New Eagle Knights

 

The last of my army updates and, for me, the most important one. The Eagle Knights primaris units had a rough introduction to the chapter, they were unwelcome Interlopers in to a proud successor of the Blood Angels and we're only accepted because Lord Commander Dante, the Lord of the Angels, decreed that they should. Separated off and sent on unimportant missions to keep them out the way, they built themselves a reputation as worthy warriors and more importantly worthy Knights. With the introduction of the Rubicon Primaris and the Indoctrinated or upgrading old ones Marines to primaris and the process of turning scouts to primaris marines, the original primaris were brought back in to the chapter proper and treated as equals. 

The chapter lore will be progressed to show this integration and the change in operations to reflect the new ways. The overall theory will remain though, up close and personal or fast and mobile. As such the main bulk will be formed of the new assault Intercessors and supported by suppressors. This will give both the elements that the chapter uses, with their intercessors charging headlong across the board to get in to combat while the suppressors use their mobility to jump around taking out other targets. The plan is also to get the new Lieutenant and Captain from the 9th edition boxsets and also have their shields tank stuff. 

In terms of colour scheme, this won't change. There are a few minor differences from the original art above, namely the feet aren't black, nor is the top of the pack and helmet but that's really it. Minor things that looked good on paper but just didn't work on a model. The new Marines will.follow exactly the same as the old ones and will, if I feel like it, be able to be run together with no issues. 

So, if all goes to plan, the basic force should consist of the new Lieutenant and Captain from the Indominus boxset, the ones with the storm shields, supporting 10 assault Marines, possibly split in to two squads but most likely just painted up to enable them to combat squad. The suppressors, the standard 3 of them, will form the fire support. As I mention above, the aim is to charge across the field and get in to combat, while the enemy long range firepower is being dealt with by the suppressors. Is is far from a power list or even a well rounded list but it's fluffy and should be fun to play. 

In future the force my expand, although I suspect not by much and not for a long time. What will make the biggest difference will be the codicies and how that are handled. I know that all the chapters are now in the main codex with supplements for specific chapters but I don't know whether I will.both with the supplements or just stick with the main book and just use stuff out of there. I imagine that by the time I get my app my guard finished, not to mention all the kill team stuff, there will have been another marine codex and a whole host of new models released anyway, so things might be very different by the time I'm actually in a position to expand my Marines properly again!

The Tournament Plan

 Last time I went through the list but ran out of space and time to talk about how I plan on running the list, so here goes. Now I know that no plan ever survives an encounter with the enemy but you should still have an overall plan and here's mine (I just hope none of my opponent are reading!)

First up, let's explain the three main elements. Firstly the static firebase. This is going to be formed of the warlord commander, Inquisitor, master of ordnance, Ogryn Bodyguard, two infantry squads with autocannons and the two wyverns. The second element will be formed from the two flyers, the Valkyrie carrying the vets squad and the vendetta carrying the platoon commander and plasma command squad. The final element will be formed of the Hellhammer, second commander, office of the fleet, psyker and 4 remaining infantry squads. This last element will probably be subdivided again depending upon mission and enemy. 

The firebase element will form the core and be positioned somewhere towards the centre of the deployment zone, somewhere where the Wyverns can have a good range of fire and cover as much of the board as possible. With two of them there should be little of the board they can't cover. The Guardsmen are there to act as screening, which while less of an issue now, is still something that should be available. The others are there to support these two options with the commander there to issue orders and the Master of Ordnance to buff the Wyverns. With the new rules for blast weapons not really effecting the wyverns, these will just be picking on priority targets rather than going for maximum shots, granted, if a large unit is present, then I will be dropping shots on them. 

The second element, the airborne units, will be hunting high priority targets from the off. The vendetta will be looking to big powerful units, like dreadnoughts or tanks, while the Valkyrie will be looking more for powerful infantry units. The cargo will stay in for as long as possible, dropping in when a good targets appears. The melta vets will be looking for tanks, walkers and other similar targets. With 3 meltas, possible in half range, depending upon if the unit is dropped or disembarks normally, it should be able to seriously damage whatever it hits. Granted, there is a high likely hood that it will be a suicide mission but if they can kill something of a higher value than themselves then it's all good. The plasma command squad are in a similar position, they will drop out, hit something hard and probably die but again, as long as they do their job it doesn't matter. This element is probably the biggest gamble of the force, they can hit like a train or a feather and until the dice are rolled, you never know which. 

