40K: Mech Vs Gunline/shield wall Vs re-deployer.

So, I have a couple of tutorials done but I am struggling to up-load pictures to blogger as I don't use Picasa so I though I'd talk about how lists have been changing recently.

Mech- this has ruled the roost over the past couple of years and it is quite easy to play but recently their has been quite a few books that can deal with mech.

Gunline/shieldwall: Gunlines involve an awful lot of shooting and speed bumps for the enemy a shieldwall is similar but it advances slowly with super tough things and leaves behind it a trail of objective holders. these have been holding a monopoly since guard came out but many new books have plenty of melta/lascannon. They can be hard to play because you have to protect your tanks but not to hard.

re-deployer/super-speed-dash-objective-grab-ultra-army-saim-hann: These armies rely very fast troops that can dash about to where they are needed, a great example is saim-hann who have lots of clever tricks. this is a lifetime to learn, an age to master army. Very hard to play but they are very good at what they do.

So, I have missed out 3 more armies which are the counters to the 3 above but often the counter armies are the above ones with a little variation. At the moment the anti-tank maneuverable re-deployer is best in my opinion but if mech and gunline take a turn for the worse then perhaps it may create a new army style or maybe it will bring back an old style. We don't know yet.

Thanks for reading,

Jacob.

Dark Elves: my tester army list.

So, I found a Dark elf PDF. download online for free (I won't link it, just search dark elf army book PDf 7th ed in google and you will find it).

Here is the list I've been thin king of:

LORD
dread lord, hvy armor, shield, black dragon, hydra blade/ caledors bane, cloak of hag graef, potion of strength- basicaly a super tough dragon lord that will eat you, I laugh at most people who try to take him out, great for steam tank hunting- 569 pts.

HEROES
Sorceress, level 2, dark pegasus, focus familiar, darkstar cloak- a wizard that works by herself to go and blast people up, no scroll because not much magic in my area- 235pts.

Death hag, cauldron of blood, boost units and looks cool- 200pts.

CORE
2x 10 crossbowmen, muso, shields, shooooooooooot!-320
5x dark riders, muso, reapeater crossbows, the most annoying unit ever-117
2x5 harpies, march blocking and cav killing, may become 6's if I get models- 110
SPECIAL
2x8 shades, AHW, kill stuff for fun- 260
2x cold one chariots, like them and never used chariots-200
RARE
2x bolt throwers-200
hydra-175

Then for assasins I have 2 builds:
assasin, rending stars (goes with shades)-120
assasin, manbane, cload of twilight, AHW- 141

overall this comes to: 2857pts edit: 2447. That is way over what I want but this is the list of set up's I like, sometimes I may leave the dragon at home and make the peg a lvl 4 and I will have some extra models (maybe a manticore). So, what do you think of my set up's, sorry for wall of text. thanks for reading,

Jacob.

Army Lists: not everyone takes the toughest builds you know!

I have been playing for quite a while now and have played against multiple armies in both fantsy and 40k and you know what. Just because a book is not that great doesn't always affect it. So, for instance. A reletively good player round my area started darke elves with bolt throwers and found that they just were not very usefu;. Now that was partly down to his tactical accumen but as well because bolt throwers are really good at taking down things like dragons and not many people run big mostrocities round my area.

In 40k guard are not that good because no body is taking the super-uber-killy-you-can't-kill-me-death-list. I'm not saying these armies are not good but just that when everybody is just playing for fun and with any list it redresses the ballance quite a lot. Now daemons in fantasy are still over hard so not many people play them, I think about 1 person in my local GW still has an army which he never uses apart from if somebody asks him.

So, just think, next time you have a gaming night why not say to everyone. Lets play some comped down lists or lets play with the restrictions that a certain (soft) tournament gives you.

So, thanks for reading,

Jacob.

Army Lists: Does everyone take a top build. In my area the answer is NO!

Is it just me or does it seem that on the web everyone thinks that there is a lack of players that just play for fun and don't always take the max build. I mean fantasy in particular because I know that touney scene better from podcasts. I mean Dark Elves are supposed to be the end all on the tourney scene but a lot of players think they are very weak and that the hydra is too expensive in lower points! What a difference is that.

Lash is still a bigish deal and people think it's neat in my area but we just stick in rhinos or blast away at the princes. There is also a lack of double tyrand and double prince lists.

What I'm trying to say is that not everyone takes a tourney build some people just take something competative but not OTT.

So, what do you take. How is your local area in comparion to the tourney scene. Tell me please!

Army Lists: Comping at tourneys.

So, I was thinking. At tourneys with comp (it's mostly in fantasy tourneys but still) should they be co ping down 'good' lists. What I mean is that at the moment, weak armies are given a bonus so that they can compete and very competative builds are given a negative then medium builds are given a smaller negative. Should this be the case or should really good builds be comped down, super weak builds be left alone (because they are playing for extra points  in comp) and good builds be comped up for going in in the spirit of the tourney. I think a balance is neccersary. But I do think that good but not over powered builds should be given more of a bonus for being fair.

