A short IG post about DE

I was browsing through whineseer looking for some good threads to read while I was in the shitter and I found a thread about IG vs. DE.  Yes, IG can be one of the most powerful armies in the game, and yes, they absolutely roll most balanced armies.  However, there are a lot of tactical decisions that DE players can make to help alleviate the faceroll.

This includes but is not limited to..

• Use terrain to your absolute advantage.  I can't stress this enough.  Check this link.
• Turbo-boosting Trueborn units in his face and out of LoS of Hydras
• Shoot the Hydras and Vendettas first.
• Outrange his vehicles with Night Shields and go for side armor.
• Take Haywire Grenades against vehicles.
• Take Vect so you have that 4+ seize threat even if you lose first turn.
• Deploy in mass so IG can't kill you in piecemeal.

It is a very tough fight for DE, but it isn't completely futile as some people suggest.

I think Vaktathi says it best in that thread.

IG are actually probably the worst thing DE have to face. Against massed AV 12, dark lances aren't exactly amazing. Multilasers glance and pen on the same values against their AV10 vehicles as the DE's lances do against the IG's AV12 tanks, but have three times the numbers of shots and inflict greater damage due to DE's vehicles generally being open topped. Other anti-infantry weapons can also be put to good use against DE vehicles, such as Heavy Bolters.

If you work out the math, chimeras versus even a Ravager aren't too far from an even match in a shooting war. Given that IG can get two Chimeras for one Ravager, it makes it very uneven.

Also, Multilasers and autocannons, two weapons very popular in IG armies, not only are exceedingly effective against DE vehicles but also inflict ID on DE characters, ignore FNP on most of their units and wound just about everything on a 2+, usually ignoring saves. Then of course there are dirt cheap Hydras which not only have very effective anti-light infantry/anti-skimmer guns but also ignore one of the DE's most powerful defensive actions, which is moving flat out with skimmers.

Additionally, DE splinter weapons wounding on a 4+ isn't very impressive against T3 infantry, they're basically AP5 lasguns at that point.

DE are very, very good at destroying small numbers of very powerful things, they make mockeries of terminator armies and stuff like Land Raiders and Monstrous Creatures. They get butchered when they have to face large quantities of mediocre things.

More Tyranid stuff

In my first article, I touched upon some rather unexplored options in the Tyranid bestiary in hopes to expanding your Hive Mind.  A lot of the units I mentioned are often overlooked, but I assure you, they kick ass when giving a specific purpose.  The more I play with Tyranids, the more I realize that army design is very important.  Each and every unit has to play a specific role and they have to work in conjunction with the rest of your list.  I'll provide some lists in my following article so I can show you guys what I mean.

So far, we have explored the following units:
Swarmlord
Deathleaper
Venomthropes
Dakkafexes
Genestealers

Now, we will talk about:
Tyranid Warriors, Shrikes
Gargoyles, Harpies, Winged Tyrants
Zoanthropes
Ymgarl Genestealers


Tyranid Warriors are often overlooked because they're viewed as a direct comparison to last edition.  They're more expensive, don't have Eternal Warrior and can't be customized as much as last edition.  The for some wild reason, the Tyranid didn't help them either because you mysteriously can't take Primes w/ Warriors in a Spore Pod.  Weird?  You bet you ass.  Useless?  Far from it.  Tyranid Warriors w/ LW/BS and Toxin Sacs are arguably the best assault units in the game.  They're WS5 base, 6 with the Prime and have 3 attacks by themselves.  Add in the fact that they don't really care for frags because they're lashing everything they touch and going first with power weapons and re-roll wounds (vs. T4 and under), they're absolutely devastating.  I don't think I've ever seen a 10-man unit of Marines manage to hit back under the right circumstances.  You can either choose to go Scything Talons for re-roll 1s, Rending Claws for vehicles or just keep the Devos/Venom Cannon if you have a Prime to lend his BS4.

