Kill team: Militarum Tempestus

Following on from the astra Militarum kill team force, I though I would go for my ideas on my Militarum Tempestus force. Now this force will not be your classic Militarum Tempestus force as the fluff behind it is that it is an inquisitorial strike force and will be lead by an inquisotor, in this case inquisitor tullas, my lead inquisitor in all of my fluff and back ground.

The kill team itself is formed of hand picked men, chosen by the iquisitor himself for one reason or another from the various battlefields, hive cities or space ports that he has visited over his travels. Some men bring specialist skills, other are just hired muscle, all are expendable and replaceable, well, all but one, the ever dependable Dharem, the inquisitors right hand man and the only man the inquisitor trusts to lead a mission in his stead.

The troops themselves consider them selves to be some of the finest Shock Troops in the galaxy, willing to Die Well for the inquisitor, his mission and of course the Emperor and, not surprisingly for a unit including a number of hive and space port\station dwellers, they are City Fighters almost without equal. Again when using the tables to put this little story together, I gave myself a re-roll, which was used to change them from Penal Troops to Shock Troops, although I guess penal troops would have worked just as well, it's not how I wanted to have things. Of course Dharem, being of a Pious nature, could have commanded either.

But who is actually in the kill team?

Tempestor with plasma pistol and power sword (inquisitor)
Tempestor with plasma pistol and power distribution (Dharem)

Scion gunner with hotshot volley gun
Scion gunner with hotshot volley gun
Scion gunner with plasma gun
Scion gunner with plasma gun
Scion gunner with flamer

Scion with vox caster

Up to 12 Scions with hotshot lasguns.

There are two leaders in the group as I wanted to have the inquisitor represented but also wanted to have the option not to take him if I didn't want to, after all the inquisitor isn't going to be leading every mission personally, hellhhave more important things to do. I've take a vox caster again, as it give a good bonus to the kill team during missions. I've put down that there will be up to 12 other scions, as this is the maximum number of will make, but I don't know if I'll bother making all of them as I will likely never need that many.

The special weapons for Militarum Tempestus are even more restricted than for the guard, being only 4 options. I have gone for two volley guns, to give a good rate of fire and a couple of plasma guns for there high ap values and anti-MEQ killing power. Lastly I went with the good old flamer, because every guard unit should have at least one. I paired a few of these up with some specialisms.

Leader specialist - as I mentioned about, I have two tempestor models, one to represent the inquisitor and one to represent his right hand man, Dharem. I will chop and change who leads the kill team, depending upon what mission it is.

Medic specialist - this is only an option to Militarum Tempestus units and so I have decided to include on in the force. There are some reasonable bonuses to having on too. The specialist will be a normal Scion carrying a hotshot lasguns but modelled up to represent the medic roll.

Heavy specialist - this didn't take very long to narrow down as there are very few option here really. Of the special weapon, only the flamer or hotshot volley gun will really benefit. As such this will be used by one of the two hotshot volley gunners, giving him some added mobility.

Demolitions specialist - again, this will be taken by a flamer armed model and will follow the pyromaniac route on the tree.

The force will be quite different to play compared to the basic guard force, giving me lots of options on play style and composition when I want to play. I will also look at the tiger kill teams I plan on building, namely the deathwatch and AdMech forces but also the Stone Dragons force but I'm hoping that there maybe some proper space wolf options in the future for that force.

Kill team: astra Militarum

So with the new kill team here and having had a few weeks to get to grips with the rules, I have decided to put pen to paper and let you know my thoughts and ideas on putting together a kill team command roster for my various armies. I'll start with the two astra Militarum armies, one comprised of guardsmen and one comprised of scions of the militarum Tempestus.

I'll start with the guardsmen of the strike force, known as the Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron or TRS. The squadron generally refer to themselves as the dospossessed, due tob the fact that the TRS strike force is formed from men drawn from numerous regiments across the campaign, men who have excelled themselves in one way or another, be it through acts of bravery or by going above and beyond there duty or even just being the last surviving members of a heroic regimental action.

I rolled on the various tables in the rule book to build the fluff of the unit, allowing myself 1 re-roll in case I came up against something I really didn't like. As it happens I did use the re-roll but I'll get to that. So the background of the force is that they are a group of Light Infantry on a Raiding mission who have been going so long they have Gone Native (it was here that the re-roll was used as originally they were going to be Parade Ground Drilled, which would not have fitted the astetics that I was going for). The groups leader, sergeant Farestein, has Nerves of Steel, probably due to his years of experience.

