An eclectic mix of everything that fits nowhere else including miniatures, terrain, house rules, comics, lyrics and anything that doesn’t have a home elsewhere.

After having a couple of friends look over my planned list, a few things cropped up. Cassius the tyranid hunting chaplain no longer gives the preferred enemy ability to units he joins, nor does he have it himself. So I may drop him in favour of a chaplain who is kitted out to join and lead my assault unit. The other thing that cropped up was that hellfire rounds only work in boltguns. They can’t be added to bolt pistols like previously, which means I may drop the hellfire rounds or add a bolter to my captain and upgrade his powersword to a relic blade. The relic blade means you don’t get the extra attack for a second close combat weapon anyway. Hellfire rounds with the captains ballistic skill would mean that he would have very high chances to hit and then wound. The only problem would be that the armour penetrating ability of the rounds are the same as a normal bolter, when you could get a plasma pistol for a fairly similar cost which is way more powerful.

After reading up a bit on the various tyranid army builds, finding a balance with heavy guns to take out massed infantry and anti-tank weapons to deal with the big bugs (or nidzilla lists) is not easy. I am lucky that I don’t face tyranid armies with the big tyrgon included, but I am sure it is only a matter of time. (the model is awesome so I can see it being purchased even if only as a centrepiece model for someones collection which sees very limited tabletop use)

Checking the space marine codex FAQ I noticed that you can buy razorbacks for full ten man units and simply attach it to one of the combat squads. Of course from the way it reads it looks like you can only buy a single razorback for the squad as a dedicated transport which will mean one combat squad gets to footslog it to keep up.

This option gives me the chance to have a five man squad with a flamer and possibly a character leading them, in a vehicle armed with a twin linked heavy weapon. Leaving me the other five man squad with a heavy weapon to help form a defensive firebase with other units in my army.

Yes, I do use the hammer and anvil tactics as my standard strategy against most enemies, but I have found against target rich armies it is sometimes better to use a ‘wall of firepower’ and stand firm whilst using the bolters of my troops to thin down enemy units till they get close and then unleash my close combat units to finish them off before using a methodical advance to seek and destroy the remaining enemy units.

Sometimes the plan goes pear shaped from the start. A lucky artillery hit or a high roll on the vehicle damage chart can mean your flank lynchpin disappears leaving you having to redeploy heavy weapons troopers to cover the shortfall in firepower. Normally I like to keep a squad or two for these instances, but I am thinking of swapping my reserve units (small squads mounted in razorbacks left at the rear of my defensive line to fill holes due to casualties or to charge forward and lead a counter attack into enemy advance forces) replacing them with possibly a bike squad or attack bike squad would give them added survivability as well as giving me the option to get them moving fast and flanking into the enemies deployment zone. I don’t like the survival odds of a unit doing this unsupported, but add in the landspeeder tornado to help it could be a handy fast moving mini force that can harass the enemy rear and hopefully take an objective in the last rounds of the game.

It does give me a sense of déjà vu talking about bike units like that as my old eldar army consisted of multiple jetbike squads supported by vypers and a couple of tanks. The army was a first strike big win / big loss build designed to specifically target a friends space marine army. If the army got first turn, it could more often than not take out the vehicles and characters in their first turn, any that survive from the retaliation are merely a bonus. Once the marines were without heavier weapons and vehicles, the eldar tanks and vypers can advance unmolested and clean up the remaining troops. If the eldar go second it is a little bit harder to get the first strike options happening. I haven’t updated the list to the latest codex, but previously you could get two meltaguns in each guardian jetbike squad and they were the best option to take out enemy armour and characters. I was tempted to update them to fly out against the new tyranids but I am more interested in just getting ready for the upcoming ‘summer of fliers’ at the moment.

The plan is to run an evil sunz army with a speed freak focus. Which will require wazdakka gutzmeg on his bike (as the speed freak character I can’t leave him out of the list) and mad doc grotsnik (to give units the cybork upgrade which I will use to count as a ‘jink’ save).

The plan is for the force to be lead by a big mek on bike, a second mek will be included with a shokk attack gun in a truck or similar. I may switch this for a mek with a kustom field. Mounting the second mek in a vehicle would mean the kustom field would be exactly where it needed to be to give added protection to the troops.

Supporting these characters will be my lead unit made of nob bikers who take the lead in the charge and hold the centre of my battleline. I may add a second unit if points allow later on. (and deploy them next to one another only to split them after breaking the enemy line.

Fast attack is always going to be deff koptas to help consolidate victories and to give a rude shock to enemy players who feel safe behind impassable terrain features.

Add in some trakks, buggies and skorcha units and the troop heavy weapon support is sorted.