Another interesting option for Tyranid Warriors is giving them Adrenal Glands and Toxin Sacs and taking them in a pod.  Believe me, they're a threat to everything save for Land Raiders as soon as they land.  People will be foolish react and relocate their vehicles once these guys hit the field on turn one.

So what now?  Let's talk about the flying threats that Tyranids can take but are often overlooked.  Who cares about Trygon models when you can make half the army flying while the rest of your army drops on his face!  The only way you guys can take a flying army work is you take Gargoyles.  They're small, dirt cheap and you can take an assload of them to provide a flying screen of mobile cover.  Can you guys imagine how much hurt a Flyrant flying around with two Harpies w/ Stranglethorn Cannons can pour out on horde armies or even Marines?  S6 large blast all over the place from 12" flying creatures that can exploit any exploding transport.  Sure, they might get cover saves, but you're pouring out so much hurt it doesn't really matter.  Anyone wishing to shoot at these will have to kill the Gargoyles first.  Taking a full unit of 30 Gargs costs 180 points.  They'll die to anything your opponent throws at them, but that's their entire purpose in life - to serve as a living, moving meat shield.

As for the flying Tyrant combination, I personally like the Flyrant with a Stranglethorn Cannon, Adrenal Glands, BS/LW and maybe Implant Attack.  Keep in mind that this is no way set in stone, you take whatever configuration you need to fight your metagame.  I just think that when combined with 2 Harpies shooting twin-linked Stranglethorn Cannons, and 2 Cluster Spines, you're looking at a possible 3 S6 Large Blasts and 2 S5 Large Blasts landing on people's faces per turn.  Adrenal Glands is also preferred for the Harpies because they're MCs and S6 + 2d6 charging tanks and hitting rear armor isn't all that bad.  Shrikes are also pretty good with a large unit of Gargs because you can pair them with a Flyrant with Old Adversary (Preferred Enemy 6" bubble) and go to town with BS/LW and Toxin Sacs.  This gives them re-roll hits and wounds with power weapons and everyone in base contact with you is swinging last.  Sounds overpowered doesn't it?  Give it a try.

Zoanthropes are often on the back burner compared to Hive Guard and with good reason.  They need to take psychic tests first, your opponents can stop it, then they have to shoot and possibly miss, then roll to wound and pen, then if your opponents have cover saves, they take those.  This is some pretty bad odds with all things considered especially when most of your opponent's vehicles can stay out of 18" range.  So what makes them worth it?  They shoot the most powerful anti-tank weapon in the entire game.  S10 AP1 Lance or S5 AP3 blast is capable of blasting apart the strongest tanks and the strongest marine.  The only bad thing about these guys is that 18" is in range of hoods and runic weapons.

So they suck right?  Wrong.  Tyranids is all about flexibility and applying threat.  Even if your opponent has the tools to stop Zoanthropes psychic abilities, they can't stop it 100% unless they're killed.  Their S10 shot can take down any tank in the game with relative ease and their S5 AP3 blast scares the crap out of any marine out of transports.  When you factor this in with an army that can fly, drop pod in, outflank or deploy as normal, an entire host of strategies begin to open up.  The key to using Zoans is to take 3 of them and drop them in in a pod.  You can either choose to do this outside the 24" hood/rune range and shoot at viable targets or you can choose to drop them in on force with an all out attack.  Zoans are best with a Drop Pod army that can force a lot of threats and target saturation early and unexpected.  With Mysics and Inquisitors out of the game, Drop Pod armies will definitely more play.  More on this later.

Lastly, I want to talk about a funny little unit that competes with one of the most coveted spots in the Tyranids codex - the elite slot.  Most of my lists only run with 2 units of Hive Guard and thus my 3rd slot opens for something else.  Sometimes, I take the dreaded Ymargl Genestealers because they're hysterical to use.  I don't know how else to put it, but anyone deploying Devastator-type units (infantry carrying heavy weapons) is in a whole world of shit.  You either force them to stay inside their dedicated transports, not deploy in terrain at all, or deploy in terrain and spread out in all kinds of stupid ways just to find out you popped out from somewhere else.  Nothing plays more mind games than Ymargls and for good reason.  Once they pop out, they can move, fleet and assault freely, which means they can threaten anything on the turn they arrive.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that Ymargls should be taken over the other Elite choices in the book, but it's fun to see Long Fangs spammers get ripped a new asshole once in a while.

