Warhammer 40k Excellence: White Scars, Kroot Renegades, and Commissions

Because I am now making the effort to go to Adepticon, I figured that I should probably get some practice in on the way. Now I will most definitely be participating in local area tournaments… But there is a qualifier tournament up in Rochester, New York which is only a 4 hour drive for me to get some action in. The tournament is called the Da Boyz GT 2010 and their event relies heavily on army composition, theme, painting, and sportsmanship.

Now I have never actually participated in an event with army composition is such a huge factor let alone a scoring factor so this is definitely a culture shock for me. Just by judging from the descriptions on their web site of what a good, average, and bad army composition is, it looks like my current White Scars list, despite the all bike theme, would get hammered. So I had to go back to the drawing boards and figure out a decent list with would score higher with army composition.

So here is the current list that I am contemplating because it would require very little in the way of painting and touch up for me to finish it.

Khan on moondrakkan
–205

Command Squad (5 man)
Mounted on bikes
Apothecary with chainsword and bolt pistol
Company champion with power weapon and bolt pistol
Veteran with lightning claw and melta gun
Veteran with power fist and storm shield
Standard with power fist, melta gun, and storm shield
–350

Bike squadron (6 man)
2x flamers
Sergeant with powerfist
–200

Bike squadron (6 man)
2x plasma guns
Sergeant with combi-plasma and melta bombs
–210

Bike squadron (5 man)
Attack bike with multi-melta
2x melta guns
Sergeant with powerfist
–235

Bike squadron (5 man)
Attack bike with multi-melta
2x melta guns
Sergeant with powerfist
–235

Attack Bike Squadron (2 man)
2x multi-meltas
–100

Attack Bike Squadron (3 man)
3x Heavy Bolters
–120

Scout Bikes (6 man)
3x grenade launchers
Cluster mines
Sergeant with powerfist
–195

–1850

Color Code

Finished

Almost Complete

Primed and begun painting

Not even built

Other options I have available because they are painted would be to drop the flamer bike squad and the heavy bolter attack bikes along with the two melta guns in the command squad in order to take a 10 man assault with with powerfist and 2x flamers and finish filling out the rest of the plasma squad with 2 more dudes and a multi-melta attack bike.  If I did this list, I would probably give the plasma bike sergeant a power weapon because I would have 5 extra paints and I think that it would look pretty cool in that squad.  That option requires significantly less painting but I am unsure how effective it would be, but then again 10 outflanking assault marines sounds pretty bad ass to me!  They would also complement my command squad.

Either way it looks like I have a lot of work ahead of me over the next two months in preperation.  Not to mention that I am also going to have to build a display board for my army and work on some fluff so I can get higher scores in the presentation and theme categories.  Well its definetly a challenge but I am willing to accept it because if I get first or second at this event then I get an Invitation to the championships in Las Vegas during the summer of next year.  So its all worth it!

 I wrote this piece for a new White Scars blog in which I am working on. I hope this pieces helps you out in your games! So why use Vindicators in a White Scars army???

Compared to all of the other heavy support options, vindicators provide the biggest bang for your buck in my opinion. Vindicators provide three things that a White Scars army typically lacks, Large Blast templates, high armor value, and strength 10 weaponry.  This unit can be used to compliment your army or completely mismatch your army depending on your build.  So lets break down what makes this unit good and bad and determine whether or not this is an ideal unit to use in your army.

So what makes them good?

• They are cheap!  Only 115 points for a large blast strength 10 weapon is quite a steal.
• They are a heavy support choice.  This is important because it is not taking up fast attack choices where every slot is fiercely contested.  
• High armor value.  Having armor 13 in the front make the unit somewhat resilient.  
• They provide an excellent distraction for the rest of your army.  If you have an over saturation of armor or heavy hitting units it causes your opponent to think twice about who he shoots at first.  Because vindicators are often considered “scary” they typically get shot at before your scoring bike units.  You can also hide attack bikes and regular bikes behind the vindicator for some much needed cover.
• The large blast template with high strength and low ap is great for taking out tanks, nob bikers, tyranid warriors and the like.  Deep striking units can and will be torn up by this weapon.
• Also being high strength it is great for insta-killing special characters. There is nothing as priceless as seeing your opponents face when his 200 point character dies in an explosion!

Being such a good unit, why is it bad? 