So, who is going to be included within the command roster of 20 men and what weapons and specialities will they have?

First up let's look at the the guardsmen and there weapons.

Infantry squad sergeant (sgt Farestein) with power sword and bolt pistol

Guardsman gunner with flamer
Guardsmen gunner with flamer
Special weapons gunner with plasma gun
Special weapons gunner with plasma gun
Special weapons gunner with grenade launcher
Special weapons gunner with sniper rifle

Guardsmen with vox caster

12 Guardsmen with lasgun

Total 20 guardsmen.

Now you'll notice that there are 6 gunners when you can only take 4 in a kill team, this is because it's a command roster from which you pick a kill team from, something that took me a while to get my head around.

Anyway, let's have a quick look through the list. The sergeant should be fairly self explanatory, he will be the leader and as the only one able to take a power sword, I though it a good idea. Having a vox caster is similarly a good idea as the bonus you get for fielding one will be beneficial. The 12 other guardsmen are really there just to make up the bulk of the army. Being a cheap army to start with means loots of bodies on the field. The special weapons are a little more complexed.

The options for special weapons is not really limited, as all options available in the main codex are still available here. I decided that flamers would be a good idea, there automatic hits are always useful and with the small scale of kill team, the short range is less of an issue. I also added in a grenade launcher, for some longer ranged fire power. I decided to take a couple of plasma guns, because everyone knows plasma guns are one of the best weapons in 40k at the moment and it gives some good high power shooting. Finally I decided to take a sniper rifle, mostly for the option for mortal wounds, although they are far less important in kill team. One weapon that I did not take was the melta gun, as I really didn't see the point. Yes it kicks out a lot of damage with high ap but it has a very short range and as there are no vehicles and most models have only a handful of wounds. So for the moment I haven't bothered with melta guns but I may change my mind after a few games.

The next up are the specialists and this is where things get very complicated. My initial ideas, after closer inspection were not the best but after reviewing them, these are the specialists that I chose

Leader specialist - every kill team needs a leader, so this will go on to the sergeant. This is really the only good choice, although I could have put it on a special weapons guardsmen and then used the sgt as another specialist but that makes no sense fluff wise, so the sgt is the leader specialist.

Heavy specialist - I had to think about this but in the end I gave this to the grenade launcher guardsmen. Why? Simply because it's an assault weapon and can generate multiple hits, both of which mean it can make use of several of the specialist levels.

Sniper specialist - well, I've a sniper rifle, so I've gone for a sniper specialist, plus it will be useful in making the sniper more effective.

Demolitions specialist - this specialism will be used by one of the two guards men with flamers and will follow the pyromaniac route of the specialism. This give the flamer some useful additions and makes it more effective.

Scout specialist - this is the forth specialist in the list (not including the leader) and is again taken by a flamer guardsman. While this is not the strongest of specialism, it has a number of useful traits, namely the base re-rolling for advance moves, meaning that getting the flamer into range should be a lot easier.

All the rest of the guardsmen with lasguns are formed in to one fire team of 13 guardsmen (including the vox caster) and the two plasma gun armed guardsmen are formed into another fire team. I had quite a hard time deciding on specialism for the team, going back and forth between the various options several times. So much so, that I have decided to dedicate whole post to the subject, which I will post up shortly. Next up

Blood Angels codex review - abilities and psychic powers

This time we will be looking at the Sanguinary psychic discipline and also the various abilities that are available to the various units of the Blood Angels.

The Psychic Powers of the Sanguinary Disipline

Quickening
One of the two powers that targets the psyker themselves, and is aimed at improving there combat abilities. Really this is aimed at a psyker that is going to charge this turn but could be used defensively. A good power but not the best. Having said that, combine it with Wings of Sanguinis and you have a very powerful combo.

Unleash rage
This is one of the powers that I use a lot, mostly one either my death company before it charges or on my vanguard's before they charge. The power itself grants one extra attack and when combined with other abilities it can be very useful but you need to be quite selective on who you cast it on.

Shield of Sanguinius
This is another power that I use a lot. Granting a unit a 5+ invulnerable save to a unit can be quite powerful, especially with all the plasma guns going around. There is not really a bad unit to use this power on, apart from units that have an invulnerable save already. 

