For the next six weeks...

(title) I will be unable to post on here as I will be far away from the internets and working at a Boy Scout Camp. There is a slight chance that I will be in the area that has spotty wireless but there is no guarentee. If such does come to pass then I will be sure to try and post something on a weekend or something.

But fear not. I will have my computer with me (as I will have power and something like a half-hour of free time each day) and will work on two large projects I have planned. One is a list that I will plan to be using quite extensively for my games. The other is a Spreadsheet recording the chance of all of our weapons (and all variants) at doing all sorts of things, like Hurting vehicles (a different chance for each AV), Killing vehciles, and killing various standards of Infantry.

Until then, have fun.

PotMS List.

Alright, so this is several days late. I promised either a list analysis or a Battle Report and here’s a list. This is my list built on Power of the Machine Spirit.

HQ:-140

Emperor’s Champion: Vow (Accept), -140

Troops:-1,167

Crusader Squad (5): BP/CS, Flamer, PW/BP; Razorback: Twin-Linked Lascannon, PotMS, Extra Armor; -221

Crusader Squad (6): BP/CS, Flamer, PW/BP, Frags; Razorback: Twin-Linked Lascannon, PotMS, Extra Armor; -243

Crusader Squad (6): BP/CS, Flamer, PW/BP; Razorback: Twin-Linked Lascannon, PotMS, Extra Armor; -237

Crusader Squad (6): BP/CS, Flamer, PW/BP; Razorback: Twin-Linked Lascannon, PotMS, Extra Armor; -237

Crusader Squad (6): BP/CS, Flamer, PW/BP; Razorback: Twin-Linked Lascannon, PotMS, Extra Armor; -237

Fast Attack:-210

Land Speeder: TML, Heavy Bolter, -70

Land Speeder: TML, Heavy Bolter, -70

Land Speeder: TML, Heavy Bolter, -70

Heavy Support:-483

Vindicator: PotMS, Extra Armor, Searchlights; -161

Vindicator: PotMS, Extra Armor, Searchlights; -161

Vindicator: PotMS, Extra Armor, Searchlights; -161

Total:-2,000

The Vindicators move up, firing as they go, flanked by Razorbacks who are working on popping transports. Any vehicles that remain when I get near are to be shot by the Vindicators, as should be the infantry. If there are infantry too close for me to feel safe when enough shooting my Demolisher shots then that is when my Crusader Squads will hop out and flame them before assaulting what can’t be shot away. And during the whole time the Land Speeders move around and support the main tanks.

The entire army, save any disembarked squads, moves 12” and fires a gun. The Land Speeders are the only ones which can be hurt by shaking or stunning. I’m counting on the greater threat of the mobile Razorbacks and Vindicators (as well as blocking Line of Sight) to give protection to my, otherwise vulnerable, speeders.

Against Horde armies with lots of anti-tank (such as a Power Klaw in every squad) the large blast templates will clear them real fast. For Vehicles, such as Land Raiders, you can again use the S 10 blasts to open them up and get their passengers walking, just asking for AP2 fire from my Lascannons (should there be no other good targets). Even if your opponent is able to either get through your firepower or disable your tanks (easily done with so many single gun vehicles) you still have a plethora of Close Combat with Preferred enemy.

Now, this is mostly a close, in your face army what with the most devastating individual guns being a maximum range of 24”. For lists I prefer to have a second strategy when using them because it is a sign of a balanced list. So what if you don’t think you can pull the ideal strategy off?

What you do is you sit in the back of the board. Move around the fringe as you need to while firing massed Twin-Linked Lascannons and the Typhoons. The Flamers and Vindicators are there to act as a counter-attack force should your opponent get within 30” or so. They won’t kill good close combat units but they can deal with hordes and they can combine assaults to finish off most units.

Miscilaneous

Alright, there are going to be several things which aren't completely connected except that they can all be traced to Warhammer 40K.

First off, I HAVE ANOTHER FOLLOWER ON HERE!! AND IT'S MARSHAL LEAROTH!!! And I have like, 9 more page views!! Sorry, but it's the little things that count.

Secondly, when I review/examine/analyze ANY unit in ANY codex I have learned to write it up, wait a couple of days, edit it, wait another day, and only then post it here. Why, you ask? Because I needed to do a follow-up on the Sword Brethren, taking back several things I had said about them, and now need to correct myself on the Techmarine.

That Techmarine Devastator idea is not a good one, it's still the second best but not worth bothering about. 210 points for a few shots that will get killed right away doesn't fit in any list. 198 points for dropping the Multi-Meltas Servitors and adding a Rhino lets you compare them to other units and you see how over-priced they are.

Next up, I have had a falling out with Games Workshop. I've sent them an email and I intend to send them a letter about it. The basic problem is two thins they've done, and neither one has to do with the price increases or switching to resin. One is the Embargo they've placed. Now no one in Europe can sell GW products to outside of Europe. That includes America, Austrailia, Canada, Asia, all those places. Now, while this hurts sites like Wayland Games it is meant to turn purchases to places which have the end result of GW getting more money and there is nothing wrong with that. Wayland could, technically, start a branch in America and sell from there so it shouldn't crush them into the ground. But GW has failed on another important thing, they are not adjusting their prices to match exchange rates.