The final element is possible the most unknown element. I've not run a super heavy before, in any circumstances. The general idea for this is that the Hellhammer will run up the table followed by either 2 or 4 of the squads plus the second company commander, psyker and the officer of the fleet. This lot will move towards the main bulk of the enemy and try and prevent them from being able to claim objectives, either by over running them with bodies or shooting them off. The commander is there to control discipline and issue orders, while the psyker is there to buff the tank with psychic spells to either up the save or affect enemy hit rolls, basically to try and keep it alive longer. The officer of the fleet is there to help the flyers by picking out priority targets for the guns and with the new rules, this will help even more, as there is no negative to hit for the heavy weapons. As I mentioned above, there are 4 infantry squads in this section but these may split into two sections of two, one staying with the tank and commander and two heading out on their own, either to hold a position or to generally be a pain. 

Although this is the general plan, there maybe times when I'll need to change things up, either pushing up all the infantry or holding them back. The vets can be deployed on the table and a normal infantry squad jump in the Valkyrie to get dumped on the far side just to score some points before being destroyed. I think there is enough flexibility in the list not to get pigeon holed into one way of thinking.

Tournament list

 So, I wrote about the upcoming tournament at the club recently and I thought that I would write up my list and my thoughts on how it will work. I'll warm you now, this is going to turn in to a long one, so brace yourselves!

 The list works around 3 main elements, a static gunline section, a fast moving assault section and an armoured thrust. I'll go over the full plan later but first let's just run through the list (as it is copied from BattleScribe)

The overall force consists of two detachments, the first if a batallion;

Battalion Detachment - 83 PL, 12CP, 1,460pts

Regimental Doctrine: Valhallan

This portion contains the majority of the force, nearly three quarters of it and all the infantry units. Being as it's a 2000 point list, it provides a 12 command points. I have also decided to go for the Valhallan doctrine. This is for two reasons, firstly to make the Infantry more resilient, vehicles as well and secondly there's a cool relic. I could have gone with the standard Cadian, or even Vostroyan or possibly even Tallarn. Both are viable options, with Vostroyan giving valuable extra range and a very cool stratagem, allowing you to shoot at units your in combat with. Tallarn on the other hand enables you to move around a lot, constantly moving your army without having to worry about any penalties to shooting. However the relic and stratagem for Tallarn are useless for this army. In the end I went with Valhallan, mostly, as I said, because it helps a lot with morale, which can be a big thing. It means that the enemy will have to concentrate on one unit at a time right until its destroyed, rather than just peppering it and letting morale do the rest. Secondly, it makes vehicles very hard to get rid of, again they need reducing right down to just one or two wounds to reduce their effectiveness. The pistol relic is also good for morale. The stratagem is rubbish (send in the next wave) but we all know that. The stratagem on the other hand is rather good. Similar to the Vostroyan one but reversed, enabling you to shoot at units engaged in combat with other units. This means that you could put shots in from multiple units, rather than one depleted unit.

+ Stratagems +

Imperial Commander's Armoury [-1CP]: 1 additional Heirloom of Conquest

Next up is the the extra relic stratagem, giving me 2 relics in total. This is so that I can have the aforementioned pistol and another relic on my warlord.

+ Agents of the Imperium +

Inquisitor [4 PL, 70pts] Ordo Hereticus, Plasma pistol, Power maul, Psyker: Psychic Fortitude

The Inquisitor, the very basis of this list and the story behind it all. She's tooled up as well with plasma pistol and maul, meaning she can take care of herself should she need to. She's a psyker as well, mostly to help buff nearby units if needed, I don't really plan of getting in smite range very often.

+ HQ +

Company Commander [2 PL, 35pts] Relic: The Laurels of Command,WT: Bellowing Voice

Company Commander [2 PL, 37pts] Relic: Pietrov's Mk 45 

Primaris Psyker [3 PL, 50pts] Nightshroud, Psychic Barrier

The command structure of the force and it's very basic. Two company commanders, to issue orders. The warlord with the Bellowing Voice trait to increase his orders range, plus with with the laurels of command relic, the second relic in the list, there could be some good orders combos going on, as Laurels let's you issue a second order to a unit. This commander will be sitting back with some elements of the force to form a firebase in support of the other elements. The second commander, with relic pistol will be pushing forward to take objectives as such. The primaris psyker will be hidden behind the super heavy, with the sole aim of trying to protect it, either by making it harder to hit or buffing it's save, which ever I think will be best at the time. He may occasionally smite but that will only be as a last resort.

