Scion drop troops

A little late to the party but never mind. The new Tempestus Aquilons are here and they look stunning. 

All ten of the models have lots of character and poses are really nice and dynamic.

They have all the classic kill team operatives, from special weapons gunners and sniper (marksman) above, to fighters, gun slingers and demolitions at the bottom.

 And in kill team these guys have some very cool.rules and abilities, not least being able to drop in around the board over various turns rather than having to.start in your deployment zone. This gives you options to get in to positions you wouldn't have been able to and to pressure your opponent in all sorts of new ways. However, as much as I love kill team, and I'm genuinely excited to see what the new edition brings (hopefully less complicated cover and obscurity rules!), I'm a 40k player at heart and that's were things start to go a bit wrong for me.

There were three things that jumped out at me about the data sheet when I first read it, those being; movement, assault and special weapons. There were a few other bits that I noticed or were pointed out while watching various YouTube videos but we'll start with those three. Firstly the good point, assault. This means that they can be faster moving and still shoot, with the advance roll being an average of three and a max of six, that can be quite a boost to their movement, plus these are, as far as I know the only assault weapons in the whole of the guard codex. And that's the end of the good news. 

Movement is an issue for me, I was hoping that these would be fast moving troops, with a proper fast profile, ie 12 inch movement. Yes, I know they are drop pack \ grab chutes, but I was still hoping for something, as we don't really have many fast infantry options outside of the rough riders. Combine this with the shorter range of the weapons, 18 inch for the lascarbines, and the actual threat range is 24 to 30 inches (average 27 inches), where as the standard scions have a threat range of 30 inches.

Granted you'll have less shots at that range, a max of 20 for the Aquilons compared to just 10 for the scions, however, you could have better firepower as well, in the form of plasma, grenade launchers and volley guns. This is as big an issue as the movement, the lack of special weapons. Being able to take four special weapons in a 10 man squad of scions against just one in the Aquilons is a huge advantage. If you could take more in the Aquilons it would make a huge difference, dropping in three inches away (more on that later) and dropping two melta guns and two krak grenades in to a vehicle would be very useful. 

There are some other positive and negatives to.mention as well, firstly the positives.

The servo-sentry is a very useful model and goes some way to making up the lost firepower, with some good weapon profiles and the ability to shoot on the drop. It could make a huge difference on that initial drop, even at BS 4+. Secondly, the three inch drop. This could be huge for snatching objectives or victory points, getting around screening units and such. This could very easily become a major game play tactic. The long-las is another good point, even if it's only one shot at S4. If it does punch through, it's going to do damage. Lastly points, at only 90 points, less than the equivalent Scion unit, they are cheap for what they can do. 

However, there are some minor issues still to mention. The biggest here being that they are locked to a 10 man squad. 10 bases is a lot to squeeze in to the enemy deployment zone or to try and crowd out an objective. The second minor issue is the weapon options. Now I've mentioned the lack of special weapons but there is the other options, like taking twin pistols or swapping two lascarbines for pistols and a knife. I get that these are really set with kill team in mind and they have only done 40k rules to (try and) keep people happy but still, why would you drop carbines for pistols? The last negative is no unsurprising, the last of leader options. This is understandable as there are no drop troop characters or command squads but it does dent there utility and versatility so what.

 The last bit to mention is that these are still T3, 1W, 4+Sv, 7+LD, as they should be amd so you are going to have to be very careful where you drop them, as even a 10 man unit can disappear very quickly.

Over all I was really excited by these guys, now however I'm not in a hurry to pick up any and will see what happens with the next codex. 

Cabinet

So, a couple of weeks ago, (maybe more, I can't find the post!) I wrote about my new purchase of a display cabinet. Well, it has found a home in the corner of the front room (living room\family room, whatever you want to call it), despite not matching the rest of the wooden front room furniture. It has also gained some models.

The cabinet 

Lights!

