I love it when a plan comes together

Over the last few weeks I've been trying to hone my game and get a grasp of some of the finer points of 40k. I've been doing lots of reading and testing to try to come up with some standard formations that I can deploy on the fly based on what I'm up against. I haven't come up with a plan of attack for every situation, but here is what I've come up with so far.

These formations are designed to work with my 2000 point list for Ahriman's Renegades. Now my list has some decent firepower at range with 5 twin-linked lascannons, 3 battle cannons, and 3 havoc launchers. I also can use 3 bolts of change from 24" so as enemies approach I've got some nice killing power also. My general plan is to milk my range attacks and soften up the opponent. I know versus some of the new armies like IG and wolves I will still be at a disadvantage, but its the best I can do with my Thousand Sons theme :)

Formation #1 - Phalanx

Usage - Spearhead deployment missions.

There are two different ways to use this formation with my army. First, before you decide how you will line up you must look at what you're up against. The main thing to look out for when you are a castle up and fire kind of army imo is outflankers toting melta. They can really rain on your parade.

If the enemy DOES have and outflanking element or you suspect that they will be reserving a good amount of their forces I deploy like this.

Here you can see the object is to stay away from the table edges to create the maximum amount of distance between you and enemy outflankers. You will also want to deploy your objectives accordingly if this is your plan by trying to make sure that at least half of them are located somewhere near the middle of the board.

You move your forces into the center of the board and prepare to receive the enemy all the while firing off the long range shots to take out any enemies down range. When the outflankers to arrive you have the troops engage them supported by the defilers.

The Dreadnoughts press into the enemy mid-field and deployment zone if you can, they are basically a distraction for the enemy and hopefully they can even manage to knock out some pesky reserve units.

The second way to use this formation is if the enemy is not going to be fielding outflanking troops. You would deploy your forces like this and attempt to move up your flank keeping your main force together and away from the enemy.

The goal here is to change the flow of the game. Normally you will be fighting along the short table edge (48"). At this range pretty much all of the enemies weapons will easily be in range. When you move your fire base up the flank of the board what you're doing is changing the flow of the game to the long table edge. This army has lots of long range weapons that can reach out and touch the enemy from 72". So use it to your advantage. You should be getting off a good 2 to 3 turns of shooting before they get near you, then you can unload your troops and terminators to meet the assaulting forces. Backed up by defilers, even Thousand Sons are nasty in combat.

The other nice thing about this is now your foe has to basically redeploy his entire force because in just one simple turn of moving you've just shut down his entire right flank as they are very far away from you. You will create a traffic jam if he has lots of vehicles and could even land some side armor shots if you're really lucky.

The one weakness of this is if your opponent reserves a lot of his forces. They will be coming out right ontop of you. Now, this may not be a bad thing because you will have your forces all in one block. You should still be able to bring a great deal of hurt on them. But it is a risk.

I will be looking at some other formation types in the future. These are meant to help me with my game. I'm finding that when I am going into matches sometimes I do poorly because of bad deployment. This is meant to give me a plan of action as the battle begins so that I can more clearly direct my forces. I really need this with my overpriced and under performing units. I've found the only real way to get them to be effective is to have them work together as best they can.

Do you guys have a plan of action coming into the game? Or you a fly by the seat of your pants kinda player? Let me know your tactics and strategies!

Learning the Necron Tactica

Of late I've been trying to really learn my army (the necrons) and get better with them. I bought Fritz's pdf how to win with necrons and I'd have to say it helped me alot. I already knew alot of what was in the pdf but it helped to have it reinforced. For instance I know to keep my units together that way if one unit is wiped out a unit nearby will pick up the guys who died with we'll be back; but sometimes I end up spreading my units out too much. I think personally I've come a long way as a player but I still have alot to learn as do we all.

The One thing that I really need to work on is castling up, it's esential to the necron victory. I've tried to play as many of the Space marine players do esentially barring down on my opponent, it doesn't work for Necrons.  The main thing is you need to have your oppenent come to you. Sometimes your oppent will not come to you and they will sit in their corner and drop templates and las shots into your army. In this case bring the heat, turbo boost that destroyer lord with scarab escort right where your enemy MUST deal with them and while your at it deepstrike your monolith in the middle of their ranks. Of course this all ends up being a judgment call. I'm certianly not going to deepstrike my monolith into assualt range of Moros's defilers or Brother C's venerable dreadnouight, Actually I might try it once just to see what happens maybe I'll get lucky.

I just learned recently that the C'tan ignore all saves which makes a huge difference in the way that I play them  and I also learned how the monolith portal works. The Portal says it works like disembarking from a transport so the unit I teleport can't have moved and if I move the monolith I can't move the unit I teleport.