+ Troops +

Infantry Squad [3 PL, 65pts] Flamer, Autocannon

Infantry Squad [3 PL, 65pts] Flamer Autocannon

Infantry Squad [3 PL, 55pts] Flamer

Infantry Squad [3 PL, 55pts] Flamer

Infantry Squad [3 PL, 55pts] Flamer

Infantry Squad [3 PL, 55pts] Flamer

6 infantry squads, 2 with autocannons, forming part of the firebase and providing protection for the vehicles. These will sit with the warlord and Inquisitor and remain pretty static for most of the game. The other 4 squads will be split, probably in to two units of two and push forward, one lot with the commander and one lot with the super heavy. They will be there to take and hold objectives or preform actions if needed. Realistically they probably won't provide much of the overall firepower in the list.

+ Elites +

Command Squad [2 PL, 64pts] 4x Plasma gun

Master of Ordnance [2 PL, 35pts]

Officer of the Fleet [2 PL, 25pts]

Ogryn Bodyguard [6 PL, 60pts] Bullgryn Maul, Bullgryn Plate, Slabshield

Platoon Commander [2 PL, 27pts] Bolt pistol

Veterans [5 PL, 102pts] Heavy flamer, 3x Meltagun

A very mixed bag here. The command squad, platoon commander and veterans will be loaded into flyers and will form the mobile element of the list, dropping in where and when they are required. With the melta and plasma, they should be able to deal with most things they encounter. The master of ordnance will be sitting with the heavy support in the firebase, providing rerolls and such, while the officer of the fleet will be pushing up with one of the other mobile forces to enable to flyers to get some rerolls as well. The last unit here is the Ogryn Bodyguard. This is a bit of a wild card unit, I'm not sure how it will play out but it will sit down with the warlord and Inquisitor and protect them or at least try to anyway. 

+ Heavy Support +

Wyverns [8 PL, 135pts] Heavy Bolter,

Wyverns [8 PL, 135pts] Heavy Flamer

The wyverns, a firm fixture in most of my lists. These will sit in the firebase and just rain death on people and with the new rules, there's the chance of doing some real damage. 

+ Flyer +

Valkyries [7 PL, 120pts] 2x Multiple Rocket Pods, Multi-laser,

Vendetta Gunship [12 PL, 215pts]

This forms the mobile element of my force, loaded up with vets and plasma command squad. These will take the fight to the enemy and generally be a pain to deal with. The Valkyrie should be able to put out a good amount of anti-armour as well, something that tends to be lacking in this list. 

The final element of this list is the super heavy. This forms a quarter of the army and it's going to be a bullet magnet! It also costs me 3cp now!

Super-Heavy Auxiliary - 33 PL, -3CP, 540pts

Regimental Doctrine: Valhallan

+ Stratagems +

Tank Ace [-1CP]

I've put these bit together, as they don't make sense apart. Super heavies don't get regimental doctrines as a rule but with the Tank Ace stratagem, which costs a CP, you can make a superheavy a tank Ace and give them a trait, in this case, the Steadfast Leviathan, which gives the superheavy the full benefits of the doctrine, in this case doubling wounds when deciding on profiles. This means that you have to drop it to 6 wounds to get it off it's too profile, instead of 13, quite some difference. 

+ Super-Heavy +

Hellhammer [33 PL, 540pts] Lascannon & Twin Heavy Flamer Sponson

The final price of the puzzle, the Hellhammer. This will be run up the table and force my opponent to deal with it. With the new rules for 9th, it will just keep on trundling up the table. Technically its got heavy bolters sponsors rather than flamers, but I'm hoping no one will mind. 

++ Total: [116 PL, 7CP, 2,000pts] ++

So that's it, my full list, 2000 points on the nose, giving me 7cp. 7! God, what happened to my 22+ CP I'm use to! Overall I will have 12 but still. Anyway, I was going to talk through my plans for the list but I think this post has got long enough, so next time, how I plan to run my list.

Stone Dragons

 

Next up are the Stone Dragons. This force is the least complete of all my new forces, as it currently consists of 3 Reivers, although 3 more should be on the way. 