The cabinet had some built in lights but the wiring was missing from behind, so I had to find a new power unit and wire it all in. It was relatively easy to do and with some new LED bulbs, as the standard ones didn't work, despite the power pack saying they would, we have some illumination. However, it's top down and so the top level is very well lit but the lower ones less so. It's more obvious on the pictures lower in the post.

Top shelf

Top shelf is a bit of a mish mash of Sisters, Deathwatch, Grey Knights, Imperial knights, AdMech, Imperial agents and some Chaos at the back. 

Upper Middle shelf

This shelf is mostly guard, with a couple of vehicles, some rough riders and various troops, with a small contingent of Eagle Knights on the right.

Middle middle shelf

This is my son's shelf, which contains some of his Tau models, although I keep suggesting he puts some of his orks on here too. 

I've skipped the lower middle shelf as it currently contains my paint tray, and that's not very exciting.

Bottom shelf

The bottom shelf, if you can call it a shelf, contains all my rule books and codicies, plus my copy of Conquest Card game. I plan on adding to this collection at some point with some of the older codicies for ages I have, but for now that's everything.

Night time lights

As you can see, the light dies off pretty quickly, meaning the lower shelves are in complete darkness. I think in time.i will replace the over-head lights with LED strip lights that run down the sides, maybe a couple of strips each side to ensure all the models are well lit. 

 I am really liking my little display cabinet and while it only shows a small portion of my total models it's still nice to have some out on display. I will try and rotate through the models over time but I doubt it will happen very often, probably only when I paint up new stuff I want to display.

Codex: Blood Angels

So another codex that I want is on the horizon, this time it's one of the original Angels of Death, the Blood Angels. 

This is a codex that I want as well, although I will probably only buy the codex rather than all the cards as well. The main reason for this is that I run a successor chapter and not the founding chapter, and so I don't have any of the characters or special units, although that may well change with plans to build some Sanguinary Guard.

The new release box is an amazing set, with the new characters, dread and a whole host of assault marines. My only gripe is that I wish they had all be jump assault marines and not split between the two. 

The new Sanguinary Guard models are also very nice, apart from the missing wings. I have plans to convert up some AoS models for a squad, the same way I have converted up a lot of my other squads. The new Stormcast Prosecutors look very nice, have spears and wings, they just need a proper power pack.

The new Lemartes modes is also very nice and the fact that we get jump chaplain's is great, more jump options the better! I don't know if I will get this model or not yet, I may well end up.converting up some AoS models again, just to keep the same theme going within the army.

Astorath the Grim however is the only model that isn't on my list. I have never really liked this model, it is a stunning model but I just don't like it. That applies to the old model as well. In addition, this isn't a unit I have ever felt like putting in the army, I haven't seen the rules for him properly yet but they would have to be very good for me to think about including him.

The brutalis dread in all its glory. I love this model and plan on getting at least 2 for my BA army. I will have to see what the difference is between the Death Company dread and the normal one, but I suspect that I will run them as the standard one most of the time. 

 Lastly we have the new combat patrol box, which is a really nice box. Several people (aka YouTubers) have said that two or even three of these boxes would form a solid core to a.BA force and I have to agree. If I wasn't going the route of converting up AoS models for a.lot of my force I would definitely grab a box of these. 

I am really excited for the new codex, even though I don't play with the blood angels much I will be grabbing the new codex when it comes out. I will also have to look at getting the space marines codex, or the data cards at least, so I can play the army properly. I will only ever play one of the three detachments in this book, so the full.SM codex is not required but if I can find a cheap one somewhere I'll grab it.

Codex: Imperial Agents

So I'm a bit behind the curve on this one, as the new codex and all the leaks are all over the internet and have been for couple of weeks now, not to mention it's up for sale.on the GW web store! I will be doing an in-depth review when I get the book, which I will be getting. 

