ED Tactical squad Alpha

So this is going to be the start of a run of pictures from my Emperors Disciples Space Marine Chapter. They will all be WIP shots as I have finished modelling up all the various squads, apart from a Sternguard squad and Assault squad to fill out the Sternhammer requirements. Most of the posts are gonna be light on words but quite picture heavy, not to bad though, maybe 4 or 5 pictures a post.

Anyway, here is Tactical Squad Alpha

Group shot

The basic Tactical Marines, mostly I believe from AoBR.

Sgt, tooled up. its hard to see some details due to the colours use by the previous owner.

Weapon specialists, Heavy Bolter on the left, with modified chaos bolter and flamer on the right, with BoC flamer.

Nothing special really, just your basic tactical squad.

Cadian Battle Group

So this post has been sitting in the draft folder for some time, waiting until I actually get around to posting it. Its been waiting for a while for a couple of reasons; firstly, I'm not overly happy with the army selection I've made and feel that there are probably better ways of achieving the same results, but I haven't had the time to experiment with it and secondly, the longer I've left it, the less relevant it seems to be. The formations came out in Mont'Ka, quite a while ago now. I should have posted up this post as soon as I though about it, but there was lots of other posts flying around at the time and I hadn't had a chance to really look in to the formations.

Now having a a basic look at everything, I'm still not sure about any of them, but we'll take a look and I'll give my thoughts on what I'm seen. Now I've only looked at the very basic formations, using the core elements. There are ways around this, like just using the various formation on there own, but i wanted to look at the actual detachment itself. So here are my thoughts on how I'd run things;

Cadian Battle Group, using the Emperors Shield Infantry Company

Battle group command -
Company command squad - Creed, MoO, Medic, Standard, 2x plasma guns, Carapace (228)

Core -
Emperors Shield Infantry Company -

Company Command Squad - MoO, Medic, Standard, 2x plasma guns, carapace (148)
Infantry Platoon 1 - (410)
PCS - 4x flamers
All squads with fllamer and autocannon
Scout sentinel - multi-laser
Infantry Platoon 1 - (443)
PCS - 4x flamers
2x squads with grenade launcher and flakk missile launchers
3x squads with grenade launcher and missile launchers
Scout sentinel - multi-laser
Infantry Platoon 1 - (450)
PCS - 4x flamers
4x squads with meltaguns and krak grenades
1x squads with meltagun and Sgt with meltabomb
Scout sentinel - multi-laser

This little lot comes to 1679 points, leaving 321. Now I filled out the rest with a Auxiliary Militarium Tempestus Platoon, just to add some proper offensive fire-power. However, with all the option of the IG platoons structure open to you, there are a lot of other ways to add in extra forces. One thing to note with all of this, the FaQ's that were out recently have changed the grenades in assault options, and so Krak grenades on troops doesn't make as much sense any more, so I would probably drop the grenades and arm the the Sgts with melta bombs. This will only save 20pts but would be a little more useful I think. The other option is dropping the Flakk missiles from the squads and putting in a proper Flakk HWT. Doing this along side two Lascannon HWT would take you up to 1969pts. I am assuming that your playing at 2000pts same as what I generally play at, obviously if you playing at 1500, then things are a lot tighter and generally your not gonna be able to bring much in the way of upgrades.

As things stand, I don't really think that the list above is very good. There is no mobility and not a great selection of options, yes, there is a lot is shooting, and I mean a lot! most of it is S3 Ap- and useless against any armour. The autocannons help, but then 8 other blokes are sitting around useless, granted the split fire order will be very useful here. All in all I wouldn't take this list to a tournament or even a serious friendly match, its to cumbersome and really the only strength is just tar pitting everything and over running the enemy with sheer numbers.