The Stone Dragons are a bit of a mixed bag. The current lore states that these guys are probably Ultramarine successors but they follow the ways of the Space Wolves. This was because I wanted Space Wolves but without having Space Wolves, which you couldn't do. Now however you can but these guys are not a new chapter, so I can't just rewrite the lore. I could just continue as it is but that leaves another problem, how do you integrate new Ultramarine primaris units into a Space Wolf following chapter? Did they just turn up and go "yeah, that's sounds like a great idea!" Some how I doubt it. Anyway, I'm sure I'll figure a way to bring it all together. 

One thing that hasn't changed about the Dragons however, is the colour scheme. Along with the Knights, the original colour scheme is still in use, as it just fitted and look right straight away. It's Space Wolf enough for it to be obvious they follow the Space Wolves tactics but far enough away that they aren't instantly identified as Wolves. There have been a couple of minor alterations to the scheme and there will probably be some more minor changes to get it to fit with the new models, which I will explain later, but these will be minor. 

The only edits to the current scheme is the loss of the yellow helmet crest and the vox grill on the front being black instead off yellow, both because it hid the eyes to much, turning them from a prominent feature of the helmet in to just another yellow splodge.

The new Dragons will continue the lore of hunters and surgical strikes. This will be continued with the new breed by switching over to Vanguard Marines and exclusively using Phobos pattern armour. The lore will progress to a point where the "new" recruits and upgraded old ones will have integrated to form a coherent fighting force of silent hunters, using shock and awe tactics.  

As such the new for will look something like quite different to the old force, not that it got built! The new list will be lead by either a Librarian or a Lieutenant. I would prefer a Librarian but it depends on what boxsets I manage to pick up. The Vanguard start collecting box has a Lieutenant in, where as the Shadowspear box has all 3 options. A Librarian would also fit in better for when the forces are combined as with the new codex, I believe you can only have 1 Captain and 2 lieutenants in the force, so having a librarian and chaplain (from Dark Guardians) in the mix would be useful. Next up will be Infiltrators or possibly Incursors. Both of the boxsets, Shadowspear and the Vanguard start collecting set, contain Infiltrators but whether these are mono pose, single build models or proper multiparty kits I don't know. I suspect that they are mono pose jobs and so I won't have a choice. Thematically, I would like Incursors with their paired combat blades, it's more Wolfy but Infiltrators would still work. A barrage of bolters followed by an assault, should still be able to do a fair amount of damage. Next up are a small squad of Reivers, these are here for two reasons, partly due to there combat abilities, a unit of 5 can put out 21 attacks on the charge but also there ability to drop on grav chutes can be useful for grabbing back field objectives. The last element of the list is the Eliminators. These will offer some longer range fire power and also some anti-vehicle potential. Granted theses are not lascannons but they can still put out some damage.

All in all I think this is a pretty well rounded list for a 500 point list. These is some combat, some shooting and some long range shooting, plus the ability to snipe out characters. Yes, anti-armour is slightly lacking but at 500 point levels, I can't see many Land Raiders or Repulsars being used.  

As it stands, I have 6 Reivers, so I'm a long way off this list. As mentioned above, the colour scheme may change and this is due to the fact that Phobos armour only has one pauldrons and so I may well paint the top of the left arm yellow as well. I have no doubt there will be other changes, probably to the power packs but until I paint up some of the Reivers I won't really know. 

All that is left now are the Eagle Knights and that could be a long one!

Edit: Well, my plans have been in place for less than a month and already they will have to change! In the last post in this series I spoke about the Dark Guardians and how they were being built around scouts, to form a very narrative force. Only now scouts aren't troops. Yeah, didn't see that one coming! So a rethink is in order, what that rethink will be I don't know but I suspect it will be Phobos shaped.

Tournament time, maybe..........

The local club is trying to hold a tournament, has been for a little while but with things going the way they are it's been a bit of a challenge to get it actually organised. The tournament was first voiced a couple of months back, you know, one of those things to work towards when lock down finished and a bit of motivation to get some models painted. We're past the first list submission date and rapidly heading towards the next with little sign that were actually going to get to play. Even the Escalation league that's has been running this year now allows games played on Table Top Simulator or similar to be counted towards league games, obviously playing with your actually painted models as it were. 

