Long Absences are Good? - Yes!

As many of my faithful readers will have noticed, I have taken a long break from this blog. I have not been idle during this time, and my wargaming has only gotten more intense over the past few months.

Currently I find myself with no complete, playable, or even active Warhammer 40k army, for the first time in about six years. I sold almost my entire Grey Knights army this past summer for a few reasons, but most of which was the fact that I got tired of the greatness of the Grey Knights getting continuously stepped on by Games Workshop and Warhammer 40k. I won't complain much more than that right now, but I am going to start trying to piece together my return to 40k. The latest Space Marines Codex did not spur me to return to the White Scars, so I am currently keeping up with news as I can and awaiting that fateful day when they announce a brand new Daemonhunters Codex.

So I haven't been playing with Grey Knights. In fact, I haven't been playing 40k at all. I have been playing Dark Heresy, however, and I will update on that topic in the days ahead.

What I have been doing is playing Warmachine, from Privateer Press. I know, little off topic from the whole "Grey Knights and 40k in General" title of the blog, but I have come to embrace a more widely reaching view of miniatures wargaming.

I have another blog, too, that I share with some of my gaming group. It's called "Quartermaster's Notes" and can be found here. Also, I have opened up my own online gaming store. It is a very exciting store, and I believe that it has much to offer any gamer. I do not currently have the staff to support carrying Games Workshop products, but I hope to do so very soon. GW's rules about no one being able to sell from an online shopping cart really does hurt the store owners in some ways. But if you want to visit a new and growing (and awesome!) online gaming store, stop on by the Tabletop Armory.

Whew, now that's an update. As you can see, I am glad to be back on this blog. I have a alot of 40k and Grey Knights stuff to talk about.

The Emperor Protects!


- D.G.

Limits are Good -

I recently came to the conclusion that a big part of my problem with the Grey Knights may be that I have too many. My options have always been open and flexible, with many different possible combinations of Grey Knights units available.

I believe that this has led to me searching for a perfect combination of units, rather than focusing on the mastery of what units I have at my disposal. A list doesn't work out for me, so I change it immediately, trying to fill in weak spots. This unerringly leads to old weak spots being strengthened and new ones opening up as points are shifted to other parts of the army.

Having reached this points, I resolved to reduce my army's size by three units: a squad of 10 Grey Knights in power armour, 5 Grey Knights Terminators, and a Land Raider.

The Knights and Termies have already found a new home in the army of my esteemed regular opponent over at the Ulthwe Eldar blog. The Land Raider is currently on ebay awaiting a bidder.

As I move ahead with the Grey Knights, I hope that this newly reduced total force will make me look at what I have available to me and to maximize and master the use of what I have rather than trying to get what I think I need out of entirely new lists each game.

The Emperor Protects,

D.G.

Grey Knights Forum Page -

A new wesbite has recently come to my attention, and I wanted to put it up on here so anyone that frequents my blog can check it out.

Grey Knights Forums

So far it has about 100 registered users, but it seems to be growing and could be a good place for our small community to band together and get some alone time away from the rest of the community. I haven't done a full review of all the features of the site, but it is well organized. And the moderators seem to be on top of things.

Well, that's all for today. The Sisters list has already changed a little after getting some feedback on the Bolter & Chainsword (see previous blog post for link).

The Emperor Protects,

D.G.

In the Aftermath -

So, the results of the Battle for Stones River can be found here.

I'm towards the bottom somewhere, and Chris and I think that my painting certainly merited more than a 12 (especially considering the score is Eldar received for painting), but I'm not going to sweat that part of it at all. I had fun and it was a great experience. If you go to a tournament just to win glory all that's going to happen is a bunch of people are going to get mad and feelings will be irreparably damaged. I left my feedback, and that's that. Jason and Grant did a great job with the event, and I am very happy to have been a part of that.

But now, concerning my further service to the Inquisiton.

