Danny Internets! Great stuff.

In case you have not already found him, a friend and club member Danny Internets has a fantastic blog and I wanted to give him some props. First of all, he is one of the smartest dudes I know. But also, he is probably the only person I know that argues his points in a purely rational style. He serves up his point, and gets it across in a well thought way that touches on all sides of the point. While every one else gets all blustery and starts throwing around names, myself included... he just listens and retorts with inescapable logic. Not sure if i described it well... you just need to read his stuff to see what I mean.

Go check out his blog, he writes some interesting stuff. Just be warned, bring a dictionary. I will be the first to admit that his vocabulary is well above mine.

Jawaballs

Email Q and A

I recently got this email:

Hey Jawa,

I am currently awaiting the new BA codex release which will start my second 40k army (Currently Eldar) as well as be used for tournament play which I plan to start this year when I am done technical school. I've been reading your blog as well as Fritz' from WOSH in regards on what to expect/be ready for when the new codex drops. I'm a bit confused about the suggestions you made on what to buy with your most recent blog post. Were those models suggest all for one army list, or just for various options? I have been using the leaked codex found on Sribd to make some sample lists just to get an idea of what I would need to buy, and just what I would be able to fit in a standard 1500-1750 list. Despite all the hype, I haven't found my "updated" list to be too different than my sample lists using the old codex. It's about the same number of models but with a lot more versatility (assault squads getting meltas), and a lot of added bonuses on things I was already going to take. I'm still going to wait for everything to drop before I start buying, but was wondering, if you would be so kind, to review the below list and tell how you think it would fair?

1750 pts

10-man Tactical squad – melta, multi-melta, fist, beacon
-Rhino, extra armor
10-man Tactical squad – melta, multi-melta, fist, beacon
-Rhino, extra armor
10-man Assault squad – 2x meltas, fist

Lemartes
10x Death Company w/ packs
-Storm Harbinger w/ TL special weapon (

Baal Predator – TL asscannon, extra armor, over-charged
Baal Predator – TL asscannon, extra armor, over-charged

-A few points left - Most likely to put Laurels on the assault and tactical squads and some extras for the Baal preds.

Idea is the tactical squads, assault squad push forward to objectives supported by Baal predator Assault cannon goodness. The DC led by Lemartes use the beacons to drop down without scatter and assault off the Harbinger using the jet-pack insertion rule to totally melt faces.

What's interesting is a lot of people think that new codex' means more and tougher stuff. With the BA I'm finding this is not true. The list is more or less the same as my list using the current BA PDF but with a lot of added versatility and speed (meltas, over-charged engines and fast transports). This list also has the same number of units as my mech-Eldar list which is 3 troops in transports, super unit in transport, two heavy supporting tanks.

Answer:

I think the hidden strength of the new dex is Dante turning all VAS into scoring units. Take advantage of that. Turn your DC into VAS. Turn lesmartes into Dante. Boom, more bang for the buck. Give the VAS a few meltaguns and power weapons and you have a squad that will land turn two, pop land raiders, and slaughter the contents, and claim objectives. That is the punch that is missing in the current dex. Tacticals in rhinos? A fast moving rhino is now a big red coffin. Forget it. Maybe take one, and put a 5 man squad inside with the beacon, and never move it fast. I say take a 5 man squad, give them a beacon, and put them in a razorback.

The other early hidden gem is Scout Bikers. We now have access to them, and their Bridgehead ability. If you take one, you can drop a beacon on the table then reserve the bikes. So long as no enemy is within 6" of the beacon, you can home in on it. Give the bikes a melta and fist and you have a cheap, outflanking, late game threat. Opponents will be worried about the bikers the whole game. Use that to your advantage!

Finally, Librarians get a host of powers! I counted 5 or 6 that will be very useful.

Of course it is too early to comment assuredly, but the biggest game changers to the new BA are Dante, Landers, and Librarians. A good list will use all three. Go with 3 landers filled with VAS, Dante and a Librarian. Some tactical squads with lascannons, and a couple of predators. Remember, a pred with two Lascannons and an autocannon will cost you 100 points or so. Cant beat that value! :)

Battle Report: Reader submitted. BA vs IG

Hey folks! Ok, I am working my way through a backlog reader submissions and other businesss. Here is another batrep! Enjoy.

Brothers,

I’m afraid I bring grave news, a patrol of the glorious Blood Angels were defeated by the perfidious Imperial Guard. The survivors are even now doing penance to clean their souls.

The setting: 500 point battle, minimum 1 HQ, 2 Troops, annihilation

The Blood Angels (9 year old general playing his GW Academy passing out game)
- Brother Corbulo
- 5 Man Assault Squad with Power Fist & Rhino with extra amour
- 10 Man Tactical Squad with LasCannon
- 2 Death Company with jump packs

The Perfidious Guard (GW store manager)
- 1 Command Squad with a Primors Psycher (never even found out what he can do)
- 1 Veteran Squad with Vox & meltagun in a Chimera with multi laser
- 1 squad with Vox & flamer in a Vendetta (3 twin linked lascannons)
- 1 squad with Vox and flamer

(How is that balanced? 1.5 squads of BA with a Rhino vs. 4 squads of IG with a multi-laser Chimera and a Vendetta with 3 twin lascannons!!!! Who is the muppet that makes up these points costs?)

Blood Angels win the dice and go first. BA’s set up with Tac squad in a building to the left, Rhino with Corbs and RAS behind a building on the right, DC tucked in behind the Rhino.

IG set up with a squad in a building to the left, with the Chimera behind it, Cmnd in a building on the right with the Vendetta on the ground behind it.