Lastly I haven't been able to truly appreciate how awesome some of the Necron fear tactics are. The nightmare shroud is EPIC in my last game I forced two marine squads to run off the board with it and another squad was running when the game ended. Normally I'll play either Moros, Brother C, or the Prophet all of whom run fearless heavy armies but against normal space marines and blood angels you can use all your fear evoking goodies.

Like I said at the begging of this post I've got a long way to go but I'm getting better and showing a lot of people in our local area that Necrons are still a viable army. All said Moros and I have discussed that Necrons are really easy to be ok with because they are forgiving with their high armour, toughness and the We'll be back rule. The problem is Necrons are difficult to master, as opposed to aggressive/ assualty armies, and I've seen the other players in my group quickly pass me in terms of skill with their armies and now I'm closing the gap on them. Eventually we all reach a plateau in terms of skill hopefully mine is a long way off.

July 40k Day - Thousand Sons List

Hey all, Moros here.

I've been mulling over my lists and after reading up on some fine articles in the last few weeks and having some good discussions with Brother C. I've decided to change up my list a bit. I am going for a more offensive and aggressive style of play with my Thousand Sons themed army.

With the cost of my troops being as high as it is, I feel like the best thing to do is limit myself to 2 troop choices and put more points in my heavy hitters. The resilience of my thousand sons should help them survive the game, but it is a risky venture. I feel like the goal of this list is to table my enemy as fast as possible.

It is fashioned as an all comers list, I haven't had a ton of practice with this list, but I should be getting some games in soon so I will let you know how it goes!

Ahriman's Renegades - 2000 points

HQ -
Ahriman - 250

Troops -
7x Thousand Sons - 296
+ Aspiring Sorcerer with Warptime or Bolt of Change
+ Rhino with Havoc Launcher

7x Thousand Sons - 296
+ Aspiring Sorcerer with Warptime or Bolt of Change
+ Rhino with Havoc Launcher

Elites -
5x Terminators -225
+Reaper Autocannon
+Chainfist
+Icon of Tzeentch

5x Terminators -225
+Reaper Autocannon
+Chainfist
+Icon of Tzeentch

6 Possessed - 186
+Icon of Khorne

Heavy Support-
Defiler - 150

Defiler - 150

Land Raider - 220

Total = 1998

The idea here is that the 2 thousand sons fellowships will hold the base of fire with the Defilers. The defilers will rain down battle cannon rounds forcing the enemy to react to them. The thousand sons can give them cover and anti-infantry support. I will probably run with bolt of change on the sorcerers so they can provide some ranged AV support as well.

With the fire base holding strong the land raiding packed with the possessed and Ahriman can punch the enemy in the face fast and hard. The terminators will deep strike within 6" of Ahriman's personal Icon and deliver a powerful punch into the enemy lines.

It should be difficult for my opponent to deal with both the offensive bomb and the defiler cannons in the backfield. I am hoping that this will throw off their game plan and force them to focus on just one of the threats so that I am free to hit them as I will.

Obviously since I am playing a Tzeentch army and I am taking Ahrmian I am nerfing myself. I don't see this as a competitive list by any means. But I really want to stick with the theme and I think this might be as competitive as a Tzeentch list can get. Thoughts are welcome!

Getting Started 03 : low – income hammer

Alright, so you purchased your codex and you think you have a pretty good well-rounded list, check, you have developed some strategies which play into the strengths and avoid the weaknesses of that list, check. Now for the fun part, PLAYING.
But.. wait… there’s a problem. You haven’t purchased any models yet, and you don’t have the $400+ to drop on our entire list plus paint. Guess you’ll have to get that extra part time job, save every penny, or forgo that vacation this year; just to play the game? That’s ludicrous. I know many gaming clubs only allow you to participate if you have a fully modeled force. Sometimes they even need to be painted. At Lancashire Wargaming we understand the importance of experience and that money should never be a hindrance to your ability to play. That is why we allow new players to use all sorts of alternative means to play the game. This also has the added benefit of trial and error with list building. Players will learn what combinations work and which ones do not. All the while, not spending money and time on models they will not use. We recommend building slowly, setting a monthly budget for expenditures and allow your experience to shape how you construct your force. Below I will go through a few alternate solutions I have used before obtaining my models, you will need to check with your local club to see which of these they will accept, or… just find a friend who won’t mind playing with less than a fully painted force. Without further adieu…



1. cardboard or construction paper cutouts.
These work great for very new players. Simply draw out on colored construction paper or cardboard the base sizes for your units you have chosen in your list. Write on these cutouts what the unit is, what weapons they are carrying, and any other important information to help remind yourself of what it is. It will look a bit silly on the board, all these paper discs, but trust me, this is a fantastic way to start and learn the game.



