N00b-Hammer?

A while ago, I was fortunate to win two Storm Ravens by winning a 40k league. Recently, I have begun to assemble them to clear some space in my "box of unopened 40k kits".

I also watched a 40k game yesterday that was played at the local GW store. It was Necrons vs. Blood Angels. One player had 10 or so Death Company w/Lemartes, and a Death Company Dreadnought, in a Storm Raven. This is sometimes referred to on the internet as a n00b-hammer.

A n00b-hammer is a unit or list either played by n00b or designed to thrash n00bs.

Similar units include Nob Bikers, Land Raider borne Terminator units, Thunderwolf cavalry w/accompanying kitted-out Thunderwolf lords, and other such nonsense that may crush an unskilled player, but will not cause even a bead of sweat to a skilled 40k player.

(I have played against many things like this in tournaments, and I surprise many opponents by sweeping the floor with them and their "deathstar" units)

Now that we have defined what I mean by the term, is there any way that these units could be used effectively.

Take the following list.

Librarian w/Shield of Sanguinius, Unleash Rage

10 Tactical Marines w/Lascannon, Flamer, Combi-Melta
Razorback w/Lascannon and Twin-Linked Plasma Gun, Dozer Blade
10 Tactical Marines w/Lascannon, Flamer, Combi-Melta
Razorback w/Lascannon and Twin-Linked Plasma Gun, Dozer Blade
5 Assault Marines w/Meltagun
Razorback w/Lascannon and Twin-Linked Plasma Gun, Dozer Blade
10 Death Company w/2 Infernus Pistols
Death Company Dreadnought w/Blood Talons

Furioso Dreadnought
5 Assault Terminators w/4 Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield

Stormraven Gunship w/Multi-Melta, Hurricane Bolters
Stormraven Gunship w/Multi-Melta, Hurricane Bolters

2000 points

I will be honest, if I am playing my Guard Army and I see this set up across from me, I am not going to be concerned, let alone worried. Same feeling if I am playing Space Wolves (with Long Fangs) or Grey Knights (with Psyflemen).

So. Clearly, the above is not going to frighten a hardened, competitive tournament veteran.

However, I really want to see and test if a list like this can work using conventional tactics (like reserves, move blocking, etc...).

I will ponder on this. If anyone has any ideas, please comment away.

-Mike

Razorspam; The last gasp?

The Blood Angels have one last advantage that, in my opinion, still make them a competitive codex.
The ability to get a Fast, Lascannon & Twin-Linked Plasma gun toting, Razorback...for quite cheap.
The last two articles, saw me write about how I feel that the advantages of the Blood Angels have been nullified by the Grey Knights ( a popular army) and some FAQ's, specifically that IC's
(Priests) can move other models out of the way to get into B2B contact.

I believe that they (the Blood Angels Codex) only has one useful build left, and here it is.

Blood Angels Razorspam: 2000 points

Librarian w/Shield of Sanguinius, Fear of the Darkness
Librarian w/Shield of Sanguinius, Fear of the Darkness
10 Assault Marines w/Meltagun, Flamer
Razorback w/Lascannon & Twin-Linked Plasma Gun, Dozer Blade, Searchlight
10 Assault Marines w/Meltagun, Flamer
Razorback w/Lascannon & Twin-Linked Plasma Gun, Dozer Blade, Searchlight
5 Assault Marines w/Meltagun
Razorback w/Lascannon & Twin-Linked Plasma Gun, Dozer Blade, Searchlight
5 Assault Marines w/Meltagun
Razorback w/Lascannon & Twin-Linked Plasma Gun, Dozer Blade, Searchlight
5 Assault Marines w/Meltagun
Razorback w/Lascannon & Twin-Linked Plasma Gun, Dozer Blade, Searchlight
5 Assault Marines w/Meltagun
Razorback w/Lascannon & Twin-Linked Plasma Gun, Dozer Blade, Searchlight
5 Devastators w/4 Missile Launchers
Razorback w/Lascannon & Twin-Linked Plasma Gun, Dozer Blade, Searchlight
5 Devastators w/4 Missile Launchers
Razorback w/Lascannon & Twin-Linked Plasma Gun, Dozer Blade, Searchlight
5 Devastators w/4 Missile Launchers

This is close to something that Stelek put up a while back. I didn't really love his version as he had a random sanguinary priest floating around. I will endeavor to playtest this list a bit and post the results.

-Mike

Grey Knights make Blood Angels less competitive?