I tried a 2 Land Raider set up for BfSR, and I liked it well enough, but I ended up a little light on bodies. My second unit of Terminators also ate up points, so I've reviewed my list, looked at what's worked for me in the past, and taken what I've learned recently to construct a new army list that should compensate for some of the problems that I have experienced of late.

_______________________________

Returning to my early days of playing Grey Knights, the list again contains a small amount (40 points) of specifically anti-Chaos wargear and upgrades in the form of a Grimoire of True Names, Sacred Incense, and 2 Blessed upgrades. I did this because it returns flare to the army, if only for me. These guys fight Chaos, so that's what they're gonna be geared to do. I don't usually select any psychic powers, however, as they are generally useless against most opponents, and when I do fight Chaos other abilities, such as the Nemesis Force Weapon, are generally a much better use of the Psychic test.

Next, I paired down the Terminators to a single unit of 5, led by Grandmaster Emrys. I liked the performance from Brother-Captain Stern in the tournament, but I believe he would have survived more often if he had a third wound and better shooting gear in his unit.

Moving on the Troops, I selected to add Psycannons into the units in order to provide for static firepower and go back to relying on the Shrouding to protect me more often that I have been. I have not been taking advantage of the Shrouding when I should be, so these units will try to keep me doing that, as their usefulness is in the big guns.

Fast Attack I maxed out, selecting a unit of Incinerator toting Knights and 2 units of regular Knights. I won't always teleport all of these squads, but the Fast Attack slots allow me to place the bulk of my power armoured units on the field after the enemy has most of his army on the field, hopefully.

Heavy Support is probably the most changed. I removed both Land Raiders and put in 3 Grey Knights Dreadnoughts. Though not as resilient as the Land Raiders, I believe that they fit the feel of this list better than the tanks would have. Two are armed with Twin-Lascannons and Missile Launchers (they have the two Blessed upgrades) and one is standard with Assault Cannon, Storm Bolter, and Dreadnought Close-Combat Weapon. Land Raiders tend to play too aggresively for my taste, it seems. There is a fellow GK player who loves Land Raiders, and he has a very successful forum following at The Bolter and Chainsword, found here.

The list is below, for those of you interested in the details of it, but that's about it. My plan to be a little less aggressive than the Land Raiders seemed to demand (mostly because of how many shots they took) and be more reactionary and opportunistic. I will post future details, of course, about how this list begins performing. I believe that I will stick with this list for at least a dozen games to get familiar with all the ins and outs of it before I determine if changes need to be made.

The Emperor Protects,

D.G

The Grey Knights of Grandmaster Emrys
Points: 1999 out of 2000

-HQ-

Grandmaster Emrys
-Master-Crafted Nemesis Force Weapon
-Psycannon
-Grimoire of True Names
-Sacred Incense
-Psychic Hood
-Icon of the Just
-4 Grey Knights Terminators
--Psycannon

-Troops-

Squad Auran
-Justicar Auran
-5 Grey Knights
--2x Psycannon

Squad Gormann
-Justicar Gormann
-5 Grey Knights
--2x Psycannon

-Fast Attack-

Squad Detlin
-Justicar Detlin
-7 Grey Knights

Squad Sirim
-Justicar Sirim
-6 Grey Knights
--Incinerator

Squad Bressal
-Justicar Bressal
-7 Grey Knights

-Heavy Support-

Brother-Dreadnought Trian
-Assault Cannon
-DCC/Storm Bolter
-Extra Armour

Brother-Dreadnought Domnall
-Twin-linked Lascannon
-Missile Launcher
-Blessed
-Extra Armour

Brother-Dreadnought Brisind
-Twin-linked Lascannon
-Missile Launcher
-Blessed
-Extra Armour

A Final BFSR List -

This is, I believe, my final list for the Battle for Stones River tournament on Feb. 23rd. My esteemed Eldar opponent and I have played a handful of games at the 1863 points level, and I am confident that this list will perform at least enough for me to not lose every game. Anyway, I know that there are some GK players who read this, so please comment on the list. It has so far seen good performance against the Eldar, but I know that larger horde armies might be a bit more of a problem.