Turn 1
- Rhino fails its overcharge and stalls. Lascannon shoots at the command squad and misses (a regular event….)
- IG
o Vendetta storms forward and fires on the Rhino (3 twin linked lascannon) – 1 dead Rhino, all BA’s bail out
o Chimera storms forward and fires on the assault squad killing one BA (killed 2 but Corbs brings one back)
o All other shooting misses

Turn 2
- Corbs and the assault squad moved into cover, lascannon missed again
- IG
o Vendetta moved forward and gravchute deployed its squad on top of the Tac squad
o Its squad fires on the Tac squad and kills one
o Chimera moved forward and deployed its veteran squad beside Corbs
o Chimera then fired on corbs and killed 1 assault trooper
o The squad fires as well and kills one more

Things are looking even worse

Turn 3
- Tac squad fires on the Vendetta, missing with everything (it was gently explained to the 9 year old that maybe the IG squad standing next to them would have been a better target)
- Corbs and his squad fired on the Veteran squad, killing two and then assaulted them killing 3. IG guard kill the sergeant in reply but break, are caught and killed.
- Death Company try to assault the Rhino but fail
- IG
o Vendetta fires on Corbs and kills the last of the Assault Squad
o Loads of firing, all misses or saves except for two Tac squad which are killed by a flamer

Turn 4
- Death Company chew on the Chimera and fail to do damage,
- Lascannon misses Vendetta (again)
- Corbulo lobs a Krak grenade at the Vendetta and actually damages it (no shooting for one turn)
- Tac company assault the guard squad next to them killing 4 for no loss, IG run, are caught and die

- IG
o Vendetta runs away and hides behind a building
o Chimera fire on DC killing one
o IG squad fire on the DC killing the second one (fire by ranks is just mad!)

Turn 5
- Corbs runs into the building with the Tactical squad
- Lascannon misses again
- IG
o Chimera, the Vendetta and a sniper fire at Corbs but he survives

Game carries on two further turns with no losses on either side


Thoughts
As far as I can see the BA couldn’t have done a whole lot more – apart from the bad luck (Lascannon continually missing and the Rhino stalling on turn one) he only made one bad decision when the Tac squad fired on the Vendetta rather than the IG squad gravchuted in next to them.

I can’t see how BA are competitive at 500 points with a legal formation. The IG Command squad and 2nd squad did pretty much nothing for the whole game, and with the remainder the BA force was wiped out. Whereas last week my other son played a 500 point game with Tyranids and almost won (would have won but for poor rolling with a Tervigon). Maybe the new codex will make a difference but I can’t honestly see how 500 points gives you enough to beat IG? In particular the Vendetta was just mad, jumping around all over the battlefield and unleashing 3 twin linked lascannons on everything! In discussion afterwards the general consensus is that the only marine 500 point which is competitive is a librarian with loads of scouts – but of course we can’t do that as scouts are elite, sigh.

One picture attached of turn 2.

Main thing though, my son enjoyed it and just enough silly things happened (Lascannon missing every shot, Corbs damaging the Vendetta with a Krak grenade) that he kept laughing the whole way through and now wants to destroy the guard with a decent amount of points.

Keep em coming!

Jawaballs

New Dex is on the way... what do you need to buy to get ready?

I thought a nice article would be to talk about what you may want to buy to prepare for the new Blood Angels dex in April. Here are my thoughts.

First of all, get prepared with paints.

Army Painter Black spray prime is the one I use for my top quality. Get some white too, that will make your life easier if you just want to paint quick. Get yourself a copy of the White Dwarf with Space Hulk in it. They cover a nice Blood Angels paint scheme. Or pick up my How to Paint BLood Angels video set off my estore. That set uses white spray prime and blood red as its main paint.

What is next? Some things that will always be Blood Angels staples are Speeders and Attack bikes. They are a good choice to buy, and I doubt there will be much in the way of upgrade parts for them.

A huge buy will be Scout Bikers. I just bought 5 myself. It is a brand new model and is a new addition in April. More importantly, if you are planning on using those fancy new landers, you will need Scout Bikers! They are a cheap way to get a homing beacon on the table.

Of course Tactical and Assault squads will be needed. But don't get too crazy assembling them. The new release will surely include Chest Pieces, shoulder pads, weapon and head options. If you feel like you must, assemble and paint half of them, but leave the other half free for upgrades.

Current Blood Angels stuff? Forget it. Don't buy any thing, including Dante and Mephiston until you see what may be in store for us. I doubt they will update Dante, but I have a feeling we will be seeing a new Mephiston model.
The Baal Pred is only being sold as a bits box now. I suspect there will be a whole new Predator tank with all the great options, sorta like the Land Raider Crusader. So don't buy any tanks. If you come across a Corbulo... maybe you should grab him. The new dex omitted him, but you can still build a priest like him using upgrades. I bet there will be upgrades in the new box sets, but he is a good model and worth having.

You can buy Ironclad dreads. They have all the furioso options ane are great models. I decorated mine with some of the Blood Angels icons from a drop pod. Go on Bartertown, you can probably get hundreds of em for nothing. Do it now before too many guys catch on!

Drop Pods are a great buy. They come with a BA decoration piece so I doubt they will use precious sprue space to include another.

That should get you started!

If you are the type of guy who needs defined list:

5 Scout Bikers
2 Tactical Squad
1 Vanguard Vet
4 Aassault Squad
3 Speeders
3 Attack Bikes
3 Drop Pods

You can paint the pods, bikes and speeders without fear of missing out on the chance to use upgrade sprue bits. The others you will have for when you are ready!

Enjoy.

Go shopping at the warstore or miniwargaming. Tell them Jawaballs sent you!

Jawaballs

Live Jawacast coming up, Wednesday March 3rd!

TENTATIVELY

On Wednesday, March 3rd, at 7pm Eastern Standard Time. (New York City) Google the difference. Jawaballs will be broadcasting a live Jawacast! Tune in for Jawatunes, jawadvice, and to watch JB paint a Tyranid! Paint along if you wish.

To prepare, get your self set up with a variety of reds, browns and bleached bone, and prime your tyranid model Black. Then you can follow along with JB as he paints! Or just pick his brain for useful and unuseful tidbits.

This is the first of what I hope will turn into a weekly series. Come check it out!

Jawaballs

Captain Lazarus, Lord Mephiston's personal battle barge has entered high orbit... And Commander Dante is with him! By the grace of Sanguinius... Codes are validated... it seems they will be taking command of the coming battle personally. Commander Dante and The Lord of Death are taking the field.

More to come...


Jawaballs

PS. I know the model still needs some work. I only had a couple hours to work on him. Plus I suspect there will be a new one out shortly. I didnt want to spend too much time on this one. :)

Reader submitted Batrep: Blood Angels March On!

Here is another reader submitted batrep! Keep em coming. :)

Here is another Batrep played yesterday.

Battle For the Moon of Wigg
Assault Mission
Attacker + 10%
BA vs. IG
6 Turns Max

This was an assault mission with the attacker having 10% more attacking forces. The Defender was allowed 1 fortified position and a hastily prepared position the attacker had to capture both to win.