Some Tyranid tactics

The purpose of this article is to touch upon some of the units that people might not use, but they're actually really good in their own right.  I advise everyone to think outside the box every now and then.

Have any of you guys try the Swarmlord yet?  I have and I think he's amazing.  For 280 points, I think that's perfectly acceptable for a T6 5W 3+ and 4++ in close combat.  When the close combat invul combine with the WS9, the Swarmlord becomes an absolute menace in close combat.  Throw on the fact that he's I6 with 4 Bonesabres that cause Instant Death, I think we got ourselves a real winner.

My favorite thing about the Swarmlord is his 18" synapse and the ability to give a unit Furious Charge or Preferred Enemy.  This happens every turn and there's nothing your opponent can do about it.  Throw in the fact that he can make units WS/BS1 for 1 entire turn with Paroxysm, I see no reason not to take him when the Hive Tyrant I want is about the same amount of points.

If I was to take a Hive Tyrant, he would have..
Hive Tyrant, Stranglethorn Cannon, Hive Commander, Old Adversary = 240

So for 40 points more, I get a 2 psychic powers a turn, WS9, 4++ in CC, awesome special rules and a cooler looking model.  I think there's just no comparison imo.

Let's say I didn't want to take a Hive Tyrant at all, to save points I'd probably just take a Tyranid Prime w/ Toxin Sacs and Lash Whip/Bonesword.  He's 120 points and is perfect for taking Warriors w/ the same load out.  He's perfect for allocating S8 missile shots (especially with cover) and he's just a very solid buffer.  I don't know about you guys, but 5x Warriors with BS/LW makes every assault unit in the game think twice about assaulting your lines.  No one, not even assault-heavy armies wants a piece of WS5/6 Warriors that strike first with power weapons that always wounds on 4s and re-rolls vs. T4 and under.

Next, I want to talk about the Deathleaper.  For 140 points, he's pretty expensive for a simple Lictor model.  The key notes is that he reduces a IC's leadership by D3 at the start of the game.  This is mainly cast on enemy psykers because it makes his spells harder to cast and his hood less effective.  For armies like BA, GK, SM and other armies that rely on psychic hoods to dispel your dreaded Paraoxysm, a nerfed leadership is a huge blow to assault-based armies.

Deathleaper is a very fragile unit, but can reap great rewards when used well.  A 12" bubble of 1d6 less when moving through difficult terrain is extremely frustrating once enemy vehicles have been destroyed.  Just make sure you deploy him out of LoS or far away enough to take advantage of his super Night Fighting rules.  To make matters a little worse for your opponents, he can disappear T4 and re-appear T5 to contest any objective, anywhere.  This can be great for opponents rushing for objectives at the end of the game because their positions are getting overrun by your mans.

Now, I want to talk about Venomthropes.  No other unit frustrates assault-based armies as much as these dudes.  Dangerous Terrain tests + defensive grenades on every unit within 6" of the Venomthrope makes your army unassailable by assault.  It's just SO frustrating running into Nids and having the strength of your charge robbed from you.  Take in the fact that 2 Venoms can cover the entirety of most Tyranid armies and still keep their 4+ cover makes them attractive yet frustrating units to shoot at.  Do you want to shoot missiles at these things or do you want to shoot them at the BS/LW Warriors, Carnifexes or Hive Tyrants?  I think that's the key for a successful Tyranid lists:  Load the board with so many dangerous targets that your opponents sweat thinking about what he's shooting at.

