Beauty and the Beast

This is a fun list for Dark Eldar that I had lying around.  Does it work?  I have no idea but in theory it should do OK.  The Duke gives the Wyches a 1/3 chance to receive FNP and the combat drugs on everything is a very welcome addition to a rather fragile army.  If anything, this army will hit like a truck and have enough bodies to contest and control.  Even though the Duke's squad will be hanging back and claiming an objective, I decided to give his squad Splinter Cannons to help shoot bio units at long-range.  Besides, this list has a good amount of Blasters in it that I'm not really worried.

1988
18 kp

HQ:
Duke = 150
Succubus (Agonizer/BP) = 100

TROOP:
20x Warriors (Sybarite/PGL/BP, Blaster, 2x SC) = 260
10x Wyches (Raider NS, Hekatrix/Agonizer/BP) = 215
10x Wyches (Raider NS, Hekatrix/Agonizer/BP) = 215
9x Wyches (Raider NS, Hekatrix/Agonizer/BP) = 205

ELITE:
3x Trueborn (Venom NS/SC, 3x Blaster) = 156
3x Trueborn (Venom NS/SC, 3x Blaster) = 156
3x Trueborn (Venom NS/SC, 3x Blaster) = 156

HEAVY:
Ravager (NS/FF) = 125
Ravager (NS/FF) = 125
Ravager (NS/FF) = 125

I plan on running this list very soon so I'll give you guys a quick heads up on how things go.

My GK match-up predictions

I wrote a article over at Bell of Lost Souls on all the GK matchups.  Please take a look at the article here.  I'll write the short-hand donation here and you guys can agree/disagree with me.  Be as vocal as you can because I love seeing other people's point of view.

GK = Marines (SW, BA, Vanilla)
GK > Chaos Daemons
GK = CSM
GK < Dark Eldar
GK < Eldar
GK < Imperial Guard
GK > Necrons
GK > Orks
GK < Tau
GK >= Tyranids
GK < Witch Hunters

Summary:
5 equal matchups
4 favorable matchups
5 unfavorable matchups

In short, I think we'll see the metagame shift towards plasma weaponry because elite armies with small model counts do not mix well with Plasma Cannons.  I know this, in every sense of the word because of 4th Ed. Dual Lash with max Oblits.  Dark Eldar also ripped me a new one in 4th and I think we'll see the same amount of damage done this time around.  Mech Tau just eats elite MEQ for breakfast, Eldar will be very strong still and Mech IG is just lol.  Witch Hunters is still a very competitive codex, don't let anyone tell you differently.

Go read the article, come back and let me know what you guys think.  I'm eagerly waiting your replies.

My Grey Knight paint scheme

Everyone has a paint scheme and the one I use is pretty ancient.  This is the method that I was taught so many years ago and it's the same one I use today.

• GW White Primer
• Heavy drybrush Boltgun Metal
• Badab Black wash
• Mithril Silver drybrush
• Enchanted Blue on the eyes and Psycannon
• Asurman Blue wash on the eyes and weapon
• Icy Blue dot on the eyes
• Shining Gold on the gothic wording
• Ogryn Flesh wash on the wording after
• Red Gore on the purity seals/books
• Menoth White Highlight on any cloth
• Devlun Mud wash on the purity seals and cloth
• Apply washes and such as needed

My GK army lists

One thing's for damn sure:  No more dual Land Raider crap if you want to play competitive.  Believe it or not, I've never played dual LRs for pure GKs.  I don't believe in taking 250+ point transports when most of the army is already so damn expensive.  Maybe because I like playing with a lot of Grey Knight Terminators and thus I spent most of my time DS'ing or footslogging.  You know what, I'm doing it again for this upcoming codex.  Now that the rest of my troops can take Rhinos, they're going to be the ones taking objectives and getting things done.