BFSR Stern List - 1860 Points (out of 1863 possible)

Brother-Captain Stern
-4 Grey Knights Terminators

Brother-Captain Caspian
-Psycannon
-4 Grey Knights Terminators
--Psycannon

Squad Detlin
-Justicar Detlin
--Teleport Homer
-7 Grey Knights

Squad Gormann
-Justicar Gormann
--Teleport Homer
-7 Grey Knights

Squad Auran (Fast Attack)
-Justicar Auran
--Auspex
-7 Grey Knights
--2 Psycannons

Grey Knights Land Raider Valiant
-Smoke
-Extra Armour

Grey Knights Land Raider Paladin
-Smoke
-Extra Armour


Got them all silver so far, thanks to my spray painting experiment, so the next week will be all painful detail work. I can feel my hands hurting now...


The Emperor Protects,

D.G.

A New Way to Be Painted -

I'm always on the lookout for ways to make the hobby easier and more fun, so I decided to try to spray paint my Grey Knights to see if I could save a little time on painting (pictured below).

The first thing to remember when doing this is to also put the layer of black or white primer on the models first, or the spray paint may blotch, flake off, or otherwise be rough or clumpy. The first five Knights of my experiment turned out really well, I think. All that is left is gold highlights, a little black into joints and on weapons, and some purity seals. Much faster than having to paint silver on all of them by hand.

Take notice of how smooth the paint went on and how it preserved the detail perfectly.

The Emperor Protects,

D.G.

Dark Heresy Character Background - Ragaa Kenter

As stated in my previous post, I recently acqiured the new 40k roleplaying game, Dark Heresy. My buddy over at the Ulthwe Eldar: The Only Way blog also picked up a copy, and we were excited to get characters rolled up and maybe get in a practice run to get used to the rules a bit. I have had some limited experience with the Warhammer Fantasy system and many years of roleplaying besides (MERP, WEG Star Wars, and most recently Savage Worlds), and my Eldar friend is also a seasoned roleplayer.


Intentions, however, do not make a gaming night.

We got caught up, though not bogged down, in an elaborate and rich character creation process. Dark Heresy may be the most enjoyable character creation process I have ever seen in a game. A limited amount of out-of-order page flips kept things linear and nicely organized. Chris made a Tech Priest and I decided to try out making a psyker.


We decided to give ourselves a couple of paydays (based on the going rates for our professions) to get some gear worthy of Acolytes in the employ of the Inquisition. Nothing too fancy or over the top, but I think we made our characters worth it. Ragaa was a random name from the tables (yeah, we rolled them on the random tables for a bunch of stuff... really funny, actually), and I chose the last name.


Ragaa Kenter, Sanctioned Psyker


Early in his life, Ragaa was robbed of his sight and most of his other senses by a psychic accident on a Black Ship. He does not remember much of life before that, only that he is comfortable in crowds and knows how to get things done on hive worlds that most people don't. His sight and other senses were restored to him shortly after, and the rest of his life was decided from that point onward. His head, now mostly covered in standard sensory implants, hid most of his facial features forever, and Ragaa spent the rest of his sanctioning tenure in complete silence, hating the way this his voice now sounded to his new augmetic ears.

After his sanctioning ended, Ragaa was recruited into the service of an Inquisitor in the Ordo Xenos, Maximillian Stone, who was a powerful psyker and a good friend to the erstwhile aloof and secretive Ragaa. Stone was killed in a raid on a Xenos weapons factory in the Hive World of Praag III, and Ragaa, having unfortunately survived the incident, was transfered to the retinue of another Inquisitor. Ragaa has yet to actively investigate for his new boss. In fact, he hasn't met the Inquisitor yet.

