Friday 17 March 2017
Monday 20 February 2017
Alternate Legion Addons to Cabal lists
Since the release of the Legions book I have been interested to see what the different Legion traits do to the CSM Cabal list and what bonuses you can grant from it. In this post I am going to be doing a quick breakdown of extras. I am going to miss out the ones you can't use (Nurgle, Tzeentch and Slannesh) due to the presence of MoK and DoK within the list. - I am assuming you are taking Kharn and Cypher to deal with Knights, Invis, getting Hit and Run and Shrouded.
1: Night Lords: The presence of a single Nightlord Character within the Cabal gives the entire unit Stealth. Coupled with Shrouded from Cypher means you instantly have a 4+ cover save first turn, which is an improvement on the 5+ invulnerable if you are not going first, It goes without saying that it is easy to turn this into a 2+ cover save on most boards.
Terror tactics means that units taking Fear checks, and they will because of Khorne Dogs, take it at a -2 modifier. Means something if you don't have invis up and they are most likely to hit you back on 5's, but apart from that it's not massive.
Relic wise: The Vox Deamonicus gives the star a small boost with -1 LD to enemy units within 6". This is good for shriek/ terrify play at close quarters and if you want to take larger advantage of a combat win to get the run result. Also -1 to enemy reserve rolls, this can damage your opponent if he is using Deepstrike tactics but it could also help them with keeping their weaker units off the board, depends what mission you are playing.
Stormbolt Plate. It's always good to have a 2+ save to tank some hits on and the extra +1 to the cover save means he is rolling a 3+ cover save out in the open. Not bad at all.
2: World Eaters: Yep, somehow world eaters can buff a Psychic deathstar. Ok, so having a World Eaters Character in a Cabal will give it Adamantium Will, this is useful if you are not taking Kharn but I wouldn't advise doing that.
Relic Wise: The Talisman of Burning Blood is the kicker here. It adds 3" onto your Movement, Run and Charge distances every phase of every turn. Suddenly you can get a 1st turn charge with a 30" threat range without having to play with Summoning and Soul switch and it isn't even that expensive. 25 points + bike, lord and MoK comes in at 115 points. You could give him a powerfist or Daemon weapon or sorts to tank him up a bit but bare bones he is still useful as a movement boost tool.
I'm probably going to test this idea out for my 1850 list, just need to replace a sorcerer for him.
3: Word Bearers: Having a single Word Bearers character in a Cabal has no immediate outgoing effects, however all Conjurations are cast on a 3+ instead of a 4+. You probably know where this is going if you read my latest post.
Simply put, better and reliable summoning for early game as my experiences have seen his head pop off when I am too over zealous with summoning.
Relic wise: The Malefic tomb grants the psyker an extra Daemonology (Malefic) power. So a Lvl 3 sorcerer can roll 4 times on the Malefic tree and get the primus. A good way to secure Incursion, Sacrifice and Cursed earth.
The Script of Erebus, once per game you get an additional D6 of warp charge dice for the psychic phase. This can be really good or a dud depending on what you roll, however if you think you need a hand to get some extra powers off that turn it's a good item.
Baleful Icon. I don't know how much this would actually be used, basically it forces your opponent to re-roll successful charge ranges and they don't get extra attacks from charging. Good if you are fighting an assault based army, yet not very useful if your enemy never charges you.
The other remaining Legions: Iron Warriors and Alpha Legion have little to no additional effects that the cabal can use, their is the Mind Veil, but you have Hit and Run from Cypher and you can get cooler things elsewhere.
Hope this has been a good read and you get a little more individuality out of your Cabals like I have.
1: Night Lords: The presence of a single Nightlord Character within the Cabal gives the entire unit Stealth. Coupled with Shrouded from Cypher means you instantly have a 4+ cover save first turn, which is an improvement on the 5+ invulnerable if you are not going first, It goes without saying that it is easy to turn this into a 2+ cover save on most boards.
Terror tactics means that units taking Fear checks, and they will because of Khorne Dogs, take it at a -2 modifier. Means something if you don't have invis up and they are most likely to hit you back on 5's, but apart from that it's not massive.
Relic wise: The Vox Deamonicus gives the star a small boost with -1 LD to enemy units within 6". This is good for shriek/ terrify play at close quarters and if you want to take larger advantage of a combat win to get the run result. Also -1 to enemy reserve rolls, this can damage your opponent if he is using Deepstrike tactics but it could also help them with keeping their weaker units off the board, depends what mission you are playing.
Stormbolt Plate. It's always good to have a 2+ save to tank some hits on and the extra +1 to the cover save means he is rolling a 3+ cover save out in the open. Not bad at all.
2: World Eaters: Yep, somehow world eaters can buff a Psychic deathstar. Ok, so having a World Eaters Character in a Cabal will give it Adamantium Will, this is useful if you are not taking Kharn but I wouldn't advise doing that.
Relic Wise: The Talisman of Burning Blood is the kicker here. It adds 3" onto your Movement, Run and Charge distances every phase of every turn. Suddenly you can get a 1st turn charge with a 30" threat range without having to play with Summoning and Soul switch and it isn't even that expensive. 25 points + bike, lord and MoK comes in at 115 points. You could give him a powerfist or Daemon weapon or sorts to tank him up a bit but bare bones he is still useful as a movement boost tool.
I'm probably going to test this idea out for my 1850 list, just need to replace a sorcerer for him.