Lets look at the other option, using the Emperors Fist Armoured Company

Battle group command - (130)
Company command squad - MoO, Vox, 3x plasma guns, (130)

Emperors Fist - (965)
Command - Pask, 2x Punisher w/Bolter sponsons, heavy bolter hull mount
Squadron 1 - LRBT, heavy flamer sponsons, heavy flamer hull mount

Squadron 2 - Demolisher, Multimelta sponsons, heavy bolter hull mount

Squadron 3 - Vanquisher, Multimelta sponsons, Lascannon hull mount

Engineer, 2x servitors

Auxiliary - (900)

Emperors Blade Assault company

Company command - Chimera, MoO, Standard, Vox, 2x flamers

Vet 1 - Chimera, Demolitions, Grenadiers, vox, heavy flamer, 2x meltaguns

Vet 2 - Chimera, Demolitions, Grenadiers, vox, heavy flamer, 2x meltaguns

Vet 3 - Chimera, Grenadiers, vox, 3x plasma guns

Hellhound - Heavy bolter hull mount

So, I think this is a better list than the infantry based list, although there are some issues. Again, the FaQ throws up some issues, mainly Demolitions on the vets, as each has a melta bomb, which made sense under the old way, but now its just an expensive one shot demo charge. Your almost better off putting a power fist on the Sgt, at least he'll be able to use it in any combat, not just against vehicles and monstrous creatures. The other main issue that i see is that there are not many models on the board, having just 42 S3 models is not really a good idea from my experience. 5 Av13 and 5 Av12 isn't bad, but they can still all be one shotted.

I think overall thought, this is a better build. There is plenty of mobility and firepower, with both anti-armour and anti-infantry with the capacity to take down hard targets like TDA with the plasma and demolished. However it is still fragile, as mentioned,even Av13  can be one shotted and looking a tank is loosing a large chunk of your army.

Either way I think these are the two best ways to run the Cadian Battle Group and neither would be my choice, mostly as your always lacking something, be it mobility, firepower, endurance or simply numbers. Of the two I would  run the second list, its just unfortunate that the only one I can run is the first one!

We'll have to see what the next IG/AM/MT codex brings, but I will probably have to adjust my armies in some way or another, especially if this is an indication of how things will go.

2016 update

So, we're well in to 2016 and things are going well on the modeling front, but I though that I would look back at the new years resolutions and see what's happening.

The resolutions:

1) Try and model up all the missing models from the various army lists. So what needed doing?

Hjaltland LI needed their Valkyrie, which is now built but as usual is not painted
The Hrossey Yeomanry required a Primaris Psyker and purchase a Chimera. The psyker is complete, however the Chimera is still on the wish list.
The Dagr Ormr strike force is now complete, with the addition of a OotF and Standard from the command squad and 2 Sgts and a heavy flamer from the vets.

So part one is going well.

2) Sell models I don't need. Well, this is not going as well, I was planning on selling some metal termies and some of the heavy weapons team, but I've modelled up the termites and thought of a new way to use the heavy weapons teams. Have I mentioned I'm a bit of a horder? So as yet nothing been sold.

3) Try and base coat some of the models. Yep, still not happened, not likely to either with all the DiY work that the wife has lined up. However, she maybe going away to a conferance or two soon, so I may get to sneek in some painting time, just don't tell the wife!

4) Play some games! Well, I've played 2, so not going great on that front.

As for the marines. Well, the knights are modelled, the Disciples are in progress and the Guardians are back on track, well, kind of anyway. I've been planning and plotting for the Guardians and have come up with a viable list based around the fluff, without buying to many more models.

The Assassins Cadre is on hold, I'm collecting bits still, but at the moment, the Disciples are the main focus.

As for new models, I've got BoC and the models there and I'm still looking at getting the transports from anvil for the MT's alongside the new Chimera for the Hrossey Yeomanry. I'm also looking at the new models for the Guardians, namely a couple of Attack Bikes and Landspeeder Tempests, but I'm still not sure. Also there are still no new models that I want from GW, just the renegade game!

As for terrain, I'm going to try at some point to get hold of some foam board and some plans from Confessions of a 40k Addict and bash up some scenery for a table or two.