Defender 2000 pts
Attacker 2250pts(BA)

My forces:

Dante
Corbulo
3 x 5 man Assault Squads PW Rhino Xarmor PMSB
1 x 8 man Death Company CS Rhino Xarmor PMSb
1 x Ven Death Dread Xarmor hvy flamer drop pod
2 x Death Company Dreads Xarmor hvy flamer drop pod
3 x Baal Preds Xarmor hvy bolter PMSB

Now I do not know a lot about IG here’s what I could see.

3 x Commanders/Squads
3 x Leman Russ’s Battle Cannon’s Lascannon hvy bolters
3 lascannon squads
1 x 30 man squad
He had a bunch of infantry in the bunker armed with auto cannons, Lascannons, melta guns.

He set up across the board 2 leman russ on his left with 2 lascannon squads in front of one of the objectives(Hasty prepared). He put the 30 man squad in the objective and the other in the bunker.

Defender set up first and went first, he also set up the terrain he set up some kind of barrier on the left which would mask his forces from me, but also mask me from him. I reserved all my units.

Turn 1

Nothing happen he did not move anything and just sat there.

Turn 2

Again nothing to do for him, so I rolled for reserves and got six units to come on. So I brought on the Dreads, Dante, Corbulo/Death Company and an Assault squad.

My only mistake was bringing the Dreads down in front of his 2 Lascannon squads and commander. I didn’t realize that they had 2 wounds each. So after the dreads had finished firing and didn’t do much I have to say causing only a couple of casualties and taking out 1 leman russ and stunning the other. Dante and the Rhinos moved up under cover.

Turn 3

He opened up everything he could at the Dreads and because he had go orders in that made everything twin linked. One by one the dreads succumbed to his fire power all knocked out in one turn. Even the Ven Dread he rolled a 6 on a pen hit so I made him reroll and he rolled a bloody 5(yes chaps I am from across the pond, but living here). So things did not look good.

On my turn everything else came on. So I advanced along the left, I had placed the drop pods in such a way that he had no line of sight. Dante followed the Death Company and the Assault squad Rhino’s up and was in range by next turn to assault.

Turn 4.

He had very few targets so he started to move his stuff from his right flank over to the action. He tried to shoot at a Pred and Death company rhino but did nothing. On my turn rolling for OE 1 pred decided to stall while only 2 rhinos and one pred got the OE. So I continued to move up. The Death Company Rhino failed a dangerous terrain test so I got them out and also unloaded the Assault Squad. Dante moved up to assault one of the lascannon squads, and I moved the 2 mobile preds up into range of his russ.
Dante assaulted and killed the squad and then consolidated back into cover.

Turn 5

He continued to move up his units from the left. For his firing he concentrated on the Death Company and Assault squad causing 2 casulties on the Assault squad and none on the Death Company. On my turn I tank shocked the 30 man squad, who passed their morale so moved out of the way. I moved everything else up(rolling the OE the same Pred stalled out again the others didn’t). I move Dante and the Death company up ready to take the objective in assault, and the assault company to assault his tank. The Pred’s fired and knocked out the Battle Cannon on his tank Dante and the Death company unloaded on the 30 man squad killing 6. Then they assaulted the squad the Death Company hitting one of his command squads at the same time. Once the dust settled he had 8 men left in the big squad and none in the command squad. Needless to say they ran of the board leaving the objective in my hands. I consolidated towards the bunker. The Assault squad took out the Russ with a melta bomb.

Turn 6

He fired at the stalled pred doing nothing, at the Death Company killing 2 he wasn’t having much luck with his to hit rolls, well they are guard.
I moved the Preds up into range of the Bunker trying to knock it out but only succeeding in stunning the occupants. I tank shocked his other las squad and they ran of the board. Dante moved with the assault squad and contested the second objective.

So in the end another victory for the good guys as I had one objective and contesting another. What I could of done different, I should of landed the dreads in front of the bunker using the drop pods to block LOS and fire all the flamers into the bunker, still I’ve only been playing for a year and still learning.

Hand Painted full size Blood Angels Chapter Banner

Here is some more pics! And below is the footage of my Warhammer 40k hand painted full size Blood Angels banner.



Jawaballs

Reader submitted Batrep: More dead orks!

Here is a reader submitted batrep! Keep em coming guys.

Blood Angels vs. Orks 5th Battle in the Ineptius Sector.

Blood Angels List

Dante

Corbulo

2 x 5 Man Assault Squad PW MB

Rhino Xarmor

1 x 10 Man Tactical Squad Melta gun, Lascannon PW

1 x Ven Death Company Dread Hvy Flamer Xarmor Drop Pod

1 x Death Company Dread Hvy Flamer Drop

2 x Baa Preds Hvy Bolter X Armour

9 x Death Company Chainsword Rhino Xarmor

Ork Army(as far as I can tell, don’t know much about orks except the only good ork is a dead ork.)

Ghazgul

Nob squad

3 lots of ard boyz

2 hvy weapons squads

1 dakka gun

1 Boyz squad

2 x 6 Defkopta squads

As I said I don’t know what else he had or what weapons he was equipped with Ghazgul I know had a Power claw.

I won the dice roll and let him go first and I reserved all my units as per usual.

It was a meeting engagement with 2 objectives 1 in each deployment zone.

Turn 1,

He had deployed across the board, with a heavy weapons squad guarding his objective backed up by a boyz squad. He deployed the dakka gun on a hill on his right, he kept 1 Defkopta squad in reserve to out flank. He moved both ard boyz up backed up by the other Defkpota squad. He also ran his troops.



Turn 2.

He continued to move up towards my objective and with running claimed it.

Nothing to fire at yet.

My turn reserves roll all of the dreads came down 1 drop pod scattered right by his Nobz squad as luck would have it. The Ven came down on target right by the objective in his zone and the other by his boyz squad. Does anybody like to smell of burn oks. Hvy Flamers and Meltas took out 2 Nobz, 3 hvy weapons and 10 boyz a good start. The Nobz made their morale, but the hvy weapons chaps took a runner all the way of the board.

The boyz didn’t have to take a morale test due to the mob rule.