Ragaa is characteristically moody and hardly ever speaks in large groups, except to exert some kind of control over those whom he is addressing. His psychic abilities are developing, and he is already displaying aptitude in the areas of Telepathy and mind control. Though rudimentary at best, his powers will continue to grow as he serves the God-Emperor and His Inquisiton.


Well, that's all for now on Ragaa. I don't want to explore everything about him or delve too deep into the character before I've had a chance to play him and know what he's going to do on his own, without me trying to make him play a certain way.

Play 40k, read as much as you can, and always remember that no one expects the Inquisition.

The Emperor Protects,

D.G.

Dark Heresy - Purgated

Today's post was supposed to be about the bright and wonderful future ahead for all of us in the new 40k rpg, Dark Heresy. The book sold out before it was even released, with a 2nd Printing in high demand. It is a beautiful book that I will comment on in a later post.

However, after this announcement from Black Industries, the whole thing went up like a Planet Killer's reactor exploding in BFG.

Apparently Black Industries is closing its doors in September, just 4 books into the Dark Heresy line. The Black Library wants to focus more on its novels and doesn't feel that it is in its best interest to continue with the two rpg lines, WHFRP and Dark Heresy. Several of my frequented online communities are already commented heavily on this issue, and feelings are across the board. One fellow on a forum stated that the whole thing stunk of possible insider trading. While I'm not sure any of us would want that kind of investigation going on, I am confident that none of us can understand why GW would shut down what promised to be such a popular line of rpg materials.

In the months ahead, I will personally be getting at least one copy of the 3 remaining Dark Heresy books and the Game Master Kit to make sure that I have this small and wonderful piece of GW gaming history on my shelf.

Sad days beget sadness,

D.G.

Addendum to Jan. 20 Post -

As my esteemed opponent pointed out, I talked up the Space Wolves blog and then left out the link to it in my links section.

That has been fixed, and I hope everyone will go over and take a look.

1863, The Battle for Stones River

The local store, Grand Adventures, is having a 40k tournament on Feb. 23rd, and I am considering partaking in it. I played my first game in the store today (more on that debacle later), and greatly enjoyed the players, the community, and the atmosphere.

Here is the list that I am considering. The tournament has a 1863 point limit, in recognition of when the real Battle for Stones River was fought.

Stern's Purgators -

Brother-Captain Stern
-6 GKT
--Psycannon

8 PAGK
-Teleport Homer
-Psycannon Bolts

8 PAGK
-Teleport Homer
-Psycannon Bolts

8 PAGK (Fast Attack)
-2x Incineerator

10 PAGK (Purgation Squad)
-4x Psycannon

Dreadnought
-Twin-Lascannon
-Missile Launcher
-EA

Dreadnought
-Twin-Lascannon
-Missile Launcher
-EA

Total: 1862 Points

40k Returns -

Ok, so the holidays and the first part of January pretty much wiped out any blogging.

I've been putting together my Space Wolves army and preparing them for their first fight, which looks to be today against an Ultramarines army of 75+ models. Yeah, scary. This is Chris' first game with the Ultramarines, too, so it should be a nice match-up.

My newest Grey Knights list has Brother-Captain Stern in command, and I am anxious to see what advantages putting him in charge (instead of GM Emrys) will have on the army.

Stern List:

Stern
- 4x GKT

Brother-Captain
- 4x GKT

9 Grey Knights

9 Grey Knights

8 Grey Knights

8 Grey Knights

Land Raider

Dreadnought
-Lascannon/Missile Launcher

So, follow the link to the Space Wolves blog over in my links section to check out the pre and post-battle reports for the Space Wolves.

The Emperor protects,

D.G.

A Return to the Grey Knights

Well, over a month has passed since I last wrote about my beloved Grey Knights.

In that time I have moved into a new house, which, as many of you faithful readers can understand, can take some time. Things are mostly settled now, and I am returning to thinking about my next moves in Warhammer 40k and especially my Grey Knights.

