick... Hah! Sorry brothers but when you and I play, the gloves come off. The point is that how we play our friends at the club and how we play a stranger at a tournament MUST be different. You MUST extend that stranger every courtesy and remember that you are not playing a friend. When I play at a tournament I employ a sort of patient persona that I suspend when I get my buddies on the table in a casual game to the death. (Maybe I should do it all the time!?!) That is another discussion.

What do I do?

In my recent sportsmanship post, I wrote some tips. Allow me to expand on that.

I create a story! I make batreps and take video and pictures throughout the game. That means that after every turn, both mine and my opponents, I am keeping a running dialogue that summarizes the game. For example: "Ok, my opponent just finished his turn and he is beating the pants off me, and now on my shooting, I MUST destroy his Land Raider if I am to have a chance, he is walking all over me and my back is to the wall." That quote does a couple of things. It creates drama. Now I have set the stage... my opponent knows that he has stake in the game, and where it is... now, if I destroy the tank, he can see the drama unfold... if I fail to do it, he can celebrate! The loss of the tank is lessened because he knows that I had to do it to survive, and my failure to destroy it gives him a sense of accomplishment... both options feed that 8 year old ego inside of him. I do this throughout the game, creating peaks and valleys of drama and emotion. Every engagement is pivitol and every loss is heart wrenching. But at the end of the game, win or loss, my opponent has a sense of satisfaction. All a product of well coordinated stroking of the ego. It is not fake, I am just creating a situation where we both enjoy playing the game by .

"You will catch more flies with honey then you will with vinegar." So true. A little compliment goes a long, long way. Feed that 8 year old subconsious! Engage your opponent in discussion about his stuff. Ask him questions about his models. Compliment things that he obviously spent time on. Do not offer criticism, even if he asks for it. Pick up his best model and tell him what you like about it instead. Saying good things about your opponent humanizes you. It brings to his deep memory all of those nice things his mommy used to tell him. Or his favorite teacher told him. It makes that beacon of glowing self truth feel good. How does this benefit you? In every way! He will be a nicer person. In game terms, it may even influence his decision making... "I don't really want to destroy mommies speeder... do I?" "That might make her stop saying nice things about me..." Remember, this is all in the SUBconcious.

Caviat: The things I write are meant to be both entertaining and informative. Feel free to call me a big fat bullshiter on this stuff if you want. But it is true! :)

Jawaballs

How to play warhammer 40k. 40k for Noobies: Dealing with Independent Characters in Close Combat

Ash asked a question about my last post and brought up Independent Characters. How do you deal with them? There are a few tricks that I pull. I will go over them now.

Ignore them! If you are charging a squad that has an IC attached to it... ignore the IC! Put all of your attacks against the squad. If you have a higher initiative, even better since you can wipe them out and they cannot hit you back. I do this all the time with my assaulters since I use Corbulo who grants them Furious Charge (+1 initiative and Str). My guys go first most of the time. So, if I am running 10 assault marines up against a squad of marines with an IC attached, I put all of the attacks against the squad and ignore the IC. Now, hopefully I will kill the squad out right, or at least do a lot of wounds. Yes, the IC will nail me back... but hopefully I do so many wounds to the squad, that I still end up winning combat. This will force the squad I attacked, and the IC to make a morale test modified by the number of kills I won by. Hopefully you won by a lot and the IC will fail his morale test... If he is a non space marine, you can kill him with a sweeping advance having never even laid a finger on him. If he IS a SM, he will fall back. You have the choice, do NOT choose to sweeping advance since that will just force him to remain in combat. You want him to run. Let him go.

What you do now is simply follow him off the table. Do not assault him again... Space Marines automaticlly regroup, but NOT if there is an enemy squad within 6" of them. He will not be able to regroup, and you can just follow him until he is off the table edge. Of course if he is fearless that is another matter.

Another option: REALLY ignore him.

Sometimes you will find yourself in the position to completely ignore the IC. What I mean is that the squad he is attached to is so big, or other circumstances like terrain prohibit him from getting into Base to base contact no matter which way he goes. For example, a huge squad of Ork Boys has a Warboss attached. He is leading the charge. Jump your assault marines to the back of the squad and assault... he will probably not be able to get into base to base since he can only move 6". Just make sure your guys are 6" away from him but still B2B with the orks. He will still be in the combat, but unable to attack, and will still be forced to make a morale test if you win combat. And orks ARE vulnerable to Sweeping Advance. Win that combat by 6 or 7 kills, and he is done. (Orks are fearless until their squad is reduced below 11... do a lot of kills.)

Use force against force.

Do whatever it takes to get YOUR IC into B2B with his. Hopefully you are packing a bigger punch and will kill his IC with your own. OR if you have a weak chump almost dead IC with one wound left, sacrifice him. Send in your IC against his. He will be too tempted to not kill him. He has to choose between your IC and your squad. He lays his 8 attacks down on your IC and kills him. That is still only 1 wound towards combat resolution. Your squad attacks his squad, wipes them out, you win combat, the IC has to make a modified leadership test. If he is not a marine, you can sweeping advance and kill him. If he is, again, chase him off the table.

So, when dealing with enemy IC. Look at the bigger picture... or 5th dimension. If he is attached, slaughter his squad and force him to make a test. If he is not attached, send one model to assault him and drag him in, but focus the rest of your shots on the squad. If you have a more powerful IC, let them fight it out, maybe even help him with the squads power fist or sword. If your IC is a chump, sacrifice him. Kill the squad, force a test, kill him in Sweeping Advance or chase him off the table.

Jawaballs!

40k for Noobys continued! On with the assault.

Due to great response, I have decided to make the 40k for noobies a regular thing. This is NOT just for noobies. Maybe you just returned to the game and missed the last two years of innovation... maybe you are a vet just looking for an alternative view point. Whatever the cause, there is no shame in reading this! :)

So let me recap. I talked about things to think about before you assault. Don't shoot if your enemy taking a model off will leave you out of assault range. Be careful what you assault... (Make sure you can kill it and not be slaughtered) Watch for initiative, weapon skill and strength. It is OK to ask your opponent the stats of each of his models. If he has a problem with that, he is a douche. Pick your assaults wisely!