Over on his Blog Blackmoor is pondering the superiority of Grey Knights over Space Wolves. The discussion is actually quite informative.
This, and a sentence in my previous article, cause me to hypothesize that Grey Knights may have unseated the Space Wolves for the title of "Best 40k codex".

This, however, is about how (in my opinion) the Grey Knights codex curbstomps the Blood Angels codex by nullifying nearly all of the advantages that the Blood Angels have.

First, let's outline the advantages of the Blood Angels codex.

• The ability to get "Feel no Pain" (FNP) on most any infantry/bike unit, through the use of Sanguinary Priests.
• The ability to get "Furious Charge" on most any model through the use of the Red Thirst or Sanguinary Priests.
• The ability to re-roll reserve rolls and minimize Deep Strike deviations with "Descent of Angels"
• Fast Vehicles

The Grey Knight codex has specific rules and unit types that make a mockery of most of the aforementioned abilities. I will outline them below.

• FNP is mitigated in close combat by the fact that EVERY Grey Knight (except Crowe) has a power weapon. FNP is mitigated in shooting by the fact that the Grey Knight "Psyfleman" (a dreadnought equipped with two twin-linked autocannons and Psibolt ammo) fires S8 shots, that ignore FNP for every Blood Angel except Mephiston.
• Furious Charge is mitigated by the fact that every Grey Knight can take a halberd and suddenly strike before any non-HQ furious charging Blood Angel. What is worse is that even if they strike simultaneously, the Power Weapon and +1 S from hammerhand are likely to keep the odds uneven... If that were not bad enough, Death Cult assassins destroy Marines (of any kind) on the charge.
• Deep Striking is not a good mechanic in 40k to begin with. The "Warp Quake" power that comes stock on Strike and Interceptor squads, makes this ability laughably more useless.
• Fast Vehicles are still something that the Blood Angels do fairly well, and the Grey Knights have no specific tricks to counter.
• I just want to add that Mephiston dies like a little girl to Grey Knights. Sure, he will charge and likely kill a unit. The counter-charge puts him down to I1, where he will likely get beaten to death. (unless you can hood hammerhand/Force Weapon acitivation, in which case you will semi-likely get beaten to death)
  

So, I think I have made a strong case that Grey Knights specifically counter most of the special rules of Blood Angels, but lets look a bit deeper.

Blood Angels have two Troops Choices, Assault Squads and Tactical Squads. (But wait we have Scouts, Death Company, and Death Company Dreadnoughts!!!! Which all suck.) Grey Knights have either Terminators, Purifiers, Strike Squads, or Henchmen. I will not be covering Henchmen lists, they vary too much for me to analyze them without resorting to sweeping generalities. Here I think is the big issue.

Blood Angel Assault squads cannot out-assault Grey Knights. Blood Angel Tactical Squads cannot out-shoot Grey Knights.

Well. Shit.

So, in conclusion, Grey Knights have inherent abilities/rules/wargear that remove most of the Blood Angels' strengths. Basic Blood Angel Troops cannot stand up to Grey Knight Purifiers, Terminators, or Strike Squads. Therefore, balanced Blood Angels lists are at a severe disadvantage when facing a balanced (or any) Grey Knight list.

-Mike

Charge!?

There might be some way to insert an interrobang, but I have not yet found it, and would have liked to have it in this title.

I made a close combat list, Blood Angels. Here is what I came up with.

HQ
Mephiston
TR
5 Assault Marines w/Meltagun, Lightning Claw
Rhino w/Dozer Blade
5 Assault Marines w/Meltagun, Lightning Claw
Rhino w/Dozer Blade
5 Assault Marines w/Meltagun, Infernus Pistol, Power Weapon
Rhino w/Dozer Blade
5 Assault Marines w/Meltagun, Infernus Pistol, Power Weapon
Rhino w/Dozer Blade
5 Assault Marines w/Meltagun, Infernus Pistol, Power Weapon
Rhino w/Dozer Blade
10 Tactical Marines w/Meltagun, Lascannon
Razorback w/Twin-Linked Lascannon, Dozer Blade
2 Sanguinary Priests w/2 Lightning Claws, 2 Combi-Meltas
Furioso Librarian w/Wings, Shield
Furioso Librarian w/Wings, Shield
2 Attack Bikes w/2 Multi-Meltas
2 Attack Bikes w/2 Multi-Meltas

So, the idea is to have a fast, mobile, short ranged fire/assault capability.
(Lately I have been playing a LOT of firepower armies and really wanted something different)

So, obvious weaknesses.

• No real ranged anti-tank to speak of.
  