Check out my army lists:

2000

HQ:
Mordrack = 200
+10x Ghost Knights (Halberds, 2x Psycannon, 3x Warding) = 430
Lv.2 Librarian (Warding, +3x Powers) = 200

TROOP:
10x GKSS (Rhino, 2x Psycannons) = 260
10x GKSS (Rhino, 2x Psycannons) = 260
5x GKSS (Rhino, Psycannon) = 160
10x Terminators (Halberds, 2x Psycannons, 2x Warding) = 490

In this first list, you'll see my love of Grey Knight Terminators play out with purpose.  GM Mordrack enters battle on turn 1 with his retinue of Ghost Knights and start pouring down the fire.  They will find a good place to take cover from and lay down suppressing fire and will cast Psychic Communion so reinforcements can arrive.  Depending on the mission, Mordrack's Grand Strategy will either give the Librarian's Terminator unit Scout or re-roll 1s if I want things deader.  Scout allows me to outflank with +1 to reserves from PC, and I can always DS straight in another strategic location if I wanted to.  The Lv.2 Librarian has +3x powers which will probably be Quicksilver, Might of Titan and Summoning.  Quicksilver allows Grey Knights to fight glass hammer CC like Harlequins and triumph, Might of Titan punches through armor with ease and Summoning can bring squads to reinforce the front lines or bail Mordrack's squad of dudes out of trouble.

Some special rules for our Daemon friends

Well, it definitely looks like Grey Knights will have the upper hand vs. Chaos Daemons in April.  That is.. unless we provide them with a bit of fair play.  What do I mean by that?  I mean house-ruling some stuff just for them.  There is nothing fluffier than Grey Knights fighting Chaos Daemons.  I mean, come on:  Daemons' not a super strong codex to begin with.  Fatecrusher doesn't mean jack because not everyone and their mother wants to play that crap.  Now that Grey Knights are going to come out and more than half the army is geared towards eliminating Daemons, how do we make things more balanced?

If I fought against a Daemon player, I would grant him these special rules:

• Your entire army can DS on Turn 1 instead of randomly rolling for which half.  In addition, the Daemon player can choose to deploy normally via the mission rules.  Why?  Because the Chaos Gods wants mankind completely destroyed, no one, not even the most righteous defenders of mankind will stand in their way.  I call this rule:  For the Glory of Chaos.
• At the beginning of the game, Daemon players can choose D3+2 units and give them the ability to outflank.  Why?  Because the Grey Knights are completely surrounded by the forces of Chaos and the only one that's capable of helping them is the Emperor.  I call this:  The Darkest Day.
• Which brings us to our next rule:  All Daemons have without number via the old 4th Ed. Tyranid rules with a daemonic twist.  If a unit of Daemon troops is completely destroyed, they may choose to come down via DS next turn or walk on their side of the field with their full unit intact.  I call this:  Daemonic Infestation.

What do you guys think?  I personally accept the challenge.

Pure Grey Knights

First, make sure to check the previous rumor thread.  It's currently 2:12am over here and Commissar posted a bunch of new rumors.  This post, however, will deal with building a pure Grey Knight force with the new codex. That's right, pure GK, forget all that Inquisition stuff.. even though the Vindicare Assassin is so crazy good it's outrageous.

Here's all the "pure" Grey Knight info that's needed to start building army lists:

Grand Master - 175 points
WS6 BS6 S4 T4 W3 I5 A3 Ld.10 2+/4++
The Grand Strategy is the ability of the Grand Master to give one of four special rules to D3 units (Infantry, Jump Infantry, MCs, or Walkers, NOT Inquis. Warbands, ICs, or Modrak's Ghost Knights). The rules are:
-Hammer of Righteousness: Nominated unit re-rolls to wound rolls of 1 for the duration of the game
-Shield of Blades: Target unit gets Counter Attack
-Spear of Light: Target unit gets Scouts
-Unyielding Anvil: Target unit gains Scoring

Even more GK rumors!

From Commissar Ciaphas on B&C:
Updated 1:51am PST 2-13-11

"Inquisitor Coteaz allows you to have Henchman warbands as troops. There are NO Inquisitorial Stormtroops, but you can take Warrior Acolytes who you can arm with Hot-Shot Lasguns if it makes you feel any better. It's a meh option at best. Crusaders Squad spam is going to be extremely prevalent I fear. You can take them as troops for plasma pistol cost per Crusader. Storm Shields and Power weapons. Each. It's going to be a mess.

Falchions are taken in PAIRS as in the entry is "A pair of Nemesis Falchions" so yeah. I think Stormbolters act as pistols for the GKs as per the previous codex. Nemesis Force Sword is just a power weapon as far as I know. That was what it looked like when I last paged through the armoury section. Plus, why would Halberds and Nemesis Daemonhammers cost +5 points then? They'd be free as a tradeoff.