In my last post, I brought a Space Marine Assault squad into assault with 3... yes THREE Eldar Guardian squads. That is 10 marines vs 30 Eldar. I even sent the marine with the power fist after a nearby Viper just to prove a point. Remember, so long as YOUR squad remains in coherency, you can assault any thing you want, after your first model has made into base to base with his. So, send in your first model, get it base to base. Then you can move all of the rest of your models to assault whatever is in range. In my example, I managed to get the Sgt. with power fist into base to base with a Viper, 5 marines into combat with 1 Eldar squad, and 2 marines into combat with each of the other two squads.

What happens next? Well your opponent gets to bring his guys into the fray. All of the Eldar that are base to base with Marines are now in combat, including any behind those models that are B2B but still within 2". Now he gets to move any UNengaged models up to get into assault. It will look like these Eldar are now swarming all over the marines, and it will look scary! Dont fret Marines. Here comes the fun.

Who goes first?

In old versions of 40k Assault was wonky. You would go in, and your good models would go first, wipe out a bunch of guys, and your opponent would take off guys that were base to base with the rest of your models, leaving them stranded and unable to attack. Now, once assault has begun, no matter what, all models will get their attacks, regardless of who went first. Providing, of course, that the models are still alive when their initiative comes up.

In this case, Guardians are initiative 4, and so are marines. So every one will get to attack. Lets break it down:

5 Marines are fighting 10 Eldar
2 Marines are fighting 10 Eldar
2 Marines are fighting 10 Eldar
1 Marine is Charging a viper that did not move.

The lone marine is not engaged with any eldar, and has a power fist. The fist reduces his initiative to 1 or Last. We will save him for later.

Lets do the big fight.

5 assault maries attack 10 Eldar. An assault marine has 1 base attack. He has two close combat weapons, a pistol and a sword, so he gets a bonus attack for that. He also charged, so he gets a 3rd attack. There are 5 marines attacking for a total of 15 attacks. We will do averages here. When determining if you hit, you compare weapon skill. A Guardian has a WS 3 and a SM has WS of 4. A glance at the To Hit (Assault) chart will show you that SM need a 3 to hit the guardians. They are better with swords. We will say 60% of them hit for an estimate of 9 hits. (Screw math)

Now time to wound. Once you hit something, you have to wound it. You may have just glanced the shot... etc. So of your 9 hits, you need to roll a die to see how many wound. The Str of a SM is 4. The Toughness of an Eldar Guardian is 3. Comparing the two scores, you will wound on a roll of 3. There is a chart on the last page of the rule book. So again, roughly 60 percent of the hits will wound. Of the 9 hits, we will say 6 wounded.

Now for armor saves. Guardians have a 5+ save, so we can say that for every 6 wounded, 4 will die based on the dice. Close enough. So 4 dead guardians. The number of dead is important because this forces a leadership test. If a squad suffers 25% losses of it's current value, it has to make a leadership test. This squad suffered 40% loss and will have to test at the end of combat. But all 10 of those guardians get to attack since they have the same initiative as the SM.

A WS of 3 attacking WS of 4 will need a 4 to hit after a quick glance at the book. Guardians only get 1 attack. They suck in assault. So 10 attacks, needing a 4 will leave 5 hits. Now time to wound.

Eldar Guardians are Str 3. Marines are Toughness 4. S3 will need a 5 to wound T4 models after glancing at the last page of the rule book. Not good odds. It is like 33 percent... we will say 2 wound. Now the marines have to make 2 saves. They get a 3+ save, and we will say they both pass.

We have to keep track of scores here. This is all one huge combat, with several small mini battles going on. At the end, it is all resolved as one fight. After game one, Marines are up 4 to 0.

Now Eldar squad 2 is fighting 2 marines. The marines have 6 attacks, and need 4s to hit. We will say that true to the odds, 3 hit. Then again, true to the odds, 2 wound. Due to Eldars crap save, 2 more die. The Eldar hit back, with their 4+ to hit, and land 5 hits. With their crap Strength, they will have a tough time, we will give them the benefit of the doubt this time, and give them 3 wounds. Now, two marines have to make 3 saves. We will say one goes down.

Score after game 2, Marines 6, Eldar 1.

We will give the third game the same score, but give the Eldar one more kill due to lucky rolls. So, final tally of kills for the 10 Marines vs 30 Eldar is 8 kills for the Marines, and 2 for the Eldar.

But what about our Squad Leader? He charged an immobile viper. If a vehicle has NOT moved in the previous turn, all assaults against it are auto hits. A power fist doubles the models Str in assault. A marine has a 4 Str, which becomes 8 with the fist. Fists are so clunky and big, that a model using one does NOT get a bonus attack for having two close combat weapons. But he does get his charge bonus. A veteran has 2 base attacks, and one bonus for the charge for a total of 3. All 3 hit automaticly. Now to hurt the viper.

A Viper has armor value 10, and is open topped. This is going to go VERY badly for the viper. To damage vehicles, you compare Strength vs Armor Value. The Str of the Marine is 8 vs the armor of the vehicle which is 10. The marine has to score equal to or above the armor value to hurt the vehicle. You roll a d6 and add the total to the score of 8. We will say the results for the 3 attacks are a 1, a 4 and a 6. In this case, a result of 1 is not necessarily an auto failure to wound, (such is the case in most other results) But 8 + 1 is only 9 and does not equal the value of the armor, so the 1 is a failure to wound. But the 4 and 6 both PENETRATE the vehicle. 8+4 is 12, which beats armor 10. The marine gets to roll two dice on the damage table. He is punching holes right through the hull of the ship and grabbing the pilot! He rolls a 2 and a 4. Looking at the Vehicle Damage Table will show you that the results will be a Crew Stunned and Immobilized result. BUT, the vehicle is open topped. So the marine gets to add 1 to his scores. That makes them a Weapon Destroyed and Vehicle Destroyed result. The viper is now dead, and remains on the table as terrain.