• Can this army still deal with similar close combat unit, (Death Cult assassins, Dark Eldar, Daemons) or against dedicated close combat units (TH&SS Termies)? Probably not in a straight, fair fight.
• I have mobility, but I can be de-meched on First turn. Hopefully I have enough vehicles to survive that. What I cannot survive is being out maneuvered. I fear Dark Eldar will be able to take an awesome toll on me, so I kind of fear them. I have not really played against a lot of Dark Eldar; Something I should remedy.
  

For a CC list, I am actually not that strong in Close Combat. I feel Grey Knights, with their myriad of tricks will mess me up before I get to swing. (For those that do not know, the Grey Knights codex is almost a perfect counter for the BA codex as it removes all of their strengths, I should touch upon this.)

-Mike

I'm your Huckleberry.

Ok. So. A new round of FAQ's hit the net yesterday (Check GW's site if you have not seen them).
I also ran into a friend at the local GW store; I am going to start going there on Mondays to get in some casual practice games, which I sorely need. (My last game was at BFS back in October 11)

Since that time, Necrons have been released and a new round of FAQ's have been issued.

How will, I, as a tournament player, change up my game?

Let's go about hammering out a list. I shall choose Mech Blood Angels.

Now. I want a list that is aggressive; My Guard are pretty passive in play and I want to change it up. I mainly play in NOVA style missions, so I will focus on having a good number of scoring units and not giving up easy kill points, while maintaining mobility.
I also need to be able to take out lots of vehicles in the AV11 - AV13 range.
(Necrons let you "spam" AV13, which is new)
Basically, I need either S9+, 2d6, or AP:1 on any weapons that can be seen as Anti-tank.
To me, Missile Launchers just don't cut it anymore.

Let's start with an HQ: Librarian (powers to be chosen later): 100 points

Next, I really want 6 scoring units.
10 Tactical Marines w/Lascannon, Meltagun, Combi-Melta
Razorback w/Lascannon and Twin-Linked Plasma Gun, Dozer Blade, Searchlight: 291
Let's grab two of these. They will always be split into combat squads. (Per the FAQ, this is less dangerous.)
5 Assault Marines w/Meltagun
Razorback w/Lascannon and Twin-Linked Plasma Gun, Dozer Blade, Searchlight: 166
We will take three of these! (and a fourth if we have points)

Let's then grab 2 Predator Destructors w/Autocannon, Lascannon Sponsons, and a Dozer Blade: 140

We will add 2 Baal Predators with FlameStorm Cannons and Dozer Blade: 120

Adding this up: 1700 Not bad. Let's keep adding stuff.
Another 5-man Assault Scoring unit and a unit of two Attack Bikes w/Multi-Meltas gets us to 1966. Let's give an Infernus Pistol to two of the Assault Squads: 1996
With the last 4 points, we can put searchlights on the remaining four vehicles.

Our list looks like this

Librarian w/Shield of Sanguinius, The Sanguine Sword
5 Assault Marines w/Meltagun
Razorback w/Lascannon and Twin-Linked Plasma Gun, Dozer Blade, Searchlight
5 Assault Marines w/Meltagun
Razorback w/Lascannon and Twin-Linked Plasma Gun, Dozer Blade, Searchlight
5 Assault Marines w/Meltagun, Infernus Pistol
Razorback w/Lascannon and Twin-Linked Plasma Gun, Dozer Blade, Searchlight
5 Assault Marines w/Meltagun, Infernus Pistol
Razorback w/Lascannon and Twin-Linked Plasma Gun, Dozer Blade, Searchlight
10 Tactical Marines w/Lascannon, Meltagun, Combi-Melta
Razorback w/Lascannon and Twin-Linked Plasma Gun, Dozer Blade, Searchlight
10 Tactical Marines w/Lascannon, Meltagun, Combi-Melta
Razorback w/Lascannon and Twin-Linked Plasma Gun, Dozer Blade, Searchlight
Baal Predator w/Flamestorm Cannon, Dozer Blade, Searchlight
Baal Predator w/Flamestorm Cannon, Dozer Blade, Searchlight
2 Attack Bikes w/2 Multi-Meltas
Predator w/Autocannon, Lascannon Sponsons, Dozer Blade, Searchlight
Predator w/Autocannon, Lascannon Sponsons, Dozer Blade, Searchlight

So, to summarize.
12 Lascannons, 12 Melta-Weapons to compete against Vehicles.
8 Scoring Units, 20 Kill Points.
Dozer Blades to maintain reliable Mobility.

I will try this out next Monday and see if it can accomplish what I want it to do.

-Mike