3: Word Bearers: Having a single Word Bearers character in a Cabal has no immediate outgoing effects, however all Conjurations are cast on a 3+ instead of a 4+. You probably know where this is going if you read my latest post.
Simply put, better and reliable summoning for early game as my experiences have seen his head pop off when I am too over zealous with summoning.
Relic wise: The Malefic tomb grants the psyker an extra Daemonology (Malefic) power. So a Lvl 3 sorcerer can roll 4 times on the Malefic tree and get the primus. A good way to secure Incursion, Sacrifice and Cursed earth.
The Script of Erebus, once per game you get an additional D6 of warp charge dice for the psychic phase. This can be really good or a dud depending on what you roll, however if you think you need a hand to get some extra powers off that turn it's a good item.
Baleful Icon. I don't know how much this would actually be used, basically it forces your opponent to re-roll successful charge ranges and they don't get extra attacks from charging. Good if you are fighting an assault based army, yet not very useful if your enemy never charges you.
The other remaining Legions: Iron Warriors and Alpha Legion have little to no additional effects that the cabal can use, their is the Mind Veil, but you have Hit and Run from Cypher and you can get cooler things elsewhere.
Hope this has been a good read and you get a little more individuality out of your Cabals like I have.
From The Ashes: List round up and Game 1
So I have just got back from the 'From The Ashes' 1500 point tournament at Sanctuary Gaming Center, Ashfield and I have to say I have thoroughly enjoyed this tournament. I was using this tournament to practice more with my Cabal list for the GT finals in March and I think I did well. There a few things I would of changed, if I owned a time machine, and a few dice that I would of slapped out of my hands and set aflame. But love and war have all gone to rest now and I'm sat here typing up my war stories, my ideas and thoughts going into the even and a cuppa tea in hand for a nice sip of contemplation every now and then. So, to the list. Oh and game 1.
The event was 3 games, Maelstrom Missions + Kill Points and had a rule that I fully supported of 'if you get tabled, you still get the points you earned in the game.' Which for one doesn't punish you for being tabled, you can get tabled and still score good points. It also means you can still lose a game, but beat someone who won theirs. E.g Eddy wins his game 16-12, but Jeff loses his game 30-27. Jeff is placed higher because he has more points than Eddy. Although Eddy won his game Jeff played a better game overall. pretty sweet.
In my eyes this is an awesome move by the TO's and I really like the system it made, there is nothing worse than playing your heart out for 4 turns to get a few bad rolls and then getting tabled to receive a big fat 0 against your name even though you have played well yet somehow scored the same as a 9 year old who doesn't know how to work out Ballistic Skill yet. Anywho, moving on.
I went into this tournament thinking one thing. 'Practice your pissing Cabal Star tactics you utter fool' or as my good friend Tom puts it, 'quit being such a fucking scrub John and play some games'. Totally awesome scrub mind you. Anyway, the list was essentially the bare bones of what my Cabal star will be in the GT finals in March and I will run you through it now, old ass meta spoilers!
So the list starts with a Chaos Space Marines universal CAD. It sounds awful, but it must be this way. In the CAD I have Kharn The Betrayer as my warlord and Cypher the Fallen Angel, as I can't put them into a Legions Detachment with the new rules I have to stick to universal. With them are 2 units of 10 Cultists for mainly Tax, although they were used for some awesome things today, and holding down the back board objectives.
Allied to this is a Word Bearers Allied Detachment with a Sorcerer, Level 3, Bike, Spell Fam and the Malefic Book. This guy is meant for Summoning, able to Conjure on 3+'s with the spell fam and the extra roll on the Malefic tree I am guaranteed some good results on the spells I roll. This guy acts as a good summoning source early game, late game he is most likely to kill himself... all as planned...
With this guy there are 10 more Cultists for the back line.
In Addition to this there is obviously a Cabal Formation of 3 sorcerers all with: Bikes, Level 3, Spell Fams, and Staves. I could only fit 3 guys in this formation because of the points constraint, there job is simple. Invis and a boat load of powers and options to get some games won.
Finally in this mix is the Gore Pack. Now in my Gore Pack I run the 2 units of minimum Bikes and one large star unit of (in these games) 11 Dogs to house all the characters and a small one of 5 Dogs for things like Soul Switching, killing small units and generally early game harassment.
So that's the full list. I rocked up with my buddy Chris, who was bringing Orks to this Tournament and we both ended up playing the one list we each didn't want to play. He played 4 Knights, I played Tau with a Culexus. uugh...
Game 1: Game 1 was Vanguard Strike, Escalation and my opponent was a really nice chap running 3 Riptides (1 Ion, 2 Gatcannon) all in single squads, a Drone Network and 2 Crisis Suit teams, one with 4 guys and 3 sets of 2 plasma rifles and a batman gear of Twin linked and Ignore Cover with the Commander Suit who also has twin plasma Rifles. A second team of 3 with 3 Flamers and a Culexus assassin finished the list off.
My main Powers in this game were: Invis, Cursed Earth, Incursion, Shroud of Deceit and Terrify.
He won picking board sides, and deploying first.
He deployed his army in one fixed line across his board edge with a unit of drones separating each shooty squad with the team of 3 Suits in reserve and his Culexus infiltrating.
Knowing I wasn't going for the steal I decided to hide all the sorcerers, Kharn and Cypher behind a large building at the back of my deployment zone, I decided to spread out the hounds around the building but within 12" of being able to get out of line of sight of his ranged threats so I can keep the Culexus away from me whilst not getting hit hard turn 1. I also deployed the 5 man dog squad in a seperate ruin that had hardly any windows closer to the Tau gunline. I Reserved both units of bikes and all 3 units of Cultists.
