What is this? 6th Ed. Rumors?

My wife and I at Shaolin Temple.

Hi guys! I'm back from China and boy was it fun.  My wife and I visited my uncles and cousins for the first time since we got married and the itinerary they prepared for us was insane!

We spent 4 days in Beijing and saw the following places:
Summer Palace, Forbidden City, Bei Hai, Hou Hai, Ming Tombs, Great Wall, and other smaller places.

We spent 3 days in Shanghai and 1 day in Zhengzhou to see the Shaolin Temple.. which was amazing!

I came back a little under the weather and to a billion emails.  Thanks for all those who Emailed questions and had the patience to wait for me to answer them.  Anyways, so what the hell is this I hear about 40K 6th Ed. in 2012?  If you guys haven't seen the rumors already, check this stuff out:

http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2011/06/40k-rumors-6th-edition-first-murmors-it.html
http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2011/06/40k-rumors-6th-edition-round-two.html

Looks like a good amount of changes to the following things:

• Ballistic skill and hitting different targets moving at different speeds
• Vehicles are easier to destroy from heavy weapons
• Cover being a lot less forgiving
• Independent Characters being a lot better
• Torrent of fire is back! no more wound allocation

I haven't looked into this as hard as I should since these are just rumors, but I'm curious to think what you fellas think.  From first glance, this looks like that everything I hated about 5th Ed. will be addressed.

Thoughts?

My ALEPH army lists

Let's go over 2 army lists really quick.  One of which is 200pts and the other one is 300pts.  I figured that's what the guys around here is playing since everyone's just starting out.  From looking around the forums, I'm seeing the 300pts is the standard for most lists.  That's cool, I'll probably start at 200pts for my first couple of games.  Hmm.. I wonder if I can take 2 Lieutenants in a single list if I have the option?  I can't seem to find anything in the main rulebook.  Getting pumped for this game.

Here's the short notation of my army lists:

200pts
8 orders
3.5 SWC

Asura LT w/ MULTI Rifle
Myrmidon w/ Spitfire
DEVA Hacker w/ Combi Rifle
2x Dakini w/ HMG
3x Netrod

300pts
10 orders
5.5 SWC

Achilles LT w/ Spitfire
Asura w/ MULTI Rifle
DEVA Hacker w/ Combi Rifle
2x Myridon w/ Spitfire
Dakini w/ HMG
Dakini w/ Combi Rifle
3x Netrod

Below, you'll see the full notation using the Devil Team army builder.

Have you guys tried this army builder?
http://www.infinitycreator.com/

It allows you to make lists like this:
http://www.infinitycreator.com/users/1226/army_lists/print?id=13607

Pretty neat.  Oh!  I'm going to China for 8 days.  I'll be reading this awesome version of the rulebook multiple times while on the plane.

To Infinity and beyond!

I've been doing some serious research into Infinity lately and I have to say that I'm really digging it.  Good thing my brother is in town and he's just as much of a geek as I am. I got really excited to play this game and I went home with a full batch of rules and proxy'd minis.  We had a good night of learning and playing as we watched Dark City and Waking Life. Shit got really really real.

I built a 200pt ALEPH list and a Yu Jing list with as much simplistic stuff as possible and gave the game a run through.

Sisters Rumors, part 2

Straight from BoK!

It is that time again, thanks for reading and posting your questions. Let me start by letting everyone know I have no idea (or will never know for sure) about new model releases. I don’t know if the new sisters release will be resin or plastic or the numbers in the boxes, but like I said before my bet is on Finecast re-release. Now with that out-of-the-way on to new rules…

What is not in the Codex

Repressors

Arbites

The Units (some more information than others)

Canoness: Here is my special shout out to the Canoness: you are terrible. I mean grossly underpowered. Now this is going to sound like a cop-op, but I am not going into details because my hope is that she will be changed before release. It just sounds and looks like she is an unfinished product. She gets her own retinue that cannot do anything; she starts out cheap, but her upgrades are expensive and lame when you compare to everything else. So here is hoping to GW getting her fixed.

Repentia: Forgot to mention they have fleet

Celastians: Cheaper than a Marine, but not really anything going for them (that I know of)… extra attack. Re-roll hits for act of faith

Sister Battle Squad: Can still get a Heavy Flamer

Shraphim: They are pretty amazing. Cheaper than a Space Marine you get a Jump Packing, Hit and Running, and an act of faith that has them re-rolling wounds. You can also upgrade them to run with double hand flamers and melta pistols. They act both as an extra close combat weapon and become assault 2 instead of being twin-linked. So that means Assault 2 melta weapons.

