Cake, Baseball and Space Wolves

Last weekend was my birthday, so I spent most of it celebrating as opposed to working on homework which was put off. Today was the Twins vs Tigers where every nerve and emotion in my body was tugged around like a teddy bear at a daycare center. Anywho, time to show you what I've been up to in the past week. Here is the (mostly) finished Brother Goriel for Jawaballs' painting competition. I still have to get him on a base and varnish him, but the varnishing will probably wait until after I take the final pictures.

Now, I got the Space Wolves codex in the mail last night (No FLGS out here in the Minnesotan Tundra) and took the liberty of making a couple lists. And I've got to say it doesn't live up to the hype for me. Sure, you can field four uber psykers and some super killy troops. Sure, you can field an all-terminator army. But I don't think it will be enough. If you do max out the super killy units (whenever it's discovered), you're reducing your model count by a huge margin making it even easier for more balanced armies to just table you with even one or two lost units.

Now, JotWW is a super cool psychic power. But by getting more than 2 rune priests, you're going overboard. Remember - JotWW does not affect vehicles. What style of army is 'in' right now? MECH! Every tactical marine/commander/Khorne Berserker/Plague Marine/Sorcerer will just laugh at you from inside their Rhino. And oh wait, you spent about 500+ points on just four models? Meaning that couple lucky missile launchers or whatever can just finish you outright. That's fantastic.

Remember back in the day when Nob Bikerz were the king of the world? Well, think of that, only instead of two squads of Nobz, you have 3-4 squads of Marines. Marines are easier to kill, lucky you...You just need to stay out of arm's reach or failing that, feed the Wolves a unit and finish them off next turn.

C&C welcome,

Squirrel_Fish

Sacrificing Units - The Who, the When, The Why

I'm home from school for labor day weekend and I managed to get in a game against one my friends - who was running his tyranids.


The game was killpoints and I won 8 to 1. Despite this, I still learned quite a few things, mainly when or why you would sacrifice units.


Who makes a good sacrificial unit? Any unit that you have redundancy in or is otherwise not a huge loss when it dies. This can be anywhere from a combat squad of Space marines to Space Marine Scouts to a squad of Guardsmen being led by a Commissar. The consideration you have to make whether or not the unit can easily be broken in combat. I feed my foe Rhinos once my use for them has dwindled. Which leads me to...


When do you want to do this? This is the hardest part to judge - if you know for sure that the unit you feed your opponent will die on his turn, you want to give him the charge or the opportunity to light your guys up. That way, when it rolls over to your turn, you can get some revenge kills in. However, if your unit is tough enough that they can withstand one turn of assault (or he just can't do enough damage to kill all of them in a single turn), then you should charge him on your turn (assuming you have the opportunity). You deny him some attacks, meaning that (hopefully) you'll survive til your opponent's Assault Phase, where he will finish you off and leave himself an open target for your vindication. Now, if you plan on assaulting with your sacrificial unit - you want it to be hard to break. The worst thing that can happen is that your squad gets wiped out or caught in a sweeping advance, allowing your opponent the opportunity to shoot/assault with impunity at your other targets. If you plan on passively feeding him a squad (ie. bait) then make it as easy to kill as possible.


Why? By sacrificing a unit, you can buy yourself time by drawing the fire/assault away from your other units. A common example of this is a squad of kroot hiding in woods and screening the fire warriors behind it. The enemy's assault troops will have to deal with the kroot before they can tear into the fire warriors. Alternatively, by putting a lone (yet somewhat juicy) target away from your other units unsupported, you have a piece of bait that you can use to lure a unit or two away from the main hustle and bustle of the battle.


Those are my 3W's for today. C&C welcome!


Squirrel_Fish

SM Special Characters and Chapter Tactics

It's made pretty clear in the SM codex that when there are two characters with the "Chapter Tactics" rule, you must choose which one is active. Now, what I want to ask is if you would consider worth it to take two of these characters.

I've been considering adding more Terminators to my Salamanders army (what can I say? These things are hella fun to paint and assemble) but want to avoid using another squad of assault terminators since I'd have to get another Land Raider to chauffeur them around in. My issue though is that regular terminators don't quite have enough 'ooph' unless fielded en masse or are...

Fielded with Captain Lysander. For 200 points, you get a 4 W Eternal Warrior with a S10 MC Thunder Hammer with Termie armor and a Storm Shield. That's not all folks! You get a +1 Cover save to a set of ruins of your choice and you get the fantastic Bolter Drill rule, meaning those Storm Bolters are now pretty awesome! However, I've gotten some criticism, saying that it's a waste of Lysander's Chapter Tactics. I say - who cares? He (and most of the Space marine characters) are a bargain for what you pay for. If I wanted Terminator armor, a storm shield and a thunder hammer on a regular captain, I'd be paying a solid 170 points. For 30 more points, I get another wound, rerolls with Bolters in his squad, eternal warrior and a better cover save. Worth it.