2. Proxies
A proxy is basically any model representing another on the board. This may take many forms. You could borrow models from a friend. Who cares if they are even the right army? So you use your friends elder guardians as tacts in your army, it will begin to give you a feel for the scale of the game, sight lines, etc. If you did happen to order some models that you aren’t currently using in your list, substitute. For instance, you bought a command squad, and then later you decide, you really needed a scout squad to supplement your army. Use the models you have until you can afford to buy, model, and paint the scouts. Use household objects with similar sizes. My example is soap boxes as tanks, you will be amazed just how similar the size of a normal soap box is to the size of a rhino or pred. Go ahead, measure it, its certainly close enough to allow a new player to use.



3. Paper Hammer
I stumbled upon this fantastic website recently. Paper Hammer. Its just amazing. Full paper models of many of the models from warhammer 40k. I don’t need to discuss this too much because I think the website certainly speaks for itself. I’ve attached an image of a paper drop pod I constructed in very little time. They have the templates and instructions all on the site. Simply download, print, cut, and glue. You’re done. You can even color the models if you like. This is my favorite place holder until you are able to purchase the models.

Paperhammer 40k



4. Other helpful tips:
Split sets or battleforces with a friend. Here is an example. The prophet and I recently split an assault on black reach set. 35 dollars each, this was a great way for both of us to get some of the pieces we needed for our armies, at minimal cost. A single box of terms costs 50 bucks. For 35 I received a term squad, dread, and 10 tacts, and a captain model which would be great to use as a proxy for an HQ or sarge.
EBAY – for used models, painted models, sets and sprues that people have simply bought and never used, got bored with, or just wanting to make a profit. Since it is an auction site, it can be very hit or miss, so be vigilante and careful. For example, I just recently I saw 2 ravenwing battleforce boxes for $100. they normally sell for $90 on GW. Can’t beat that with a stick.



In conclusion, having a built army on the board completely changes the look and feel of the game. It is well worth putting in the time and effort it takes to assemble your forces. However, and more importantly, is to expand the community and provide players with gameplay experience. (at least that is the viewpoint of Lancashire Wargaming) which is why we allow our members to play regardless of the built status of their army. We realize this will make us less appealing to the more hardcore gamers out there but we feel the investment in the new players is worth it.


questions? flames? comments? what model alternatives did you use when you first started playing warhammer 40k?

Warbiker mob!

Hey all! Here is my first attempt at an Ork list! WAAAAAAGHHHh! My thinking with this list is that Ork bikers are awesome! So the more the merrier! The bikerz charge in taking out all they can and absorbing as many hits as they can. The trucks and battle wagon follow up behind them and finish anything off that is left.

The tankbustas are in the battlewagon for anti-vehicle duty. Power Klaws will also help with vehicles.

I think it is a pretty decent list, but then again I am no ork player. I am doing this to help out the Prophet at the club. Gotta get him some wins for the green tide!

If you know something about orks comments would be great!

HQ -
Wazdakka Gutsmek - (180)

Troops -
12 Boyz - (147)
+Nob
+Power Klaw
+'eavy armor
+Trukk

12 Boyz - (147)
+Nob
+Power Klaw
+'eavy armor
+Trukk

12 Boyz - (147)
+Nob
+Power Klaw
+'eavy armor
+Trukk

12 Boyz - (147)
+Nob
+Power Klaw
+'eavy armor
+Trukk

Elites -
5 Nobz - (305)
+ 5x warbikes
+ 2x Power Klaw
+ 3x Big Choppa
+ 3x Combi-Rokkit
+ 5x 'eavy armor

10 Tankbustas - (150)

Fast Attack -
10 Warbikers - (285)
+ Nob
+ Power klaw

10 Warbikers - (285)
+ Nob
+ Power klaw

Heavy Support -
BattleWagon - (200)
+killkannon
+kannon
+ 4x rokkit launchas

getting started in 40k - form some strategies

I've recently been pondering how best to help our new members. and I decided to share some of my own experiences from learning to play the game. So.. you purchased a codex and you started to create a list. aka, you picked some really cool guys you think will help you win the match. that's great, most important thing is that you should be playing the army and the units you like; Since there really is no wrong way to start an army.