Dominion Squads: Still get 4 special weapons. Act of Faith twin-linked.

Retributor Squads: Pretty fantastic. CHEAP! Talking under Long Fang cheap to fully kit out. Expect the return of the Heavy Bolter with these. Act of Faith is Rending.

Penitent Engines: Again fantastic. Same statline (Walker). No Scout or Infiltrate. Cheaper and can be a squadron aka 9 Engines. They still get the 1D6 attacks, but any wounds generate additional attacks (don’t know if they work like Blood Talons). 6+ Invul (don’t know if they generate faith)

That is all I got guys, if I get more will let you know. As always you can get a new developments by following Blood of Kittens.

Best way: Register with Blood of Kittens and receive email warnings about impending rumors or news.

Become a Facebook Fan of Blood of Kittens

Or join Blood of Kittens on Twitter

As always for those that don’t want to sign up for anything, don’t worry you will get all the same information as everyone else just no advance warning.

Grey Knights FAQ!

The FAQs:
http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m1830600a_40k_Rulebook_version_1_3.pdf
http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m1830601a_Grey_Knights_v1_0.pdf

Here are some things that stuck out:

Q: If a Grand Master gives a unit with personal
teleporters the Scouts special rule, can they use the
shunt move as a part of their Scouts move? (p22)
A: No.

No more first turn charges!

Q: Does a Dreadknight with a Nemesis doomfist strike
at Strength 6 or Strength 10 in close combat? (p34)
A: Strength 6, as it is not a walker.

Awkward wording on the NDF, but I guess that makes sense. Makes the Great Sword something to be desired now over what we thought was S10.

Q: For each Jokaero Weaponsmith in a henchman unit
after the first you add +1 to the Inconceivable
Customisation roll. Does this mean that if you have 6 or
more Jokaero in a unit that they will receive no
bonuses (as you cannot roll less than a 6 and duplicate
rolls are ignored)? (p50)
A: Yes.

So I guess take 5?

Q: Can models in Terminator armour embark onto an
Inquisitorial Chimera? (p51)
A: Yes.

And here's the final word.

Q: If a model with a Nemsesis force halberd has had his
Initiative reduced to a fixed number by an
ability/special rule, do they still get the +2 Initiative
from the Halberd? (p54)
A: No.

Lash Whips rejoice!

Q: How do you work out whether a psyker is affected
by the Psi-shock special rule on a mindstrike missile or
a psyk-out bomb? (57, 58)
A: Any psyker under the template will be effected by
Psi-shock.

Been playing it like this for a while, but I'm glad they made it clear.

Q: Do you take into account the strength increase from
the psybolt and psyflame ammunition vehicle upgrades
when working out if a weapon is a defensive weapon
or not? If a vehicle has either of these upgrades, must
you use them? (p62)
A: Yes to both questions.

S5 Hurricane Bolters do not count as defensive weapons! I hope everyone's been playing them right.

Q: Would an orbital strike relay targeted within 12" of
one or more servo-skulls have its scatter distance
reduced? (p62)
A: No, it always scatters the full 2D6".

Just icing on the cake.

Q: Are Wounds from Dangerous Terrain tests allocated
in the same way as shooting attacks? (p14)
A: No. Each model moving through dangerous terrain
must take a test. Each model that fails takes a Wound

A lot of people have been playing this as shooting for the purposes of allocation, but I'm glad that it's clear as day that each model has to take DTs.  This increases the chance your IC, Sanguinary Priest or Meltagun dudes fall on their face when jumping.

Q: Do the effects of the same psychic power cast
multiple times on the same unit stack? (p50)
A: Yes, unless specifically stated otherwise.

This is big, because this means that Hammerhand from a Librarian can stack with Hammerhand from a Paladin squad.  If you have a Grand Master in there, you can test for HH 3 times, so on and so forth.  Interesting...

Q: Can a psyker attempt to cast the same psychic
power more than once in a turn? (p50)
A: No, unless the psychic power itself specifically allows
it.

This means that you can't just bring a Libby and have him spam HH to buff your dudes.  In order for you to stack, you must cast from separate sources.