Troops are always going to be ork bike units and as many as I can field!

There will be one or two gretchin units left up the back to do the protecting of flanks and hold/contest objectives. (but might be dropped as they don’t fit the speed freak theme too well)

Then comes the fun big guns. Although I would be happy to keep a unit of artillery in the list I just feel it doesn’t fit the theme. Which leaves me with battlewagons and plenty of other nice big options from apocalypse. Upgrading a few wagons to proper gun carriers might be fun (expensive, but fun). Especially if I go for some of the crazier weapons.

Alternate options are a mekboy unit in a trukk to zoom up close and use their nice kustom weapons in support of the bikes, a few trukk boyz units to capture and hold objectives and some dredd and kan units to follow up behind the bikes and destroy any pockets of resistance encountered. I have thought about adding mobs to battlewagons but I just don’t see the value in it. The only other unit I am keen to get is a looted Imperial Guard vehicle partly for the rules but more for the conversion work. The new hellhound looks good and fits within a fast moving army like the one I am building.

The other factor in the army is that I plan to ‘ape-up’ the units so instead of being orks and gretchin they are all primates. Gorillas and chimps would allow me a much greater flexibility in style of the army, I had intended to do it in a Somali warlord style with semi uniformed models on slapped together vehicles with their icons also including bananas. A little silly but a well thought out conversion style could make for easy building of the units. I swear the chimps with bananas would look hilarious in the back of a battlewagon or adding bananas in crates on vehicles.

This leads to other ideas like converting the battlewagon to be a catering truck. Change it so it has a little kitchen built in with price boards and a few steps to get to the ordering window. Kebabs and bananas! Banana milkshakes and banana liquer shots.

It would almost be worth sculpting up an ammo pouch stuffed with bananas to cast up and add to random models.

Red berets would be an easy way to tie the army together along with a consistant camoflague scheme (a bright red, yellow and orange one could work with black berets).

It would be time consuming but would turn out quite nicely! Future apocalypse units could be added with the same theme.

The downside would be the response to a large mob of nob bikers, in a tournament it could mean a reduction in the points awarded for army selection, but in my opinion what other choice do I have? I can’t take a standard nob unit without transport or a meganob unit without a battlewagon. I just don’t see the speed freaks wanting to be used as foot infantry when they could be going so much faster on a bike.

Any feedback on the ideas outlined above would be great! I am still trying to decide if it is worth my investment of time to start building the whole themed army or if it would be better to hold off till the buggy/trakk/skorcha kit comes out and put together a strong list and build the army all at once.

With the new spearhead expansion rules just hitting, the idea of bringing a stompa to the table is just SO tempting. I would of course have to remodel it so it was a mek-stompa with a ramp up to a refuelling platform so the boyz could still be on a moving vehicle even as they refuel or work on their bikes! Crazy stompa conversion aside, there are plenty of imperial vehicles like the baneblade that would supplement a speed freak army quite nicely. Anyone have a favourite that they are bringing to spearhead games?

So one of my plans years ago was to do a ‘tale of four gamers’ style article called ‘a tale of one tragic gamer’ but the addition of children has pushed all other stuff to the backburner. So instead I am planning on reorganising some of my older armies to work better under the current rules and new codex options. Because let’s face it, I have used miniatures that are older than some of my opponents and having to remind them that yes, RTB01 marines are still a valid choice. (although with a return to true line of sight the smaller beaky marines are at a bit of an advantage)

So where do I start? I have a huge genestealer cult invasion force needing some refining to be allowed to be taken again. There are several hybrid units that will need to be taken as ‘counts as’ troops along with deciding on the best HQ to use to lead them. But with the addition of some inquisitor scale genestealers to count as carnifex units I think it is pretty sorted.

The marines are a problem for me as several units have weapons that are no longer valid in the rules. Over the evolution of the game they have gained and lost some pretty great weapons and gear. Tactical squads with shuriken catapults and all manner of other weapon options. Auxiliary grenade launchers were a big loss and a nice return. I don’t miss graviton guns or conversion beamers but when you have devastator squads kitted out with weapons no longer an option it is time for some conversion work or some quick counts as games to help pick the best options for weapon selection.

The armies I have are mostly on foot, primarily because our games were fought over a very terrain heavy battlefield. There was always ruined buildings and the addition of necromunda terrain to help block lines of sight and deny the use of simple charges across open ground. Vehicles always found themselves flanked and destroyed all too easily in this type of terrain. Due to a desire to put together an army for games in stores and tournaments I need to upgrade to have a mechanised component to be able to have some chance in the sparsely used terrain of some tournaments.