BoLS explained it quite well, but let's look for ourselves. Let's look at the Drop Pod. GW puts the price on their website at 20.5 pounds. Based on the current exchange rate, in Australia it should cost 31.25 dollars (the Australian ones, not American ones). It actually costs 55 Australian dollars.

Another example, I was first introduced to 40K by a Canadian company called Miniwargaming. They have an online store and I would love to support them by purchasing from there. But that Drop Pod costs $33 normally, to buy from their website it would cost (in American dollars) $35.55 plus shipping; and that is after the 10% discount that they place on all their products.

The exchange problems by themselves I can deal with, it just takes a little more effort to determine the best place to buy things. The embargo by itself is fine, you just need to order locally. But together I cannot tolerate them. Through these, and I suppose their rediculous prices, they neglect even their most loyal customers and I generally find it both insulting that they would do this and degrading to support them.

So, in conclusion, I will not be buying anything from GW until they fix one or other of the problems. Instead I will buy anything I need second hand from Ebay. This has actually been a good thing because I found that someone is selling six Drop Pods beginning at .99 cents with $7 shipping on Ebay. If I can get all of those at around $10 dollars each then I will have enough Drop Pods for quite a while for the price of about...2 of them. Of course, they are already primed and assembled but for that discount I can't really complain.

Let's see, what else? Oh! I finished painting my entire collection this past week, the AoBR set and 5 more Initiates and 5 more Neophytes. All painted and based and sprayed with Purity Seal (best name for the varnish ever). And today another model came in the mail. A painter's job is never finished.

Well, that's all for now. In a few days I'll try to get either a Battle Report or a List review up. Happy Wargaming!

Techmarine Review

This time I’m going to review the Techmarine. I first started looking at him when I was staring at the page with our wonderful troop choice, the Crusader Squad. I happened to look aver at the opposite page and saw a drawing of what could possibly be the most awesome model in existence. Of course, the model itself does not quite match the drawing so when I am building mine I will need to make sure to do a couple of conversions.

Unfortunately, I’ve never seen a Black Templar list that utilizes them. A large reason is because they use the same slot as Dreadnoughts, Terminators, and Assault Terminators; another is that they aren’t an amazing unit. This is going to be a long one so let’s get started:

Options, weapons, and upgrades.

A naked Techmarine comes with Power Armor, a Bolter, a Power Weapon, a Signum, an Auspex, Crusader Seals, and a Servo-Arm. To put in other terms, he has a Bolter to shoot with, 2 Power Weapon attacks, and a Powerfist attack, coming in at a pricey 70 points.

Of note, this is the only way for Black Templars to get Signums. It is a little thing but worth mentioning. The Power Weapon is nice, but the extra attack from the Servo-Arm makes him even better. Remember that this is an extra attack, so if you are charging you do not have the option to get the extra attack with the arm. Also, just because you now have 3 guns doesn’t mean you can fire all of them, but you can fire two of them.

Now, he only has one option: a Servo-Harness. You’re paying a lot for the Techmarine, in comparison to an Initiate, but you are getting a bargain for the Harness. You get a Flamer, another Powerfist attack, a Twin-Linked Plasma Pistol, and Artificer Armor. The second Servo-arm allows him to reroll his Blessings of the Omnissiah attempt (coming up next) which has its advantages, but a more important thing is the Plasma Pistol, because it’s Twin-Linked. Twin-Linked is a better upgrade for Plasma than it is for any other weapon, because Plasma ‘Gets Hot’. You roll a 1 on your attack? Reroll. He’s got BS 4 so in theory you could roll a 2, reroll, and get a 1; but your chances go from 1/6 to 1/18 of taking a wound from it per shot. So, with the Artificer Armor you take a wound once every 108 shots, for an Initiate in Power Armor it is once every 18 shots. So open fire with impunity.

Blessing of the Omnissiah. This rule has a long paragraph to describe it, but I will summarize it for you. If you begin your Movement phase in base-to-base contact with a vehicle or embarked upon it (changed in the FAQ) and are free to do what you want then on a roll of 6+ you can repair an Immobilized or Weapon Destroyed result. The repair completes before the Shooting phase so neither the Techmarine nor the Vehicle can move but both can shoot during the round and the Techmarine can assault.

Now, this is hidden but nevertheless valid. In the Character section, right after it says that the Techmarine is an Independent Character, it says that he can select equipment from the Armory. It also says that he can take up to 4 Servitors.

Servitors

No, Cenobite Servitors aren’t available; you can take arguably better kinds. You can have up to 4, and if you have any then you cannot leave or join another unit. There are three kinds, Gun, Combat, and Technical (or ‘Tech).