As the days and weeks progress, I will be developing my Grey Knights army, putting together a new Space Wolves army, and laying the groundwork for the entrance of a new villian, a sinister Lord of Slaanesh!

The Emperor protects!

D.G.

Profile of an Enemy - A Chaos Lord on the Rise

Grandmaster Emrys of the Grey Knights took his seat opposite the head of the long, narrow table. Already gathered were most of the Inquisitor Lord's retinue and other agents. Seated to his immediate left was Coren Lomak, a former hiver whose job it was to make sure that no unauthorised personnel were in the room. Emrys knew that the man posed him no threat, even though he was currently only wearing his Astartes robes, having given his ancient Terminator armour and weapons to his artificer for repair and restoration. But Lomak was a warrior of superb skill nonetheless, and to an non-Astartes posed more threat that any other person currently in the room.

To his right was a being whose very existence made Emrys uncomfortable. One of the now legendary blunters, or "nulls" as they were sometimes called, those with no psychic presense whatsoever, Teem Alastaire was looking her usual regal self. Emrys had grown accustomed to her presense over the years, and was surprised to find himself comforted by the fact that the Emperor had brought such beings into the service of the Inquisiton. Countless Inquisitors' lives had been saved imply by having these persons near them in times of conflict. While this sometimes got in the way of those with psychic abilities, most Inquisitors still found them useful, especially in the Ordo Malleus where psychic attack was imminent no matter the situation.

Emrys had no further time for reflection as the arrival of several combat servitors, ugly looking with gleaming weapons of like to a power fist welded to their metal and flesh bodies, heralded the arrival of Inquisitor Lord Artos Procius of the Ordo Malleus. He strode in with all the confidence of a Malleus Lord, resplendent in a fine suit of Power Armour that he wore when not in combat, guilded with gold and the Imperial Aquila. Emrys found it interesting that he had actually never seen the Inquisitor Lord not in armour. When he took to the field of battle, Artos always wore a sacred suit of Terminator Armour, gifted to him by the Grey Knights huundreds of years ago for his service to the Chapter during the Graftmar Heresy Reclamation Crusade. Emrys himself had served in that campaign, serving in the Purgation Squad of Justicar Koller as a Psycannon gunner. In a strange way, the respective careers of the two had always been connected, solidified the day that Emrys had been given command of a task force put under the direction of Artos. This meeting was, presumably, to launch the fourth of such task forces.

The Inquisitor Lord and the Grey Knight exchanged nods of greeting before Artos took his seat at the head of the table. With no ceremony, customary of the was Artos preferred to conduct his meetings, the Inquisitor nodded to his communications officer, Laine Drokonachak, which was the signal to begin the meeting. Laine stood and activated the holoviewer in the center of the table.

The viewer flickered to life, revealing a broad rendering of the Eye of Terror. To the north and east, relative to the map as it currently displayed the image, was a highlighted dot, marked Belial IV, a Crone world, deserted and left to rot by the Eldar ten thousand years ago, before the Emperor's Great Crusade was launched from Terra. Emrys wondered why the Ordo Malleus would be interested in such a world, as the Ordo Xenos declared that it should be avoided millenia ago.

"The world Belial IV, known as the Eldar Blacksword World, was abandoned by the Xenos even before the Emperor's Gret Crusade. No force currently contests this world, but it has always been believed by Malleus scholars that the world had something major to do with the fall of the ancient Eldar society. The world has remained barren, isolated, and altogether unadulterated for centuries. That is, until a routine Xenos surveying party was attacked five months ago by an as yet unidentified and unquantified threat, presumed by the Ordo Xenos to be alien in origin and a possible indicator of alien aggression in a sub-sector that has been historically quiet. Agents of Ordo Xenos were dispatched to investigate the attack, but none has returned or sent any communication after the confirmations that they arrived in system."

Laine looked to Artos after the initial brief, and the Inquisitor Lord nodded. Clearing her throat, Laine continued.