• There is only one main weapon.  Once that demolisher cannon is gone, the tank losses is main purpose.  Though it can still be a distraction and provide cover, it is best used as a weapon platform.
• They need to be taken in numbers.  Only using one vindicator is a death sentence for that vehicle.  This unit needs to have a partner or two to increase its overall effectiveness.  
• It is a vehicle, so it suffers from the damage chart, along with terrain issues.  This is not a major fall back but should be noted.
• Smart opponents.  Yes if you are playing against a smart player, he/she will know the best way to mitigate the damage received by a vindicator is proper spacing.  It is unfortunate when your tank only can kill one or two models with that large template. 

What about the upgrades????

Well taking a vindicator gives you the option of taking vehicle upgrades to “enhance” your vehicle.  So lets break them down.

• Pintle mounted storm bolter: Pretty pointless.  Use the points elsewhere… seriously
• Hunter killer missile: Somewhat pointless.  Some people swear by them but for a single shot missle that is not guarenteed to hit just seems like a waste of points.  I have always had horrible luck with these.
• Extra armor: Pointless.  This vehicle is meant to shoot.  So if it can’t shot then being able to move is not going to help you that much.  I only take extra armor on transports if at all.
• Dozer Blade: Not bad.  Most of the time the tank is only going to move 6 inches and being able to re-roll immobilization tests is nice when trying to get the best cover save.
• Siege Shield: If you must take an upgrade, this is probably the best.  Never taking any tests for moving through terrain is not bad at all.  

As a rule of thumb do not bother with upgrades on this tank.  The tank is fine as it is now and adding upgrades is a waste of points which are better suited else where such as powerfists or more melta guns.

Overall 

This tank is best suited for a defensive style of playing white scars.  Using vindicators in an aggressive list leads to accidents, such as killing your own models due to an unfortunate scatter roll.  The 24 inch range on the weapon is the sweet spot in an white scars defensive style list so the vindicator fits right in.  Finally don’t  expect your vindicators to preform spectacularly in every game, I have played games with them where they die before they do anything or never seem it hit which is even more annoying in my opinion.

So I hope you enjoyed this write up and go forward and get your tri-vindi spam lists written up so you too can bring death and destruction to your enemies!

So as you guys might know I am really pumped about the possibility of a Grey Knight codex being released in the near future. So much so that I decided it is time to give all of my Grey Knights the “stillfrosty custom base treatment.” Here is the first batch for the good majority of my terminators. All I am going to have to do is get these bad boys painted in some Gothic ruins color scheme and cut the Grey Knights off of their old bases and glue them on the new ones. It shouldn’t be too hard…. hopefully.

Once I am done with the terminators I will being changing the bases of the 60 Grey Knights in power armor I own, then rounding it off with a quick touch up of paint, new highlights, and finish the 15 or so models not completed to match the army then I will have a beautiful force once again!

Here are the old bases…. Picture to remember the old times…

And for those who doubt that I seriously own 25 Grey Knight terminators…

The sad part is I really used to own 30 more Grey Knights in power armor and 5 more Grey Knights in terminator armor.

So I was talking to my good friend Lefteris and he informed me that because of my White Scars were constantly tormenting Orks and taking trophies that his Orks were going to start taking White Scar trophies in revenge! I feel so honored now!!! I can not wait to see what else he has in mind for his army…

I wrote this piece for a new White Scars blog on Blogger and I figured that I would share it with all of you!

This discussion has lead to many heated debates amongst friends and forum goers about which character is better. So the goal of this is to provide the facts and help in your decision!

So whats the big deal?

Well assuming you haven’t read the space marine codex or are familiar with White Scars… The main strength of a White Scars army is the ability to take a ton of bikes and to make the good majority of those bikes scoring units by taking them as troop choices. The only way this goal can be accomplished is by selecting either a Captain or Kor’sorro Khan and mounting him on a bike. This allows all Space Marine Bike Squadrons above 5 models to be taken as a troop choice. However this is where the debate lies, as the Captain and Khan have two very distinct advantages and disadvantages then can radically change the way a biker list is written and played. So having the proper character is a very important decision which is not to be taken lightly.

So who is better?

Truly no character is “better” then the other, despite every one’s opinion. They are both radically different and suit completely different play styles. Stat wise they are the same, equipment and rule wise, they vary greatly, but each is suited to how they play which determines their usefulness. One is better against certain armies, where as the other is better suited against others.

So how do I decide?

Realistically it boils down to what the rest of your army consists of and how many points you have available for a game. But if you a looking to build your army around the character, which would be the smart thing to do, then the only way to figure this out is by analyzing each characters traits.