 But what are my first impressions? Well I have trawled through the leaks, some of which are significantly better quality than others and we have now seen the points costs, so I have a pretty good idea of things, I think. And I really like the new book, yes, we have lost a lot of the kill teams, which I think was a mistake. I think that they should have kept all the primaris kill teams, they could easily have released an upgrade kit for them, they could have kept all the detachment rules the same, even kept the veterans as battle like and not the others, restricting them but still enabling them to be fielded. As it is, it doesn't affect me, I was planning on building up a heavy kill team, the Indomitor kill team, with it's gravis armoured units but now I will probably just look to build the three units separately, although they will have dropped down the priority list some what. 

In addition we got three release boxes, one for each Ordo of the Inquisition. None of the boxes are on my list though, each has elements that I like but they all.have parts that I have no need for.  

This is a good box, although I have plenty of Deathwatch vets, more than I can field, plus I already have the rouge trader and entourage. I would love a corvus blackstar and I plan on getting one some time soon. I have also recently purchased inquisitor Draxus and have my own kitbashed henchmen. So on the whole, it's only the blackstar I would want and it's cheaper on its own.

The next box has a similar issue for me. I have three chimera, so can use one of them to transport the henchmen around, which again I have my own kitbashed unit, in addition to having a kitbashed preist. I really don't like the new inquisitor model either. This leaves the assassin and the Grey Knights, both of which are on the wish list but the terminators are significantly high up the list. 

Lastly we have the Heretics boxset and this one differs slightly as there is basically nothing I need or want in this box. The henchmen, as mentioned above, I have and I have a full sister's squad already. I have recently purchased some proxy arbites for my knights list, so don't need the ones in here and Greyfax is surplus to my requirements as I have several kitbashed inquisitors of my own. The Immolator would be cool to have but the rhinos I currently have would work just as well and can take all the sisters together. So really there is nothing I need out of this box. 

So overall, while I think these boxes are really good deals and also are great for those just starting out on the Agents path, for me they are not required and I will be purchasing the three units I need separately over time. 

The box itself, while not giving Deathwatch players quite the options they are useless to, for me as an agents player it really gives me a lot more options and flavour, and I really like it. As I said at the beginning, a full review will be on here when I get the book.

Warhammer Imperium Magazine

 So, I'm on a bit of a downwards spiral with new models. The aim this year was , as it was last year, to work on reducing the pile of shame, however, I have recently brought a number of models, with the reinforcements to the DKoK and the models for my allied knights and now, I've picked up some Imperium Magazines cheap! 

The local club had a second hand sale on the other week and while we didn't manage to get down until quite late in the day, when all the best bargains had gone, we did manage to pick up a few bits, namely some Imperium mags and a couple of random models for the wee one. 

Initially I wasn't going to bother but decided to grab the sisters edition before being persuaded to grab the inquisitor one as well.

The sisters mag, no.46, comes with three bolter armed sisters a Repentia, an Arco-flagellant and two Zephyrim. The three sisters will be useful for filling out my existing sister's squad, as hey were built for kill team and need some extra bolters to make a legal 40k squad, which given the new Agents codex is needed. Speaking of agents, the Repentia sister will be useful as a Henchman, enabling me to field at least one full squad henchmen alongside the Repentia sister kitbash I already own.  The Arco-flagellant was going to be useful as a Daemon host, but as they have been removed I'm less sure of it's role now. The two Zephyrim have both been converted in to Canoness' with jump packs, even though they have none to join. To do this I did a bit of kit bashing with the spare parts I had left from building my original sister's squad and while maybe not being exactly right, I think they look cool. 

Not much to say here, mag came with Draxus, I built Draxus. Just need to paint her, probably gold. I wasn't going to bother with this but for the price I couldn't really resist. I'm not a massive fan of named characters and it generally restricts what you can do with them in terms of personal lore and paint job.

In addition to my purchases, my son also picked up some magazines, namely two of the above to give him some cheap space marines to play with. He has wanted some that he could build and paint to test colours and generally play around with and at the price of these I could hardly object.