Now time to make morale tests. The total score was 8 for the marines and 2 for the Eldar. The difference of the two scores is 6. Sadly for the Eldar, they have to minus 6 from their leadership rolls. Since the Eldar lost combat, that is, the Marines scored more kills, ALL THREE of the eldar squads need to make a leadership test. (Leadership/Morale... same difference for this discussion) Guardians have a leadership of 8. They have to roll snake eyes to pass their test, and all three fail. Things are going VERY ugly for the guardians, and here is where Marines shine.

Time for Sweeping Advance.

Since the Eldar lost combat, and failed their leadership tests. They need to fall back. The eldar roll 2d6 and fall back that many inches. However, the marines may choose to Sweeping Advance... or Massacre them. If the marines choose to keep them in assault, they need to make a compared initiative roll vs the Eldar. Each squad rolls a D6 and adds their initiative. The marines roll a D6 and get a 5 so the eldar have to BEAT a 9. Their initiave is 4 so they have to roll 6s. A tie in this case will still mean that the Marines may Sweeping Advance. All three of the eldar squads roll under 6. Which means the marines have successfully Sweeping Advanced all three of the squads. Sadly for the Eldar, this means that all 3 squads are instantly destroyed. Thats right, 10 marines just cut down 30 Eldar and a Viper, and only lost 2 marines.

Now, this was based on average rolls. So it is a pretty good indicator of what will happen most of the time. Odds are that most opponents will not give you a juicy target like 3 guardian squads bunched up next to a viper that has not moved... but you never know.

So...

When assaulting, look for juicy targets. If you have a badass assault squad, look for multiple squads that you can assault... And if you have the resources, send your power fist after a tank or something.

Phew my fingers hurt! :)

Are you a complete tournament player?

What is the secret? If you want to win tournaments, you generally need to consider 4 factors. It is the combination of them all that helps you win:

Army List
Tactics
Painting
Sportsmanship

Army List:
You need to come rock hard. If you want to compete at a tournament, you need to forget those fluffy lists. Leave the thunder cannons home. You need to put together a list that optimizes efficiency, strength and flexibility. Every army has a certain combination of models that is MOST efficient, that is... gets you the most bang for the buck. I believe I have found it with my Blood Angels. This is not an instant occurance though, my Blood Angels have arrived at their current point through a LOT of modifications. I have been playing them exclusively for 20 months! But this post is not about which army is better. Certainly some armies can make a more efficient list... but do the best you can do within your chosen army. Go on the forums. Bolter and Chainsword is a great wealth of knowledge for Space Marines. Seek out blogs that focus on particular armies like Black Matt's Chaos Blog or Way of Saim-Hann. Find out what lists are winning, and play them. If you have to pick a new army, then do it. Some armies just cannot compete in the tournament scene. Accept it, adjust, move on.

Tactics:
So you have your rock hard list. Taking that list to a tournament with no idea how to play it is like giving a loaded gun to a 5 year old. Bad things will happen, mostly to you. In the short time I have been playing 40k, the only list I have encountered that a Pigeon could win with was the 4th edition 60 Genestealer list. At the first Gamesday 40k tournament I went to, 8 of the top 10 armies were virtual clones of that list.

Having said that... learn how to play your army. Develop tactics, and stick with them. Trust your tactics. I have won games when all was apparently lost, only because I stuck with my tactics. Just this weekend, it appeared I was getting rolled, but I stuck to my guns, and turned the game around into a total victory.

But tactics extend beyond the game table. One of the biggest secrets the major tournament winners have been employing is selective winning of bonus points. In the first round, the temptation is to destroy your opponent and get all the bonus points. In my last two tournament wins, I did not do this! In one example, I eeked out a draw and ended up winning the whole thing. In another though, I chose not to scoop up the 3 bonus points in round one when I easily could have. This placed me back in the pack of winners... but most importantly, kept me off the top tables where I would have been up against the blood thirsty nooby crushers. In round two, those guys either crushed each other, or self destructed, placing them selves out of contention... or in place to play yet another top army in round three. Meanwhile I enjoyed a round two game against a weaker army and opponent, where I was able to dictate how many points I scored. I went into round three with the opponent that was best for me. The point is I avoided a round two game against a tougher opponent simply by not killing my first round opponent's HQ and highest points total squad when I had the chance.

Painting:
In the last two tournaments that I won, painting points were awarded per game. So, I got max painting points each game, for a total of 15 extra points. This made the difference both times! In more and more tournaments, they are including painting points as part of your overall score. You must get your army painted. The minimum standard is a base coat, a wash, and a highlight. GW has made this easy for you. You must do it! Get your army painted to this standard, then pick out some details like purity seals and guns etc. and you are good to go. My friend Charly was upset at a recent tournament because he was playing an unpainted ork army. He was amongst the top players there, but had no real chance of winning because he scored zero painting points. Get your armies painted.

Sportsmanship:
This is the final kicker. Be a good sport. In most tournaments, there is some sort of sportsmanship points awarded by your opponent. These points are simple to earn. Be friendly, dont argue, and dont be a jerk. If you object to something your opponent does, politely raise your concern and suggest it be looked up in a book. If you cannot resolve it with a book, and he insists on doing it, suggest a die roll. If he still refuses, simply say ok, and let him have it. He is a douche and nail HIM on sportsmanship. There is however a distinction between being a good sport, and playing a cheezy list. A lot of guys find the line to be quite blurry, and will try to nail you on sportsmanship for playing a list they feel is cheeze. This happened just last weekend, and is probably what gave me the over all win! My friend Dan pulled a tyranid player as his round 3 opponent. They were 1 and 2 coming into the final round. Dan's Salamander army is a little cheezy... but it wins and is legal! Dan himself is a friendly, polite, considerate and all around great guy. The nid player docked him sportsmanship points... probably just because Dan crushed him. Dont be that guy!