"It is well known throughout the Ordos that every Ordo keeps tabs on the others, infiltrating agents and securing a line of information that can be passed to higher Lords, able to root out heresies that crop up. One such agent of the Ordo Malleus was posted on the flagship of the Xenos fleet. He was able to get one of the astropaths aboard the ship to send a message back before their ship was, presumably, destroyed in an ambush. The pict capture that he sent showed us this."

The screen turned to a fuzzy holopict capture of a ship. Definitely not Xenos in origin, it bore the symbols of a traitor fleet, loyal to the chaos god slaanesh. Emrys recognized the despised heraldry and mumbled a prayer of cleanliness to the Emperor. His eyes locked with Lord Artos', and the two nodded in silent agreement. This is what Emrys had been called in for.

Traitor marines. That meant chaos, and chaos meant daemons.

The rest of the meeting was about logistics, tactial information and a plan of entry into the Belial system that would allow Emrys' Grey Knights to properly survey the activity of the traitors in the system.

This short fiction is an introduction into a narrative campaign that I will be doing in the near future. Stay tuned for forces, battle reports, and more story.

The Emperor protects,

D.G.

Grey Knights and Warhammer 40k Apocalypse

I am getting a little more excited about my Grey Knights in Apocalypse games, as it will give me the opportunity to field an amazing amount of guys.

I can field all my Land Raiders, my Dreadnoughts, and I've even been told that my Orbital Strike gets the 0-1 restriction removed.

So the Grey Knights will have plently of armour, tanks, and just general big dakka to start blowing things up. And we can also do Assination Squads (or something like that).

I can't wait to get the Apocalypse book!

The Emperor protects,

D.G.

Grandmaster Emrys' First Battle - A Battle Blog Report

As Chris' Ulthwe Eldar army has been growing, I have been scaling my Grey Knights army to fit his maximum points value, approaching the 2,000 point mark. This past weekend we had a battle at 1,900 points. As Chris is just two models away from his full army, I thought that the points level would be a good place to promote my Brother-Captain to a Grandmaster of the Grey Knights. A couple of weeks ago we decided that this series of battle we've been having is actually part of a running narrative, in which the Grey Knights under the command of Brother-Captain Emrys and the Ulthwe Eldar under the command of Farseer Calran Ulthroon would have a running series of escalating battles in the pursuit of Chaos artifacts that would culminate in the final battles (at 2,000 points). By the time of the final battles, Emrys is promoted to a Grandmaster and Calran Ulthroon has called upon Lord Ulthran himself, Eldrad Ulthran, to aid in the fight.

Well this weekend was Grandmaster Emrys' first appearance, and he performed very admirably.

The mission was Omega level Take & Hold. We set up an objective marker in the middle of the board and proceeded to separate our armies according to the tenets of the mission.

I was able to deploy my entire force with the exception of my three Dreadnoughts, and my opponent had to keep his two Wraithlords and Vyper Squadron in reserve.

I deployed my army in two groups:

Group One - Squad Emrys (5 TAGK), Squad Auran (8 PAGK), and Squad Dalan (6 PAGK)

Group Two - Squad Detlin, Squad Sirim, Squad Gormann (8 PAGK each)

Group One deployed to the right of my deployment zone, with Auran and Dalan in the trees and Emrys out in the open, defiantly daring the Xenos scum to bring battle to him.

Group Two deployed to the left of the deployment zone, using the building in that table quarter for cover from the Eldar.

Turn One:

I won first turn and started to move my groups into position. Auran and Dalan moved into a firing position in the woods, Emrys moved into an open area towards the center, between the woods and a building. Squads Detlin, Sirim, and Gormann used the cover of a building to advance on the far side of the table. I opened up on the Eldar Pathfinders in their forward position, reducing their number to three. Unfortunately, the resilient Xenos snipers decided to stick around and cause trouble.

In my opponent's round, he moved up the Warlock unit to support the lone Pathfinder and used his Warp Spiders to secure the objective. Opening up fire on squad Emrys, one brave Terminator fell to the concentrated firepower. Three more Grey Knights died, coming out of squads Gormann and Sirim.