Turn 3

His outflanking DefKoptas came on but on the wrong side of the board(Ha Ha). He fired a lot of stuff at the dreads one of them losing a combat arm and the Ven dread had him reroll a wrecked hit and it came up shaken(shrugged off thanks to extra armor, it really works you know). He then assaulted the Ven Dread with his Nobz(out of cover) and his boyz assaulted the other dread. The Ven dread killed of his Nobz and the other dread killed of another 4 boyz. He did nothing in return rolling hits with his power fisted nob but only got shaken results again.

My turn reserves on came Dante, Corbulo/Death company, both Assault Squads and the Baals. I set the Rhinos in a little box type formation to hide Dante all deployed right by the objective. So now I was contesting both objectives. Ghazgul was close by with 30 ard boyz and I didn’t want Dante to get into it just yet. The Ven Dread and the other dread moved up to assault the boyz squad in combat with the 3rd. My Baal opened up on the closest Defkopta sqaud causing 3 dead and they promptly failed morale and ran. My Dreads assaulted and killed of the boyz squad.

Turn 4

He declared a Whaag and Ghazgul(who apparently in the turn he charges and the opponents assault phase has a invul save of 2+) moved up to assault Dante(thanks to the formation of the Rhinos he could only get Ghazgul and 3 guys in on the assault. His Dakka gun had been firing but not hitting anything. He had turbo boosted his outflanking defkopta squad and fired at one of the dread and immobilized him. Other than that his firing was ineffectual and he moved one of his squads back towards his objective. He still held mine but not for long. In his assault phase Dante caused 3 wounds on Ghazgul but he saved 2 of them with good Invul save, Dante took one wound. He then surrounded Dante with his boyz(oh dear doesn’t look to good for Dante.

On my turn the tactical squad came on and moved towards the objective in his zone and the dreads moved towards the Defkoptas and launched smoke.

Out come the Death company and one of the assault squads and assaulted Gahzgul and the boyz. The Baals fired on one of his squads not causing much thanks to terrible rolls. On the Assault though the Death Company and Assault squad proceed to wiped out his boyz squad Dante didn’t do anything(again bloody lousy dice rolls). He inflicted 4 wounds on Dante and I only managed to save 2 so Dante was down and out.



Turn 5.



He still concentrated fire on the dreads immobilizing another and destroying the flamer of the Ven. He fired a couple of things at the rhinos only destroying a storm bolter. In the continued assault I did 1 wound to Ghazgule he killed 4 death company.



My turn after rolling for overcharged engines one of the rhinos tank shocked his unit of the objective and they ran for the hills. Baals had better luck firing at one of his squads causing 12 casualties but they stuck around(one of the Baals became immobilized on difficult terrain crap!).

On the Assault phase I finally killed of Gahzgul but he took another 4 Death Company with him, and we consolidated towards the objective. The Tac squad moved up and took the objective in his zone(didn’t even get out of the Rhino.)



Turn 6

Last Turn

He fired at the Ven Dread and did nothing, he also killed of the last of the Death Company with his Dakka gun. His Defkoptas moved up to contest the objective.

My turn I move up the assault squads to the objective one of the Rhinos tank shocked his defkoptas and they ran. The Ven Dread assaulted what was left of one of his squads and did nothing and his power fist chap killed him of even with the reroll 6 then 5 what can you do.

The end result most his army was running for the hills I had both objectives so another victory for the good guys.

More to come.

I have to inform you man that you are in violation of Jawacopyright 202018 for using "More to come". :)

More to come...

Jawaballs

Jawaballs and Fritz broadcast live today! Feb 21, 2010

Yup! The cameras will be rolling around 9am New York time. Google it to find out what time that is for you!

Very long email from a reader!

So I received an email today asking for help from a reader. It turns out he has emailed me before, but did not get a response. He was right about the legwork part. I usually don't respond to emails simply saying "Hey jawaballs, help me build a 1500 point list.". But when guys take the time to write a real email showing effort on their part, with some insight on their experience, I will gladly try to help. So if you guys want me to answer your emails, take a cue from this guy. :)

Sorry about the huge email. Loving to hear your opinions. Hope it isn't too much. Can't wait to read the response.
Thanks, once more, for good luck,
Xethik
(I think I sent this twice, once from my alternate email. Please ignore if that is so, sorry.)

On Fri, Feb 19, 2010 at 5:00 PM, Chris Dubuque wrote:
Wow, big email. Let me have some time to read it and I will get back to you on my blog.

Date: Fri, 19 Feb 2010 16:53:32 -0500
Subject: Dark Angels List
From: xethik@gmail.com
To: jawaballs@hotmail.com


Hey Jawaballs! Thanks for taking your time on my message.
I know you don't play Dark Angels nor are Blood Angels anything like Dark Angels, but I thought you might be able to help a fellow Angel of Death make a 1750 point list.

So my 1500 games have been going all right, ties around the board with a couple wins and losses. One problem I'm having is having to sacrifice my Attack bikes (I haven't kept either one til the end) in order to pop an armored vehicle sitting in the back with a blast/large blast weapon, usually something that hurts. That is why my lists will be pretty geared toward what it is, in order to keep my bikes from ALWAYS getting themselves killed to popping transports running up the field or getting in an assault to tie up units. Anyways, maybe I'm just using my bikes wrong, but sometimes I don't even get to my target before getting killed, even when doing my best to block line of sight and get turbo-boost saves. Any help there can help (and I have read your article on attack bikes, and I'm reconsidering bumrushing them like this as they are each one easy kill point).