Here is a list of things you can do to ensure good sportsmanship points:

Smile, be on time, do not stall, do not take phone calls, compliment your opponents army, compliment your opponents tactics. It is real easy to say "That was a nice decision." And that works wonders on how your opponent feels about you. Ask specific questions about models that your opponent obviously spent a lot of time on. Ask your opponent for input on your stuff. Dont argue every little thing. Dont nit pick measurements. I can go on and on, but you get the point. I go out of my way to be as good a sport as possible in tournament games. I will always give my opponent the benefit of the doubt, even if it is obvious that he is trying to squeek out some advantage. In the end, if you have covered parts one and two of this article, you will probably beat him any way. :)

Enjoy playing the game! If you have fun, your opponent will. If he is a douche, accept it, do the best you can, and get it done.

Hope that help!

Jawaballs

How to Paint Space Marines: Hand Painted Angel Wings

Here is video one of my newest series, How to Paint Space Marines: Hand Painted Angel Wings. I will be posting them all here.

How to Win Warhammer 40k: Blood Angels Tactics 4, Rhino Rush

Time to talk about Rhinos. 5th edition has welcomed the new dawn of 40k, and with the rise of that dawn came the reliable and practical use of the Space Marine Rhino. I use them extensively in my army and walk all over people. In the Way of Sanguinius, the Rhino is the key factor in my plans.

Lets discuss the Rhino first. Armor 11 on front and sides, with 10 back is lacking but not terrible. It protects the squad inside from withering small arms fire, which is the intended use of an APC any way. No armored personnel carrier is intended to withstand the heavy guns carried by tank destroyers. Once you accept that and focus on the Rhino's strengths, you will do fine. You must give your Rhino extra armor. I know, it is a 15 point investment, and when using 5 rhinos can get really expensive, but I cannot tell you how many times extra armor has been useful, especially in tank shock, which I will get into after. I personally feel it is worth while to add the second storm bolter on at least one of your Rhinos. Just think of it as a mobile gun platform. 4 shots can be used to finish off that last lucky couple of guardians, or possibly add a wound to a commander before he assaults you. They can be wonderful for dealing with speeders. Remember, 5th edition is about torrent of fire. You want as many shots as you can get on the table, regardless of STR. Lastly concerning Blood Angels Rhinos, they have Over Charged Engines. This enables them to move up to 18" and get in position to contest/claim objectives, and tank shock enemy troops.

How to use your Rhino.

Use your rhinos as a mobile gun platform. Put a 10 man tactical squad with a lascannon and meltagun inside. Move it up onto an objective. Next turn, fire that Las and melta at any thing you want, keeping the guys inside safe.

Protect your squads. Put a 5 man squad in a rhino, and drive it up onto objectives. Keep the squad in the rhino... your enemy must divert heavy weapon shots onto them to crack em open. In the meantime, the rhino is protecting your 5man squad from annoying infantry shots. You can always disembark the squad and move/assault if you have to. So long as you have gotten your rhino into position, every heavy weapon shot fired at them is one less fired at your Baal Preds and Furioso. That is a good thing in turns 3 and 4 believe me.

Provide cover. Rhinos are great and cheap at providing mobile cover. Move that rhino up on to an exposed objective, and let it get knocked out... now you have a big lump of terrain to hide behind. OR you can use them to provide cover for each other while they are on the move. In the movie The Empire Strikes Back, Luke ordered an "Outside the Box" tactic to attack the AtAt walkers. They flew in a straight line, one behind another, 3 or 4 in a row. The lead speeder maximized its front shields, while the others saved power. When the lead speeder had its shields reduced to a dangerous level, the next in line leap-frogged into the front, always keeping a charged and undamaged shield to take the brunt of the enemy fire. Of course the speeders were weak vehicles and got shot down any way, but they did their job! They slowed down the enemy advance, and even took out a few in the process. Rhinos can pull the same tactic. Use them to provide cover to the ones behind them, each overlapping the next. Pop smoke on the lead Rhino. Next turn, move one up to the front that has not popped smoke yet. If done right, your rhinos should all have cover saves in open terrain up until they reach their objectives. (And if Corbulo is in one of them, you can negate a failed cover save once per turn.) You can also use them to block the enemy charge, and line of sight. Force the ork nob/warboss biker squads to go around them, slowing them down to allow you to get to them first. Use them to block LoS from enemy plasma cannons and battle cannons so you can advance your tanks. Make a wall around objectives you have just secured. The possibilities are endless.

Tank Shock. Perhaps my most favorite tactic! With 18" of movement, you can usually reach enemy squads and tank shock them. This will usually take them completely by surprise. First of all, They may or may not know how TS works. Their lack of knowledge is your gain. It has been my experience that 40k is 1/3 Army List, 1/3 tactics and 1/2 knowledge of the rules... (weird math intentional) Do not deceive your opponent, but don't feel like you have to tell them about all the rules in the book they should have in their own hands. They will probably know about Death or Glory, you can even be a good sport and tell them that they can Death or Glory your tank, but even that is not necessary since they SHOULD already know that. You could get away with simply saying that they have to make a leadership test, and if they fail, they fall back, and if successful, they MAY move out of the way or they MAY DoG. At any rate, wether you tell your opponent if they can use a Meltagun to DoG is up to you. A good player will know that, and knowledge of the rules is what seperates the good from the orks.

NOTE: My tactics are intended to be used against experienced players, usually in tournaments. In fun pickup games, you should always be a good sport and explain rules that less experienced players may or may not know. It is ok to nail em once, but make sure that they know what you did.

Back to Tank Shock. SO here is how it breaks down. You tank shock a squad, that squad needs to pass a leadership test immediately. IF they pass the test they may simply move out of the way, moving as far as they need to stay in coherency and one inch away from your tank. Fearless models need not roll. If they fail to pass the test, they will immediately fall back as per the rules... In this case, simply chase them off the table by staying within 6" of the squad. They can NEVER regroup so long as you have a model nearby.