He infiltrated his Culexus 18" away from my dogs as I stopped a 12" out of sight deployment and I scouted away from it hiding my entire force at the back of the board. Can't remember if I tried to seize... I went 2nd.
Turn 1: I feel really bad for not remembering the chaps name he was such a nice chap and he was a great sport, so I shall call him nice tau man. Fitting.
Nice Tau Man pushed up slightly with his forces keeping more than 24" away from my closer unit of dogs, positioning onto some objectives and spread out for later turn games. I deployed really well here as the terrain was quiet thick so he couldn't trace LoS to any of my units. He was, however, in range with his smart missle systems and fired on my unit of 5 dogs killing one and wounding one. He then boost-shuffled around the board to hide his units a bit more and keep me at arms length. He did keep his Culexus sat still, which I did find odd at the time but it did keep my star held in the corner although he couldn't see it.
My first turn I B-lined the small Dog Squad straight for the Culexus as they were easily within 24". If I could take it out quickly then I could push mid table early game instead of having to wait it out or trying to get it killed somehow. I also sprung out a small arm of the star with 2 sorcerers and 1 hound so I could turbo boost and run back into cover. In my psychic phase I cast Invis and Cursed Earth on my star ensuring it wouldn't die. Then Incursion to summon 3 Screamers and Shroud of Deceit into the Plasma Suit Commander unit, turning them into the closest riptide (a burst cannon one) and killing it scoring me first strike and my first KP. I then turbo boosted back behind my little hiding place with the bikes and turbo boosted the 3 screamers into an objective I needed that turn, unfortunately I was signing a bit of a death warrent for these 3 as it was right in front of the plasma suits. I then charged the Culexus with my Hounds taking 2 wounds off it but it also killed a pup in return.
Turn 2: Nice Tau Man's 3 man Flamer team dropped in from deepstrike and he elected to put them in a safe position behind a building next to an objective marker for him to claim this turn (I can't remember all the objective cards at the time) He also moved his drones and his riptides together, spreading them out to the top left hand side of the board where he could see a few hounds and moving to clear the Screamers.
Think I should point out that he was very unlucky with his Nova Charges as he failed about 4 of them this game with re-roll and an FnP save, very unlucky.
In the shooting phase he cleared the screamers in a ball of blue plasma and fire and took a few pot shots into the Star, I don't think he hurt anything this turn with them.
In combat the Culexus took a wound off another hound and the hounds failed to bring him down due to the 4+ invulnerable.
My turn 1 saw 2 units of cultists and 2 bike units turn up. I moved these on far away from his Riptides (They had intercept) and out of LoS of most things. Figuring that the Hounds would most likely bring down the Culexus, I shimmied the star around it's now pinned 12" bubble to try and get to center board. Unfortunately, with no Soul Switch or Electro-displacement I didn't have much in terms of a slingshot. In my psychic phase I cast Invis and Cursed Earth again onto the star, and once again I took over the Tau Plasma team, this time split firing the commander into 4 of his drones, wiping them out and the unit into the flamer suit team, also wiping them out.
In the shooting phase I shot my bikes into another unit of 4 drones killing one of them and making the rest flee.
In the combat phase the Hounds failed to take down the Culexus and he took the last hound down to 1 wound. So all 3 hounds are now on 1 wound equal to the Culexus, worried much. Yep.
Turn 3: In turn 3, Nice Tau Guy finally got chance to rip into my star with the majority of his army and start chipping away at it, his drones rallied, and set up behind his crisis team with the Ion Tide backing them up, his Burst Cannon Tide kept moving left and got in range of one of my Cultist units, oh dears... His Drones failed to land a hit into the star yet his plasma suit team scored several hits on 6's and wiped at least 2 dogs from the squad, the Riptide also joined in and cleared another dog and finally the burst cannon riptide shredded 6 Cultists, but they passed their LD checks.
In the assault phase the Culexus killed 1 pup and the Hounds still failed to kill the Culexus. This guy could make single 4+ invuln saves till the cows came home, and by cows I mean Pyschic null bubble that makes my army fall flat on its face.
He used his jump move to get some more distance between his units and my star, taking cover in nearby ruins and hiding the drones. Finally the 2 last dogs brought down the Culexus assassin and consolidated towards a unit of 4 Marker drones sat right next to them.
In my turn 3 the last unit of cultists didn't arrive. I moved everything up, either behind large buildings (Cultists) or to objectives (bikes) or in the Plasma Teams face (star), threw down invis and cursed earth again and failed to cast Shroud of Deceit on 7 dices. If I managed to get it off I would of wiped another squad of drones and taken some wounds from the Ion Riptide (It had a 3+ invuln that turn), but you might say I had been having some horrible luck with it the last two turns, so I deserved 1 fail cast.
In my shooting phase I shot my Bikes into the drones again, unfortunately not killing any and shot some bolters into the Commander for shizzles doing nothing. I attempted to charge the Suit unit, but in his overwatch he killed 3 dogs in a hail of plasma, taking me out to a 13" charge range... yep. My dogs charged into the Drones, killing one of them for no reply, unfortunately they did not flee this turn.