Now, I'll tell you about who I usually play against. Right now, I mainly play with good friends each week, and we are pretty casual, especially about WYSIWYG rules, especially with my Chaos Space Marine friend who uses Kharn to represent Ahriman or different painted guys for special weapons. I really don't want to gear any list to FOCUS one army but be an overall good army, flexible at each objective and opposing forces. One of my friends runs a nasty Eldar, throwing everything into his list, with no real specific focus. He plays Eldrad with warlocks, a Phoenix Lord, sometimes banshees, sometimes harlequins, sometimes a wave serpent, falcons, wraithguard, warp spiders, dark reapers, rangers and pathfinders, and dire avengers. You never know what is going to wreck you next, and he has some close combat machines with long range support. Also, we play on a small table, so maybe this gives him some advantages. Snipers always being in range but with great cover saves and close combat dangerously close. Either way, he has some great tactics and destroys. Another guy I play with uses Chaos Space Marines and has tried everything but a Slaanesh lash army. His overall strategy usually involves "alpha striking", going all out on someone hoping to crush them before they can act. He uses a land raider for pushing up his HQs and close combat troop (or he'll deep strike) and lots of rhinos, sometimes a defiler or a dread. Always packs in some Obliterators. Usually uses three "special" chaos, Thousand Sons, Berzerkers, or Plague marines, or a combination. Throws in some terminators coming in on a deep strike, too. Had some close games with him, and I've gotten blown out of the water. Next up is a classic Space Marines player, playing a Salamander themed army. He has a great list coming up, just needs the parts. I know he wants to field Vulkan, 5 or more assault terminators, a Land Raider Redeemer for these fellows, either a Librarian in terminator armor or a Master of the Forge, Sternguard Veterans, and tacticals with meltas/flamers like a true Salamander. He also has been toying with Devastators and I know he wants to throw in a Thunderfire Cannon or Ironclad Dreads. We also have a Tau player building a force and an Ork player. Not much information about them yet. I apologize for his excruciatingly long message, so here comes my basic list.

1 Belial w/ Light. Claws – 130
Terminator Armor, WS/BS 5, Str/T 4, 3 wounds
1 Sammael on Jetbike - 205
WS/BS 5, Str 4, T 4(5), 3+ Armor save, 4+ Invul save, eternal warrior
Jetbike w/ plasma cannon and TL Storm bolter, master-crafted power weapon
5 DW Term - 280
Apoth(30), 1 Chain Fist (5) , Assault Cannon (30)
Power sword + SB Sarg, 3xSB+PF
5 DW Term – 235
Light. Claws x 5, Cyclone (20)
5 DW Term – 250
Assault Cannon (30), Chain fist (5), Pow. Sword + SB Sarg
3 RW Bikes - 230
Apoth (15), plasma x 2(30), sarg, pow sword (15),
Attack bike w/ multi melta (50)
3 RW Bikes – 205
Meltagun (10), meltagun (10), sarg pow sword (15),
Attack bike w/ multi melta (50)

This is my "basic" list in which I have units I think I would need, and I will build off of it. So, I have a couple options from here. I'm looking for some simple squad upgrades with my remaining points, adding up to 215 remaining. But first, I should go over some army specific rules. First off, everything I have listed is fearless. Secondly, I get Deathwing Assault. This allows me to deepstrike up to half (rounded up) of my terminators turn one and combined with all my bikes having teleport homers and scouting ability (but no turbo-boost), I can get most of my guys in with no injury turn one and back up my bikes with shooting. I was thinking about dropping the 3rd terminator squad (Assault cannon and chain fist), allowing me only to deepstrike one squad and Belial, compared to two squads and Belial if I chose so. So now that you hopefully can see an overall idea of my army, I'll put up some of my ideas. I can upgrade my bikes to having 6 squad members, (100 for 3 on each) and then either meltabombs on both and have 5 points to ponder on elsewhere or put a plasma pistol on the plasma gun squad. My next idea was to throw in two predators, one an annihilator without any weapon sponsons and the other a destructor with heavy bolters and a pintle-mounted storm bolter. This fills my points up and adds a tank hunting tank and a tank that can dish out enough shots to make any MEQ squad cry, up to 10. Using this on something like Eldrad or terminators will hopefully force one screw up save, and hopefully more. My next option was a bit more radical with my list. I dropped the third terminator squad and added devastators with two lascannons and two plasma cannons and a predator annihilator with lascannon sponsons, and changing the cyclone terminator in the lightning claw squad to an assault cannon with a chainfist (Dark Angels can mix terminator types). I was considering dropping the lascannon sponsons on the predator to heavy bolters, dropping a lascannon on the devastators, and reverting to a cyclone launcher for a Razorback transport on the devastators (wouldn't put the devastators in it unless it is Dawn of War, and then I would combat squad the heavy weapons in) with twin-linked lascannons, but I'm not sure the drop of three lascannons is worth an extra mobile one that can also be expendable devastator cover. Maybe I'm wrong here and you agree on the Razorback, but it would just be an extra kill point on such missions and an expensive lascannon. So, here are my final lists, which I'm sending you so you can see where I'm coming from.

Simple upgrade to 1750:
1 Belial w/ Light. Claws – 130
Terminator Armor, WS/BS 5, Str/T 4, 3 wounds
1 Sammael on Jetbike - 205
WS/BS 5, Str 4, T 4(5), 3+ Armor save, 4+ Invul save, eternal warrior
Jetbike w/ plasma cannon and TL Storm bolter, master-crafted power weapon
5 DW Term - 280
Apoth(30), 1 Chain Fist (5) , Assault Cannon (30)
Power sword + SB Sarg, 3xSB+PF
5 DW Term – 235
Light. Claws x 5, Cyclone (20)
5 DW Term – 250
Assault Cannon (30), Chain fist (5), Pow. Sword + SB Sarg
6 RW Bikes - 235
Apoth (15), plasma x 2(30), sarg, pow sword (15), meltabombs
Attack bike w/ multi melta (50)
6 RW Bikes – 210
Meltagun (10), meltagun (10), sarg pow sword (15), meltabombs
Attack bike w/ multi melta (50)

Two predators:
1 Belial w/ Light. Claws – 130
1 Sammael on Jetbike - 205
5 DW Term - 280
Apoth(30), 1 Chain Fist (5) , Assault Cannon (30)
Power sword + SB Sarg, 3xSB+PF
5 DW Term – 235
Light. Claws x 5, Cyclone (20)
5 DW Term – 250
Assault Cannon (30), Chain fist (5), Pow. Sword + SB Sarg
3 RW Bikes - 235
Apoth (15), plasma x 2(30), sarg, pow sword (15), meltabombs
Attack bike w/ multi melta (50)
3 RW Bikes – 210
Meltagun (10), meltagun (10), sarg pow sword (15), meltabombs
Attack bike w/ multi melta (50)
Predator Annihilator – 105
TLLC (35)
Predator Destructor - 100
Autocannon, Heavy bolter sponsons (25), pintle-SB(5)