Oh yes, the Carnifex.  More so, the Dakkafex.  A lot of you guys have turned your Fexes into Trevigons and I feel your pain.  GW made them almost twice as expensive in an attempt to sell a bigger and more expensive model (the Tyrgon).  Fear not, for I am here to tell you that the Dakkafex is still one of the most dangerous units in the game.  First, they can be covered by 4+ cover from your Warriors of Hive Guard.  Second, 3 Dakkafexes in a unit is 12 T6 3+ wounds with FNP thanks to your Trevigon.  Third, they can shoot 36 Twin-linked BS3 S6 shots at 24" of threat range (6+18").  Forth, you can't get in combat with one without getting in combat with all of them.  Do you like taking 12 S9 attacks?  I don't.  Fifth, they are much dangerous than Trygons because of their range and they're much harder to kill because they can be covered.  Three of these guys in a unit is 570 points, about the same as a unit of whatever in a Land Raider, which is perfectly acceptable.  Pop a Rhino with your Hive Guard and shoot at its contents.  I promise you, full squad or not, those Marines are going to get murdered.

Many of you have seen lists out there with a lot of Genestealers.  I don't know about you guys, Genestealers are really good.  They've always been good, and even without Flesh Hoods, they're still stupid amazing.  WS6 I6, Rending Claws and the ability to take Toxin Sacs makes them extreme killers.  They can also Infiltrate, which means they can Outflank and thus can apply pressure from the very start of the game or later in the game.  With the Swarmlord, I have greater control over where and how I want to apply pressure so GS are always a must for me.  To keep things even more effective, a small unit of GS hanging out by your backlines makes you near invulnerable to assault.  Unless the GS are getting shot to death by Marines coming out of a Drop Pod (and which case you should Outflank them), no one is going to be able to get near you without risking getting fisted by Genes.  Tie units up with your cheap ass Gaunts and then run Genes in to clean house.  My preferred loadout is 20 strong for 280 points in an Infiltrated position.  Move your Trevigon first, get up there and give them FNP for some Move Through Cover, Fleeting, highly resilient shock troops.  Believe me when I tell you:  Anyone who underestimates Genestealers is a noob.  Genes have been ripping Marines a new asshole since as long as I can remember.

That's all I got right now, more to follow later.

When does it become spam?

This happens a lot more in 40K than it does in Fantasy, but when does army composition become spam?  If you have 3 10-man Grey Hunter units in a Rhino, is that considered spam?  What about 3x Baal Preds in your army?  What about taking 3x 10-man units of Assault Space Marines geared out in the same way?

What exactly qualifies as spam?

At what number does it qualify as spammy?

Do they have to be the same loadout?

Is 40K a repetitive game with redundant units?  Without redundancy, it appears that lists are less effective because there's a higher chance they won't impact the game if they're destroyed.  The argument for most people when they ask the old-aged question of:  How many Land Raiders should you take?  Most people reply with 2.  Why 2?  Because if one goes down, you have another.  At the same time, these players are also the same players that bitch about 3-4 Razorbacks with TLLC sitting across the field from them.

Personally, I don't think spam is necessarily a bad thing in a game like 40K.  In fact, I don't think the game is designed to promote different units on the battlefield.  Is this a problem with internal book balance (useless units vs. non), or is this just player mentality?  Something to think about.

Tyranids, the new pro?

The more I look at the Tyranid book, the more I think it's one of the most difficult armies to play.  It's been a long time since Tyranids joined the 5th Edition party and I think it's time to revisit them as an army.  Let's talk about some of the flaws of the Tyranid book really quickly:

• A lot of stuff doesn't make sense:  Why aren't there frag nade equivs on a lot of the assault units?  Why can't the Carnifex take 2+ armor?  Why the hell is it priced so high?  Why can't Lictors pop out and charge?  There is a LOT of these questions vs. the last army book.
• The FOC is all messed up:  The elite slot has like 3 pages worth of units.  Really?  All this for 3 unit slots?  Why couldn't some of these been placed in the heavy slot.  In fact, why's there so many units all over the place?
• Why is everything so expensive?  Compared to the 3rd Ed. army book, almost everything went up in cost.. by a lot.  This leaves lists with very "limited" options for the most part.  I put limited in quotes because what I'm going to say next is going to make you think Trygons over Carnifex isn't as clear cut any more.