Turn 4:In turn 4 Nice Tau Guy jumped his plasma team very close to my Cabal star making sure that all of them were in rapid fire range and moved the Ion Tide into LoS of them too. His last Gat Tide stood still with LoS to the Cultists that had just entered the board edge. Both Tides Nova charged, unfortunately Ion Tide failed his Nova and took a wound. In his shooting phase the Gat Tide used it's special ability of double shot into my cultists, I went to ground inside the ruins for a 3+ cover and lost 6 cultists including the champion, failed my LD check and ran off the board. His Plasma suits and Ion tide both fired into my Star, scoring around 10+ hits on 6's but only killing 2 hounds after a brilliant round of invulnerable saves.
He jumped back from my star with both units in his assault move, his 2 remaining drones 'bonked' a dog to death after I failed to take one down. Wow pup...wow.
In my turn 4 I pushed the star up again towards the Plasma suits, I think by this time the Word Bearers sorcerer had killed himself via multi-perils so I couldn't get any extra units on the board and I wasn't getting any blood tithe. I moved my bikes up to claim objectives and take a few pot shots at the suits or the last unit of drones close by to them. With his Gat Tide so far away from the rest of the battle I concentrated on taking out the Suits and the Nova Tide.
In the Psychic phase I took over the Plasma Suits again, firing everything into the Ion Tide and scoring 9 wounds, in a flurry of FnP's the Ion tide stayed up on 1 wound, I also threw up invis on the star for the last time.
In my shooting phase I took some more pot shots into the Suits and did nothing, I ran and turbo boosted a few things and went straight into declaring a charge at his suits now that I was only 5-6" away. In his overwatch he cleared the closest dog knocking me down to a 8" charge distance, which I failed. My one Khorne hound killed a Drone making a 1 on 1 scenario we were both laughing at as the drone held fast.
Turn 5: In turn 5 my opponent rinsed and repeated his process of jumping into range, shooting and jumping back out of range with his Crisis suits, he also moved a unit of drones to about 2-3" away from the last hound, he was going to get pasted by some drones. He moved his Gat Tide to the far left board edge now there were no feasible targets besides the Star, which held up to all the shooting from the Plasma suits, Ion and Gat tides with little pup casualties.
In his assault phase the Crisis team got a massive 15" jump move and hid almost completely behind a ruin out of LoS of a straight charge, essentially denying my 2 Kill points and Warlord. He charged the pup with the 4 new drones and the poor thing got rekt.
In my last turn, knowing I couldn't kill his Crisis team directly I moved left into his deployment zone and in LoS of both Ion tide and Crisis team, my bikes sat on objectives keeping out of the way and my cultists remained hidden. In my psychic phase I cast Shroud of Deceit a final time on the Crisis team, slaying the Ion tide with them and then I cast Terrify on the Crisis team seen as they were literally 2" away from their own board edge. Unfortunately for me he passed his check and they didn't run. In the shooting phase I killed the unit of 3 drones that were close to my Cabal for Overwhelming Firepower and that's where the game ended.
I won the game 26-20, so was a comfortable win and my opponent did score a good amount of Objective cards and did what he could to damage the star and take out my weak chaff units. Personally, I was happy with how I played. I did get quiet a lot of luck with how many times I took over the Plasma Suits and how effective they were for killing his own squads. Also, I was lucky that he placed his Assassin within 18" of my small squad of hounds who did their job of getting rid of him even though they took their time with it.
I think one aspect that gave me an overall advantage that game was first of all the terrain, I managed to take 2 shooting phases away from my opponent by good deployment and keeping behind LoS blocking terrain. Also, my opponent hadn't played a Cabal star before, so he didn't have much experience of what the list does and where it is strong. If he did he might of spread his Plasma suits away from the Riptides reducing my Cabal power effectiveness.
Over all was a very fun and interesting game, my opponent was a really nice guy and we both had a good laugh at the Hounds being beaten down by spinning discs. The Plasma suits did get some close calls from the star, but with brilliant overwatches managed to keep them back.
Sorry for the essay, hope it was a good read. Next post will be game 2 where I faced Kairos and his Lords of Change friends.
The event was 3 games, Maelstrom Missions + Kill Points and had a rule that I fully supported of 'if you get tabled, you still get the points you earned in the game.' Which for one doesn't punish you for being tabled, you can get tabled and still score good points. It also means you can still lose a game, but beat someone who won theirs. E.g Eddy wins his game 16-12, but Jeff loses his game 30-27. Jeff is placed higher because he has more points than Eddy. Although Eddy won his game Jeff played a better game overall. pretty sweet.
In my eyes this is an awesome move by the TO's and I really like the system it made, there is nothing worse than playing your heart out for 4 turns to get a few bad rolls and then getting tabled to receive a big fat 0 against your name even though you have played well yet somehow scored the same as a 9 year old who doesn't know how to work out Ballistic Skill yet. Anywho, moving on.
I went into this tournament thinking one thing. 'Practice your pissing Cabal Star tactics you utter fool' or as my good friend Tom puts it, 'quit being such a fucking scrub John and play some games'. Totally awesome scrub mind you. Anyway, the list was essentially the bare bones of what my Cabal star will be in the GT finals in March and I will run you through it now, old ass meta spoilers!
So the list starts with a Chaos Space Marines universal CAD. It sounds awful, but it must be this way. In the CAD I have Kharn The Betrayer as my warlord and Cypher the Fallen Angel, as I can't put them into a Legions Detachment with the new rules I have to stick to universal. With them are 2 units of 10 Cultists for mainly Tax, although they were used for some awesome things today, and holding down the back board objectives.