First batch of SoB rumors from BoK

Click this for SoB confirmation!

Updated: 1:19pm PST, 6-12-11

Thanks BoK for the awesome rumors:


Sorry for the delay real life got in the way for once. Before we get started just want to drop two cents to some comments made in my last post: the only reason I could come off as gloating or soap boxing about rumor vindication is because the instant I post a group of rumors across the Internet on forums elsewhere they are quickly discounted (which is fine), but many times it pretty venomous and my attitude is just a little way of defending myself; by pointing out who was right and who was wrong. So sorry to everyone that just wants rumors and no ego every time I post something, it is only directed at the certain naysayers and shouldn’t be taken as me trying to tell you how awesome I am. I am not always right, but for the most part I am pretty damn close so let us leave it at that.

Ok, with that said let us get on with why you are really here some SoB rumors.

As always let us start with the easy ones that pretty much everyone figured was going to happen.

Allies gone
Inquisition gone
Faith streamlined
USRs updated to 5th
Cheaper Unit costs
Inquisition elements gone

So let start with the big one and perhaps most controversial change to Sisters of Battle: Faith

I am amazed reading around the Net how quite few people had great guesses on how the new faith works. One caveat about the faith rules: I only have most of the story so let us hope someone else can pluck the rest from the aether. The only thing that really stays the same is only faith producing units can use faith. Gone is the over and under rules based on model count and gone is faith powers that everyone can use. It is replaced with every unit has its own unit specific act of faith to call upon.

So for instance Repentia Act of Faith allows them to always land an attack even if they are killed before they can swing. They are little bonuses like re-rolling to wound and hit, no USRs. Now this if fine and dandy if you just pop a faith point and bam! power goes off, but not so fast. Acts of Faith require that you roll 5+ to activate . This makes faith much more unreliable… maybe. In addition every unit that can get faith generates 1d6 faith points per turn. This also means that a new faith pool is generated each turn with no storing of past faith. As well faith can be activated in multiple phases of the game, so for instance you can re-roll to hit in your shooting phase or in your assault phase. What is not clear is a few things. Like how many dice can you throw at a single act of faith? How many times can you attempt to activated a power? If you get an act of faith to go off in one phase does it carry over to the next phase? If you fail an act of faith does that mean you cannot try again in another phase? I don’t have the answers, but what do you think?

Random tidbits

All Faith generating units get +6 invul save
All units that can get transports get Immolators or Rhinos
Assassins gone (Death Cult still in)
Wargear with the same names as GK wargear stay and get changed over. (e.g. Psybolt Ammo)
Karamazov gone
Priests in, pretty much same as before.
No change to the general Bolter, Melta, Flame concept of the Sisters

Specifics

Sisters have about 5 HQ choices including Special Characters

St. Celestine: Same price as a Grand Master you get 2+/+4 saves, WS/BS 7 Jump Pack, Fleet, Power Weapons always wounds on 4+ Has the power to come back like GK Thawn if killed.

Confessor: Takes the slot of the old Inquisitors. Cheap HQ (Warboss). Can create a henchman band using most of the henchman found in the GK codex. What makes the Confessor extra deadly is the ability for it to re-roll hits and wounds for her and the squad. This is the translation of the rumor matrix. So think for one second about her and the Death Cult together?

Repentia: Cheaper close to SM cost. FNP, Rage, Fearless, 6+ invul, no transports

Battle Sister Squad: Cheaper 10-20 unit size (no combat squads), but has access to Immolators which begs the question… Immolators either get increased transport capacity or Sisters break the rules concerning model count and buying transports. Multiple acts of faith.

Exocists: Pretty much same as before.

This is it for now gents and dames. If you have any questions let me know I can see if can get them answered sometime this week with another post.

Can you build competitive and fluffy?

Before we go too deep into the lines of soul-searching, let's lay down some definitions first.  For me, the word competitive means to play your best.  This means improving on your generalship, optimizing your army list and designing an well-tuned army. I tagged an assload of articles I wrote previously and labeled them as "recommended".  These articles speak of list synergy, threat application and cost effectiveness.  This is the type of knowledge that I apply when playing competitively.