If they pass, they may attempt to DoG. They can elect to select one model, and get a free shot against the front armor of the tank with whatever weapon they are holding. Over zealous 4th edition experts may jump to choose that powerfist... but in 5th edition you may use Meltaguns or lascannons to do the same thing. At any rate, which ever model you use, it gets an auto hit. It has to penetrate the front armor. If you manage to stop the tanks movement, either by rolling a 2, 4, 5, or 6 on the damage table you are successful. Glances modify the roll accordingly. But here is where it gets interesting. Extra armor allows you to ignore the 2, it is treated as a 1. So you can still move and now you are only stopped on a 4,5 or 6. That is a 50% chance at being successful... You cant beat that! Especially if you tank shock a squad with 3 Rhinos... They have to make 3 leadership tests, then beat those 50% odds 3 times. If the DoG is successful, then the model stops where it encountered the squad and the damage is resolved as normal.. IE your guys get out if it is destroyed and will probably die next turn. But if the DoG fails, the model dies, and your tank keeps on plowing through. You can even move on to TS another squad! This is crucial for taking and/or contesting objectives. Where Melta guns throw off the math is that they add a +1 to the damage chart... and reduce your chance of success to what 18%? 2 in 6 instead of 3 in 6... (assuming the penetration happens)

I once tank shocked a squad that had 2 meltaguns, with 2 rhinos, and the poor guy failed to stop the vehicles twice... Losing both models. You just never know.

There you have it. Cover saves and Over Charged Engines make Blood Angels Rhinos superb at land grab, take and hold missions. They are survivable, and are good at knocking squads off objetives. Especially if you can get to ones that do not have heavy weapons. Some guys like to take squishy and weak troops just to fill the requirement and hold objectives. They put them in the back and forget about them. Tank shock away!

How to Win Warhammer 40k: Blood Angels Tactics 3, General Plan

Welcome back! I believe I should have probably started with this post, and then discussed how each of my units fits into it. Never too late though! My first two posts were about Dante and Corbulo and were very specific. This one will be a about how I play my Blood Angels in general. Keep in mind, that I do not win every game. But I am a contender at every tournament I go to and know that I have a good chance at victory, or at least not losing, in every game I play. I suppose that is all one can ask for!

I have touched on some of this stuff in other posts, so some of the info I am laying down here may be repetition. I just wanted to get it all in one spot. Jwolf, over at Bell of Lost Souls recently wrote an article placing Blood Angels in the bottom tier of 40k armies, based on his experience. He quotes "Small pockets of destruction" and the fact that in order for BA to be strong, they have to concentrate themselves in one small portion of the table, leaving themselves vulnerable to blast templates and eliminating their overall effectiveness. I want to begin by saying yes, he is correct, IF I try to play Blood Angels like a normal space marine army. The simple truth is that BA cannot stand toe to toe with a generic codex space marine army. With the exception of the Baal Predator, Generic Marines (GM) can field units that at least match and in most cases better BA ones. Honor Guard, Veteran squads, Terminators, Ironclad Dreads... the list goes on. To take it one step further, they can do it cheaper in most cases.

When most people look at the BA codex, they drool over the prospect of scores of Assault Pack infantry leaping over terrain bristling with power fists and raining death upon their opponent basking in the glow of Dante and Corbulo. I believe this army might be the one that Jwolf is in part referring to. I tried this army and it simply does not work. Any smart player is simply going to sit back and fire away. You cannot hide those assault squads in 5th edition, and they will either be nipped down by withering small arms fire, or destroyed completely by blast weapons. True line of sight makes this army a loser. Sure, you will destroy some guys if the circumstances are right... but to put it simply, forget it. Move on. There are a couple of other armies that people try but will fail. The Land Raider full of Death Company for example is a one trick pony. Hell, the BA Land Raider is a poor choice any time since it does not have the same Machine Spirit or capacity as a GM one. Guys feel the need to load up on Terminators... Boycott them outright until they get 3+ Storm Shields or are made cheaper. Resist the temptation to overload on Elite choices. Point sink units will wear you down. The most expensive unit in my army is my Tactical squad. With it's Rhino, it costs about 250 points. Every thing else is 150 and under. (except Dante) The secret here is maximizing your army size, while minimizing the cost.

Now, welcome to The Way of Sanguinius!

It is time to go over the secret, the key, the way. If you are looking for an army that is going to bludgeon your opponent into submission in 4 turns, Blood Angels fail. But the good news is 5th edition is NOT about bludgeoning your opponent like 4th edition was. With Victory Points removed from you game, and 66.6% of the missions being Objective based, you can win without even killing a single enemy squad! Blood Angels can do this better then any one. Allow me to explain.

My army is a mix of overwhelming assault force, devastating "Torrent of Fire", and speedy troops. Dante, Corbs with the DC in their Rhino, and the Furioso are the spear head assault element. My 3 Baal Predators and Tactical squad provide fire support, and my 3 Rhinos with Assault Squads inside run the endaround and take and hold objectives. It is the rule of 3s! One Baal Pred is good, but 3 Baal Preds are devastating.

I send the assault element right at the heart of the enemy. But I do not charge blindly. Setting up your opponent so YOU get the charge is an art. If they get the charge, there are very few squads in the game that can survive an attack from Dante and a Death Company Furioso supported by Corbs. If they do, you can unload the Death Company next turn and finish them off.

I keep the Rhinos back and ready to go. I protect them from long range shots, and spend the first two rounds getting them in line to make their attack runs. Of course, a Rhino is fragile, and 5 guys inside will die if your opponent decides they want to kill them and has the time. So you hold them back and safe until turn 4, then send them out! Over-Charged Engines (OCE) will allow you to get to where you have to go.

Lastly, 3 Ball Preds (BP) and the 10 man Tactical squad provide all the shots I need. I recently just added a Rhino and Meltagun to the tactical squad (TS). That gives me one more option for taking objectives. 3 BP is a truely scary thing to behold. Think about it. 3 tanks with AV 13 advancing and shooting 12 shots each. 10 of those 12 shots will deny armor saves to any thing not in power armor, and wound on 2 or 3 to almost every model in the game. With so many cover saves and invul saves in 5th edition, the game is about Torrent of Fire (ToF) which is simply LOTS of shots. BPs provide that. Using OCE they can advance 6" and fire all of their guns, or advance 12" and fire their Assault Cannon and Storm bolter. You can charge the 3 BPs up 12" and unload 24 shots on a squad. That is a 36" range to deliver a volley that can kill most squads. Giving them extra armor and using them to overlap cover saves makes them that much harder to kill. AND if they are rendered useless from weapon destroyed, but still are mobile, they can ram from 18" away getting a STR 10 shot.