Allied to this is a Word Bearers Allied Detachment with a Sorcerer, Level 3, Bike, Spell Fam and the Malefic Book. This guy is meant for Summoning, able to Conjure on 3+'s with the spell fam and the extra roll on the Malefic tree I am guaranteed some good results on the spells I roll. This guy acts as a good summoning source early game, late game he is most likely to kill himself... all as planned...
With this guy there are 10 more Cultists for the back line.
In Addition to this there is obviously a Cabal Formation of 3 sorcerers all with: Bikes, Level 3, Spell Fams, and Staves. I could only fit 3 guys in this formation because of the points constraint, there job is simple. Invis and a boat load of powers and options to get some games won.
Finally in this mix is the Gore Pack. Now in my Gore Pack I run the 2 units of minimum Bikes and one large star unit of (in these games) 11 Dogs to house all the characters and a small one of 5 Dogs for things like Soul Switching, killing small units and generally early game harassment.
So that's the full list. I rocked up with my buddy Chris, who was bringing Orks to this Tournament and we both ended up playing the one list we each didn't want to play. He played 4 Knights, I played Tau with a Culexus. uugh...
Game 1: Game 1 was Vanguard Strike, Escalation and my opponent was a really nice chap running 3 Riptides (1 Ion, 2 Gatcannon) all in single squads, a Drone Network and 2 Crisis Suit teams, one with 4 guys and 3 sets of 2 plasma rifles and a batman gear of Twin linked and Ignore Cover with the Commander Suit who also has twin plasma Rifles. A second team of 3 with 3 Flamers and a Culexus assassin finished the list off.
My main Powers in this game were: Invis, Cursed Earth, Incursion, Shroud of Deceit and Terrify.
He won picking board sides, and deploying first.
He deployed his army in one fixed line across his board edge with a unit of drones separating each shooty squad with the team of 3 Suits in reserve and his Culexus infiltrating.
Knowing I wasn't going for the steal I decided to hide all the sorcerers, Kharn and Cypher behind a large building at the back of my deployment zone, I decided to spread out the hounds around the building but within 12" of being able to get out of line of sight of his ranged threats so I can keep the Culexus away from me whilst not getting hit hard turn 1. I also deployed the 5 man dog squad in a seperate ruin that had hardly any windows closer to the Tau gunline. I Reserved both units of bikes and all 3 units of Cultists.
He infiltrated his Culexus 18" away from my dogs as I stopped a 12" out of sight deployment and I scouted away from it hiding my entire force at the back of the board. Can't remember if I tried to seize... I went 2nd.
 |
| Post scout Deployment: I did quickly ask if he had any barrage weapons before we started. |
Turn 1: I feel really bad for not remembering the chaps name he was such a nice chap and he was a great sport, so I shall call him nice tau man. Fitting.
Nice Tau Man pushed up slightly with his forces keeping more than 24" away from my closer unit of dogs, positioning onto some objectives and spread out for later turn games. I deployed really well here as the terrain was quiet thick so he couldn't trace LoS to any of my units. He was, however, in range with his smart missle systems and fired on my unit of 5 dogs killing one and wounding one. He then boost-shuffled around the board to hide his units a bit more and keep me at arms length. He did keep his Culexus sat still, which I did find odd at the time but it did keep my star held in the corner although he couldn't see it.
My first turn I B-lined the small Dog Squad straight for the Culexus as they were easily within 24". If I could take it out quickly then I could push mid table early game instead of having to wait it out or trying to get it killed somehow. I also sprung out a small arm of the star with 2 sorcerers and 1 hound so I could turbo boost and run back into cover. In my psychic phase I cast Invis and Cursed Earth on my star ensuring it wouldn't die. Then Incursion to summon 3 Screamers and Shroud of Deceit into the Plasma Suit Commander unit, turning them into the closest riptide (a burst cannon one) and killing it scoring me first strike and my first KP. I then turbo boosted back behind my little hiding place with the bikes and turbo boosted the 3 screamers into an objective I needed that turn, unfortunately I was signing a bit of a death warrent for these 3 as it was right in front of the plasma suits. I then charged the Culexus with my Hounds taking 2 wounds off it but it also killed a pup in return.
Turn 2: Nice Tau Man's 3 man Flamer team dropped in from deepstrike and he elected to put them in a safe position behind a building next to an objective marker for him to claim this turn (I can't remember all the objective cards at the time) He also moved his drones and his riptides together, spreading them out to the top left hand side of the board where he could see a few hounds and moving to clear the Screamers.
Think I should point out that he was very unlucky with his Nova Charges as he failed about 4 of them this game with re-roll and an FnP save, very unlucky.
In the shooting phase he cleared the screamers in a ball of blue plasma and fire and took a few pot shots into the Star, I don't think he hurt anything this turn with them.
In combat the Culexus took a wound off another hound and the hounds failed to bring him down due to the 4+ invulnerable.
My turn 1 saw 2 units of cultists and 2 bike units turn up. I moved these on far away from his Riptides (They had intercept) and out of LoS of most things. Figuring that the Hounds would most likely bring down the Culexus, I shimmied the star around it's now pinned 12" bubble to try and get to center board. Unfortunately, with no Soul Switch or Electro-displacement I didn't have much in terms of a slingshot. In my psychic phase I cast Invis and Cursed Earth again onto the star, and once again I took over the Tau Plasma team, this time split firing the commander into 4 of his drones, wiping them out and the unit into the flamer suit team, also wiping them out.
In the shooting phase I shot my bikes into another unit of 4 drones killing one of them and making the rest flee.