Overall, despite being late, we managed to actually pick up some decent and useful bargains. My wee one was happy as well as he got a couple of models and gets to keep the magazines once we've built the models. 

Imperial Knight Household Forces

 So, a couple of post ago I showed off the new models I purchased from Station Forge and I hinted at some of my plans for my Household guard for my Imperial Knights. The main idea here is to add some points to my list but also form a more cohesive allied force for my AdMech army. The big knight will be going to form a main part of my AdMech army, loaded with all the guns usually. Therefore I decided that I needed some unit to act as a buffer or blocking units to stop any enemy units from getting too close. There are various ways I could have done this but I decided to go with the Adeptus Arbites Subductor Squad with their shields and Mauls for a 4+ invulnerable save and combat punch. The additional shot pistols are also useful but not the main reason for fielding them.

I plan on backing up the two Subductor squads with two Inquisitors. This will give them a bit of support, it’s just a shame that they cannot join the squads directly as they can only join imperial battle line infantry or inquisitorial henchmen. 

The lore behind the force is going to be quite simple, there will be two squads, painted up slightly differently to represent two separate minor households, each oath-sworn to the lord within the knight and so a small number of arms men follow the knight around and will willingly give their lives to protect the lord and the knight. The Inquisitors will be representing more senior member of the household, maybe a minor noble or senior servant, such as a marshal or constable, I haven’t really decided just yet. 

One of the squads will probably be mainly blue and the other will be red but both will have their household banner held up high, with their own iconography. 

The game plan for most of the game that I play these in will be very simple, the knight will move around to get shots and the two squads and inquisitors will just move around keeping the big knight as safe as they can. 

 

Rough Riders

 This is a pos that I should have done a while ago but for various reasons I forgot to post it up, so here it is.  The photos are not very good, as they were taken quickly before I went away on holiday. 

The complete squad

There are two 5 man squads that have been modelled so that they can be run as a single ten man squad, which given my recent experience will probably be hope they will be run most of the time. Combined with the changes to the reinforcement stratagem there seems little use in 5 man squads, as the damage output can be so swingy. They have gone from doing 3 wounds on the charge through to doing over thirty after being charged. 

Goad, Frag and Melta lances

Two Sergeants 

The two sergeants have been modelled so that one is obviously a sergeant and the other can be either a normal model or a sergeant with his sword sheathed.

I really like these models, they are very dynamic poses, however, they are also very fragile and I have also had to repair a couple of the lances already! I can see these being a pain to store and I may have to find some sort of bespoke storage solution for them, as they currently don’t fit into any of my current storage boxes. I have thought about getting more of them, as they are fun to use, but i think for the moment I’ll just stick with the 10.

2024 league - guard vs orks

 So I played another game in the league, the fourth of five games and another victory, just! This was a very close game with the final score being 69 to the guard and 65 to the orks. There were a few mistakes made in the game but I'll come to them later. 

My opponents list was quite scary to look at, as it had a lot of combat punch and his previous game had been against the World Eaters, and had been a resounding victory 78 to 33, so I was really worried. His list included; a beast boss, two beast bosses on Squigosaurs and three warboss' leading two units of beast snagga boyz in kill rigs, two units of squighog boyz and three units of nobz in trukks, plus a unit of Gretchen at the rear.

So lots of mobility and close combat punch, which meant that my plan was to stay back as much as possible and force him to come at me piece meal. 

Take and hold, search and destroy, chilling rain

Mission and terrain layout were rolled for randomly.

Terrain layout 3 

Deployment 

Ork deployment

I didn't get any pictures early game, but during this time.my opponent made, what I think, was his biggest mistake, he held back, worried about my deep striking units. He pushed up with his kill rigs but bottle necked himself in the central terrain pieces. He did manage however to remove my DKoK squad that I had sent up the middle and a cadian squad on the left flank, which had claimed objectives for VP, plus my rough riders that had pushed up the right flank. However, this was over two turns and so the DKoK and Rough Riders returned as Reinforcements. 