To refer back to the post by Jwolf, yes I do tend to keep my army clustered. But any marine player does. Marines are expensive, and spreading expensive units leads to isolated units, leading to dead units. But this is not a weakness. Clustering my forces means lots of cover saves in the pivotal first two turns. Then after that comes the break out and land grab. OCE allow Blood Angels to do it well.

Allow me to address each of the 3 standard missions.

Loot Counters:
This is my favorite mission. Remember, again, this mission is NOT about killing your opponent. The winner of this game is simply the guy who has more loot counters at the end. When deploying the Loot, I set up the one I intend to keep, and the two I intend to take. I ignore the rest. I plop my Tactical squad on the one I want and surround it with my assault element. They then head towards the ones I want to take, and are followed by my Rhinos. The BPs advance softening up their defenses for my Assault Element (AE). The Rhinos get into position to move up and claim objectives for me, and/or contest his. Zoom the rhino right up onto the objective, hopefully it will have cover, and sit there. The enemy has to first pop the rhino, then kill the marines inside. If you wait until turn 4 to do this, they will not get them all. If you need to, unload the AS inside. After all, they are assault marines, with assault weapons, and a power weapon veteran. Even without Dante and Corbs in range, they are a tough nut to crack. All you realy need to do is hold one objective, then contest all the others. Victory Blood Angels. I will write a lot more about these tactics later in more specific posts.

Bases:
Each of us have one objective and must try to take it from the other. If a Blood Angels army ever loses this mission, the guy needs to give up and play something else, he is an embarrassment to the blood. This is the same as before, but even easier. Set up your tactical squad on the objective surrounded by the AE and BPs. Reserve your rhinos. To get to your base, your opponent has to go right through your advancing stuff which is just what you want. Simply hold yours, try to take his, defend, and send your rhinos for the End-around again. Get em in to contest... victory Blood Angels.

Kill Points:
This one is a little more tricky. A mechanized Blood Angel army will have lots of Rhinos... which are fairly easy kill points. This mission is my armies greatest weakness. I find myself hiding them all the way in the back, using cover, smoke etc. Reserve them for sure. Then when they come on, you can deploy them turn 2 or 3 in safer spots on the board. In a kill point mission, you need not overwhelm your opponent. You only have to finish the game with one more kill point then he has. Sadly, almost all of your fire power is mid range. (Using my army list) Set your self up so that in order for your opponent to get a kill point off you, he has to expose himself to your shots. And if you cannot get a kill point without exposing your self, DONT GO FOR IT. Make him make the mistake. Be patient, sit back, fire your Las at his transports. Try to get second turn. That is a huge edge, because on turn 5 and 6 you can advance and grab kill points without threat of reprisal. Make no mistake, KP missions are hard to win for my army. But it is possible!

Other Tips:
I very often reserve everything. Most people do not know that when you reserve, you come onto the table on your TABLE EDGE not DEPLOYMENT ZONE. You can catch them, especially when playing a table quarters deployment. Reserve some heavy hitters. He may try to flank you and come close to your table edge in the corner you did not deploy on. When your reserves come on, you can get right behind him, or assault him from the edge... Sneaky...

Reserving is key for anti drop pod. When up against a heavy pod army I always reserve, and make him go first. If you are lucky, all of his pods will be down before any of your stuff is on the table. Then you come on and deal with his isolated pods. Sneaky...

Reserving every thing keeps your juicy Rhinos off the table. You dont even want them on the table during turn 1 and 2. Reserving allows you to get them into the fight on your terms, where you want them, and protects them from 2 turns of Heavy weapons fire. They are fast enough to get where you want them to go in 2 turns. Since they have troops inside, they simply need to be within range to score and you got em.

So there you go. How to WIN with Blood Angels. Play the mission. Contest objectives. Do not get into a slugfest. Use the Baal Predator liberally. Pick and choose your targets. Use all of your firepower to completely destroy a target before moving onto the next. Do not be afraid to shoot assault cannons at Land Raiders. They are actually better at killing them then Twin Linked Lascannons.

I am sure I will add more to this as the thread develops.

JB

How to Play Blood Angels: Where to begin

So, the question has been asked many times. "Jawaballs, I love your models, how do I start a Blood Angels army?" Rather then answer that great question every day, I have decided to start a post here and continue to update it. Feel free to add to this for those newcomers that I will be directing to this thread.

If you have found yourself here, you are either a regular reader, or I directed you to my blog from Youtube. Either way, thanks for stopping in! First of all, if you want to know where to start with a Blood Angels army. Watch the video attached to this post. To begin, go out and get yourself this list of items:

Brother Corbulo
Space Marine Battle Force
Assault on Black Reach
Box set of Death Company

That ought to cover you for models. The AoBR has the rule book.

Now, get yourself the Blood Angels codex, which is found under the Downloads tab on the GW website. Linking to it does not work for some reason. Search the site, or call GW to help you find it. It is a free download. Print it out. Many thanks to Master Darksol who showed me that the links to the GW website do infact work. By the way, if you have not checked out his blog, do so. The Emperor Commands. I had tried to link that codex before to no avail. Here is the Blood Angels Codex.



Also, get the following hobby items:

Xacto Blades
GW Super Glue
Pinning Drill

Paints:
Blood Red
Blazing Orange
Chaos Black
Boltgun Metal
Skull White
Bestial Brown
Bleached Bone
Golden Yellow
Baal Red Wash
Badab Black Wash
Mechrite Red

Reaper Kolinsky 10/0 brush
Citadel small and large drybrush

GW Black and White spray primer.
(or a substitute)

My set of "How to Paint space Marines" Blood Angels available HERE.

That should get you well under way.

Now, put together a 500 point army, and start painting. If you are a beginner at Blood Angels, my videos are a must have. Without tooting my own horn, they have helped hundreds of guys learn to paint, and will answer every question you have.

I suggest Mechanized Blood Angels. Read every word on my blog, check the archives, and learn my list and tactics.