In the combat phase the Hounds failed to take down the Culexus and he took the last hound down to 1 wound. So all 3 hounds are now on 1 wound equal to the Culexus, worried much. Yep.
Turn 3: In turn 3, Nice Tau Guy finally got chance to rip into my star with the majority of his army and start chipping away at it, his drones rallied, and set up behind his crisis team with the Ion Tide backing them up, his Burst Cannon Tide kept moving left and got in range of one of my Cultist units, oh dears... His Drones failed to land a hit into the star yet his plasma suit team scored several hits on 6's and wiped at least 2 dogs from the squad, the Riptide also joined in and cleared another dog and finally the burst cannon riptide shredded 6 Cultists, but they passed their LD checks.
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| Prepare to fire! There is a scary amount of AP2 ignore cover here, thank god I have a 5++ |
In the assault phase the Culexus killed 1 pup and the Hounds still failed to kill the Culexus. This guy could make single 4+ invuln saves till the cows came home, and by cows I mean Pyschic null bubble that makes my army fall flat on its face.
He used his jump move to get some more distance between his units and my star, taking cover in nearby ruins and hiding the drones. Finally the 2 last dogs brought down the Culexus assassin and consolidated towards a unit of 4 Marker drones sat right next to them.
In my turn 3 the last unit of cultists didn't arrive. I moved everything up, either behind large buildings (Cultists) or to objectives (bikes) or in the Plasma Teams face (star), threw down invis and cursed earth again and failed to cast Shroud of Deceit on 7 dices. If I managed to get it off I would of wiped another squad of drones and taken some wounds from the Ion Riptide (It had a 3+ invuln that turn), but you might say I had been having some horrible luck with it the last two turns, so I deserved 1 fail cast.
In my shooting phase I shot my Bikes into the drones again, unfortunately not killing any and shot some bolters into the Commander for shizzles doing nothing. I attempted to charge the Suit unit, but in his overwatch he killed 3 dogs in a hail of plasma, taking me out to a 13" charge range... yep. My dogs charged into the Drones, killing one of them for no reply, unfortunately they did not flee this turn.
Turn 4:In turn 4 Nice Tau Guy jumped his plasma team very close to my Cabal star making sure that all of them were in rapid fire range and moved the Ion Tide into LoS of them too. His last Gat Tide stood still with LoS to the Cultists that had just entered the board edge. Both Tides Nova charged, unfortunately Ion Tide failed his Nova and took a wound. In his shooting phase the Gat Tide used it's special ability of double shot into my cultists, I went to ground inside the ruins for a 3+ cover and lost 6 cultists including the champion, failed my LD check and ran off the board. His Plasma suits and Ion tide both fired into my Star, scoring around 10+ hits on 6's but only killing 2 hounds after a brilliant round of invulnerable saves.
He jumped back from my star with both units in his assault move, his 2 remaining drones 'bonked' a dog to death after I failed to take one down. Wow pup...wow.
In my turn 4 I pushed the star up again towards the Plasma suits, I think by this time the Word Bearers sorcerer had killed himself via multi-perils so I couldn't get any extra units on the board and I wasn't getting any blood tithe. I moved my bikes up to claim objectives and take a few pot shots at the suits or the last unit of drones close by to them. With his Gat Tide so far away from the rest of the battle I concentrated on taking out the Suits and the Nova Tide.
In the Psychic phase I took over the Plasma Suits again, firing everything into the Ion Tide and scoring 9 wounds, in a flurry of FnP's the Ion tide stayed up on 1 wound, I also threw up invis on the star for the last time.
In my shooting phase I took some more pot shots into the Suits and did nothing, I ran and turbo boosted a few things and went straight into declaring a charge at his suits now that I was only 5-6" away. In his overwatch he cleared the closest dog knocking me down to a 8" charge distance, which I failed. My one Khorne hound killed a Drone making a 1 on 1 scenario we were both laughing at as the drone held fast.
Turn 5: In turn 5 my opponent rinsed and repeated his process of jumping into range, shooting and jumping back out of range with his Crisis suits, he also moved a unit of drones to about 2-3" away from the last hound, he was going to get pasted by some drones. He moved his Gat Tide to the far left board edge now there were no feasible targets besides the Star, which held up to all the shooting from the Plasma suits, Ion and Gat tides with little pup casualties.
In his assault phase the Crisis team got a massive 15" jump move and hid almost completely behind a ruin out of LoS of a straight charge, essentially denying my 2 Kill points and Warlord. He charged the pup with the 4 new drones and the poor thing got rekt.
In my last turn, knowing I couldn't kill his Crisis team directly I moved left into his deployment zone and in LoS of both Ion tide and Crisis team, my bikes sat on objectives keeping out of the way and my cultists remained hidden. In my psychic phase I cast Shroud of Deceit a final time on the Crisis team, slaying the Ion tide with them and then I cast Terrify on the Crisis team seen as they were literally 2" away from their own board edge. Unfortunately for me he passed his check and they didn't run. In the shooting phase I killed the unit of 3 drones that were close to my Cabal for Overwhelming Firepower and that's where the game ended.
I won the game 26-20, so was a comfortable win and my opponent did score a good amount of Objective cards and did what he could to damage the star and take out my weak chaff units. Personally, I was happy with how I played. I did get quiet a lot of luck with how many times I took over the Plasma Suits and how effective they were for killing his own squads. Also, I was lucky that he placed his Assassin within 18" of my small squad of hounds who did their job of getting rid of him even though they took their time with it.