Turns Two - Six, the Short Version:

All three of my Dreadnoughts arrived on Turn 2 and shot up the Pathfinders, their Asssault Cannons were in range of nothing else. One Pathfinder remained, though he ran. The Farseers bunkered down in a building near the objective with the support of the Warp Spiders. Emrys then led a daring assault against the entrenched Warlocks, assaulting into thier cover and slaughtering the Xenos to a man. Auran and Dalan continued cover fire, while on the other side of the board, Detlin, Sirim, and Gormann had taken care of the Dark Reapers (whose Exarch had felled a Dreadnought). They now faced both Wraithlords and a supporting lone Farseer.

The remaining rounds saw the destruction of the Swooping Hawks, the Warp Spiders,a Wraithlord who fell to the Assault Cannon of the remaining Dreadnought, Squad Auran (compliments of the arriving Vypers), and another Dreadnought.

The game ended in a daring gambit by Emrys, as squads Detlin, Sirim, and Gormann broke cover (under the guns of the remaining Wraithlord) to add their weight to the secured objective. In the final round, Emrys felled the two Vypers with Psycannon fire, Detlin and Sirim took out the Wraithlord in combat as Gormann added his weight to the secured objective.

In the end, the Grey Knights losses totaled 2 Dreadnoughts, Squad Auran, and half of squads Detlin and Sirim.

The Eldar losses were heavy, with only the lone Farseer and the Guardians remaining.

The Result: Total Victory for the Order Malleus!!

It was a rousing battle, and the tactics session afterwards was good on both sides. I think Chris is learning what not to do against the Grey Knights, and I look forward to the day when he hands me a bitter defeat.

Until that day, though, may the Emperor protect us all.

D.G.

A Howling in the Wind

Things have been a little hectic lately, but I figured I'd update everyone on what's going on with my Warhammer 40k hobby.

So, as I continue to work on the Grey Knights and playing about a game a week with my Ulthwe Eldar friend, I was planning on starting a White Scars army, which would be a momentous return for me. The White Scars were my first Chapter, and they will always be special to me. I ordered a Space Wolves Battleforce to start them off, as that boxed set had the best starting set of models for my needs for the Scars.

As I started to organize all of my GW stuff to pack it for our move (Yes, we're moving into our first house!), I came across the Space Wolves models that I had set aside for the day in the future when they finally released a new Space Wolves Codex. Well, I decided to take a small break and look through the models just to remind myself what I have, and a strange realization overtook me.

I can do a Space Wolves army!

It hit me that if I combine the 10 Terminators, Wolf Priest, and Space Wolves Venerable Dreadnought with the Assault Marines, Landspeeder, and Bikes I already had, and add the models from the Space Wolves Battleforce, I'd have a full 2,000 points of Space Wolves!

So, my beloved first Chapter will have to wait for now. The Space Wolves (whom I probably like better than the White Scars) are the Chapter to which I will make my Space Marines return.

Stay tuned for more Grey Knights, more Space Wolves, and more Ninja Warrior...er...Warhammer 40k!

Deathwatch Marines

As my esteemed Ulthwe Eldar opponent (see links section for his blog) gain skill and luck, I have begun searching for ways to surprise him, and I believe that I have found one way.

This is my Deathwatch Kill Team, assembled from a previous DWKT that I had a few years ago. I replaced many of the bitz, making them a little more dynamic, and I plan to re-paint them to a bit better scheme and standard. I completely replaced the Captain with a Space Marines Veteran model with Power Sword and Storm Bolter. He will make a fine Deathwatch Captain. If you study the pictures, you can also see a Black Templar, a marine from the Space Wolves, and a marine from the White Scars. The other marines I am painting much as I already have, with no particular Chapter colors.