Blood Boil
This is a power that I don't use much but it is a useful power. It works best against characters but can be used against any number of units. Personally, I think that it would be most useful against the units that are the hardest for it to wound. Low toughness models are easy to wound in general and don't need a psychic power that can deal lots of mortal wounds to help, high toughness models, which are hard to wound in general and will be with this psychic power, are the models that would be most effected by the power. 

Blood Lance
Potentially a very powerful power, which with good positioning and a bit of luck could cause a lot of mortal wounds. However, it does require you getting close and is very dependent on getting good dice roll. Not only have you got to roll to get the power off but you have to roll to actually cause any damage. This power, while it has the potential to be very powerful, is just to random for my liking.

Wing of Sanguinius

This is the second power that targets the psyker and has a number of uses but will most likely be used to get in to close combat quicker. It's one of the easiest powers to cast and gives you a large threat radius and when combined with the Quickening, can quickly turn your psyker in to a combat monster. Oh and this is always fun to use on a librarian dreadnought for the look on your opponents face, flying psychic brick anyone?

So, most of the powers in the new Disipline have a use, some more so that others. I still don't think that librarians are combat orientated, especially without an invulnerable save, and are more suited to buffing units nearby but they can be used as offensive weapons just as easily, they are just not as reliable at this though.

As with all armies these days, the blood angels come with a number Abilities built in to them. Some are standard across the marine family, some are more akin to chapter tactics.

And They Shall Know No Fear (aka ATSKNF)
This is the same as with all marine varients and grants you a re-toll for failed moral  tests, which is always useful. Not as important for marines as for some armies but can be useful for keeping models where they should be, on the table.

Defenders of Humanity
This grants troops the old objective secured rules, meaning that they trump any other units, except other troops, when claiming objectives. It's a standard rule across the board for most armies, under one name or another.

These are the general abilities, the next two are more akin to chapter tactics.

Black Rage
This is applicable to certain units, most notable the death company units. This gives them some added resilience, although I very rarely actually make the 6+ roll needed to ignore wounds. The other bonus of an addition attack on the charge is also very useful and can really up the level of damage a unit can do, especially a full 15 man unit of death company. All in all its a good addition to many already good units.

Red Thirst
This is a classic blood Angles rules that has been around in one form or another for many years and in this edition it grants a +1 to wound on any unit that is in its first round of combat, whether it was charged or did the charging. It can make a huge difference against many different units, I just have to remember to use it!

All in all, the blood angels get some good abilities that really add to the individual flavour of the chapter. They have always been a chapter that favoured the up close and personal touch more so than many other chapters and it is reflected in the "chapter tactics". I just hope that we get some death company primaris marines at some point in the dim and distant future.

The NEW Kill team

So, I haven't really said much about this so far and there are several reason for this. The main reason is that I just haven't had the time to keep up to date with all of the releases that were occurring, both in the build up to the actual games release and also since then. The second reason is that I have been waiting to get my hands on one of the rule books and give it a good read through and the third reason is that there are going to be a lot of changes to my hobby life in the next couple of months, which I will detail in there own post shortly but lets just say that I think 40k as a 2000 pint game system is, for the foreseeable future not going to be a viable option for me and kill team hopefully will become the main stay of my hobby and gaming.

That being said, lets take a look at Kill Team and as always it will be slanted heavily towards the various imperial factions that I collect.

I have always loved the idea of kill team and when I first heard about it I was very excited, the idea of taking a small group of models on a mission and really getting in to the squad level tactics sounded great, although I never got a game at that time. When I did play a few games it was after they had re-released it for 6th, now if memory serves me right, they changed the rules at this point and instead of just taking individual models to form a kill team, you now had to take squads out of the codex and arm them as per the codex too. While this wasn't that bad in the overall scheme of things, it did take some of the flavour away and could be quite restrictive. However, it was still a fun and quick game to play and I never got more than a handful of games in, despite always wanting to play more. Now however, they have re-re-released the game and they have gone back to individual models again! Ok, so its still restricted to the list in the book but I think its fairly obvious that this will change in the future as more units will be made available (just look at the Grey Knights Daemon rule and the Deathwatch weapons list)

For the moment though were restricted to the unit in the book, which for me is not a bad list, yes there seems some obvious omissions, such as Veterans for Guard and Primaris units for deathwatch (again, check out the weapons list) and not to mention anything specific factions rules for Blood Angels and Dark Angles and then there are the Space Wolves. Space Wolf Tactical Squad anyone? Despite these glitches I am really looking forward to playing games of Kill Team and as such I already have lots of lists floating around my head, all with back stories and plans. What are they I hear you ask? Well, seeing as you asked nicely, here they are;