So my next 1750 list is gonna be this:

Vulkan
Lysander
Terminator Assault Squad (5 TH/SS)
Terminator Squad (Cyclone Missile Launcher, Chainfist)
Tactical Squad (Flamer, Multi-Melta, Sergeant Power Weapon/Meltabombs)
Rhino

Tactical Squad (Flamer, Multi-Melta, Sergeant Power Weapon/Meltabombs)

Rhino

Tactical Squad (Flamer, Multi-Melta, Sergeant Power Weapon/Meltabombs)

Rhino

Land Raider Redeemer (Multi-Melta)

Total: 1750

C&C?

Squirrel_Fish

List Theory - Unbalanced Lists

When most people build lists, they go for a very mixed and balanced approach. However, most codexes have the potential to throw enough bodies or armor at your opponent to frustrate him beyond belief. I am, of course, talking about the Unbalanced List.

The Unbalanced List is not necessary an overpowered or broken one, simply one that aims to maximize a certain strength in order to completely minimize or make ineffective the impact of a balanced list.

By removing one or more elements entirely from your list and using those points to further enhance another element, you create the unbalanced list. Examples are the Imperial Guard Armored Company (a couple infantry squads, command squad - all in Chimeras, and then more Leman Russes than you can shake a stick at.), the Ork Horde, Nidzilla, Elfzilla, IG Infantry spam, Dreadnought/Kan spam, and so on so forth.

The idea is to completely overwhelm your opponent's ability to nullify your strong point (Kill their templates, anti-armor weapons or fast movers) and then just clean up everything else. The beautiful thing is that even it takes you two or three turns to wipe out your opponent's anti-armor (and you lose one or two pieces in the process), you still have enough armor on the board to be a credible threat that they might not even be able to deal with effectively.

What are your thoughts on the Unbalanced List?

Squirrel_Fish

The Key to Winning - Playing Disruptively

Alright, first off - I'd like to preface this by saying I'm a little frustrated with myself. I was working on 'this' post last night, closed my computer, woke up this morning and started moving all my stuff to the my college apartment, which is a three hour drive from home. After finally unpacking everything, I finally got back to writing this and accidentally closed the window, losing a good page of material. -_-

On to the topic - playing disruptively. When most players write an army list, they usually have some sort of game plan in mind, whether it's to fly around and pick up the win/tie on turn 5 or to throw enough kill your way to table you by turn 3.

Whatever their strategy is, your strategy becomes to counter it in a suitable fashion, making their tidal wave of bloodthirsty killers wash harmlessly against the beach, and then laugh maniacally as you kill it dead.

The first (and probably most important step) is to look at your opponent's army and to understand the role of each unit in the army:

1) What can each unit do (alone or with support)?
2) How much damage can take before it's relatively ineffectual?
3) When/where is it strongest (early game, late game, in your face, at a distance, in cover, out of LOS, etc)?

The faster you can do this, the better. No one likes to be kept waiting for 20 minutes to start a game just so you can plan a Machiavellian victory.

Then, ask yourself these questions in order to gauge your weaknesses. Is your army particularly vulnerable to shooting or assault? Is it mobile or static? Is it tough and resilient or are you wearing tissue for armor?
When you're done, prioritize the enemy targets. Your goal is to nullify your opponent's strengths, while simultaneously covering your weaknesses.

1) In just about all cases, I make it my first priority to cripple the opponent's ability to respond to you by wiping out his transports (or if there aren't any, then his other mobile elements). Turn one, I leave only my durable units on the board, while the fragile elements usually stick back in Reserve.

2) After his mobile elements are either crippled or destroyed, your goal is to destroy or nullify the greatest threat to your army. If it's a shooting unit, assault it or use some LOS creatively (Rhino walls are a common tactic) to try and negate some hits.

If it's an assault unit, you have three options. You can either shoot enough bullets at it to make it a nice pincushion, give it a speedbump, or ignore it. The key to a speedbump is that your sacrificial unit (volunteers please!) HAS to die in the opponent's charge. That way, you're free to shoot the snot out of him next turn. If he kills you on your turn, then his assault squad can continue to hack n' slash through another unit. The last option is harder for many armies to pull off - you have to either negate their speed or just be naturally faster than them and play a giant game of cat and mouse.