I am also considering this team as alternative to a squad of Grey Knights within my Daemonhunters army. They would make a nice alternative in some situations, and as my dealings with the Eldar become more frequent, it would make sense to include them and develop an running story line with the Kill Team vs. the Eldar.


The list for the Deathwatch Kill Team is below:

Deathwatch Kill Team

- Deathwatch Captain (Imperial Fists)
--Power Weapon
--Storm Bolter
--Frag Grenades
--Melta Bombs
--Iron Halo

-Deathwatch Veteran (Blood Angels)
--Lightning Claws

-8x Deathwatch Space Marines (1 White Scars, 1 Space Wolves, 1 Black Templars, 5 Codex)
--2x Heavy Bolters
--6x Metal Storm Ammo

Total: 385 Points


The Emperor protects,

D.G.

Prelude to a Battle Report

The Mission: Gamma Level Cleanse
The Opponent: Eldar
Points Level: 1,650

I am still awaiting the pictures that we took of our armies. We didn't take turn-by-turn pictures, but we did take a few.

Anyway, I say that the game can be won or lost in deployment, as Chris found out last night. Against an army with Shrouding and playing a mission with table quarters, don't give me a chance to lurk more then 30" away from the Dark Reapers for the whole game, effectively taking them out of the game. They were the anchor for a table quarter, but didn't even get to shoot ay anyone.

I'll expound on tactics later, but I'll post my 1,650 points list, with his list to follow in the actual battle report.

Grey Knights at 1,650 Points:

-HQ-

Brother-Captain
-Psycannon
-Psychic Hood
-4x Terminator retinue
--Psycannon

-TROOPS-

2x 10 Grey Knights

-FAST ATTACK-

10 Grey Knights
-2x Psycannon

10 Grey Knights

-HEAVY SUPPORT-

Dreadnought
-ML, TLLC, EA


The Emperor protects,

D.G.

Back to the Knights in Grey!

I'm trying to continue with the tactica article involving Grey Knights and the uses of their Special Weapons.

Some GK players prefer to limit the uses of the Special Weapons to certain enemies: Eldar, Orks, Tyranids, TAU, Imperial Guard. Yeah, mostly Xenos opponents tend to draw the attention of the Psycannon and the Incinerator. The Special Weapons certainly have more effective stats against non-power armoured enemies, but I contend that there are many uses for these weapons against power armoured opponents as well. These enemies include: Necrons, Space Marines, Chaos Space Marines, and Witch Hunters (Sisters of Battle). Special Weapons are useful for the Grey Knights in these situations as well, but perhaps in a muted manner.

Now, many players will tend to make army lists based on the armies that they are likely to fight in a closed-circuit gaming group, a regular club, or even regular (meaning 1 v 1) opponent situations. This works for most situations, as these are friendly games and usually meant for the enjoyment of all involved.

However, there are are many players out there, and I count these in the majority, who do not have the time, want, need, money, or are otherwise uninclined, to create an army full of options, extra models, and units that aren't always used. This is especially true if the army is a secondary or tertiary force. So, it is very important for this to be taken into account when considering force organization.

In the next segment I will take these thoughts into the army list itself, talking about a stagnant army should employ at least a few Special Weapons in order to plan for as many eventualities as possible.

The Emperor Protects,

D.G.

White Scars Librarian

This Librarian is a leftover from my previous run with Space Marines. After the present Codex:Space Marines came out in 2004, my original White Scars were ruined, and I got rid of them in disgust. (Don't worry, I didn't throw them away or anything. Ebay helped me find good homes for the models.) But his guy stuck around. Fortunately, I never painted him, so he'll be looking good when I get around to him. Just this morning I replaced his original arm with another that, I think, makes him look like he's standing there, summoning his psychic powers for an

attack. He has a holster on his left hip, which represents his Plasma Pistol (or Bolt Pistol, points depending) and I put a White Scars biker shield over the holster, about knee-level to represent his Combat Shield. I don't know exactly where he would fit in the army list I have, but if nothing else he's going to look good when finished.

D.G.