The Guard squad will as always be my primary squad and will probably see the most battles (hopefully) and will be based around a group of veterans pulled from all over the battle group and thrown together to perform long range infiltration raids and such, deep behind enemy lines. To this end, they will all be modelled up with back packs and as many pouches and bits of kit as I can get on them without them looking to sill. They will also mostly be Cadian style bodies, with a few Catachan thrown in for good measure, this is mostly due to the fact that I have several Cadian bodies floating around that I'm not really using. They will also all be painted differently, I say all, what I mean is there will only ever be a two or three models painted in the same uniform, there will be a lot of variety in the colours, all in an aim to make it look more like they are a collection of guards men from lots of regiments rather than a specific squad from one regiment. I plan on maxing out on the Gunners, with at least one of each special weapon modelled up, although I might skip the melta for the moment as I don't really see the need for it, seeing as there are no vehicles in this edition. that might mean 2 plasma gunners, as one is very likely to kill himself at some point. This would give me 5 guardsmen plus my Sgt, with power sword and plasma pistol and would actually only come in at about 44 points! in a 100 point list this leaves me space for 11 other guardsmen, bringing the squad to a total of 17 men. But as I can only field a max of 4 gunners per game, I will actually need at least 18 men on my roster but I will jack it up to the max of 20. Somewhere in there will also be a Vox-caster and a model done out to be a scout type unit.  So this will form my biggest force for kill team, mostly due to the fact that in order to fill a 100 point list I have to have lots of bodies. It may not be the most efficient and people will probably advise that I mix it up with scions but I am planning on keeping them separate for the moment.

Talking of scions, what about my Scion list, as you know I will have one. Well, these boys are not going to be actual scions and I won't be using the models for them. What I will be using are some old RT plastic and early 2nd  metal models alongside a few later plastic models, armed with 7th edition hotshot lasguns and the like, to form a units of Inquisition stormtroopers, sent in to follow the guard squad above, in secret, to hunt down high priority targets. They will as such be armed to the teeth with special weapons, the Sgt having a power fist and plasma pistol and the gunners being armed with at least 2 hotshot volley guns, 2 plasma guns, a grenade launcher and a flamer. I will also have a medic and a vox-caster in there. As I can only take 4 gunners at a time, I will also need a number of regular scions, so I will fill out the list with half a dozen or so regular guys. In a 100 point list though I am looking at only being ably to take a maximum of 10 with no upgrades or about 8 with upgrades, so I will only need about 15 scions on the list. Unlike the guard team, all of these guys will be pained the same and have a very unformal look to them, as they are all servants of the same inquisitor and as such wear his colours and uniform.

Now, me being me, cant just stop at two teams, oh no, so I have a couple more that I'm planning on. The first should be fairly obvious, this is Kill Team after all and if there is one unit in the game that really shots Kill Team more than any other its the Deathwatch. Now, I don't own any Deathwatch models, oh, wait, yes, yes I do. A friend was recently looking to down size his collection and so I picked up half of the Deathwatch Death Masque box and with it the Deathwatch Kill Team Sprue. So now the plan is to build all the options out of the box using the team included as well as models from my Betrayal at Calth boxset that is still sitting around. This will, in my calculations give me 15 to 17 models plus Captain Artimus, so 18 for the kill team. Seeing as I could never field more than 7 models, all in basic format and very few of mine will be in there basic format, I will have plenty of options to take. Yes I don't need to build them all and having things like two heavy thunder hammers will probably be completely useless but I've the models to spare, so why the hell not. Each individual model will have a chapter badge, thanks to the boxset, and most will have the deathwatch should pad, as I have 15 of them and as such each member will have an individual back story and personality.

In addition to the Deathwatch kill team, I will able be putting together a force from my Stone Dragons, which will form the only build for these guys as it means I can have a force of them without building the full force like I was planning and still have a very usable force. Its a shame that they don't have specific Space Wolf rules but I think we may see that during the Space Wolf codex release alongside a specific Kill Team Force box, even though, technically the current marine one is also a SW force. Although it's a shame that you can't take grey hunters or blood claws in the game at the moment, I will still be forming a team out of tactical marines that will be decorated in all sorts of wolf like accessories. At the moment I plan on having a force with just marines, as I don't own any scouts or primaris marines. The force will be plasma heavy with sgt and gunner having plasma and the heavy having a heavy bolter, I will also model up a flamer amd a missile launcher so i have the options and the rest will just be basic marines with bolters, although as I said, they will be fully decked out with all sorts of bits and pieces of wargrear and stuff. The fluff for these guys is pretty much written but will need some minor amendments to bring it it to line with killl team and the new set up.