Now that that stuff is out of the way (and if you disagree, please let me know), let's talk about the good stuff:

• Everyone knows that compared to Cruddace's other book, the IG codex, the Tyranids book looks like a rush job, sloppy piece of shit that's horribly imbalanced both internally and externally.  Then we look at how the book plays and it is nothing like last edition.  Then we slam our faces against a wall for over a year, bitch and moan all over whinseer and fakka and then play with every single unit in the book trying to "crack" the winning build.  Just when all hope is lost, I'm here to tell you that Tyranids is actually a "master-class" army.
• What?!  You can't be serious?!  Well, I kind of am.  I think Tyranids are one of those armies who's synergy and list composition has to be so tight that there's virtually no room for error.  Everything in the army has to make sense and every unit you take has to do its job according to your army's design.
• But, what do you mean?  I mean the general has to be superb, the list has to be a well-oiled machine and that he must play his heart out against the horrors of the current meta.  Like Dark Eldar, the only other army I would put into the mythical "master-class" category, there needs to be a battleplan in your head before your deployment against every army.  This isn't a I'm-going-to-shoot-this army like Vendetta/Chimeras, Razorspam or Psyfleman where the only true skill of the army lies in target priority, but an army that can be destined to fail from deployment to movement, to shooting to assault.
• Lastly, I want to say that no matter what, by book flaws alone, that they'll struggle to place at the top tables.  It doesn't help that Venom spam ruins the shit out of the army and that seems like the new WAAC DE thing.

I will elaborate more as the week goes on.  I want to hear what you guys think first.

Space Marine Psykers

This is a follow-up to my Librarians, why not? article.  Each Librarian will list the powers I find most attractive and why.  Most libbies can only choose 2 powers, but the GK one can buy as many as he wants.

Space Marine Librarian
Null Zone, Avenger, Gate of Infinity

My builds:

Libby, TDA w/ SS (Null Zone, Gate of Infinity) leading 5x TH/SS Termies in a LRC

Libby, (Avenger, Gate of Infinity), Drop Pod, 10x Sternguard w/ Combi-weapons

The weakest Librarian out of the bunch, the standard SM Librarian gets access to quite a few unique powers.  Null Zone really screws anything with invul saves; ranging from TH/SS Terminators, Wyches in CC or 2++ Shadow Fields.  Avenger is one of the best templates in the game as S5 AP3 cuts through MEQ like butter.  GoI is a little tricky but can play a big part in your army as you can take your TH/SS Termies from one location to another or carry a large bunch of Sternguard into your enemies' face.

Blood Angels Librarian
Unleash Rage, Sanguine Sword, Shield of Sanguinius, Blood Lance

My builds:

Libby, TDA w/ SS (Unleash Rage, Sanguine Sword) leading 5x Assault Termies in a LRC

Libby, JP (Unleash Rage, Shield of Sanguinius) leading 10x ASM w/ PF, 2x Meltaguns

The Blood Angels Librarian holds many destructive abilities that compliment the offensive nature of the BA army.  Unleash Rage is one of the reasons the Reclusiarch is a subpar choice.  Preferred Enemy for multiple rounds of combat is much stronger than one round of re-roll hits.  Sanguine Sword allows the Librarian to take on anything in the game because S10 can touch anything on 2s while punching through the strongest armor.  Shield allows BA to spam mech like no other while advancing towards the enemy.  Then, there's the Blood Lance.  It's not as strong as JotWW in terms of what it can target, but it can threaten any vehicle with its S8 AP1 Lance.  Versus enemy tank lines, if you can line up a good shot, you might be able to take out quite a few targets per turn.  The best thing about these abilities is that both the offensive assault ones I noted (UR and SS) can be used in either player's turn.  Shield is a defensive ability that fires during your enemy's shooting phase and Blood Lance is in your shooting phase.  This healthy mix of choices allows the BA Librarian to get off psychic powers in either player's turn.