8th Edition

OK time for the nerd rage to begin again, yep rumours of 8th edition are circulating again. This is obviously happening and we all knew that it would, sooner or later, and it appears that it will be sooner, possibly even this Autumn.

I have read a few of the rumours and while they are all pretty vague right now, it seems that there is going to be a streamlining of various rules. This is a good thing as far as I'm concerned, as there are so many rules that are basically the same just with different names in different codices, a return to standard special rules would be a good start. How they are going to streamline things with all the different supplements and everything is hard to see. Apparently there are around 58 books currently legal in 40k, 58! That's a huge number, and yes, that does include a lot of codices, but still who owns or even knows what in half of them? I certainly don't.

I'll be keeping an eye on this rumour and see where it leads, but to be honest, I'm not worried about it. We're not going to get AoS'd or even similar, but I think there is going to be a bit of a reset in the rules, hell, maybe even a progression of the story line! OK maybe that's going a little to far, but one can hope!

Sternhammer

Well, the new books out, has been for a while, and I've been thinking. With my Emperors Disciples pretty much all modelled up, (hopefully I'll get the pictures up soon, but I'll warn you there are a lot of pictures!) and the new release, I have been wondering if there is a better way to run them than using the CAD. My initial reluctance to move away from the CAD was due to loosing the second devastator unit, however with the new Sternhammer formation, it seems that this is no longer a problem.

With the CAD I have 2 HQ (Captian and Libby), 3 Elite (Honour, Command and Sternguard), 3 Troop (3 Tacticals), 2 Heavy (2 Devistators) and 3 Fast (Rhinos and Razorbacks), but moving across to the Gladius I would loose one of the Devistators, replace the Libby with a Chaplin and have to place the Fast choices as dedicated transport. This would restrict my choices and also mean I would loos a lot of flexibility. Ok so with the Sternhammer formation, I still loose a lot of flexibility with the transports as I have to place them at dedicated transports but with the change with the auxiliary choices it gives me a lot more flexibility with my choices.

So after looking at the choices, the final roster for the Disciples will look something like this;

Demi-company with Chaplin (formally Libby), 3x 10 man tec squads with flamers and heavy bolters, devastator squad with missile launchers and a 5 man assault squad.



So the auxiliary choices will consist of a 1st company task force and a devistator unit. I had thought about some of the other units, namely the honoured ancients or 10th company task force, but that would require new models, something  I'm trying to avoid.

So the devi unit will be a 10 man las/plans squad, cos i feel that that actually gives it a proper feel rather than a 5 man missile squal, although with the flakk it could be like a specialized AA squad attached to the demi company. May have to do some more thinking on that for the fluff. The sternguard are pretty much sorted although they will have to gain a third squad at some point, not sure how at the moment, as I don't have anything that fits the visual aesthetics of the unit yet.

In addition I will also include a command choice, the strike force command with captain, honour guard and command squad.

With all this, the CAD formation is transferred across almost as it is to the Sternhammer formation, yes I loose a few bits, mostly upgrades, but gain a sternguard squad and a bunch of excellent rules that add to the fluff of the company.

 The pictures for the Disciples will be up soon, but I've a question? Do you like looking at them? They seem to be some of the poorest views, which doesn't bother me, but if people don't like them should I stop or cut them down a lot? I like posting them, I feel that its an achievement for me to get them complete and am quite happy shouting about it, but I was wondering what you thought?

Emperors Disciples

Well, with the Inquisition pretty much finished in terms of modelling, I decided to move on to the next project and with the Guardians still in limbo at the moment, that meant the Disciples finally got some love. First up was the Command squad and HQ choices along with the Sternguard, mostly as they are pretty much complete already.