The Khan

Pros:

* Grants anyone who has access to combat tactics and dedicated transports the ability to outflank. This ability is great as it allows for loads of outflanking multi-meltas and opens up deployment options to cater how you play against what opponent you are facing. This is very useful for using bike’s superior mobility for boxing in units and annihilating them.
* Grants any squad he joins Furious Charge and Hit and Run. These abilities teamed up with a hardcore assault squad, such as a command squad on bikes or terminators increases their effectiveness tremendously.
* Has a weapon which can cause instant death. This is very useful for killing other characters before they swing on the charge.
* His mount, Moondrakken, gives the Khan Fleet. Not the coolest ability… but having access to the only fleeting bike in the game is awesome. I have used this ability before to catch up to running squads and it works.

Cons:

* Expensive! Compared to a standard Captain on bike he is 40 more points. Now not a huge difference, but in games smaller then 1500 points, that is a lot of points. I usually recommend in smaller games to avoid the khan.
* He only has a strength 4 power weapon. Even though it can cause instant death to anyone on a 6 to wound, if the Khan is in a prolonged combat amongst multiple enemies this can be a bad thing.
* The loss of combat tactics. In order to outflank, you give up combat tactics. Combat Tactics is an essential rule if you are playing defensively.
* There is no model for him. Though this isn’t a big deal, it would be nice to have a bike mounted version of the khan instead of converting one, but it does pave the way for some cool conversions.

Overall:

The Khan is typically a better option if you are building you army to be very aggressive with assault elements, typically Terminators or a Biker Command Squad. Outflanking is awesome for melta weapons and allows plenty of side armor shots besides the other benefits of multiple deployment options. Playing defensively with this character is quite frankly a bad idea and will lead to losses.

The Captain

Typically a sufficient bike mounted captain is more efficient the cheaper he is. Spending more points on him then necessary often leads to disappointment. The standard build for a captain is:

Captain
Bike and Relic Blade –165

Pros:

* Cheap* This all depends on the wargear and what you want him to be tasked with doing
* With that being said, the captain has access to tons of wargear and weapon options. Artificer armor, digital weapons, storm shields, lightning claws… the list goes on. This opens up loads of conversion opportunities.
* He is the most desirable choice for small games due to his low points and lack of deadly assault units.
* Being armed with a relic blade, the captain is actually better in assault against high toughness enemies.
* Combat Tactics. If you take a captain you get to keep this rule. This rule has been likened to a virtual “hit and run” in the shooting phase and is very great to preserving units by forcing them to fail leadership tests.

Cons:

* Tones down the effectiveness of a command squad. Without having furious charge and hit and run, the command squad becomes more vulnerable to prolonged assaults. This is not a good things
* With that being said, I would argue that if he is apart of a command squad, that it is more expensive then an effective one run with the khan since you will have to purchase more powerfists and stormshields to keep your squad alive and to make up for the lack of not being able to go first. Conversely however, this unit will suit the captain in hunting monstrous creatures.
* Not being able to outflank means that there is a loss of deployment options. Having the flexibility to deploy your army is essential for winning. It can be argued that turbo boost makes up for this, but I find the fear of outflanking bike squads far out weighs being able to move fast thanks to turbo boost.

Overall:

The Captain is best suited for a defensive list which has an emphasis of staying out of assault and relying on shooting. Bikes can bring a lot of firepower to bare, but the ability to assault after shooting those weapons has saved me numerous times. I definitely suggest the captain for low points games as outflanking isn’t as necessary due to smaller tables (typically) and the points need to be invested into troop units.

Now What?

In order to figure out which one suits you, first you must determine the points level of your game. Secondly, do you enjoy playing defensively or aggressively. Thirdly, are you planning on running dedicated assault squads? Finally, what have been your personal experiences with each character before this game. With all of this in mind you can finally choose what character best suits you! So go out and win one for the Scars!!!

I just wanted to report back from the tournament I played in on Saturday. I played three games at 2000 points using the White Scars army posted a few days ago. There were a total of 12 players including a ton of marine players chaos and imperial, imperial guard, eldar, and orks. On a starting note… my camera died before I even took my first picture so I wasn’t too happy about that.

First round I played against Mark’s Blood Angels which I think looks like this…

Mephistion
6 assault terminators with 4x lighting claws and 2x thunder hammers
10 assault marines with jump packs 2x plasma pistols, and a powerfist
10 assault marines with 2x melta guns, a power fist, and a drop pod
10 scouts with close combat weapons and a sergeant with powerfist and combi-melta
10 death company with a powerfist and a rhino
10 man devestator squad with 4x missile launchers, a powerfist, and a rhino
10 man devestator squad with 4x missile launchers, a powerfist, and a rhino

The mission was dawn of war and seize ground with 3 objectives

Surprisingly this was a really close battle. I state that because he didn’t have that much in the way of firepower. However, my multi-meltas kept missing, so I couldn’t blow up his transports. Some of the highlights were that mephiston slaughtered a whole bike squad by himself and went to kill the khan before he even swung… but in that same close combat phase, my lightning claw veteran hit and wounded all three times and cut his head off! At the end of the battle, all I had were the 4 veterans in the command squad, 5 bikes in a troop squad and a single speeder, but that troop bike squad was able to capture two objectives and I managed to win a minor victory.