Devs and pred 1:
1 Belial w/ Light. Claws – 130
1 Sammael on Jetbike - 205
5 DW Term - 280
Apoth(30), 1 Chain Fist (5) , Assault Cannon (30)
Power sword + SB Sarg, 3xSB+PF
5 DW Term – 250
Light. Claws x 4, assault cannon (30), chainfist (5),
3 RW Bikes - 230
Apoth (15), plasma x 2(30), sarg, pow sword (15),
Attack bike w/ multi melta (50)
3 RW Bikes – 205
Meltagun (10), meltagun (10), sarg pow sword (15),
Attack bike w/ multi melta (50)
Predator Annihilator – 165
TLLC (35), lascannon sponsons (60)
Devastators – 285
+5 squad members (75)
Lascannon x 2 (70), Plasma cannon x 2 (50)

Devs and pred 2:
1 Belial w/ Light. Claws – 130
1 Sammael on Jetbike - 205
5 DW Term - 280
Apoth(30), 1 Chain Fist (5) , Assault Cannon (30)
Power sword + SB Sarg, 3xSB+PF
5 DW Term – 235
Light. Claws x 5, Cyclone (20),
3 RW Bikes - 230
Apoth (15), plasma x 2(30), sarg, pow sword (15),
Attack bike w/ multi melta (50)
3 RW Bikes – 205
Meltagun (10), meltagun (10), sarg pow sword (15),
Attack bike w/ multi melta (50)
Predator Annihilator – 135
TLLC (35), heavy bolter sponsons (25), pintle-mounted storm bolter (5)
Devastators – 330
+5 squad members (75)
Lascannon x 1 (35), Plasma cannon x 2 (50)
Razorback - 80
Twin-linked lascannon

I apologize once more for this extremely lengthy message, as I only hope to help you help me. I've emailed you a couple times before but I don't think you received them for whatever reason (I also sent you a message on youtube inquiring about this), but I decided to rewrite the message with some more legwork on my part. I have included my interpretations on a "good" list only to show you where I'm headed with my thoughts, but feel free to break apart my basic list, take units out, and even add in units I completely neglected to mention. Thank you once more, especially for actually getting to the end of a terribly long message. I'm looking forward to this Sunday's broadcast, and I'll hopefully hop on at nine in the morning, to hopefully ask you some more questions if I have them.
PS: I live in Upstate New York, about 30 minutes north of Albany. Know of any good gaming clubs in my area? I'm a bit young (only 16), but I would love to watch some games head on and see some more armies outside of the internet and my basement. I'm not exactly sure where you live, but maybe you can point me in a good direction.

Thanks once more,
Xethik.

Lol, I don't even know where to begin! First of all, gaming in upstate NY. I sadly am no help. I am from Plattsburgh, but the gaming scene up there is nonexistent. Sorry!

Now for your list. I am very little help with Dark Angels. You touched on the thing with bikes already when you referenced my blog post. They are at best a trade off in kill points. You may or may not succeed at killing a tank with a single bike before you lose it. And exposing them for the shot is suicide. So sending them in alone is just not a good choice. Two lone bikes suck. Get them into a single squad and make it a squad of three. But also, they work best in conjunction with tanks that can block LOS. So go with one of your predator lists. Get cheap pred to run blocker for them. Use the pred to block LOS from the rest of the table while you use your bike or bikes to single out a tank. Easier said then done. I wish I knew more about DA to help you.

The list I like the best is your 2 pred list. Forget devs. I always say play the strengths of your dex, and if you want Devs, play generic marines. The str of the DA dex is what you are trying to do. Termies as troops. But the preds add a nice diversity to your list. All troops or all tanks fail. You need a combo of both. So you can use them as rolling cover for your bikes as I mentioned before. Drop the TL Las and go with two 100 point preds.

Mostly though, don't make the mistake that I have seen many DA players do. Don't rely on the speed of the bikes thinking it will save them. It won't. I have seen guys zoom them all over the place, exposing squads with no support, and shaking their heads when they lose them. Like all marine armies, your DA have to be clustered to be strong. They are an elite army and must be played that way. Check Fritz's and my blog archives for how to set up the battlefield in your favor, taking advantage of that mindset. Drop the apoths and put another model on the table.

Play your game with your bikes as throwaway squads. Be prepared to lose them. But dont throw them away, spend them wisely. If you enter a game with the mindset that you are going to lose 6 KP with your bikes and preds, know that they have to earn that many. If you spend them to earn those KP, and also score additional KP with your termies, you are golden. That is the way I play my current list with my three dreads. I know I am giving up 6 KP with them and their pods. Each dread has to score two KP, which they rarely do. I know that goes against what I just said, but in my case, the dreads disrupt the game so much that they allow me to rack up KP with my other squads. Once the pods come down, and he adjusts to the dreads, I am safe to move up and blast away with my bikes. He has to make the decision. Kill a bike, or try to kill a Dread that if he does not kill, will assault the crap out of him. You want to bet most of those high strength shots will go at the dreads...

Use the same mindset. Hmm, not sure if I am making sense. But try your pred list. The tanks you can lose, so get them up into place and use them as cover. They don't have to live, only block LoS. If they manage to take down some troops, even better.

Hope that helps!

Jawaballs

My name in lights! Well, close enough.

GW has posted the first results for the Indy Tournament Circuit, the qualifiers for the 2011 Invitational in Vegas... Here is a link:



Woot!

My name is Chris Dubuque by the way... :)

Jawaballs

Incoming Transmission...

+++ Tranmission Begins +++

O Brother-Captain Jawaballs,

I dictate this missive this wakefulness-cycle to discuss the foul lies being spread about the Blood Angels. Hereafter I wish to make some predictions and then a list I will run based on those predictions.

The Lander O' Doom - I suspect this will cost something close to a Valkyrie and can be tooled up like a Vendetta. I think the rumors of 16 Marines/8 Terminators/8 Assault troops/1 Dreadnought will stand up. Something around 100-150 points depending on options.

Venerable Furioso Dreads - I think these will cost about the same as an 2-TL autocannon Venerable Dread from the SM Codex, so around 200 points.

Assault troops - per SM codex, That means that a squad of 8 with 2 plasma pistols is 184 points.

Tacticals will probably be close to the SM Codex or even cheaper (per the Wolves Codex). It'd be nice if they had the bolter, bolt pistol, and ccw. I would really like cheap plasma cannons, but I bet that will be for Dark Angels. We might even see assault cannons as heavy weapon options. We will surely see Fast Rhinos, but not Razorbacks. That's too bad, because I'd pay 75 points for a Fast Assault Cannon carrying Razorback stuffed with 5 I5 S5 (from Furious Charge) marines with 3 A each on the charge while the other 5 members of their squads sit back and shoot things.