3) Play Clean Up - On the last two or three turns, you can consolidate your objectives, mop up any other targets of opportunity and play conservatively. The faster your army is, the later you can jump onto objectives.

In a nutshell, that's your battle plan. Assess, Destroy, ????, Profit.

C&C Welcome
Squirrel_Fish

Misty Mountain North Tournament

Hey folks,

Misty Mountain North, one of the bigger game stores in the Twin Cities area, is hosting a 40k Tournament on August 8th. I'll be there along with at least one of my friends, who will probably be playing his 'nids.

Anyways, we're supposed to bring a 2000 point list to this shindig - something that I'm not accustomed to at all. Using every single Eldar model at my disposal and tooling up all of them, I managed to barely come up to that total.

• Farseer w/ Doom, Fortune, Spirit Stones, Jetbike, Singing Spear and Runes of Warding (173)
• Warlock x3 w/ Jetbikes, Destructor x2, Embolden & Singing Spear (163)
• Autarch w/ Mandiblasters, Power Weapon, Fusion Gun & Warp Jump Generator (125)
• Dire Avenger x10 w/ Exarch, Dual Shuripult, Bladestorm (152)
• Wave Serpent w/ TL Bright Lance, Shuriken Cannon, Spirit Stones, Star Engines, Vectored Engines (190)
• Guardians x10 w/ Scatter Laser, Spiritseer Warlock w/ Embolden (131)
• Pathfinder x5 (120)
• Fire Dragon x6 w/ Exarch, Dragon's Breath Flamer, Crack Shot (113)
• Warp Spider x9 w/ Exarch, Dual Death Spinner, Power Blades, Withdraw (240)
• Falcon w/ Scatter Laser, Shuriken Cannon, Holofields, Spirit Stones, Star Engines, Vectored Engines (220)
• Wraithlord w/ Bright Lance, Eldar Missile Launcher, Flamer x2 (155)
• Dark Reaper x5 w/ Exarch, Tempest Launcher & Crack Shot (217)

Total: 1999

This is by no means an optimum list - it's what I have and I'm gonna have to make the best of it (being a poor college student and all). I can see some ups and downs - I have enough contingency in both anti-horde, volume of fire and anti-tank to be able to bear the loss of one (maybe two) units and make it out okay. As I look at what I've put together, shooting is going to be my strong suit - but against IG or Tau I will have to get in their face with my more mobile elements.

If I had some handy, I'd totally throw another troops choice in - I guess I'm just gonna have to be really efficient with how I take/contest objectives.

The Autarch will be attached to the Warp Spiders and they (along with my Seer Council) will be problem solvers - they'll fly back and forth and cover my lines from assaulters by putting enough shots into a Doomed unit to kill them twice over or they (along with the grav tanks) will fly forward and hammer away at units.

I'm actually rather happy with the presence of the Dark Reapers. In 5th edition they haven't been very powerful due to the onset of mechanized armies and cover saves abound. However, I feel that there's enough high-strength long range shooting pop a few transports turn 1 or 2 and then pound away at power armored dudes.

Things that I will have to watch out for:

• Drop Pod lists - Following Fritz's example, I will keep everything in reserve in order to hopefully nullify any advantages that the first strike will give them.
• Nidzilla - I can barely kill 4 TMC's as it is, 7 or 8 will probably make me cry like a little girl.
• Dual Lash + Oblit Spam - The only thing I've got going for me is Runes of Warding and hopefully enough shots to kill Daemon Princes/Sorcerors in one turn.
• Nob Bikers - If the metagame has truly taken them out of the picture, I won't have to worry. But once again, hopefully I have enough high strength shots and volume of fire to take them out before they take me out.
• Horde Lists - I've sacrificed a bit of volume of fire in exchange for some Bright Lances, so I'll have to be very careful about where my flamer templates are on the board.
• AV14 spam (Tri Monolith, Land Raider Spam, Leman Russ Spam etc) - Hopefully, get up close with the Seer Council and all my fusion guns while blasting away with Bright Lances.

As always, C&C welcome.

Playing Aggressively - The Key to Winning?

So I managed to get half a game in with my friend Chaos Dan yesterday before it started raining (he had the brilliant idea of playing in his backyard, so we had to call it quits). Anyways, I noticed that the one thing that he does differently from everyone else is play aggressively.

Just about everyone else I play with has a rather passive or timid playstyle - they tend to sit down where they are and rarely do anything to turn momentum in their favor. In 5th edition - this doesn't get you anywhere. By giving your opponent slack and by not keeping pressure on him, you allow him to gather his own momentum and turn the game around through either cunning (better positioning to attack) or sheer force (waiting for reserves).