Now what about fluffy?  Or better yet, my definition of fluff:  You build your army how the army was designed to be played.  Space Wolves should be seeking a glorious death in combat and Blood Angels should be charging into the fray.  This is the element of fluff that I'm talking about and this is what I design most of my army lists around.  My recent article on BoLS called "Remembering Who We Are" covers my thoughts on this much more vividly.

As you guys have noticed, my blog's pretty much a competitive blog with a thematic twist.  You'll never see any Razorfang or RB spam lists here; instead you'll see well-tuned army lists trying to make my creations work.  I see army list construction a game in itself, and I take great pride in kicking ass with an army spewed from my own creativity.

My CSM predictions for the next book

I have an entire Forgeworld Death Guard army sitting at home doing nothing this edition.  Part of me wants to go out there and play them and the other part of me actually wants to win a game.  Keep in mind that I'm not saying it's impossible for CSM to win a game, but I don't think they can win in the manner that people want them to.  Why?  Because just like the Tyranid codex in 5th, the CSM codex was the worst codex to be released in 4th.

It's bad in a way that confuses players in terms of unit choices and leaves them with limited no-brainer options.  This severely limits a player's ability to make war with the units that he wants.  It's either because the units pale in comparison to others so much that it's stupid not to take them or they just plain out suck.  To me, there's nothing more frustrating than playing with an army book with a limited unit selection.  I want to be able to take whatever I want and make things work.  Just look at Space Wolves, you can take almost anything in the codex and make it work.  That's what I want for my Chaos Space Marines.

So what am I looking for next edition?

• Marks over Icons.  You gotta be kidding me with Chaos Icons.  I mean, shit, there's no way in hell that Chaos Marines who share an allegiance with their godly patron suddenly lose their blessing for losing a god damn standard.  Ridiculous.
• Overall stat boosts across all Chaos HQs.  This means WS7 Chaos Lords with at least 4 attacks.  He may either get some kind of 4++ equiv or be able to take Terminator armor.
• Chaos Markings will be pretty similar methinks.  This means Khorne gets +1A, Nurgle gets +1T, Tz gets +1 sv. to their Invul and Slaanesh with +1I.  I don't mind this at all, and I think it works quite nice with 40K.  Who knows, if we're lucky, we'll see a lot of minor upgrades unique to the gods in the same manner as the Space Wolf trinkets.
• Some form of psychic protection, definitely.  I'm confident we'll see the Sorcerer take some kind of protection that'll cause the enemy psyker to take perils.  It's fluffy and it makes sense in that respect.  Chaos needs some kind of psychic protection and it will be offensive in nature.
• This also means that Chaos Sorcerers will also gain access to a good amount of psychic powers.  SM had an good amount, SW too, BA had even more and GK lol.  I'm expecting to see all kinds of psychic powers in there for Tz, Nurgle and Slaanesh.  Keep in mind that I'm expecting 1 page dedicated to powers from all the gods.  I highly doubt they'll break them up like they did in Fantasy.
• Chaos Space Marines will probably be the most "cost effective" unit choice in the book.  If I was the next designer, I would bring back Veteran Skills.  Why?  The answer is simple and effective:  Because no one will take CSM over Plague Marines unless they do something unique.  Maybe they won't bring back Veteran Skills, but you bet your ass that the basic CSM trooper will be worth taking in their own rights.  Whether its by price, or the fact they can carry 2 specials or 2 heavies or 1 of each, or something else, they're going to be worth it.
• You will still be able to take iconic units like Plague Marines, Rubric Marines, Khorne Berserkers and Noise Marines.  Don't worry, I don't think these guys will get moved to elite or anything.  If they do, they'll risk removing a huge chunk of the army and suffer the same catastrophic FOC problem that Tyranids do.
• By the latest trend in book design, I don't think the next CSM book will see the return of Legions.  I think it will be focused on the four main god-legions:  World Eaters (Khorne), Thousand Sons (Tzeentch), Emperor's Children (Slaanesh) and Death Guard (Nurgle).
• This also means that Abaddon is going to be a complete beast, Typhus, Kharn and Lucius will be pretty good, and fill in the rest here.  There's always one badass SC in every new codex we see, so I'm definitely betting on Abaddon being that.
• Overall, I foresee a huge points drop for everything and many things getting boosted.  I can see Obliterators get their stats boosted (T5 maybe? or 3W?), CSM being able to take LRCs and possessed vehicle upgrades as plentiful/cheap as Extra Armor.  Havocs will probably see better days as well.  Depending on what happens to the Chaos Terminators, we might see the return of Chosen Terminators (or Chosen with the option to take TDA like Wolf Guard).
• Lastly, I predict that the book will be written by Mat Ward.  He seems to have an affinity to all Space Marines.  Him or Phil Kelly, but I think Kelly's doing SoB.