I think one aspect that gave me an overall advantage that game was first of all the terrain, I managed to take 2 shooting phases away from my opponent by good deployment and keeping behind LoS blocking terrain. Also, my opponent hadn't played a Cabal star before, so he didn't have much experience of what the list does and where it is strong. If he did he might of spread his Plasma suits away from the Riptides reducing my Cabal power effectiveness.
Over all was a very fun and interesting game, my opponent was a really nice guy and we both had a good laugh at the Hounds being beaten down by spinning discs. The Plasma suits did get some close calls from the star, but with brilliant overwatches managed to keep them back.
Sorry for the essay, hope it was a good read. Next post will be game 2 where I faced Kairos and his Lords of Change friends.
Monday 30 January 2017
Too much to review - Chaos Legions
I've been thinking about what to write about these last few days, and really I have given up on trying to review every new Legion and it's different impacts on how Chaos Space Marines work on the tabletop and what combinations there are. I doubt I could even list them in order or which is the best one, but I will give my opinions in what I could see Chaos players bringing to the table. So here we go.
Disclaimer - Although I have ranked them 1-9 on my preference I do not think any Legion are shit, they all have their bonuses but some just have a lot more than others.
1: Thousand Sons - This is Thousand Sons, but I think it should be Magnus or Rehati War Sect. With 13 Magni turning up to the Caledonian Uprising at the start of the year, it is clear he is a popular guy, if the popularity continues or if Magnus goes away then we will know if he is all that or not.
2: Black Legion - Ok, it's the Cabal. A small boost to an otherwise regarded "best formation" for Chaos Space Marines before the new legion book. There will still be Cabal players in 40K and now with their slight buffs them players will be a little happier. If the Cabal didn't exist then this one would find itself tumbling down the ranks.
3: Death Guard - Possibly the most beefed out Legion in the new book, now MoN and free Vets give your army Relentless, +1 Toughness, FnP and Fearless means that your average marine will be a tough nut to crack and only 90 points for 5 instead of 120.
Adding the Decurion bonuses I can see Death Guard being great at the MSU game.
4: World Eaters - World Eaters/ Bezerker armies are extremely popular in 40K communities. We all have one devotee to the blood god in every gaming group, and they will be happy about the decurion of "I get to actually play a game and not just die all the time" which actually can be quiet a deadly surprise for unsuspecting players.
5: Emperors Children - Kakophoni is what it is all about. I find Emperors Children players a rarity as their models are usually over priced, their guns never seem to get solid rules - Salvo Blasters are not really all that - and the packs for the extra weapons are extra £££. The Kakophoni, however, does manage to sort out some problems with the way the units work whilst simultaneously giving them a boost. I do also like the Decurion for these guys, the possibility of BS5 or T5 is always a good thing. I am currently working on my Kakophoni at the moment, but it will not be finished for some time.
6: Alpha Legion - Ok, Alpha legion should be up their above Death Guard in slot 3. However, due to the FAQ that essentially makes the Decurion useless I doubt we will be seeing many players bother with this army. I was collection all the Cultists I could get my hands on for a 180 cultist infiltrate fest who always come back after death, but now I have lots of cultists and not a lot of awesome formations for them. Infiltrate on lots of units is awesome for MSU and Maelstrom games, but lack of anything to really keep you alive, there isn't much stopping you getting blown off the board in chunks. If GW fix the FAQ, the Serpents will definitely rise.
8: Night Lords - I really didn't want to put night lords here, I wanted them to be much higher up as they are probably one of the coolest legions around. Unfortunately their new rules don't give much to be desired in the current climate when put against other legions. Fear & fear bonus's are good, managing to wreck your opponents LD value through formation uses are also good. Yet when you go against KnF marines, Stubborn Guardsmen, Mob rule or Instinctive Behavior and Fearless units, you don't do anything extra to your opponent. If 8th makes Fear and anti fear rules change, perhaps these guys will be getting a boost.
7: Iron Warriors - Playing Iron Warriors myself as a casual army I can tell that they do not get much in face of lot's of extra rules. I only have 3 Oblitorators mind you, the guys with 12 of them are going to be delirious. Anyway, Iron Warriors do have brilliant rules for knocking down tanks and fortifications, however when not many armies are bringing tanks and you will probably be the only guy with fortifications your bonuses only go so far. They are fun to play with, but your marines are the same old marines.
9: Word Bearers - For all the Legions another really cool legion is further down the list than it should be. The only real bonus is the 3+ cast on conjuration powers, which will see a allied detachment of 1 sorcerer and 1 set of cultists being used but that is about it in my opinion. There is not much else to be had for these guys as every other marine is just another renegade marine who many Chaos players don't really like. It is a shame because I love the Novels following Marduk and Burias through their trials and tribulations and I feel that Word Bearers have been dealt a bit of a short hand.
Hope you have enjoyed my list, do you agree with my rankings or do you have your own?
Disclaimer - Although I have ranked them 1-9 on my preference I do not think any Legion are shit, they all have their bonuses but some just have a lot more than others.
1: Thousand Sons - This is Thousand Sons, but I think it should be Magnus or Rehati War Sect. With 13 Magni turning up to the Caledonian Uprising at the start of the year, it is clear he is a popular guy, if the popularity continues or if Magnus goes away then we will know if he is all that or not.
2: Black Legion - Ok, it's the Cabal. A small boost to an otherwise regarded "best formation" for Chaos Space Marines before the new legion book. There will still be Cabal players in 40K and now with their slight buffs them players will be a little happier. If the Cabal didn't exist then this one would find itself tumbling down the ranks.