So instead of just relying on my old standard army list I am going to start looking at my options and hope to have some adaptability when facing newer armies (or armies that have had a new codex and have evolved further than my list was designed to cope with)

So, my standard force has a Marine Captain and a Chaplain. These days it seems the requirement for a librarian outweighs the usefulness of a Captain. Now I have taken a marine officer pretty much in all my lists over the years knowing a high leadership lightly equipped commander could stay with the bulk of my troops and keep them in the battle for much longer with the higher leadership and made for a handy boost in close combat to tip the results in my favour.

The chaplain I built quite a few years back has a jump pack, plasma pistol and a two headed power axe that counts as his normal power weapon. This was the pinnacle of what I could achieve using just plastic components that were lying around in my bits box. He used to have the terminator honours and all the rest (including grenades and a master crafted plasma pistol) making him come in at a huge points cost. As a deterrent on his own he has helped clear enemy flanking and sniping units on his own. Attached to an assault squad he certainly boosts them to a much higher level.

I do have several librarian models but until the latest tyranid book, I wasn’t overly fussed by taking one. The need to nullify powers with a psychic hood has now made me want to include one to replace the battlefield role of my normal officer. In that he will stay with the troops and boost their potential and hopefully help protect them. Especially against the Blood Angels who seem to have rather powerful powers in their list.

Elites are an easy pick of a dreadnought (with close combat weapon and assault cannon) and a terminator squad. I used to run a veteran tactical squad but these days a teleporting terminator squad can really ruin an opponents day and gain a foothold in their deployment zone.

You will see a heavy push in my forces for bolters, storm bolters, heavy bolters and assault cannon simply as they are the best build for the terrain we used to game over. There will be a smattering of other weapons like flamers, melta guns and plasma guns and pistols but the close range firefights were won by the bolter choices as they had long range when required down streets and lanes. Being able to pepper an independant character at range if they strayed into a fire corridor made for some hilarious sniping incidents. Hell, I lost an Eldar warwalker to a turn of massed bolter fire when it accidentally ended up in the view of an advancing marine force.

I may sort out my deathwatch unit so I can use them as just a veteran squad. It’s one of those characterful units that people have and without valid rules get left in the display case. I like the look of them too much to let them simply sit around doing nothing. Debate with my friends has us trying to decide if I should stick to the heavy bolters I currently have or switch to heavy flamers. Need to get some games in to see which works better.

Standard troops choices are always going to be a full tactical squad along with a sniper scout squad. I normally split my tax squad into two and have a unit holding the deployment zone and the other half advancing on the enemy to consolidate any advances the other units make. They are also there to hold objectives so specialist units can continue their work. The scouts hold back and snipe targets of opportunity and act as a deterrent for opponents. I used to run them with a veteran sarge who had an auspex which meant some pre-game shooting which could on occasion leave an enemy pinned on their first turn. They have served me well over the years and are a very cheap unit to field.

So, now to the specialists. I normally take a small assault squad to attack alongside my chaplain, normally clearing buildings and the like for the rest of the force to follow up on. Occasionally I will run the chaplain and the assault unit on different flanks and keep them back for counter charging advancing enemy units that get too close. Sometimes it doesn’t pay to be too aggressive with them. (bezerker armies I am looking at you here). The only other fast attack unit is a lone Landspeeder tornado. This has served me well as a surprise unit to support my assault elements, support terminators or even clear out small units held back by my opponent to hold objectives. I have had mixed success against light vehicles with it as normally they carry weapons quite capable of knocking it out of the sky.

Which leaves my heavy choice. It is a predator. A run of the mill autocannon and heavy bolter predator. This one unit has put more hurt on my opponents at range than any other unit on it’s own in any of my games. It is a reasonably cheap addition to an army but brings a lot of firepower. After facing plenty of horde armies and marine armies this has been well worth taking as a distraction unit for my other units.

Normally I run a simple pincers or hammer and anvil battleplan. These are probably the most adaptable plans I can run based on the normal battlefields I have had games on. It boils down to having two distinct flanking units coming around to encircle the enemy or destroy their support units in their rear before rolling up on the other units. The hammer and anvil was based on broken units being wiped out if they had to retreat into an enemy unit. This isn’t the case anymore, but it is still quite a viable tactic where you have a static heavy unit holding a position and you use advancing or deep striking units to drive them onto it. An example of this would be a devastator unit or predator holding a terrain piece and using terminators to force enemy units into the path of the units guns. In large battles I have been known to hold jump pack equipped assault squads in close reserve behind devastators, waiting for enemy forces to advance on them and either use the assault unit to preempt the enemy charge, or wait until the enemy is about to close and try and drop behind them. This was against an enemy dread so I don’t think you could pull it off against an enemy horde.