The vindicators really did not do anything because my opponent kept everything spread out and they died by turn 3 but the speeders did ok. They won me the game because they blew up a transport in the last turn of the game which pinned the squad in side and he had to retreat with his remaining 10 man assault squad to claim his home objective. I managed 6 kill points in the game and he claimed 7

Juan’s Space Wolves

Logan
Ruin priest
Wolf Lord with thunder wolf mount, thunder hammer, storm shield, and 2x wolves
Lone Wolf with terminator armor, thunder hammer, and storm shield
15 wolves
10 grey hunters with 2x melta guns, power fist, and a rhino
10 grey hunters with 2x melta guns, power fist, and a rhino
9 grey hunters with a melta gun, power fist, and a rhino
6 long fangs with 2x lascannons, 3x heavy bolters, and a razor back with twin lascannon
6 long fangs with 2x lascannons, 3x missile launchers, and a razor back with twin lascannon

We played pitched battle with capture the flag

This battle ended up in a tie because I was all over his objective, but the game went to turn 7 giving him time to knock the units off of his objective. Some highlights were that the Khan in close combat managed to kill both the wolf lord and logan, hit and run onto contest the opposing objective before taking 3 lascannons to the face. A single land speeder tornado (since his partner died in the first turn again) killed a razorback and 2 rhinos.

So once again the vindicators did nothing worthwhile except when the one did hit it killed 12 wolves with one shot. Every single other shot scattered!

I managed 10 kill points to his 5

Justin’s Imperial Guard

Command Section with 2x melta guns, 2x plasma guns, chimera with heavy flamer, stubber, and multi-laser
Infantry platoon Command with a mortar
3x infantry squads with autocannons
1x infantry squad with grenade launcher and a commissar
Infantry platoon command with 3x flamers in a chimera with heavy flamer, stubber, and multi-laser
2x infantry squads with a flamer mounted in a chimera with heavy flamer, stubber, and mutli-laser
Vendetta with 3x twin lascannon
Vendetta with 3x twin lascannon
2x Hellhounds in a squadron with 2x hull heavy flamers
Leman Russ with hull lascannon, sponson heavy bolters, stubber, and a battle cannon
Leman Russ with hull lascannon, sponson heavy bolters, stubber, and a battle cannon
Leman Russ Demolisher with hull lascannon, sponson multi-meltas, and a demolisher cannon

We played corners and kill points.

I felt sorry for Justin because this is probably the last mission he would want to face my army in. Long story short, I tabled him in 4 turns and only lost a vindicator and a few bikes. I got a full 16 kill points. My command squad racked up 7 kill points alone. Vindicators were pretty lame but they did manage to kill a leman russ after 3 rounds of firing. Massacre for the scars!

So after all the points were added up, I got second place, and was only one point behind Juan who received first place. To show how close the standings were, in Juan’s last game if he would have killed one less unit I would have been able to seize first place. Soooo close!!!! Mark received 3rd place as he got a massacre in the third round as well against chaos. It was nice seeing a bunch of gamers that I have not seen in quite some time and getting some prize support doesn’t hurt either.

Now I have some projects to work on over the rest of the summer!

When I first saw this model my Dave Taylor I was truly impressed. So impressed in fact I figured I would share it with all of you! Now I am just wondering if I should redo my current Khan? But then again, I think he looks more bad ass in my opinion!

So here are my assault marines that I recently finished. I would say they came out very, very well and it almost makes me want to use them in a tournament. Too bad White Scars don’t have access to more fast attack choices!!! Well depending on how the speeders preform in the next few games they might be getting replaced with these bad boys.

Now I am not one to use speeders or even consider speeders in a White Scars army…. But after getting one in a battleforce purchase and getting one for free I figured I would build them and give them a try. It took me a while to decide how to equip them for my army, but I ultimately decided on the Typhoon pattern. Even though they are the most expensive, my army is missing long ranged firepower so they would fill this niche. Hopefully when I finish them up and take them to battle they will preform well… if not I guess they will be reserved for apocalypse games!

I still have to finish the pilots and gunners for the two speeders. I am thinking of having them wielding close combat weapons just in case! Not to mention it would look awesome.

Here is the third and final vindicator for my army. I am now ready to run tri-vindi spam at the local tournaments near you!