I will probably put together a killteam list for.my blood angles, although I would prefer to wait until i can use some other units, maybe death company, to form a different type of kill team as at the moment, having multiple marine kill teams wouldn't make much sense as they are all the same.

I really like the new kill team and I think that it will be a really good and fun game to play. There are some minor quibbles already, the main one I stated above, in that there are not rules for space wolves. Ok I can understand why blood angles and dark angles don't have there own rule set, as they are pretty much codex compliant with these units at this level. It's only the specialist units and higher up the command structure that things change. Space wolves though are very different and as they have done rules for death guard and thousand sons, rather then lump them in with chaos, I find it hard to understand why they did it for the wolves. It would not have been hard to just switch out scouts and tactiacals for blood claws and grey hunters.

Hopefully, I will get a game or two in fairly soon and be able to try out a couple of the lists and see how they perform.

Blood Angels codex review - warlord traits and relics

Now that we've finished with the various units, we will be moving on the the other areas of the book, such as warlord traits, stratagems and psychic powers. To start with we will look at the warlord traits and relics of Baal.

Warlord traits

Speed of the Primarch

If you have a tooled up combat monster of a warlord, then this is the trait for you. Having the option to always fight first or second at worst, is a great bonus for a combat character, giving you the ability to hit them before they hit you. This is one of the better trait options as well.

Artisan of war

Another great trait and one with some versatility. This trait give one weapon, not including relics, an extra point of damage. This means that you can put it on a power weapon for some extra close combat punch or a ranged weapon for some better shooting, how about a 2 damage plasma pistol with out the danger of over charging. This is one of the two that I usually go for for my warlord, the other being Speed of the Primary. 

Soulwarden

Of your going to be facing psychic heavy armies then this might be an option to use. Giving you the ability to make a dent the witch roll every phychic phase can be quite useful, however, if your facing psychic heavy armies, one deny isnt going to do much and also, why not just take a librarian? That way you get some other powers as well. To me this is a very specific trait and I think that others are better, why deny a power when you can just kill the psyker by killing it in combat with speed of the primacy or at range with Artisan of War?

Heroic Bearing

This one seems to be fairly standard across most armies in one form or another and grants you the ability to ignore morale around your warlord. In some armies, such as guard, this makes sense but for marines with there automatic morale re-roll anyway, it seems like over kill. Unless your planning on taking heavy casualties, this trait is not one that I would use.

Gift of Forsight

Again, one of the more standard warlord traits, granting the ability to ignore woulda on a 6+ or if you have the black rage ability, on a 5+. Now, I'm in two minds about this one, as having played against nurgle armies several times, the power of disgusting reliance is amazing, the amount of time I have poured enough fire power to wipe out a unit, only to see one or two models removed. However. I seem never able to make a 6+ save on my death company. I think it could be useful on a very combat orientated character to help them survive but if you have a combat warlord then I would be taking one of the first two traits and not this one. This is really a trait to use if you really cant find a use for the first two on this list.

Selfless Valour

This is another common trait and again one that I think will see little use. This trait gives you the ability to perform a heroic intervention from 6 inches away. Now this suffers from the problem that it is best used by a combat orientated character but there are two other traits that are significantly better for such a character. While heroic interventions are useful, I'm not sure that the extra this trait gives you really makes that much difference. Overall this is potentially the weakest trait here but it can still have it's uses.

So thats the warlors traits and as usual there a mixed bag, some good and some not so good. Next up are the Relics of Baal.

Hammer of Baal
This replaces a models thunder hammer and while it still has the standard hammer profile, it looses the -1 to hit. This may not seem a lot but in the right hands it can make quite a difference. The standard build right now seems to be the smash captain, armed with a thunder hammer. With this version he is hitting on 2's re-rolling 1's. This makes it pretty reliable at damaging whatever it's hitting. This is a strong relic for a heavy hitting combat character.