Baal Predators probably stay the same price (around 150 points).

So... what to field? I think I would be willing to plop down 600 points to turn 2 really killy dreads lose in my opponent's backfield on turn 2 while the rest of my army rolls up in their Fast vehicles, all while causing carnage among infantry along the way.

600 points for 2 landers and 2 Furiosos
300 points for Baal Predators
600 points for 3 Tactical squads in fast Rhinos
100 points for stuff like attack bikes
200 points for characters

There won't be a lot of lascannons or meltas here (though there can be meltas in the squads), but that's what attack bikes and the Furioso CCWs are for.

I'm sure there will be plenty of all-Assault squad lists and tooled-up Terminators in DOOOOM landers, but I think I'll stick with this. But, of course the strands of fate can unravel at any moment. Even the Emperor's Tarot does not aways show the true future.

+++ Transmission Ends +++

Thanks for the message Doc, as you can see, I am getting to this a little late. I was looking for an order I has placed on the 10th and found your message. :) If I don't catch em immediately, they get missed.

You have probably seen info already on the Landers and stuff, so this is mostly old news. My experience so far? I have play tested some games with them based on the info available. In order to use the landers properly, you need homing beacons. Figure out a way to get them reliably in place, then start figuring out where to put your points. Oh, and 200 points for characters is not enough. As it stands now, with Dante turning all VAS into scoring units, you want him on the table.

Keep the content coming!

Jawaballs

The next Jawaballs and Fritz Live Broadcast is here!

This Sunday we will be broadcasting live again. Brother Captain James will be here once again, and Fritz and I will be throwing down. What will you get to see? Fritz will be coming with his Black Templars, Necrons, Eldar and Grey Knights. I would love to get another whack at those GKs! You might also get to see me try out some NEW Blood Angels as I put a list on the table made up from the supposed new dex.

I will start the camera rolling around 9am New York time so come on in and chat with the group! I usually field answers to whatever questions I can until Fritz arrives... so you will get at least an hour or two of pregame.

Come on in and check it out!

Go to

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/jawaballs-productions

The password will be jawaballs1

See you there!

Jawaballs

For your Blood Angels viewing pleasure.

A reader sent this in from White Dwarf Australia. Nothing new, just thought you would appreciate the picture. Strange how this does not appear in the US version of White Dwarf... Any one have any insight?

Jawaballs

Bolscon, here I go again!

I decided tonight, I will be making the trek to Austin, TX again this year for BOLSCON! So there is your chance west coasters... I will meet you half way. If you want a shot at Jawaballs, come on out and lets meet up! Last year was a fantastic event and it will only be better this time. Fritz and I are heading out, and are hoping to get into some big Apocalypse action on one of the nights. I would like to see all of you Blood Angels players out there stepping up the game under the Jawaballs banner! Lets throw together against Fritz and his Eldar witches.

Lets show the world the might of the Blood Angels by owning Austin for a weekend.

Some things we hope will go on:

Look for the Jwolf Challenge II. Last year, he humiliated Fritz and narrowly escaped the vengeance of the Blood Angels on the strength of Zen like scatter rolls mysteriously wrapping around walls to hit targets they had no right hitting. We are coming for blood this time and I expect to leave with Goatboy as my prize.

Open Gaming. I will be at the tables as soon as they are open and taking on all comers. Last year I got to meet lots of blog readers and make some friends. This year I hope for even more! Come and kick my ass, or come and get owned. Either case, it will be fun.

Blood Angels vs Eldar Apocalypse! Lets crush some craftworlds.

A Family Picture. A lot of personalities have sprouted up in the last couple years, from Ron from From the Warp, and Stelek from well... who doesnt know his name... to Bigred from BOLS and Brent who makes a blog out of stalking me and rehashing every one elses content. It would be nice to get a fun family picture. I would love for every one to bury their differences and make the trip to Austin so we can get together for a big group hug! After all, it is all about fun. Right? :)

More to come!

Jawaballs

Whats new at Jawaballs Productions?

Ok guys, Lots of new stuff to talk about here! First of all, Fritz and I have been preparing for an upcoming tournament on the 27th and rumor is he’s going to be finally putting the harlequin list to the test. I’ve seen some of what he has planned to unleash in his PDF with more to come I’m sure in out next live broadcast on the 21st. Fritz has released a new PDF outlining his Harly strategy. Check it out! Here is a link:

http://veil-of-tears.blogspot.com/2009/01/eldar-harlequin-tactics-pdf.html

Also, I will be relaunching my Scenic Resin Base line soon. www.jawaballsproductions.com has been doing well, and I felt it was time to upgrade. My first new set of bases to be released will be Nid Hulk. Take a look at the pic. Sorry the pic is not painted yet. This set of bases are a space hulk ship decking style base that has been over run by nid biomass! The three bases in the picture are the Monstrous Creature size base, which now come in sets of three. I also have available 40mm Terminator size and 25mm Infantry size. Here is a complete list of all base sets I will have available very soon.

Nid Hulk
Cobblestone
Ruined Wall
Broken Rock
Necron Tomb World
Floating Lava Rock
Industrial Ruin
and Nid Biomass.

These will come in sets of 10 infantry, 5 termintor and 3 monstrous.

Also available soon are "Termigon" size bases, as well as Bike bases.

If you are looking to purchase my new nid bases, email jawaballs at hotmail and I can sell them before I reload the site!

Also, this week I will finally be uploading new How to Paint video sets. Be looking for Eldar Fire Dragon, Tau Firewarrior, Deluxe Tyranid and Necron!

After those four sets I will be pumping out some Blood Angels stuff. Look for How to Paint Blood Angels 2.0 in which I will take you from start to finish painting a Blood Angel tactical marine in my new, advanced style.

More announcements:

Don't forget Jawaballs and Fritz will be broadcasting live on Sunday, November 21st all day.

Be looking for us on a new site spearheaded by Justin over at Rogue Market. It is going to launch very soon and I guarantee you will be pleased.

Don't forget to follow me on youtube. I post up loads of 40k video and batreps.

Thats about it for now!

More to come...

Jawaballs

Army list help. A reader asks me for advice on his 1500 point list.