Grey Knights Librarian
Shrouding, Sanctuary, Might of Titans, Warp Rift

My builds:

Libby, (Shrouding, Sanctuary, Might), 3x Servo-skulls, MC Halberd leading..

6x Paladins (Apoth, MC DH, 2x MC Psycannons, BBanner, MC, all Halberds)

10x GKT (MC DH, DH, rest Halberds, 2x Psycannons, BBanner, Psybolts)

Some say the GK Libby isn't needed, but I think he's one of the best buys in the book.  For 150 points, you get a Epistolary that's in Terminator Armor, can have a 4++ in close combat because of his Force Sword, has access to I6 Halberds or MC weapons, and is equipped with Frag and Krak grenades.  On top of this, he has 4 amazing psychic powers that compliments the GK army perfectly.  Shrouding keeps your units safe in cover with a whopping 3++ save, Sanctuary provides assault protection that covers a large area, and Might of Titans allows your units to punch through tanks with +1S and 2d6 armor pen.  This can be used in conjunction with Hammerhand for S6 vs. T4 MEQ or Hive Tyrant strength vs. armor.  Lastly, we have Warp Rift.  I like this ability because it's essentially a template-sized JotWW.  Sure, it doesn't target models, but against slow, expensive units who are bunched up (think Nids and Orks), this ability is invaluable.  Just like the BA Librarian, the GK Libby can get off multiple abilities per turn since Shrouding is cast in the enemies' shooting phase, Sanctuary in his assault, Might in your assault, Hammerhand whenever and Warp in your shooting.  An unupgraded GK Libby can cast 2 abilities per player turn, and up to 4 per game turn.  With Ld.10, he is my go-to guy to get off Hammerhand when my Paladins use their psychic ability to activate their Force Weapons via Brotherhood Banner.  Instant win.  Oh, and he has access to Servo-skulls, which is pretty much a must-have if you intend on taking Deep Strikers.

Space Wolves Rune Priest
Murderous Hurricane, Living Lightning, Jaws of the World Wolf

My builds:
Rune Priest (Chooser, Murderous Hurricane, LL) leading..
8x Grey Hunters w/ WG (Rhino, PF/cbM, Meltagun, WS, MotW)

Last, but certainly not least, is the SW Rune Priest.  The best thing about the Rune Priest is that his runic weapon nullifies enemy psychic abilities on a 4+.  No need to roll off like the other libbies, a 4+ within 24" is all you need to shut down enemy powers.  In addition, he can take quite a few pieces of wargear to make him stand out more so than the other librarians.  First, he can take Wolftooth Necklace that makes him hit anything with a WS at 3+, no matter what.  It doesn't matter if he's fighting a Gaunt or a Bloodthirster, if you roll a 3+, you hit.  See a trend here?  Second, is his ability to take Runic Armor, which is the SM-equiv to Artificer Armor w/ a built-in psychic protection.  Third, is his ability to take Sagas that improves his killing potential ontop of his natural Counter-attack.  He has so many different wargear options that he makes other librarians look broke ass poor, save maybe the GK one.  I guess since the Chooser of the Slain is pretty much an auto-include for me, he should get a mention.  18" perched on top of a high point gives the RP +1BS with Living Lightning and pushes back all infiltrated units.  Viewed as the best HQ choice in the game by many players, I take him in every game with Space Wolves.

As for powers, I find Murderous Hurricane, Living Lightning and Jaws to be the best choices.  Murderous Hurricane allows you to slow down and destroy enemy infantry, Living Lightning allows you to punch through armor from infinite range, and Jaws is just... jaws.  No other psychic ability in the game caused as much ruckus as Jaws did when it first came out and it's still being talked about today.  It has a 24" line that can snipe any model it touches and if they fail a I test, they're removed from play.  Laff.

Bringing back vehicle death

Goatboy recently wrote a article on BoLS that touched upon a very sensitive issue.  By sensitive, I mean mech players are going to cry buckets of tears all over the place.  Seriously though?  I don't give a shit.  I'm sick of seeing Razorspam and Chimerawalls to a point every list on every site looks the same.  Let's be honest, 5th Edition was good, but not nearly good enough.