Space Marine Mixed Armor Tactica

This is the long awaited vehicle tactica that deals with different armor groups, notably the AV13 toys that Space Marines have to play with.  One of the biggest follies in the 40K gaming community is that Predators and Vindicators suck because of their static nature and fixed firing ports.  A lot of people see this as a weakness because these two tanks, as dominate as they are in the front arc with their AV13 hulls, have AV11 side armor.  This means that every time they pivot and shoot, they're as durable as Rhino.

That must suck right?  Wrong.  This guide will show you the folly in your ways with some tested battle formations.  I took all these pics using my iPhone since my attempts at MS Paint sucked harder than it should have.  Keep in mind that this tactica is designed for a mechanized army.  Some elements in this guide may or may not work depending on what you field.

Short BR, SW vs. GK

This will be a tactics overview because the game was pretty much a slaughter in my favor.

Mission was Kill Points and deployment was Dawn of War.  Darian got 1 KP from a Rhino at the end of the game to my 8 (leaving on the Dread alive).

The list I ran was the following:

1980

13 kp

HQ:

Wolf Lord (TH/SS, RA, WTN, WTT, Bear) = 230

Rune Priest (Chooser, WTN) = 120

TROOP:

9x Grey Hunters w/ WG (Rhino, PF/cbM, Meltagun, WS, MotW) = 243

9x Grey Hunters w/ WG (Rhino, PF/cbM, Meltagun, WS, MotW) = 243

8x Grey Hunters w/ WG (Rhino, PF/cbM, Meltagun, WS, MotW) = 228

ELITE:

7x WGT (6x PW/CbP, 1x CF/CbP) = 281

in LRC (EA, MM) = 275

HEAVY:

Predator (AC/LC) = 120

Predator (AC/LC) = 120

Predator (AC/LC) = 120

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Darian ran..

2x 7x Grey Knight Terminators

Librarian

2x Stormravens

Psyfleman Dread

10x Purifiers in a Rhino

Dreadknight w/ Heavy Psycannon and Incinerator

I have inserted 3 screenshots to help explain.

Wolf Lords, their word is law

The only time I find myself taking Wolf Lords is in games of 2K points.  At 1750 points, I find that the humble Rune Priest is all I need in the HQ slot.  Sometimes, I even take 2 Rune Priests as their psychic powers and psychic protection is too good to pass up on.  So why Wolf Lords?  Well, for one, I think they're one of the most iconic pieces in an old-school Space Wolf army.  Space Wolves, by design and fluff, are Vikings in Space who rely on honor and courage to carry them through the day.  That's why most of my army lists for Space Wolves have little in terms of campy shooting.

Now that I've thrown down that my Space Wolves enjoys the nitty gritty, let's examine my favorite Wolf Lord builds.  He is my physical manifestation on the battlefield:

Wolf Lord
Runic Armor
Frost Blade (or Thunder Hammer), Storm Shield
Wolf Tooth Necklace
Wolf Tail Talisman
Saga of the Warrior Born (or Saga of the Bear)
225 points (or 230 with Thunder Hammer), Thunderwolf Mount for 45 more.

Let's take a look at this build and examine what I like about it.  He has 4 attacks, has 2+ armor and 3++ invul saves, always hits on 3+ vs. anything with a WS with a S5 power weapon and goes ape shit after killing things in melee.  He averages 2 MEQ kills in the first round of combat and that bumps his attacks up to 6 in the next round of combat since he gets +attacks for each model killed in the previous combat.  The Warrior Born Saga is more for fun really, since it allows him to chew through enemies so you can tally up the totals.  Wolf Tail Talisman is one of those neat little gizmos that lets you take a 5+ save against anything that's targeting you or your squad with a psychic power.  If you roll a 5+, you negate the psychic ability outright.  If I could be anyone in 40K, it would probably be this guy.