Angles Wings
Now, while the hammer above is good for hitting, this relic is very good at getting you in to combat. This is the other option for the smash captain, as it replaces the models jump packs and allowed you to re-roll charges but also stops your opponent from over watching! This is my usual choice of relic, on a lieutenant, supporting a Chaplin and the death company. Charge in the lieutenant and shut down the overwatch before charging in the rest. Against some armies, such as nurgle Desmond, it's not very powerful, against others, Tau, it can be very powerful. For me this is one of, if not, the best relic here.

Veritas Vitae
This relic appears in almost every codex under one name or another and grants the ability to regain a command point every time you use a stratagem. With a 1 in 3 chance of regaining a stratagem it can be useful but you could go all game without regaining a single command point. For me, I wouldn't take this relic as my main chance but then you have to think about whether it's worth spending a command point (one you cant regain) on getting it as a second relic.

Gallians Staff
This relic makes more sense now than it did when the codex was released, due to the changes to smite in chapter approved. If your spamming smite then this won't really make much difference but if you have just a couple of psyker then this will help you get the second or third smite off. I don't really think that this is the best use of a relic but if you want to get smite off reliably, then this is the one to go for. 

Archangles Shard
This relic is very specific, too specific I think. If you are going to be facing lots of big beasts then it could be worth it, but without any strength bonus, you'll still struggle to wound in the first place. This is not a relic in would recommend or one that I see being used a lot either. 

Standard of Sacrifice - Ancient only, 6" models gain 5+ fnp
This relic ifls for the ancients only and along side the standard abilities, it also grants a small "FNP" bubble. This is a good little bonus and as you are usually going to put your ancient with one of your more powerful units, it could be a good way of keeping them alive a bit longer. 

Now, one of my biggest grumbles about the whole book, the fact that successor chapters have a limited selection of relics, as in the Archangels Shard and ………., well, that's just it. yes, successor chapters can only take the Archangels Shard relic and nothing else. This to me is not good. I can see why you could not get certain relics, which to me means the Veritas Vitae but the others? I'm sure someone else could have forged a master crafter thunder hammer or jump pack and I'd be surprised if other chapters don't have a standard that they revere, maybe the first banner ever used by the company or one that was present at a particularly important event in there history. I understand the significance of the Swords but I still feel that it is an unnecessary  restriction. Luckily, my local group allows me to run my Eagle Knights successor chapter as de facto Blood Angles and therefore use all of the relics. Which is nice of them.

Completed Dagr Ormr models

Following on from previous posts, I though that I would show off the completed models for the Dagr Ormr scions. There are not many models here, as I have only completed two of the box sets that I have, one being a 20 man dreamforge Eisenkern stormtroopers and the other being GW's own Militarum Tempestus Scions. I have another 35 more models to paint up, which are going to be next up on the paint table, as soon as I finished the last of the Hjaltland LI.

Again, these were based the same as the hildasey PDF, using the same technique. I forgot to mention previously that I had also added some stones to the bases of some of the models, to add a little bit of detail. The stones were also to mimic the stones\gray areas that are visible on the mat.

The completed models, split down in to there squads. Blue troop, yellow troop and red troop at the back. The command squads, black and white at the front, along side green troop Sgt. Finally, front and centre, the company commander.

The squads at the rear are table legal, with blue and red troop consisting of 5 scions each, including a Sgt, vox and 3 riflemen. Yellow troop in the middle are 8 strong, with sgt and vox, missing only the two special weapons. 

The command squads on the other hand are not table legal. Command squad white consists of 2 hotshot volley guns and a vox, while command squad black consists of just a medic and flamer. The other figure is the lone member of green troop, in the form.of the troop Sgt.

A slightly day-glow picture of the commander. While the colours are wildly out of whack, it's does show up the stones on the basing.

A better picture. Its a shame that I didn't get a picture of the back, as I have added some nice details to the base, in the form of a helmet, lasgun and water bottle that have been discarder. I still like this model a lot and i'm very pleased with how it has turned out.

Blood Angels codex review - Flyers

This is the final instalment of the units from the Blood Angels codex before I move on to the other parts of the book. This will be a short one today as we will be looking at just the 3 flyers in the book. First up is the newest of the three. 

Stormhawk Interceptor

The Interceptor is designed, as its name suggest to act as an interceptor, targeting other flyers more that it targets ground units. It can be geared up to take out ground targets by swapping out its anti-flyer weapons but I think that it is as an anti-flyer that it really excels, especially as its cousin, the Stormtalon is really designed for ground attack. With this in full anti-flyer role and by that I really mean, anti-fly keyword, it can be a real threat. For me, I would only ever take this in this role and I would probably only take this if I was taking it as part of the Air Superiority Wing Detachment with some of the other options. If your in a flyer heavy meta, then this would be worth taking on its own, but I think that it works best in support of the other flyers. 