Get Corbulo, a tactical squad, your death company, and an assault squad, and get them all in Rhinos. Corbs can ride with the DC. There you go! That is a quick start to your new world dominance. More to come.

How to Win Warhammer 40k: Blood Angels Tactics 2. Brother Corbulo

Welcome to segment 2 of How to win Warhammer 40k. I could not post a tutorial on using Dante without posting about my other HQ choice, Brother Corbulo. Also, I want the reader to bear in mind that these tactic posts are designed with the standard missions in mind from the Warhammer 40k Rulebook. Of course, at tournaments, tactics and mission objectives will change. Hopefully, you will be able to adapt what I present to you here and use it to win games. You might not be able to win against some of the uber cheat armies, and people might consider my army a little cheezy as well. But the one major distinction is that my army follows the fluff and history of the Blood Angels. Every thing in my army is encouraged for use by Blood Angels lists. A fine example of a contrasting list. The Two Warboss/Nob Biker list. Absolutely not would two equal Strength Ork Warbosses team up. It defies the nature of chaos, orks and the universe. It is a simple accepted truth that the two war bosses would first fight each other to see who is stronger, and then one would be the warboss, the other would be a big freaking nob, or dead. Yet we see more and more of these armies on the table. Plus, we see players very sneakily diversifying each nobs gear in the squad, for the sole purpose of exploiting the Wound Allocation rule. Great job ork boys.

So, my point is that my tactics are designed to help you win against most non uber cheezed armies, playing the standard 5th edition missions. Having said that, I welcome any and all arguements to my posts. With one rule. Keep it clean of rude language, and back up your statements with fact. It is amazing how hard people find those two simple rules. If you think I am wrong with something I have said, that is fine. Explain why, and support your statement with page numbers and rules quotations. If you cannot do that, please do not post.

OOOKKKKKKK! Time for the Bro.

If you are taking Dante, you have to Take Corbulo. Lets talk about his gear first.

Chain sword. What the hell? One of the highest ranking Apothecaries in the Imperium canot afford a power sword? I would gladly pay 25 more points for this model to have a PW.

Sanguinator. Standard apothecary gear. This allows him to negate one wound per turn within 6" of him. The wound cannot have been caused by any attack that denies armor saves or instant death. Unlike new codex apothecaries, he does NOT grant a squad he has joined Feel No Pain.

Corbulo can lead the Death Company. A DC squad not within 6" of Corbulo or a Chaplain must move as far as it can towards the nearest enemy model during the movement phase.

The Holy Grail...
This thing has TWO effects. First of all, it grants Corbs a 4+ Invul. But most importantly, and the reason why this is AWESOME, it grants all Blood Angels within 12" Furious Charge. This does apply to Dante, all troops and my Furioso Dreadnought! Yes, that is right, my dreadnought charges at initiative 5, and Dante charges at initiative 6 with Str 5. For this reason alone, Corbs is mandatory.

How to use him:

Attach him to the DC, and buy them a rhino. I do NOT use jump packs for my DC. Doing so necessitates taking Lesmartes, and he is not worth it. Nope, I load them up in a Rhino with Extra Armor, all painted black and covered with skulls. People fear it. The reason why you put him in a rhino is not only to let him keep up with Dante, but because his powers work from inside it! (Please correct me if I am wrong, with facts, quotes and page numbers.) I am not interested in opinion on this one. So, Corbs can lead the DC, negate wounds, and grant FC from in his rhino.

Move the rhino up, it is perfect for blocking Line of Sight for Dante too. Charge it up to Dante's target and park/pop smoke. Keep the DC inside. Jump Dante up into assault range. Send him him! Make sure he is within 6" of the hull of the Rhino. If Dante takes a wound, negate it. Next turn, if you have taken a bite too big to chew, unload the DC, and charge them in!

If you are forced to disembark Corbulo, do NOT put him into assault. At the end of the movement phase, make sure he is 2" away from the DC, and preferably out of LoS from enemy guns. Send in the DC and watch the mayhem. If you absolutely MUST send him into assault, it is ok. I have used him to charge in and finish off squads when needed. But it is almost always better to keep him out of CC. Simply because he is able to heal, but NOT while in CC. If you used your heal on your opponents turn, and can not use one on your turn, and the squad you are fighting is close to death, charge him in to finish it off. you might also want to get him into CC just to allocate wounds on to him. Especially later in the game. He has an Invul, and only cost 100 points. He is a much more expendible model then Dante. If it is getting close to the end, and you need Dante to live, get Corbs in there and put the wounds on him.

When to use his heal:
Save it for Dante, Death Company, Himself, Power Weapon/Fist in that order. Do not use it on normal infantry unless it is the very last wound of the turn and all attacks have been dealt. It is always better to allow an infantry man to die and save it for a DC model or Dante then to use it on a grunt, then watch a DC go down from the next round of shots.

And there you have it! Corbulo is invaluable to your Blood Angels army. If you are playing a small force, he is the ONLY choice. At 100 points, he is the strongest, cheapest commander available. He should pretty much always be in your army. Get him in a Rhino, and keep him safe. Move the rhino up with your assault forces, and grant every one you can that bubble of Furious Charge. Unload him only if you have to. Assault with him even less. Sacrifice him to save Dante. Keep his rhino within 6" of your main assault forces for heals. He CAN heal guys locked in assault, so long as he is not locked in himself. You need him to control the DC, and if you are using a DC Furioso, that as well. Keep the Dread close to his Rhino until it no longer matters. You will know when that point arrives. Just about when your opponent starts squirming and whining. Enjoy!

JB

How to Win Warhammer 40k: Blood Angels Tactics

Hey Folks! So, after working on this blog and developing my army and tactics for about 9 months, I have started to turn into some sort of expert on Blood Angels. There simply are not many sources for info on them. The result of this is that the Blood Angels have been rendered down to a low tier in the 40k world. Well BS on that! I have made it my mission to squash that squig starting NOW! Here is the first post of many on Blood Angels tactics, that will teach you how to play warhammer 40k, and how to win warhammer 40k.

I will begin with a question from a reader.