Why no Terminator Armor?  Because if you want a Storm Shield, you're going to have to pay 15 points more on top of the 40.  Runic Armor is 20, Storm Shield is 30, so for 5 less points, you have the same 2+/3++, can be put in a Rhino, takes up less room in a LR, has the benefits of Runic Armor (5+ invul vs. all wounds caused by psychic attacks) and you keep your frag and krak grenades.  It's a no brainer at this point.  Saga of the Bear makes your Lord immune to instant death because of Eternal Warrior and the Thunder Hammer allows him to deliver crushing force against anything in the game.

What it really comes down to is whether or not you want to put the Lord on a Thunderwolf mount or not.  Personally, Thunderwolves don't make sense to me because marines are riding them.  It's 40K years into the future and as if things couldn't be more ridiculous, marines are now riding ancient battle beasts.  Aside from how ludicrous this may seem, we can't overlook the benefits of a Lord on the Thunderwolf.  True T5 makes him immune to Fists (although not Force Weapons), the extra attack and strength makes him a beast in combat.  The higher strength makes all the weapon options good to have:  The Wolf Claw is cheap and S5 re-roll hits or wounds is fantastic at killing MEQ, S6 Frost Blades are more dangerous to vehicles and S10 Thunder Hammers just rock anything in the game.  With 6 attacks on the charge, the Lord is absolutely fantastic at putting down anything in combat.

Unless you're taking a Wolf Lord on a Thunderwolf, the WL can be put anywhere you want.  I personally like to put him a LRC with a WGT retinune, but I feel very comfortable putting him in a squad of Grey Hunters.  The great thing about Runic Armor is that it allows the Wolf Lord to travel freely.  If he wants to be in a Rhino, he can, if he doesn't feel like being bogged down by Terminators, he can leave and join something else.  Best of all, the Wolf Lord can run things down once he beats their ass in combat.  For that reason, I like to keep my Wolf Lord as violent as possible.  He is my personal avatar on the field and there's nothing better than seeing him rampage through mutants and aliens in the name of the Allfather.

If you like taking a Wolf Lord too, let me know what config you like traveling with.

How do you fight against I6 Halberds?

Email in: How do you fight against I6 Halberds?

If they're on Purifiers, the answer should be quite simple:  Shoot them to shit.  Forcing enough wounds is enough to kill Purifiers so I suggest focus firing on them as much as possible.  Everything that kills normal marines kills Purifiers just fine.  You do not want to get into combat with these guys with normal marines, no way.  Even BA elites lose when charging into Purifiers with Halberds because everyone's swinging before you and killing marines with each wound.  That's after you take your Cleansing Flame wounds.

So what do I shoot them with?  Marines hate plasma, in every sense of the word.  S7 AP2 wounds and kills every type of marine on 2s and the options to get them can be plentiful.  Walkers can take a Plasma Cannon, Dev Squads or Long Fangs can take Plasma Cannons, Honor Guard can take 4x Plasmsa Guns, Wolf Guard can take combi-plasmas up the ying-yang and Sternguard can take both.

What if he takes Terminators with Halberds?  GKT can have up to 3 attacks each with the BBanner and 2+ armor makes them pretty resilient against wound saturation from normal means.  However, 2+ armor is still prone on getting its ass beat by plasma shots.  Normal shots also work, but you have to shoot the living crap out of them (most likely with your entire army) in order to force enough failed armor saves.

But, but, Paladins don't die from anything!  This is true, to an extent.  If the Paladin squad has as Apothecary, they're not going to take damage from anything save for plasma shots and meltagun shots.  Forcing wounds with S8 can be a lot harder than you think considering the amount of anti-tank firepower coming from a balanced list.  The only way to reliably kill Paladins is by a huge number of meltagun or lascannon shots.  If they're in cover with Shrouding up, good luck with that.  At that point, it's better to take the fight to them in the most extreme of ways, the nitty gritty of close combat.

GK Paladins can be absolutely horrendous to deal with in close combat.  If the squad has a Grand Master, you're going to be in for one hell of a fight.  Rad Grenades makes you T3, Hammerhand makes him S5 and you do the math.  Psychotroke can be hit or miss, but its effects always happen so you know for sure you're in a world of suck.  Blind Grenades also reduce the number of attacks you're going to get so be prepared to suck it up and attack with EVERYTHING you've got.  The best way to deal with Paladins is by massive combined arms.  That means your entire army moves, shoots and assaults the same target (the Paladin unit). If you absolutely have to kill the unit, here's what you do:

Step #1 - Bait them out of cover.  Run away, flee, hide, tank shock, do something that forces them to leave the sanctuary of cover and you will have a better chance at killing him.  The reason for this is that you need to shoot them with as many high-power, low-ap weapons as you can without him taking any cover saves.