Anyway, it's a 2000 point team type tournament, you know Chaos vs Xenos vs Imperium. So far there's only been half a dozen lists put in and we're 4 Imperium, 4 Xenos but only 2 Chaos. By my reckoning, we'll get one more of each faction, which leaves Chaos some what at a disadvantage. There might be some wiggle room to move some stuff from one faction to another but I don't know the actual armies involved, just what faction they are part of. The general idea is that the various faction have been drawn to a mysterious planet on the fringes of Imperial space, uncharted and unknown but something has called out in to the void and it has been answered. The factions will fight the other factions, with points for the individual matches being combined to see who takes control over all. Depending upon how things go, this may well be the start of a longer running campaign within the group, maybe taking other tournaments in to account in the future or even various matched through out the year, who know! 

Personally I really like these sort of narrative things, hence the blog! I have often dreamed about running a full on narrative tournament type thing, spanning the full spectrum of GW games, from Battle Fleet Gothic right down to Kill team, via Epic and 40k. A full on planetary invasion with two massive forces. Not a realistic prospect unless I win the lottery, which when you consider I don't actually play, is quite unlikely. 

As for this tournament, I have gone with my classic guard list but with a bit of a super heavy twist. The whole list is based around the idea of an Inquisitor sent to find out the secrets of the planet and having be given a company of guardsmen to act as bodyguards \ sacrificial lambs, which ever is needed. 

I'll go into the full list in another post and give my thoughts on why I've chosen what I have, there are reason for most choices but a few were there just for fun really. I'm not taking this tournament very seriously, as it will be my first games of 9th, which I have yet to actually read or even buy the rules for. I have a rough idea of the changes but things like actions are still an unknown quantity to me. 

The list is however almost ready to go, the only thing that needs painting is the Inquisitor! She's half painted but needs finishing off. She'll be done by the time she's needed for the table top, I'll make sure of that. The super heavy could do with a spruce up as well, as although it's painted, it was second hand and needs a little tidying up, plus the commander needs a new head, as he lost his old one somewhere. 

Hopefully when we do get to play, I'll post up some pictures of the games. 

Dark Guardians

 The Dark Guardians are my second marine army and as a Dark Angels successor, they are part of my second favorite marine army. I have always loved the lore of the 1st legion, it's hidden history and shady dealing. The Dark Guardians were supposed to be a full 2000+ point army in there own right, to go alongside my Eagle Knights army but with no time to really paint or play they have been relegated to the loft, although there is a full force there just waiting to get painted and I will get them painted, one day.........

Anyway, there new Primaris Guardians are one their way, although it might be a while till I get the last of them. First though, there have been, as always, a few updates to the chapter. This time the updates are minor and are pretty much all visual. Some may have noticed that the colour scheme has changed a bit from the fluff, to be honest I didn't when I painted them! I had gone off the original scheme, mostly the yellow chest plate but when I painted up the kill team, I followed the pattern from a biker I had already painted up and did t really think much about it. It was only when I was over the pages for the Brazen Hawks that I noticed that the colours for the Guardians was different on their page! Anyway this is the old and new colours for the Guardians;

The old scheme

The new scheme

I think the new scheme is cleaner, simpler. It doesn't show very well on here but the edges of the pauldrons and vents on the pack are actually metallic, leadbelcher to be precise. It's clearer n these pictures;

Apart from the colour scheme changing, the lore will remain the same but as with the others, be progressed. In terms of the Guardians this means accepting, all be it grudgingly some primaris marines, who will be put to work on more mundane tasks, while those who survive the upgrade procedure will continue with the "other" tasks. The force will switch to the new bikes and heavier armoured primaris units, namely gravis armoured  Inceptors. These fit in to the tried and tested hammer and anvil tactics of the chapter.

The 500 point force will consist of a Chaplain and 2 scout squads. One of these squads will be for close combat work, with knives and bolt pistols, while the other will have sniper rifles, heavy bolters and bolters. This core will be supported by a squad of the new Outriders , just the one squad of 3 for the moment. There will also be a squad of Inceptors, armed with the assault bolters, mainly because these are the ones that come in the Dark Imperium box set. If I decide to increase the size of this force, then I will no doubt add another squad of bikes and a squad of plasma Inceptors, I may also add in one of the new land speeders but that's going to be some way off, like years!

So far I have the scouts and the Inceptors and fire the mean time a lieutenant will suffice as the units warlord, meaning I will have a legal force to field.