Now that you have your list, schedule a match. An important thing to do when first starting out is to play matches. Lots of matches. At the club, we allow the new players to use cardboard cutouts to represent their forces for educational purposes. We do not want to turn anyone away from learning the game just because they can't drop the money for all the models right away. We are all about growing and learning as a community, focusing on the teaching side of the game, instead of merely hardcore beat downs. Club members will be more than willing to take you under their wing and play some practice matches till you get the hang of things.

Having said that, we will not go easy on you. Just because you are not playing with a fully painted, modeled army does not mean you can slouch for strategy and sound tactics. Use this as an opportunity to try out units and strategies so you aren't wasting money and time one models you won't field in the end; all along developing your skill and experience in the world of 40k.

(there will another article in the near future detailing how to start an army on a small budget)





Now, the point of all this introduction...

You need to develop strategies for your list. As a player you need to consider all the possibilities you army has and develop a few strategies to use depending what your opponent may field. Some units can outflank, infiltrate, scout, deepstrike, etc. How will those special abilities play into your decisions as the field commander. How many units do you leave in reserve? Do you leave any? Do you leave them all? These decisions are important to think about well before you take the field in a match. As Moros talked about in an article last week, the first 20 matches should be treated as teaching tools. So, I encourage all the new players to use that time wisely, have some strategies to try out, take notes on things that worked and things that failed. Always take into consideration the wrath of the dice gods when hind sight analyzing. (attached above you will find a photo of some of the sketches I used when developing the strategies for my army. I encourage everyone to do something similar. Have a game plan, execute, don't go in blindly, trial and error is the key, but simply throwing units on the field is not going to help you become a better player.

And don't be afraid to ask LOTS of questions to the more experienced players.

Tyranids Comin' at ya!

So I've recently taken it upon myself to help some of our newer members get some wins under their belts at the club. My first task was to help Agni get a new list built for his Tyranids with the new codex and all.

So I read over the codex and came up with this.

HQ - (245)
Hive Tyrant - (245)
+ Old Adversary
+ Armored Shell
+ Adrenal Glands
+ Psychic Scream
+ Paroxysm

Troops - (882)
18 Hormagaunts - (144)
+ 18x Adrenal Glands

18 Hormagaunts - (144)
+ 18x Adrenal Glands

13 Genestealers - (267)
+ Brood lord
+Scything Talons

13 Genestealers - (267)
+ Broodlord
+Scything Talons

6 Ripper Swarms - (60)

Heavy Support - (870)

Carnifex Brood - (510)
3 Carnifexes
+ 3x Adrenal Glands

Mawloc - (180)
+ Adrenal Glands

Mawloc - (180)
+ Adrenal Glands

Not sure how it will work out, But the basic idea is use the hormagaunts and rippers up front as a screen for the rest of the army. They then tie up anything they hit and the genestealers back them up with the killing blow on that unit.

The Mawlocs will strike into the back lines and go for vehicles and critical targets (like template/blast weapons). Then the Fex brood and the Tyrant smash in and finish off anything left.

I think the key is to deploy as close to the enemy as possible and keep everything semi-bunched up around the Tyrant. Not too close so the blast templates don't kill you. The goal is to overwhelm the enemy with close combat.

Comments welcome! Lets get some strategy talk going on for everybody's forces!

4.3.10 : Orks vs. Dark Angels : Battle Report

Battle Report:

Disciples of Caliban [dark angels] vs. Prophets of WAAAAGH! [orks]

mission: capture and control
game: pitched battle
army size : 2000 points

Prophets of WAAAAAGH! [henceforth referred to as PoW] took the field first. He placed his objective in his lower right corner and I did the same. Therefore the objectives were as far away from each other as I could get them. I knew I would have an advantage of mobility this day and did not want his ork hoard ganging up on any of my units.

Deployment:

He deployed everything. 2 trucks full of boys and a big gunz for defense and 4 trucks with boys, 2 big gunz and a copta squad to try to take my point. I left everything 2 term squads one with belial (brother adso), 2 ravenwing squads and a vernerable dred with drop pod in reserve. I also fielded 2 scout squads as infiltrating units. My deployed units were 2 preds with TL lascannon and 2x heavy bolters and a rhino with 5 man tact squad with plasma. All of which were on defense.

I infiltrated my 2 scouts squads in the middle of the board to distract and just be a nuisance as the ork sped across the map with his forces.

Turn 1.

Orks move out. completely annihilate one scout squad. However they forced 2 trucks to disembark, one less turn of sprinting across the map. without the use of camo cloaks (where's my 5th ed. codex?) I think they did a pretty decent job. Big guns unloaded on my preds, taking off one of the heavy bolters.My turn.