I'll check the next time I see it as to what the Brotherhood Banner and the Heavy Pyscannon and Gatling Psilencer do. Psybolt Ammo ignores invulnerable saves I BELIEVE. Not sure. I'll check the next time I see, so no one get all worked up about it just yet. Master Crafted weapons work the same as they always have, and even GKSS Justicars can MC their weapons. The Paladin Nemesis weapons aren't any different than the ones I already listed.

Henchman are Elites without Coteaz, but I wouldn't worry as far as that goes. The Elite section is pretty balanced so unless you want to go Paladin Spam (And honestly, if you do just take the Supreme Grandmaster Draigo he makes them troops anyway. Ven Dreads are meh, Purifiers are one of my favorites, but only as Troops. Dreads can be taken as Heavies, so really, you can choose between Assassins (Only one per type, they're Unique), a Techmarine, and Henchman Warbands. And the warbands are pretty diverse as far as things go.

Also, Astral Aim, your target gets a 4+ Cover save. Not sure if that was mentioned yet or not."

The brainstorm begins

First, some more rumors from B&C:

So you have asked, so you shall receive. I can't guarantee that all of this is super correct, as I don't have it in front of me right now, but I will say:

Nemesis Weapons, as far as I know are Force Weapons. HOWEVER, because of how Brotherhood of Psykers works (A unit casts a psychic power as a singular entity) I believe this means that only one weapon can become a Force Weapon per turn (If you so choose to use it over Hammerhands), and the rest are power weapons. Still, nothing to sneeze at.

-Nemesis Halberd: +1 Initiative 

-Nemesis Daemonhammer: +1 Strength

-Nemesis Falchions: Force Lightning Claws

-Nemesis Warding Stave: Power weapon that conveys a 2++ Invulnerable save. (I know. Madness.) They're 25-20 points per depending on the squad.

-Daemonhammer - This entry confuses me. There's both a Nemesis Daemonhammer and a regular Daemonhammer, but as far as I know, this one is a Thunderhammer with Daemonbane.

Psyk-Out grenades reduce morale of the unit they attack, I believe, but that one is the one i'm the most unsure on.

Continue!

New Grey Knight rumors and analysis

This is going to be a horrendously long post but stay with me.  I'm sure you'll love the rumors and I'm even more sure you'll like my analysis of these rumors.  Keep in mind that Grey Knights were my first army and I love them to death.  However, everyone and their mother around me wants to play GKs when they come out and that in itself is off-putting.  Bah.. whatever, here I go.  Check this out (my stuff will be in red):

Army Wide Rules:

• Aegis: Psykers targeting a squad with Aegis suffer -1 Ld. Psykers within 12" of a dreadnought with Reinforced Aegis suffer -4 Ld.
• And They Shall Know No Fear
• Combat Squads
• Psyker Pilots
• Brotherhood of Psykers
• Psyker Mastery Levels: Character can use 1 psychic power per turn for each level (so 2 powers per turn at level 2).
• Preferred Enemy: Demons

Pretty standard things here save for Aegis.  The -1 leadership for most Ld.10 models doesn't really change much.  The Dreadnought with Reinforced Aegis might be pretty handy to bring.. but I wouldn't really feel comfortable bringing a Dread just for that reason.  If anything, he'll be packing some Psycannon action.  Preferred Enemy Daemons just makes me sad for Daemon players and the Psyker Mastery Levels are a interesting addition.

Been playing DoW2: Retribution

It's been something over two years since I played DoW2.  I played the game back in beta and in the early days of retail and managed to get up to Lv.60 SM and TS39.  Of course, that was a long time ago and now I'm a noob again.  Well.. not a complete noob but it's like playing a completely new game.  The metagame has evolved so drastically and all the new units are alien to me.  I've been playing around with Eldar, Nids and CSM and so far I'm liking CSM the most.  I usually play Plague Champion and break out the Death Guard after the Blood Crusher, but occasionally I throw in the Chaos Lord as a starter hero.  The game's pretty fun so far and I'm enjoying the beta a lot.  I might even get in when it comes out if I see enough motive from Relic to fix the balance problems.

Anyone else playing the beta?