This is fine if you think about it.  5th Ed. was GW's first attempt at getting True Line of Sight right.  They did good for the most part; it sped up the game and made things visually impressive.  However, they failed on two major accounts:  The general cover system and the Vehicle Damage Chart.  Everything right now, is too forgivable.  A 4+ cover on everything means half of your shots are negated and the glancing modifier means you can never destroy a vehicle with a glance under normal circumstances.  This is ass.

Here is what I want in 6th Ed., more so than any other change GW can think of:

• Increase vehicle lethality by bringing back ways to kill vehicles with glancing shots.  A simple -1 modifier for glancing instead of -2 will do the trick.  This will result in a lot of vehicle death everywhere once you throw enough heavy weapons into the fray.
• Decrease the general cover bonus for all units by 1.  This means everything will get 5+ cover for the most part, which is perfectly fine for me.  Skimmers, Jetbikes and anything capable of turbo-boosting should get a 4+ cover at best.

Who is willing to test some of these rules out and see how it will effect the current armies out there?  I have a bunch of 40K armies that would like to experiment.

Librarians, why not?

Librarians are the best HQ choice for Blood Angels, period.  The same could be said about Space Wolves and their Rune Priests and maybe even generic SM.  If I had a choice between the Grand Master and the Librarian, I would take the Librarian as well.  And then, there's Mephiston, the Librarian with the same stats as a Greater Daemon on a infantry-sized base.  One thing's for damn sure: Librarians add so much to their respective armies these days that they're pretty much an auto-include.

Let's see why Librarians are an auto-include:

• They offer psychic abilities that can greatly enhance your army's potential.  This includes defensive abilities like Shrouding or Shield of Sanguinius or offensive abilities like Murderous Hurricane or Blood Lance.
• They offer psychic protection.  If the other guy has a psyker and you don't, you're pretty much at the mercy of his psychic onslaught.  There's times where you can't afford to let your opponent Unleash Rage on a unit of LC Terminators.  No matter how you look at it, Librarians are the condoms of the 41st millenium.
• They come with Force Weapons.  Sure, their combat stats aren't as great as a Captains', but they have the ability to detonate someone's brain and end their lives immediately.  Grey Knights can alter their strength and strike at I6 while Blood Angel Librarians can Unleash Rage and reach S10.
• They are flexible.  Most can done Terminator Armor and some can be given Storm Shields.  Rune Priests can be given Runic Armor (Artificer) and other nifty upgrades whereas others can take Bikes or Jump Packs.  Librarians can be with any unit in the game and keep pace, and that's very important in an Space Marine army.
• They are cheap.  Librarians are the most cost effective HQ choices in most books because they offer all the above at 100 or so points.  Rune Priests are considered the best HQ choice in the game and rightfully so.  Just look at what they can do for the amount of points.

Stay tuned for my next article where I talk about specific Librarian powers and configurations for all my different armies.  I'm excited.

Got some polls up!

Hey guys (and girls?),

On the right hand side of the blog, you'll see two polls you guys can vote in.  I have multiple votes toggled so you guys can vote for more than one.  However, for the most accurate results, I ask that you only vote for your top 2.  One of the polls have to deal with site content and the other focuses on the games I'm involved in.  I specifically didn't put what armies you would like to see because I need a general feel of what gaming archetype everyone's into.  Army stuff can come later.  After voting, feel free to post some comments and elaborate on why if you want to.  I take feedback/criticism quite well.

Lastly, I would like to ask my blogmates what you would like to see as future content on this site.  Shoot me some ideas and let's open up a discussion.

Thanks everyone!

Price hikes again

GW really wants to kill themselves as a company.  I don't know what the deal is, but 40 bux for a box of 5 power-armored dudes (BA box) just doesn't do it for me.  That, and the near 70 dollar Land raiders.

More info can be found here:
http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2011/05/gw-news-may-2011-price-increases.html

and here:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?pli=1&key=tIytonRUpm6fRkxpIjqcDzQ#gid=0

I was going to start a VC army... but now I'm having second thoughts.