Stormraven Gunship

This is the big one, both in size and points. It is the only flyer with transport capacity, including a Dreadnought! When armed to the teeth, this is a very strong unit, able to kick out a significant amount of fire power, more so than pretty much any other non-superheavy unit in the game but it will cost you as well. It has its role as it is a transport and can be very useful for getting troops around the field quickly but it is also a significant bullet magnet for your opponent. I would love to own one of these craft, arm it to the teeth and fly my assault marines and furioso dread around the field but a) a don't have a furioso dear and b) I really cant afford/justify having one in my collection. In my opinion, if your looking for just one marine flyer, then this is the one to get.

Stormtalon Gunship

Lastly we have the Stormtalon, while similar to the Stormhawk, it does fill a very different role, that of ground attack and at this it does excel. Its a shame that it doesn't have power for the machine spirit or similar but with strafing run, it does make up for it a little. Again you can arm this for taking out flying targets, but really, this is best used for taking out ground units, especially infantry models in base form. It can be upgraded to a dedicated anti-armour hunter and this is what I would do if I had one. There are lots of other units that can take out infantry but being able to manoeuvre around the table to take down the heavier elements of your enemies army with almost impunity is great. While I do really like this flyer, as I said above, if your looking for just one flyer, I would go for the Stormraven, for it transport and its versatility, but if you have the cash and this need, an Air Superiority Wing Detachment with one of each of these units in would be a really great asset to have and would enable you to take on any threat that you might face. If you really have the money a full 5 stron wing, with two Stromhawks and two Stromtalon, one of each configuration and a Stromraven wound be amazing but very expensive to own!

Basing

After posting up about the quickshade, I though I would post up a little bit about how I based my models. It's not the most comprehensive guide to basing and probably isn't the best but it works and I did watch a few youtYou videos before I started, well after I had done a couple of models, which didn't turn out quite sparsely based with the flock.

The plan was simple, lay down a brown base paint, to give it an earthly look, although I think that a gray might have suited the battle mat better and is something I may try with my marines.

For my guard though I started with Revell XXX and added some detail with a few stones. I didn't do this with every model, only with just under half the models and most only had one.

The base covered in PVA glue. I used a slightly watered down mix. I don't know the exact ratio as I just added some water, pretty much at random to the small batch of PVA I was working with. I was as careful as I could be to not get any on the model itself or the rim of the base, however I wasn't that successful at times and so some remedial work was required on some models.

The basing flock, field grass from army Painter, decanted in to an old butter tub to give some space for working. 

The base loaded with flock. I dumped a load on to the base and gave it a little press down to help the flock to stock. 

I did small batches at a time, basically as many as I could fit on to the lid of the butter tub. I could have done more by just putting them on the desk but I didn't want to waste to much of the flock, as with the bases loaded right up like this, some tended to fall off everything a model was moved or a neighboring one moved. 

Once the models had been given a few minutes for the glue to set slightly before I gave them an initial shake to get rid of most of the loose material. Once this was done they were left over night to dry fully before they were given a good shake to get the last of the loose material to fall off.

The finished model.

You can probably see the base through the flock on the front of the base. This seems to happen occasionally, where for some reason the flock doesn't stick as thickly as I would like. This is one of the reasons for thinking about switching to a grey base for the marines, as the mat itself has a more grey colour to it. 

Here you can see a large majority of the Hildasay PDF, all based and ready for action. It really does surprise me how much of a difference basing up models makes. In the past, I had always though that yes it looks pretty and all but was it really worth all the extra effort when it doesn't really affect the model. Well, having spent some time doing it, the answer is most definitely yes, it does make a difference. It really does finish off the model and even with the basic basing that I have been doing here, it does really finish the models off.

Here is one final shot, of another missile launcher. This was the second one of my old metal missile teams that I based and you can see that the base is a lot better on this one and you can not see the painted base nearly as much. Personally I don't think that having some inconsistencies within the bases is a bad thing, as the matt is not consistent and nor is nature. 

Hopefully, I will be able to get the Hjaltland LI up here at some point, completed and displayed in all there glory. Although, I suppose I should figure out what I'm going to do with the fliers bases at some point.