The Captain and Librarian.
The captain is a FW model I believe ( edit: GW SM Master of Relics ) that I picked up from the second hand shop. I figured that it was a cool model and looks like a captain who's seen a few battlefields in his time. The Libby is just the DV libby with a chaos pack, nothing special but it does the job. The Libby may well be changed to a Chaplin at painting time, as to field a demi company I need a captain or Chaplin and the only way to field a Libby is with the conclave. I'll have to have a good think about it, but I will have to redo one of the models.

 The Command squad

The rest of the command squad that will accompany the Captain in to battle, armed for combat to protect the captain from anyone who want to get close. Formed of a Champion, Apothecary, and 3 vets, one with a standard.

The Champion with power axe flanked by a vet with plasma pistol and standard bearer (on right without his standard)

some details on the back, cloaks and other bits

The Apothecary and second vet with plasma pistol

The Sternguard

Most of these models have been seen before, there are only a few new models to see.

Sgt (right) and demi-squad leader

Sgt and demi-squad Alpha (combi-meltas)

Demi-squad Bravo (combi-plasma)

The two new models are on the far right of both squads and are the only ones without the metal upgrade kits. Also you might have noticed that although I mentioned their combi weapons, they don't actually have one, well that's because some of them have metal weapons and I don't want to damage the metal parts by converting to actual combi weapons, so they will just be painted with squad markings to show which model is carrying which weapon, probably by marking on the packs.

A third squad of sternguard will be added at some point to for fill the requirements of the sternhammer demi company detachment thing, but that's not yet. 

Tryanids Vs Hjaltland LI 1500pts

Its been a long time in coming but I got another game in. It was my first in a while and was going to be against Tryanids, an army I haven't actually played against! So I was really looking forward to it but at 1500pts I had a little bit of a problem with what to take! I wanted to play my Hjaltland LI as they haven't been out of the box for a while. In the end I chose to go with a trimmed down list, dropping a vet squad and a couple of squads along with the OotF from the command squad, which left me on 1501 points.

My opponent had a pretty balanced list, I cant name all the various units, as I'm not a nids player, but there were two units of Genesteelers, some hive guard and trynids warriors, a zonethrope (?), two pod things with gaunts and the big flyer thing. Oh and a Morloc, that was being proxied by a Knights base as he had forgotten to pack the model itself. I was really looking forward to this list as it was a nice rounded list in my view and had didn't have any of the silly formation gimmicks. So on to the game;

Warlord - relentless and outflank (2)

(outflanked the two flyers)

His - 2vp for killing an IC challenge

My psychic powers - prescience, useless cc one (possibly Foreboding?) , Force

Deployment

One thing that we had an issue with was terrain, neither of us have any! However, we managed to put together some using what we had to hand, hence all the boxes and mutant apples on the left. With not knowing what to expect and knowing that there was a morloc I decided to castle up in the corner behind my defence line, with the majority of the force and have a squad out to the left armed up for a little bit of combat. I also reserved the plasma command squad and flamer platoon command in the vendetta and Valkyrie respectively. My opponent had only a handful of models on the table, mostly the hive guard, Zonethrope and warlord, and after deployment infiltrated two squads of genesteelers and two other models, close combat things, not sure on the name, but there just by the right hand side knight.

a close up of my deployment.

At the end of turn one, sorry no pictures, but the nids moved forward with very little shooting and damage done. My first turn was fairly successful, toasting a few nids with the squad on the left. I managed to score a point, for having more of my units in my deployment zone than my opponent.

Points at the end of T1 - 0 - 1

At the end of the top of turn 2, a few of the reserves tunred up, namely the flyer and one pod full of gaunts, the combat variety. Shooting was good for him this turn and he removed a few models, chipping away at the force.

Unfortunately this happened:

After my movement my opponent had a text calling him home, so that was the end. My flyers had come in and had a plan, and I was looking forward to the turn. I was fairly confident that I could score 2 points, secure and objective, and kill something in assault, with a unit of 2 genesteelers in assault range of the large unit on the left. At the end though we'll never know.

However, a rematch is on the cards, not sure when, I'll let you know.