Here is an email I got from a reader:

Greetings Jawaballs!!
Their is an upcoming tournament in my local area and I'm planning on attending. I will be playing with my Blood Angels and was hoping you could give me some advice on a list I'm building. Most of the list is the limit of my collection, I do however have some other units I can add. The tournament is 1500pts, as of writing this I do not have Corbulo but will be purchasing/ painting soon. I hope you post my email on your blog because I'm a big fan and I always think army list's are a great topic of discussion. I have a few other things in my collection: VAS( 3 power weapons), mm- attack bike, captain power-fist and storm bolter, x2melta guns.
Here is the list an even 1500:
HQ
Brother Corbulo(100)

Troops:
Tac Squad(230)
power fist
flamer
missile launcher
rhino: hk, x-armor, 'dozer blade(75)
Tac Squad(230)
power fist
flamer
missile launcher
rhino,x armor (55)

Heavy Support
Whirlwind(85)
Las-Predator(165)

Elites
Dreadnought(150)
twin linked auto-cannon, H-flamer, Venerable
Terminator Squad(230)
A-cannon
Scouts(95)
H.Bolter
Bolt guns
Death Company(85)
x5 jump packs + 2 marines

I figure what better way to help! Here is my breakdown on some quick standard tips. First of all, drop Corbs and pick up a captain. I Love Corbs, but you need Leadership 10 on your marines. I think it is more important then a FC bubble. Since your DC have jump packs, he would not be able to keep up with them any way. You dont have the model, but drop the Las pred. It is a massive waste of points. Replace it with a Baal pred, fully upgraded. Failing that, replace it with a squad of attack bikes. Use the extra points to upgrade your captain.

Drop the Dozer Blades off your rhinos. They only work if you move 6" or less. You will likely not be going that slow ever. HK are fine. Autocannon dread is fine. Put him in a roost with your tactical squads for anti assault. Drop the flamers. Nothing will come close enough to them to use them. If you feel the need to upgrade, give em a melta. You will more likely get a vehicle close to you then a squad. Whirlwwinds are fun. Scouts? If they were troops I would say yes. But they are elite. Maybe with the points you save dropping some of the upgrades you dont need you can put your assault vets on the table. That will give you an extra DC model and make you pay for one less.

My top advice? At 1500 points, Blood Angels currently scream efficiency. For really cheap you can lay down a lot of fire power with 3 Baal Preds, and drop some huge pain from the skies with three Ven Fur DC dreads in pods. Two tacticals and your capt will round it out. Use the DC as a distraction. Other armies will have a hard time packing in the fire power to compete with that and wont be dropping your pods into seas of melta guns. Of course, that will all change in a couple months. Use it while you can! Jawaballs

Attack Bikes... Are they worth it?

So you are almost done building your list. You count up your points and woah, you have 50 left. What to spend them on? How bout a Multi melta attack bike? Great buy for the cost right? But is it really?

A single attack bike can be great. They are small and can hide behind a tank, providing additional tank killing punch. But what if they miss? No one will let them live. They are too easy to kill and once exposing themselves to get the melta range, will almost certainly die. So, at 50 points a model, are they worth it? I am no math major, but I'm sure some one can do the statistics of a melta bike actually killing a tank with a single shot. I would have to say they are less then 50/50?

So from the stand point of making up their points, in the long run, I would have to say that a single bike fails. Every Land Raider you pop gives you 4 more games where you can do nothing, but how many games does a single bike manage to pop a tank?

This is compounded by kill points. A bike is an easy, juicy kill point and in those missions you are better off just reserving it to keep it off the table, then bringing it on and hiding it for the entire game. At best you will trade it for a KP, but I think the majority of the time it will just cough up a KP for nothing.

Of course there are exceptions. I have had games where a single attack bike, making good use of cover and other vehicles, has managed to pop several tanks. I have also had tournaments where in 3 games they died every time and failed to pop any thing.

Based on the point totals I saw, new dex bikes will cost 60 points each. I think it may be time to consider if giving a guy 60 points and a KP is worth it... or if I can find a better use of those points.

Jawaballs

Jawaballs paints a full sized Blood Angels Chapter Banner for warhammer 40k

Hey guys, I thought I would share my newest project. I am painting a full sized chapter banner! I started by buying up a lot of red fabric, and drew up a pattern. Then I handed it off to my spinster colleague who cut and sewed it up for me. Now that is a handy skill, and one that I will have to have her teach me. I would like to make these banners as commissions, but paying some one to sew them for me takes a huge chunk of my profit.

On with the banner. So, with fabric in the process of being made, I started work on the image. The banner itself is about 7 feet long. I cut out the image size from a piece of artist canvas that has already been gessoed with acrylic base. This is the perfect medium to paint on because it is flexible and holds the paint well. Plus it requires a lot less work because the fabric does not absorb the paint. Previously I had to paint about 8 layers of yellow to get it right.

Then I laid out the image lines on the canvas after painting it black. There are several ways to do this. The easiest way is to get a piece of overhead transfer plastic and trace the image with a sharpie. Then using an overhead, pin the banner up to a wall, and project the image to the size you desire. This is a great but time consuming way for most of you to do it. I just freehanded it for speed sake.

Then it was time to start painting! I laid down base colors first, starting with the darkest versions of each color. For white I started with dark grey, for red I started with deep crimson mixed with brown. For the skulls I started with Burnt Umber. The rest of the steps are a process of using lighter and lighter layers over the darker ones. The idea is that the deep colors of the under coat will show through the lighter colors of the later layers, creating a nicer finished piece.

Once I am finished the painting part, I will have it sewn onto the banner and I will start the finishing touches at the bottom. Here is some video!

And since so many have asked, yes I will take commissions on these. I will do any codex banner, just find me a good picture of one. Here is a price breakdown if you are interested.

Materials (Paint and fabric) 50.00
Banner sewing labor (I have to pay some one to sew it) 50.00
Painting time- 20.00 an hour. Based on the complexity of the banner, I will estimate a quote in hours. This chapter banner has about eight hours of work into it so far, and will end up with about 12 total.

This banner would cost roughly 350 to 400 dollars with 100 bucks of that as part of my cost to make it. That is about the lowest I can go for price! But seriously, that is what you would pay for a full size printed version from GW... minimal. I like to think that my banner looks nicer. :)

More to come...

Jawaballs