So, what do you think. How would you have it. Tell us.

Thanks for reading,

Jacob!

Army Lists: How I go about it!

Hi, this post was origonaly posted on my space wolf blog but I thought it was suitable for here so. here is a copy and paste of the post:

When building a list I bear certain things in mind, here they are in steps:



The theme for the list (eg. Ragnar blackmane or mech marines or mortar gunline guard).

Style of list (eg. drop pods, flamers, meltaguns).

Tactics (eg. Drop down and then suicide attack or play conservatively before a last turn objective grab).

Depending on style either HQ or troops, for me generally HQ

Elites.

The other one out of HQ and Troops.

Anything else.

Tot up points.

Get list under the points limit.

look at list as a whole.Make any ammendmants.
Now, you may write lists differently or think my way is not very effective. So, tell us what you do and what you think of what I do!

Thanks for reading,

Jacob

Rambles/tactics: 5th ed suvival, how to stay in the game with different army styles.

Ok, so this post is on tactics for different styles of armies here we go:



GUNLINE!: Gunlines are very hard to play in 5th but they are still possible with a little practice, first you need things like devs, prefferably things that can infiltrate, you need to set these up in fire arcs and in cover, keep these with long range weapons. Your troops need to get ready for a assault and get into cover and make small, unavoidable fire zones if possible.

Elites should be there to blast up the enemy then hold them up when they assault so the troops can overwhelm them.

Fast attack units need to be hidden but ready to attack on the first call. If you play marines then try a land speeder or 2, drop these in behing the enemy and stay out the way and blast their fast assault troops (many fasy vercles have atleast 36'' range guns). Generally you are going to have to kill the enemies fast stuff quickly. In a gunline army prioritising targets in essential.

Competive score: 5 (out of 10) these armies are not to competitive at the moment but can be fun and some players can make these armies work.

FAST BOYS: These are armies like saim-hann (Fritz your really good at this style) or biker and land speeder Dark Angel armies. For these armies to work then they need to stick to cover, generally they can be killed quite quickly if exposed so they need to take out the enemies biggest threats before making objective grabs on turn 5. These armies need more than 1 wave otherwise if the game doesn't end on turn 5 then your dead but if you have a second wave then you try again on turn 6/7.
Deepstriking and target denial is good idea for these armies. If your opponent doesn't know when your going to appear or where then you gain an advantage plus you have less turns to get killed in before your objective grabbing sessions. Target denial also helps keep you alive. If the mission in anilation then these armies need to concertrate their fire power then get away before retaliation.
Competitive score: 4-9 (out of 10) These armies need a good general that knows his army and is awsome in the right hands (like Fritz's hands).

BALLANCED: Generally you find armies that have a mix of fast units (used like in the GUNLINE or in the FASTBOYS), power units (which get into position and blast the minds out of stuff, slow units and deepstrikers. All of these units are used differently in each codex so I can't help specifically here.
Competitive score: VARIABLE: these armies vary from codex to codes.

DEEPSTRIKERS: The boys that can come in wherever but are relatively slow (the fast deepstrikers are in FAST BOYS) these are things like termies and I know this is not deepstriking but things with infiltrate or scout. With these units you need to destroy your opponents biggest threats then crowd on about 1/3 of objectives and contest another 1/3 to guarantee a win, if you have to kill your opponent then kill things that give you easy KPs.
Competitive score: 4-7.5(out of 10) These armies are hard to play but when you get the hang of them they can be fun/effective.

TRANSPORT/MECHANISED: These armies are fully mech and have to rush troops forward into good positions, the hard hitters of these armies need to attack the enemies big threats and troop choices in objectives, other places have covered the uses or rhino/razorback walls so I won't, but they are awsome here, with these armies you need to get to places quick then HOLD THE LINE! Biker armies can be used like this too but need some more thinking.
Competitive score: 5-8.5(out of 10) These armies are simmaler to FAST BOYS but are more forgiving and slightly less effective.

Sorry if I have missed army types or have got things wrong, correct me if I have made a mistake CC is welcome. Some of the competive score are dependant on experience and style of play.

Army Lists: All rounder.

Ok so here we go.

HQ

captain: artificer armour, combi-melta, melta bombs, hellfire rounds and power fist=165

Troops

Tac squad 1: (10 men) lascannon, melta gun, rhino with hunter killer and extra armour= 245
Tac squad 2: plasma cannon, rhino with hunter killer and extra armour= 2 235
Tac squad 3: Sergeant with chainsword and bolter, flamer= 230

Elites

Terminators: 2 chainfists, cyclone missile launcher, land raider with hunter killer and extra armour= 515
Sterngaurd: power fist, combi-plasma, Razorback with twin lascannons= 230

Fast Attack

Land speeder: typhoon missile launcher= 90
Attack bike= 40

That comes to 1750pts and the Sterngaurd will ride with the commander, the enemy will be taken out by lascannons and hunter killers early on and most of the army is fast and punchy.