40K Follies - Bugging Out

Posted by Ranillon on 31. January 2009 14:45

Vive le Fortifications! (Updated)

Posted by Ranillon on 28. January 2009 20:31

This is a bunker model I got from a local hobby shop (again, at a big discount).  According to the box it's a bunker design used by the French and Polish before World War 2 -- not exactly the best historical pedigree, admittedly.  However, it was just $14 and merely required a quick paint job.  The end result is a nice piece of terrain for not much money and time.

Update:  I added a second picture with an infantry model in order to show the scale of the bunker.

Bloodletter Attack!

Posted by Ranillon on 25. January 2009 20:51

When I originally bought my Skulltaker model I also picked up a Bloodletter box to act as a sort of personal guard.  Since I painted up the former I figured I might as well go ahead and paint the latter.  They were fun to do up, although all those warts are a bit of a pain.  Now I just have to paint up another forty or so and I'll have a complete Khorne army (ugh).

Daemonic Thoughts

Posted by Ranillon on 22. January 2009 00:05

After painting up Skulltaker for the From the Warp contest (thanks to everyone who participated) I’ve been reading through the Chaos Daemons codex attempting to get a proper handle on the force.  I don’t claim to have completely done so, but I can make some observations.

1)       Slaneeshi Daemons:  These may be fast, but they sure are fragile.  Daemonettes and Seekers, for example, are just toughness 3 and the regular Daemonic save.  Likewise, given how they only have Rending (without Feeding Tendrils to save them) I really wonder how effective they are really going to be in close combat even once they get there, especially against any target with a decent armor save.  They almost strike me as throw-away troops, but their cost precludes that.  They seem clearly to be the worst choice as a pure single type army.  As for their powers the Pavane is nice, but the rest are nothing special.

2)      Nurgle Daemons:  The other extreme from Slaneesh these guys are rock hard.  Good toughness, a daemonic save, and Feel No Pain?  They are slow, but who needs that when they can last perhaps three times as long as their Slaneeshi compatriots under fire?  They aren’t going to be too bad in close-combat either given their ability to wound effectively regardless of the target’s toughness.  All this makes Nurgle a viable single-type force.

3)      Khorne Daemons:  Less tough than Nurgle, but more so than Slaneesh Khorne is the other type that, I think, can be effectively used as a pure force. This is in large part due to most of the army going around with power weapons and that extra attack.  Bloodletters and Crushers may have to walk everywhere, but at least they are balanced out in the movement department thanks to Hounds (and a winged Bloodthirster if you can fit one in).  I also happen to like the look of the Khorne models best of all.

4)      Tzeentchi Daemons:  These guys strike me as a good support choice for other types of Daemons without being a particular sterling choice for a pure force.  The problem is that while they have good firepower they are just too whimpy in close-combat.  I just don’t think you can have a viable force that prefers to stand a foot away blasting without ever coming closer (or getting further away).  Take Pink Horrors – they are really just Imperial Guardsmen with better armor and a big gun.  Yet, even Warpfire isn’t really as nice as it may seem.  It is devastating against weakly armored opponents, but pretty mediocre against power armor.  For example, each turn a squad of 10 Horrors can slaughter 10 fire warriors, but only a meager 2 space marines.  I do think that Breath of Chaos makes Flamers potentially great against anything (assuming they can get that close intact).

If I was going to build a force (and I just might one of these days) I think I’d go for a combination of Khorne with either Tzeentch or Nurgle.  In the former case you have good close-combat combined with good shooty while in the second the toughness of the Nurgle troops would give more staying power to my army.  I just don’t see using Slaneesh Daemons, which is a shame given that Daemonettes are plastic.

They Don't Make Claws the Way they Used to

Posted by Ranillon on 20. January 2009 00:16

So, I was thinking earlier today over the effects of the new Rending rules for 5th edition.  In particular, what effect it has on the genestealers in my Tyranid army (not to mention the assault cannons in my Deathwing army).  To get the proper perspective on this I sat down and did a little math to figure out the exact changes.  Here is what I found:

The most obvious insight is that under the old rules skill didn't matter when it came to Rending -- you can roll a 6 just as easily if you are a gretchin as you can as a chaos lord.  By comparison, skill is now huge when it comes to Rending as it can greatly decrease your odds of success.  However, even skilled combatants that typically hit on a 3+ are still looking at a reduction of Rending effeciency of 34%!  If you ask me, that's a gigantic difference.  To put it another way, my group of 10 genestealers are now going to only kill 5.5 space marines on the charge rather than the old 7.5 -- two less marines.  That may not sound like much, but it adds up over the course of a game.

My conclusion -- I wouldn't go so far as to say that Rending has been "nerfed", but it is a significant reduction of effectiveness.  For armies that used to rely on Rending to do the heavy lifting of enemy removal (like my typical Tyranid force) generals are going to need to seriously retool their forces in  an attempt to make up the difference.