Step #2 - You need to shoot him with everything.  Every bit of anti-armor firepower and every bolter should be aimed at the Paladins that are out of cover.

Step #3 - You need to assault him with everything at the same time.  Get as many models into the fight as possible and deliver as many fists as possible.  The more Fists you can deliver into the fight, the higher your chances at winning.  Get as many models in base to base with Paladins as possible so you force him to swing at different squads.  If you throw in one unit at a time, you are simply wasting points as the Paladins will probably slaughter you to the man.

What kind of changes have I made to my lists?  My WGT now take a crap ton of combi-plasmas and I've replced my Long Fangs with AC/LC Predators.  My BA already shoots a crap ton more than my SW, so I've made no changes to my 3/3 Baal-AC/LC Pred config.  With 9 Meltashots and Mephiston, I should be able to tear some shit up without dying too horribly.  And my DE, well, they've always been as good as they're going to get when it comes to destroying smaller elite armies.

Long Fangs vs. Predators

Believe it or not, I play Space Wolves.  They're actually my first Space Marine army after Grey Knights and the first army I blogged about.  I think it's time to pump out a few articles on them this week.  To start things off, let's talk about a rarely discussed topic.

We all know Long Fangs rock and for good reason.  They are cheap, effective and put out diverse and powerful long-range firepower.  As you can see from this article I wrote a while back about Long Fang loadouts, I do like myself some missiles.  However, with the recent shift in the meta, I'm wondering if there are other options out there for Space Wolves.  Let's take a moment and look shall we?

First, let's look at the humble Predator.
Not just any Predator, but the AC/LC Predator that comes in at 120 points.

What's the difference between the Pred and the standard loadout of ML Long Fangs?  Well for one, it's cheaper, by 20 points.  It's AV13 and it's a vehicle and thus is immune to DE Venoms, S6 shots from Mechdar and better protection vs. S8 shots since it needs a 5 to glance.  With 2 BS4 Lascannon shots at S9 and 2 BS4 S7 Autocannon shots, it's an incredible fire platform vs. vehicles and MCs but lacks severely when it comes to hordes.  Just like Long Fangs, once deployed, there's very little opportunity to move these things around unless you want to sac a round of shooting.  The only difference is that if Long Fangs want to move, they'll take a Razorback (more points) whereas the Predator will move 12" and smoke.

Long Fangs can also Split Fire, but most ML loadouts opt to shoot all their missiles at one target to force results.  Flexibility is there, definitely, but for all intensive purposes, the Predator and the Long Fangs share similar target priority vs. vehicles.  The biggest drawback of the Predator is the dreaded VDC.  If you're glanced, you're spending 120 points to sit there for a turn.  If one of your Long Fangs die, you pull the Leader and continue shooting 5 missiles back at your opponent.  Of course, we can also say if the Pred got stunned or shaken, it doesn't lose any damage potential next round whereas you might lose out on missile fire if Long Fangs start dying.  There are pros and cons from both, but for the points mentioned, both are solid choices imo.

I think this is where the metagame comes in.  Looking around my area, I see a shit ton of different Space Marines, BA, SW, Grey Knights, Mech IG, Tyranids and Dark Eldar.  Orks are a rarity but I think I'll mention them anyway so players get a better picture.  I only have one friend who plays Eldar and he's got a good amount of diversity as well.  I think it's safe to say that against mech-focused armies, the AC/LC Predator serves a better role.  Unless, of course, you're siting cross table from Long Fangs who can outspam you in terms of raw shots.  When fighting Grey Knights, AC/LC Preds are better imo.  S9 AP2 gives you a solid answer to Paladins and Terminators and Lascannons are better for punching through Psyfledreads.  Lastly, it goes without saying that Predators are much better vs. Dark Eldar.  You ignore Splinter Cannon fire from his Venoms and destroy vehicles with each breath you take.  Against the likes of Tyranids and Orks however, when the ever-shifting need of anti-horde and anti-crappy armor arises, the Long Fangs are clearly superior.