I deathwing assaulted Brother Adso and crew (5 terms, 3 claws, 2 TH + SS) just in front of the cover around the objective. He was not ready for this. fire from both my preds and rockets from the 2nd scout squad took down most of the copta squad in the middle and an assault by the scouts finished them off.

Turn 2.

orks continue to truck (literally) across the field. big guns take more shots at my preds, destroy another heavy bolter. Orcs on defense try assaulting my Adso squad, Nob with a powerclaw takes out my two TH+SS (gg invuln save rolling) but he loses quite a few boys in the process. my turn

Dreadnought deepstrikes just behind Adso's squad. Ravenwing squad 1 comes on the outflank behind his big gunz shooting at my defense. Take out the entire squad from shooting. Leaving his trucks in crossfire for the next round. preds drop a truck and boys get shot a bunch. Scouts still holding middle as a speed bump.

Turn 3.

orks rush my preds on defense. did not quite make it. shoot at my scouts in the middle after disembarking. (nice) and finish them off. They did their job well - will continue to use them in future games. big guns shoot at ravenwing but some bad rolling saved the bikers. warboss moved into assault the dread. between the pod and a wall of the terrain, the orcs were forced into a cattle chute to assault him, the warboss leading the charge. but Brother Cornelius in his dread was too fast, as soon as that adamantium skull came around the corner, he was grabbed by the neck and crushed to death. A nob with powerclaw managed to stun the giant for a round. Alex (the ork player) was not ready for his warboss to go down so easily. Adso's group killed more boys defending their HQ and nearly taking out Adso with a wrecking ball. (good rolling on his 5+ invuln.) My turn.

Adso's group continues to fight at their objective. Ravenwing 2 come on the outflank behind another big gunz. and take it out. ravenwing 1 goes after truck in the middle, blows it up, and shoots the boys in the crater. preds destroy another advancing truck and shoot up the boys in the crater just before they get to them. dread is stunned and deathwing squad 2 still in reserve (bad).

Turn 4.

Orcs try to assault preds on defense, no avail. missing with all powerclaw attacks. Assaulting the dread only results in another stun. boys continue to pour onto Adso's squad. wrecking ball misses. big gunz rolling fails again to damage ravenwing who now have complete control of the field. My turn.

Deathwing squad 2 come down prepare to assault the last big gunz. adso continues to fight toward the objective. predators finish off assaulting squad of orcs. rhino races to control my objective. ravenwing finish off another entire squad of boys in the middle.

Turn 5.

Orcs try to bring their last truck up for a final charge. hoping the game will not end on turn 5. big gunz try to shoot at terms, all saves made. dread is assaulted again, taking out the multi-melta. boys are being thrown at Adso, trying to stop his advanage. the claws are just tearing their fowl smelling flesh. My turn.

Adso finishes off the entire squad but 1 nob. deathwing squad 2 assaults big gunz and wipes them off the board, consolidating roll, puts them within range of the enemy HQ. preds explode last truck and ravenwing fire shots at whatever is still moving. dread uses heavy flamer on boys nearby.

Game ends on turn 5.

final score: ork objective: contested DA objective: controlled by DA

winner: DA

Commentary:

Alex, the ork player, is still very new to the warhammer community. I have had the benefit of seeing his develop as a player with absolutely no idea of what he is doing, to making very good decisions for his army. I have seen large leaps and bounds in his play style as well as the units he is fielding. I think his nobz with powerclaws really were his best unit. they were a threat in melee, and a threat to my armor. keeping my dread stunned a losing a weapon, just missing on my preds and putting the hurt on my termies. He had some real bad luck with his warboss. I felt bad taking it out in one turn, but I think he learned from the experience. The big guns did not serve alex well at all. managing just 2 destroyed weapons for the game. Some firepower from the back would have been good to defend against my ravenwing who ran circles around his units. playing a pitched battle, I think it would have been in his best interest to simply line up his attack force and send everything at my objective. I don't think I could have stopped that many orks without major losses. The scouts served very well as a deterrent for him. (oh look squishy units to kill) meanwhile not focusing on taking the objective and letting my ravenwing and preds shoot everything to death at range.

I think the most important lesson Alex learned was not to listen to his fear. He admitted he didn't rush all his boys into my objective because he was afraid of my defenses. But the truth is, I don't think I could have stopped him if he did. I had prepared for this, infiltrating my scouts, forcing him to make a decision, assault the scouts or the objective. This is the first time he experienced the mental battle side of the game and it was a great learning experience. I also strongly recommend nob bikers for him. to try to reign in some of my mobility and have a force to compete with my terms.

it was a great battle, both players had lots of fun.

comments, suggestions, questions, flames?