We have also used space hulk sets to build massive building complexes to fight over. Games in close cramped quarters like that let you know just what works and why terminators excel in this type of combat, just don’t let your squads get caught at the end of a long corridor by enemy heavy weapons. The best part of these games is the board tiles themselves let you know exactly how far everyone can move and fire. (pretty much every weapon ends up being able to fire further than the length they can see) of course you can’t take IG infantry forces in games like this as you just won’t be able to bring the amount of fire you have against your enemies negating your greatest strength which is big numbers of infantry.

Possible future inclusions are things like rhino transports and razorbacks to allow rapid deployment and a few heavy support units like a vindicator, land raider or two whirlwinds. (yes, I still see the artillery options of the whirlwind as being a great bang for your buck on the table) you may think I am thinking too much about mech choices but having several squads of terminators and a full third company of infantry to draw upon (once I sort out their weapon options) means I am looking at the additional units I need to purchase rather than what I currently have. I am tempted to try running a bike unit with attack bike as one of my flanking units. I don’t normally see them in games so it might be a nice change.

Allies. Okay for normal games I consider these a bit of a no-no. It detracts from your core force, but for really big games or for apocalypse games I don’t mind having a few specialists added in for some extra flavour. I have a very old vindicare assassin (bought on its month of initial release in fact) which I feel suits the feel of my army (sniper scouts and so on) and a very old inquisitor which I built in power armour and in terminator armour. The terminator one was built out of a librarian plastic terminator from the space hulk expansion and the head of a squat. (yes I did have a squat army back in the day) the inquisitor has served for years alongside my forces and I am tempted to give him a strong retinue to make him viable again.

Anyone have good tips for strong units in the marine list I should look at taking?

I am tempted by the tech marine options but I am not convinced they are more useful than a chaplain would be for my force. Building a couple of card drop pods might give me some options to try out.

Special characters.
Now this is where I probably stand apart from most people. I want a special character to allow me to have added theme to my army. Most characters just don’t cut it for my chapter. The only one that I have found that comes close is the ultramarine chaplain who is a veteran of the tyrannic wars. Mostly because my army has faced off against the genestealers in space hulks so often that he is the only one that brings anything to that theme for my force. I see the scout character as handy but i could spend the same points on other things, as the sniper unit has a pretty good chance to hit already. Yes I know about Vulkan and his awesome rules but I don’t take a lot of weapons that would benefit from his rules. So I won’t waste points on a character I don’t feel adds to my armies theme. Not that it leaves me as the weaker sibling of the armies that do take them, I think it gives a better opportunity to diversify my army whilst I work on tactics to stop those characters. (assault cannon, auto cannon and las cannon have all worked well for me in the past).

Having a quick look through some of the units that could be switched over easily are some of my old assault units with their twin bolt pistols (the units with power shields will need some conversion) but without jump packs I need to find them better transport options.

Other miniatures are standard bearers, officers of all three ranks tech marines, librarians, old attack bikes and the old assorted characterful metal marine miniatures.

So, all things considered do you have any list additions that may work or that I should try out? It would really help me out!

After having a read through the new space wolf codex, I am thinking of getting together an army of units that will be fun to convert and paint. Hopefully it won’t be too rubbish on the tabletop either!

My thoughts are getting a strong yet functional force broken into two parts, much like a hammer and anvil build.

Canis Wolfborn and a unit of Thunderwolf cavalry along with a unit of fenrisian wolves supported by a landspeeder squadron as an outflanking or assault element.

The other force component would be a couple of squads of grey hunters, one of wolf guard, a dread or two, a unit of long fangs and a Rune priest. Additions would be some transports for the squads or some more artillery either being more long fangs or vindicators or whirlwinds. More so whirlwinds as the vindicator might be pushing templates too close to the assault elements!

A lone wolf would be nice to use to harass the enemy or make units disengage form the main attack to deal with him.

The thunderwolf cavalry are going to be mounted on converted juggernaughts of khorne, (unless the models are out quickly) which means I get scary looking models leading the charge!

I just see this force lacking in heavy firepower, and lacking long range armor busting abilities. Perhaps it is facing guard armies that make me think of how much I need to break armor! I can see this army is going to struggle against a deathwing army, or a heavy mech list. But once in close, I don’t see it being any problem at all.

The additional options would be to include a Wolf Lord with a saga that helps to bolster the grey hunter squads whilst they fight, but I see a psychic attack option being better for the force as a whole.

Once I get a chance to write it up, I will post it (without values of course)