Gun Servitors cost 10 points flat and must be equipped with either a Multi-Melta at +25 or a Heavy Bolter at +15 or a Plasma Cannon at +35. Unfortunately, you can only take one Servitor with a Plasma Cannon per Techmarine.

Combat Servitors cost 25 points but are equipped with a Close Combat Weapon and a Power Fist. Pretty simple.

Tech Servitors cost only 10 points and don’t do what the other kinds do. Instead, each one gives the Techmarine a +1 when repairing vehicles. This can be advantageous but we will come to that later.

Finally, the Techmarine and retinue can take a Razorback, Rhino, or Land Raider Crusader as a dedicated transport.

Builds.

One that I’ve heard of is taking a Naked Techmarine with 4 Gun Servitors and using them sort of like a Devastator Squad. A Plasma Cannon, 2 Multi-Meltas, and a Heavy Bolter (which, I think, is the best way to equip 4 Gun Servitors) come to a price of 210 points. Quite a lot but as this is so different from any other unit it is hard to compare. Personally, this unit lacks defense without putting it in a Rhino where it loses ability to shoot all of its weapons. There may be a place in a list for this but they are few and far between.

Another possibility is taking 4 Combat Servitors and a Servo-Harness. Now you have a 5-man unit that has 2 Power Weapon attacks and 6 Power Fist attacks for 205 points. Again, this is extremely expensive, fairly immobile (though better than the Gun build) and poor defenses. But now you can compare it to another unit. Assault Terminators, 5 of them, in a squad with 1 pair of Lightning Claws and 4 Thunder Hammers with Storm Shields, bring 3 Power Weapon attacks (which reroll wounds) and 8 Power Fist attacks (which are Thunder Hammers) all while coming to 200 points and having Tactical Dreadnought Armor and 4 Storm Shields. So there is no place in any list for this build.

The third possibility is taking 4 Tech Servitors and a Servo-Harness. You essentially fix a vehicle on a 2+ and get to reroll. This practically guarantees success for a mere 145 points. But, once again, they are not mobile, have poor defenses, and that is a lot to spend when all they aren’t going to fix more than about 3 bad results. Sure, they can survive the entire game, but they have to move over to the vehicle you want to fix, which could easily be destroyed instead of merely damaged. If you have, for example, 2 Riflemen Dreadnoughts and 3 Predators which are going to spend their time in the backfield then this unit could do some good, but not 145 points worth of good. Simply put, the Techmarine’s Blessing of the Omnissiah rule is not a reason to take one.

The final build does not contain Servitors. Instead you take a Techmarine with Servo-Harness, Bolt Pistol, and Storm Shield. You do not field him all by himself but join him to another squad. He brings combat prowess which few can match, a Signum for when you fire that Lascannon, Plasma Gun, or even Meltagun, and can separate to go and fight some big, scary monster such as a Monstrous Creature or Special Character; all for 121 points.

In order of best to worst I would rate fourth, first, third, and then second; but the first and fourth are quite close.

Summary.

Once again, the Techmarine isn’t a great unit. But it can be a good unit. He can make a small Crusader Squad into a Close Combat threat, and a big squad into a sub-par dedicated Close Combat unit. He can work in a list, but doesn’t just fit right in if you have the points; you need to intend to include him and probably have two. For the Devastator version a similar thing goes, it brings something to the list but is neither optimal nor needed but still workable. I will dream about them and hope that GW might design one that actually looks like the picture.

What's coming up and a rant.

Alright, in the next few weeks I will try to put up another list to go over, analyze the techmarine, and give my feelings on the Competitive vs. Casual war that's being raged. Until then, I am going to rant about a blog post that I read a while ago.

Now, I forget the blog's name but I read a few posts that it had put up. One was talking about how the author preferred Casual Play and Rules as Intended. It also mentioned that he thought that your preference concerning those helps to determine the other. Something like if you are competitive then you will prefer Rules as Written and vice verse.

Now, this isn't a blog that I agree with in many respects, but I thought that it would be good to get a more well-rounded influx of opinion. But then I read another post.

This other post was talking about a poll that had been done on the blog. It had four categories, Competitive and RAW, Competitive and RAI, Casual and RAW, etc. Now, this is not too bad, as far as polls go, but how he interpreted what it meant was what got me.

I forget what the numbers or order was but I know that Competitive and RAW was the lowest at something like 9% and then there was Competitive and RAI at 11%. He took this to mean that most players are Casual Players, and that most players prefer RAI. If you cannot understand why this is wrong you need to go and do some mental exercises, solve some Sudoku puzzles, and then take a short class on logic.

He had already made it clear what his preference was, and most of the time people don't read blogs that they disagree with. He assumed that he had gotten a perfect ratio of all 40k players. What the numbers meant were a demographic of his reader base. And not even a perfect one. He had a demographic of the players who read his blog and decided to post on his poll. Which means that it was probably weighted toward his most avid readers...Casual and RAI. People make a smaller complaint about RAW vs. RAI so of course he'll have Casual and RAW more than any Competitive group.

Argh, the Internet is full of stupid.