3: Death Guard - Possibly the most beefed out Legion in the new book, now MoN and free Vets give your army Relentless, +1 Toughness, FnP and Fearless means that your average marine will be a tough nut to crack and only 90 points for 5 instead of 120.
Adding the Decurion bonuses I can see Death Guard being great at the MSU game.
4: World Eaters - World Eaters/ Bezerker armies are extremely popular in 40K communities. We all have one devotee to the blood god in every gaming group, and they will be happy about the decurion of "I get to actually play a game and not just die all the time" which actually can be quiet a deadly surprise for unsuspecting players.
5: Emperors Children - Kakophoni is what it is all about. I find Emperors Children players a rarity as their models are usually over priced, their guns never seem to get solid rules - Salvo Blasters are not really all that - and the packs for the extra weapons are extra £££. The Kakophoni, however, does manage to sort out some problems with the way the units work whilst simultaneously giving them a boost. I do also like the Decurion for these guys, the possibility of BS5 or T5 is always a good thing. I am currently working on my Kakophoni at the moment, but it will not be finished for some time.
6: Alpha Legion - Ok, Alpha legion should be up their above Death Guard in slot 3. However, due to the FAQ that essentially makes the Decurion useless I doubt we will be seeing many players bother with this army. I was collection all the Cultists I could get my hands on for a 180 cultist infiltrate fest who always come back after death, but now I have lots of cultists and not a lot of awesome formations for them. Infiltrate on lots of units is awesome for MSU and Maelstrom games, but lack of anything to really keep you alive, there isn't much stopping you getting blown off the board in chunks. If GW fix the FAQ, the Serpents will definitely rise.
8: Night Lords - I really didn't want to put night lords here, I wanted them to be much higher up as they are probably one of the coolest legions around. Unfortunately their new rules don't give much to be desired in the current climate when put against other legions. Fear & fear bonus's are good, managing to wreck your opponents LD value through formation uses are also good. Yet when you go against KnF marines, Stubborn Guardsmen, Mob rule or Instinctive Behavior and Fearless units, you don't do anything extra to your opponent. If 8th makes Fear and anti fear rules change, perhaps these guys will be getting a boost.
7: Iron Warriors - Playing Iron Warriors myself as a casual army I can tell that they do not get much in face of lot's of extra rules. I only have 3 Oblitorators mind you, the guys with 12 of them are going to be delirious. Anyway, Iron Warriors do have brilliant rules for knocking down tanks and fortifications, however when not many armies are bringing tanks and you will probably be the only guy with fortifications your bonuses only go so far. They are fun to play with, but your marines are the same old marines.
9: Word Bearers - For all the Legions another really cool legion is further down the list than it should be. The only real bonus is the 3+ cast on conjuration powers, which will see a allied detachment of 1 sorcerer and 1 set of cultists being used but that is about it in my opinion. There is not much else to be had for these guys as every other marine is just another renegade marine who many Chaos players don't really like. It is a shame because I love the Novels following Marduk and Burias through their trials and tribulations and I feel that Word Bearers have been dealt a bit of a short hand.
Hope you have enjoyed my list, do you agree with my rankings or do you have your own?
Saturday 17 December 2016
We Are Legion! Black Legion Supplement thoughts
Its been just over a week after the Traitor Legions Supplement has dropped and I have had time to mull over the changes and extras inside the book. I would like to give my thoughts on each of the legions through several posts and the new units available to Chaos Space Marines from a competitive perspective. Each supplement offers extra special rules and changes that improve current list builds and hopefully creates a few new ones. I am being optimistic here, so it probably will not last long.
Wednesday 30 November 2016
Traitors Hate: Cult of Destruction
The Cult of Destruction come in at minimum points cost at 275 points with 1 Warpsmith and 3 single Mutilators and Maxes at 1,380 points with 3 Warpsmiths and 15 Oblitorators (no marks). So can be either really cheap or really expensive, lets get into it.
Tuesday 22 November 2016
Moving on & looking ahead
I've been trying to stay off this subject for quiet some time because A: I didn't want to talk about it, and B: I didn't see a reason to talk about it. Lately, however, this subject has affected me and has put me off doing write ups of my games and list at the UK GT Heat 5 in Stockport. An event which I was really excited to go to as it was my first ETC event.
Anyway, I left a Chaos Space Marine group called "Favoured of Chaos" until a few weeks after the tournament because of the conflict between myself and some of the Admin and group members.
Basically, in every game I fished for Invisibility first as that was the most important power to keep me on the board. In 3 games I missed getting invisibility as a power and in them 3 games I was tabled, after making a remark on the group somewhere along the lines of "Rolled 9 times on telepathy, not one invis, roll on next psychic tree gets a 5." Some replies were understanding and humorous 'that's pretty shit, GG' or 'Ebay's good to sell your stuff' and some definitely were not.
Anyway, I left a Chaos Space Marine group called "Favoured of Chaos" until a few weeks after the tournament because of the conflict between myself and some of the Admin and group members.
Basically, in every game I fished for Invisibility first as that was the most important power to keep me on the board. In 3 games I missed getting invisibility as a power and in them 3 games I was tabled, after making a remark on the group somewhere along the lines of "Rolled 9 times on telepathy, not one invis, roll on next psychic tree gets a 5." Some replies were understanding and humorous 'that's pretty shit, GG' or 'Ebay's good to sell your stuff' and some definitely were not.
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