Oh hey, Jawa, quick question, I just got my Dante, primed and ready to paint. I'm bringing him to a game on Sunday, wanted to know how you field him. Attached to a unit or alone hiding behind stuff, ready to pounce? I am thinking of attaching him to a 5-man jump pack assault squad (troops)? I'm going to two games, could be either against Necrons, Orks or Chaos Marines Noise Marine spam. Thoughts?

How do you play Dante? Do you field him at all? First of all, a resounding YES. Play him. He is expensive, but worth every point. If you are playing 1750, Dante should be on the table. Dont bother with some generic captain with weapons... spend the extra 50 points, and get the MAN.

I want to begin by saying that this Dante guide is assuming he is being granted Furious Charge from Corbulo. If you are taking Dante, take Corbulo. Get him into a Rhino, and keep the Rhino close to Dante. You give him FC, you can heal him, and you can unload the Death Company to help him if he needs it. All from inside the Rhino too! More on Corbulo in another post.

Dante's Gear:

Perdition Pistol. God Pistol. Pimp Pistol. It is a meltagun that counts as a pistol in Close Combat. Enough said.

6 attacks on the charge.

Axe of Mortalis. Master Crafted Power Weapon.

Artificer armor 2+ save!

4+ Invulnerable save.

Death Mask of Sanguinius... -1 Bs and Ws to all enemies within 6". That means he will pretty much always hit on 3.

Jump pack!

And the Creme de la Creme... all Blood Angels within 12" of Dante get Preferred Enemy... which lets them reroll misses in Close Combat. To hell with a Chaplain... Dante gives Litanies to EVERY ONE, EVERY TURN. (Within 12") But if you are playing your Bloods right, that will not be a problem.

Tactics:

First of all, do NOT attach Dante to a squad. Keep him close to one or all of them, but do not attach him. Why? Because you can hide him. Advance your Baal Preds, and yes every BA army should have Multiple ones, keep him right behind it, and jump him out when the time is right. Or, advance him behind a rhino filled with assault troops, and same thing. If you attach him to a squad, it is nere impossible to hide the whole thing. Therefore the squad will be targeted, and shot with every thing on the table that can reach. Of course no single shot at a squad will kill it, but it is the multiple hits that add up. And with enough shots fired at a squad he is attached to, he will have to make saves eventually, and battle cannon templates will be able to hit him. Keep him hidden, and unattached.

Once you have gotten him into range to attack, consider him expendable. Now that he is up in the lines running a-muck, it is time to advance the rest of your army, and win the game. Rounds 1 and 2 should be getting him up into range, and he should be assaulting in round 2. Idealy, he assaults at the bottom of the turn, but does not kill the squad. Then in your opponents assault phase you finish off the squad, and massacre, then move and assault a new squad on your next turn. Plan your assault. Do not finish off squads too quickly, leaving him stranded and open in the middle of the terrain. That means you have to measure how much you shoot at the squad he is assaulting, if at all.

Follow this guide for determining whether to shoot at Dante's target.
A. Measurement. It very well may be that he will be on the outside edge of 6" away. If it is possible that your opponent can pull off the one guy that leaves the squad in range to assault, DO NOT shoot at it. Even if the squad is large.

B. Number. If the squad is full. 10 or more... fire away. The magic number is seven. Dante can and probably will kill 4 to 6 normal marines a turn. Lesser beings will be more. Ideally, you want to allow for poor rolling, and leave him with just 2 or 3 to kill (half of his attacks) on your opponents assault phase. Assaulting a squad of 7 is the perfect number. 6 might mean you wipe them out completely, leaving him stranded. 7 means that you will probably be left with 2 or 3. Less then 6? Do not shoot the squad at all.

So now we go on to what else to do with Dante.

While he is on the table, there is a 2 FOOT diameter circle centered on him where every squad with a model within that circle at the start of their assault phase will get preferred enemy. I cannot tell you how huge this is! I believe the BEST use of this is with a Death Company Furioso Dreadnought. Keep Dante as close as possible to the Furioso and Corbs. Use them to cut out your opponents heart! How about 7 attacks from a Furioso, hitting on 3, and rerolling misses at initiative 5! Bring on those Carnifexes and Ironclads! Through luck, I once managed to get my furioso base to base with two Ironclads on the charge... I split the attacks... 3 to one and 4 to the other... destroyed them both! They didnt even get a swing in.

So here is the minimum deal. Put your DC and Corbs in a Rhino. Advance the rhino, supported by at least one Baal, follow it with Dante well hidden behind the tank. Use the tanks to give your Furioso a cover save. Send them right at your enemies heart. If used properly, Dante can kill 3 or 4 squads or vehicles on his own. In a game against some Tau recently, Dante killed a squad of Fire warriors, then a squad of suits, then a squad of Broad Sides, then finished up with that fire warrior squads transports! He is that insane. Once your army is in the thick of it, risk Dante. Be aggressive. Try to pop tanks. Send him into large squads. Don't forget to subtract 1 from the BS and WS of any enemy model within 6".

If you think he needs a little help, it is ok to keep an assault squad near by to join him. But DO NOT join him with that squad until it is time to go to assault. That is simply done by making sure they are within 2" of each other at the end of their movement phase. I almost never join him to a squad, but I may use him to support assault squads. I will send him into a weak squad, and my assault squad into a stronger one, he wipes up the weak one, then next turn assaults the other one, finishing them off and freeing up the weak squad.

Always if possible, make sure that he will NOT wipe out the squad he attacks until your OPPONENTS assault phase. Don't send him against very weak squads on your turn and leave him hanging in the open.

Remember, while it is ok to be aggressive with your Dante, it may pay to keep him back as well... I know, contradictory... but true. That preferred enemy is invaluable. It is all situational.

Get him into assault turn 2. Dont fear jumping into large squads... just make sure you get him some help if he needs it. He is best used taking out squads that are holding objectives and enemy commanders.

If you can get him base to base with an IC... do so and take advantage of Furious Charge from Corbs. That will probably give you the drop on all but the most powerful commanders.

Ok, that is a lot of info. Digest it, let me reread it, and I will edit it as needed. This is a work in progress. JB.