By the start of turn 3, the game was still very close, with orls now in my lines, with the majority of my units pinned in my deployment zone. I had forced my opponent to move back by bringing the DKoK in behind him but that was it. My scions were still off the table, along side the rough riders. My knight finally did something this turn and chopped up a squad of Squighog boyz, although he failed to take out the Boss. This also saw the start of the battle between Tank commander and beast Snagga boyz. I lost the other tank to kill rig shooting which was unfortunate.

Looking a bit grim for the guard

Nobz out of position after taking on the flanking DKoK.

At the beginning of turn 4 we were still only separated by a few points and I was struggling to score primary points but doing well on secondary points, my opponent had the opposite problem. The scions had dropped in previously but some poor positioning from me and dropped me some easy primary points this turn. The rough riders also reappeared this turn in the far corner to charge down some trukks but failed the charge, twice. The knight however had no trouble dealing with the kill rig that had charged my infantry squad sitting on my home objective. The scions on the top objective were less lucky and were splattered all over the place, luckily for me another (identical) unit was waiting ready to redeploy! 

Rough riders pinned in by trukks

Turn 5 saw the knight move up and take on the last kill rig and the rough riders hit both the trukks. With both charges successful and the resultant damage enough to destroy all three units, the rest of the firepower from the two squads of scions was directed at the remaining orks and was enough to destroy all by one lone ork warboss. 

There was very little for the orks to do in there turn, having only one model left. They were however able to score a few points. The end result of 65 to 69 for the guard was a pretty fair score for the game, even though I had significantly more units left at the end, although most of these did come from reinforcements.

There are a couple of notes to make though. There were a couple of mistakes made during the game, not just in terms of decisions but also rules wise. 

For the orks, the main mistakes were tactical, with pushing both kill rigs in to the ruins turn 1 bottlenecked himself meaning one has to move back to allow the other to move forward. The second mistake was charging the squidosaurs unit into the knight rather than the squad on my home objective. They did some damage but not enough to take.out the knight, although the knight did fail to take them out in return. The last mistake I think was holding on to bring it down for so long. I think that after the second turn it should have been dropped. However, there is a caveat to this, one that is my mistake. 

I think I only really made two mistakes, one minor one was holding my knight back so much. I think I should have pushed it up further turn 2 but ultimately it worked out as it was. The second mistake was with "big guns never tire". When my tank was charged I checked the rules as I had a feeling there were restrictions about blast weapons. Having a look through the main rule there was no mention about it, just pistols, so I checked a few.other bits but found nothing, even though I was sure that there was something. Anyway we played on and I shot the plasma guns in combat even thought they were blast. I later found the bit I was looking for and confirmed that blast can't shoot in combat (in the rules commentary). Why they can't just add the restriction to the main rules I don't know, they have stuff about pistols after all. Anyway, this would have meant that I would have pulled the Russ out of combat and fired all the infantry in to the unit and probably done more damage, as they didn't shoot that turn anyway. I don't think this would have affected the game either way however, as even if they had scored the points it was only worth 3 points. There are also a couple of points in the game where I missed out on scoring points. The first was when I dropped in my scions. I dropped them in close to the enemy but if I had dropped just a few inches back, I could have claimed an objective during my next turn or two, without having to move, potentially scoring myself up to 10 extra VP. I also had cleanse for one of my cards in the last turn but got carried away with shooting. If I had done cleanse I could have picked up 3 points myself, for one objective and possibly the full 5 if I had dropped the above squad on the objective.

Overall I don't think any of these rules mistakes would have made a difference to the overall result even though it was a close run thing. Some of the tactical decisions would have had a bigger impact on the game overall and could well have changed the overall result. 

Last Ork Standing

Overall this was probably the best game of the league for me so far, not just due to the win but in overall fun and enjoyment and the ork army was very nicely painted as well. I have one last game to try and play but I'm not sure when or even if I will get around to playing it.