I've been a supporter of GW for 11 years now, ever since I was little but now shit's getting ridiculous.  Let's sum it up.

• LotR was a huge flop in the dick and it should be dropped completely.  They should reallocate all their resources and focus on WHFB and 40K support; their main cash cows.
• Another thing that they need to do is do previews for army books and units so players have something to look forward to.  It gives players drive, hope and fuels passion for their hobbies.  Privateer Press knows what's up, Spartan Games knows what's up, and so does Mantic Games.  GW really needs to get up and smell the coffee.
• Furthermore, GW should release sneak peak of rules and have the community respond to how things will work out.  Test rules, pre-release rules, rules that player can test, give feedback and post their reasoning in a dedicated GW forum.  This in turn, should have the designer themselves, or community managers post and give feedback to the players to show they ACTUALLY GIVE A FUCK.
• You combine this prehistoric way to do business on top of the fact they just increased prices to ridiculous levels AND restricted retailers to only sell to their region and you have a recipe for disaster.  Mantic, PP and Spartan are probably laughing their ass off right now.

In other words, GET WITH THE TIMES GW.

DEcisions, decisions

First, my army list at 2K.

1998
20 kp

HQ:
Asdrubael Vect = 240

TROOP:
5x Warriors (Raider NS, Blaster) = 130
5x Warriors (Raider NS, Blaster) = 130
9x Wyches (Raider NS/FF, Hekatrix/Agnoizer/BP) = 215
10x Wyches (Raider NS/AS, Hekatrix/Agnoizer/BP) = 220
10x Wyches (Raider NS/AS, Hekatrix/Agnoizer/BP) = 220

ELITE:
3x Trueborn (Venom NS/SC, 3x Blaster) = 156
3x Trueborn (Venom NS/SC, 3x Blaster) = 156
3x Trueborn (Venom NS/SC, 3x Blaster) = 156

HEAVY:
Ravager (NS/FF) = 125
Ravager (NS/FF) = 125
Ravager (NS/FF) = 125

This list is really effective in all-comers list vs. all scenario based missions except for kill points.

However, I want that to change.  Even though the Warrior Raiders put down a lance shot from the back while providing a solid scoring option, I feel like there might be better options.  Here are some of them.

9x Reaver Jetbikes (Champion, 3x Heat Lances) = 244
10x Scourges (Solarite, 4x Splinter Cannons) = 260
2x 5x Warriors (Venom NS/CC, Blaster) = 135x2 = 270

The Reaver Jetbikes offer solid damage vs. any infantry unit they pass over as well as armor-threatening Heat Lances once they get to the back field.  Scourges, as fragile as they are being Jump Infantry who's often times exposed, provide a ridiculous amount of firepower from far away.  At full strength, they can jump 12" and shoot 18" with their Carbines/Splinter Cannons.  This adds up to 30 Splinter shots with a 30" threat on the move.  They can also stay in the back and offer a solid shooting solution with 24 shots from 36".  Next, we have the 2x Warriors in Venoms that sit in the back, score and shoot.  They're relatively safe because of the low profile of the Venom, the Night Shield and Flicker Fields.  The difference between these three units is that one shoots really well, one contests really well and one scores really well.

Which unit do you think fits better in the list?  I'm all ears.

8 magic items, that's all you get

Looking at the 8th Ed. O&G army book and the new TK book, there's a obvious trend that's going on.  From now on, all the army books in WHFB will have 8 or so unique magic items.  This includes Banners, Enchanted Items, Arcane Items, Weapons and Armor.  This also means that the majority of the items that everyone can take will be from the BRB.  Is this good?  Bad?  If you could only keep 8 magic items in your army book, what would they be?

Just some food for thought.

Get ready for Battle Chronicler

From now on, my Fantasy Battle Reports will be using Battle Chronicler.

It will look something like this once the action starts:

And the Archmage casts blah blah blah..
Excited?

I am.