By playing aggressively, by pushing where your enemy's army is weak or by making good use of whatever advantages you have, you're effectively denying your opponent the ability to fight back and you can continue to push to victory with relative ease. It's a simple idea - keep him on his toes and he won't be able to mount an effective counterattack.

Just don't get carried away with killing the ene- BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! *ahem* See? Keep a level head and think about what you're doing - if it's the bottom of turn 4 and you hold/contest no objectives, there's a huge problem. You're better off guaranteeing the win by securing more objectives than by trying to table the opponent.

Now, what do you do if you're facing an opponent that's equally aggressive or even more so? Play reactively. Many of you have probably read Way of the Water Warrior but if you haven't, do yourself a favor and read it as soon as you're done with this post. Should your opponent gain the upper hand (or start with it), the best thing you can do is to try and deny him of his advantages. Vulkan list? Stay further than 12" away and keep blasting away. Imperial Guard? Move from cover to cover until you can get into CC or disable their armor. Orks? SHOOT THEM HARDER and deny them the charge. If you can halt their momentum or at least make it ineffective (I'm looking at you, 3 Ork Boyz Mob!), then take what you have and strike decisively in order to turn the game around again.

Thoughts?

Anywho, that's my rambling for the day. I have a band concert (it's tuba time!) later tonight, so I've got to get ready for that. I'll leave you with two pics.

I got bored and slapped this badboy together. Sergeant Bamf, wielding bolt-pistol and plasma pistol. I decided to add mini-bayonets as a compromise to myself (I originally was thinking dual chain-swords for SLASHY-DAKKA action).

Vulkan He'stan. I caved and ordered this badboy. I'm glad that the spear came as a seperate piece - I'll be reposing that thing for sure. A disappointment though is the weird fire-banner on his backpack. That thing feels like it'll snap off in a breeze.

Mechanized Armies - My Thoughts

It's been a while since I've posted, but life keeps us down in the form of obnoxious internet and computer related problems. But lo! They have been fixed.

I just read one of Goatboy's posts on BoLS and everything he says is really right on the dot. If you haven't read it, read it. It's worth the time.

I played a nice big multi-player game the yesterday at 3000 points each; Eldar/Tau vs. SM/SM/Dark Angels Double-Wing. The game was Kill Points with long table edges. I was expecting to get have terminators and drop pods down my throat almost immediately, but I was wrong. My Tau ally and I deployed first, placing down our immobile elements (Dark Reapers and Broadsides) in big firing lanes and then all of our tanks (1 Wave Serpent, 1 Falcon, 3 Devilfish and 1 Hammerhead) and our other mobile units (Seer Council, Crisis suits) near the middle of the table in order to respond to our enemy's deployment. Our infiltrators (Rangers and Stealth suits) sat down near the middle of the table on elevated ground for commanding fields of fire.

As our opponents deployed, my Tau ally and I looked at each other with a "...Really?" look on our faces. There was not a single troop transport on their side of the board beyond a single Land Raider Redeemer. Nearly all their models were going to be foot-slogging it across the board, with the exception of a squad of Ravenwing Bikers, Pedro Kantor + Huge Honor Guard in the Land Raider and a Ravenwing Land Speeder. Heck, even Captain Sicarius was gonna be making moves on foot.

Needless to say, our side won the final battle some 9-10 kill points to 4. However, I feel strongly that the reason is not because we used cheesy lists or because the odds were just stacked in our favor. I think it's because we had very few static elements in our respective lists - everything that wasn't sniping or toting heavy weapons was locked in a troop transport for quite some time before seeing the light of day (in the case of a Fire Warrior squad, never seeing the day at all).

Random Reader: "But Squirrel Fish! Transports give up kill points! It's not worth it!"

NO! It is worth it, even if it can give up a kill point. Even in a Kill Point game, the lone Rhino or Chimera or Wave Serpent allows its squad to choose its battles; the when and the where. By being able to maneuver around the battlefield, you can bring your fire to bear on your opponent's weak points and straggling squads. If their army is turtled up or is advancing as one solid column, your superior mobility gets you to their weak side, where you can spectacularly crush them.

However, for sheer metagame reasons I do like my long range anti-tank weapons. The current environment says that melta is the weapon of choice for special weapons teams and they're right. The only downside is that you have to be right up in their face to use it and more than likely, that melta-squad is gonna bite the dust the following turn.

Because of this, I still insist on keeping a few shots of some longer ranged anti-tank weapons on hand. As delicious as that 200+ point Leman Russ looks to kill, your first target should be the enemy's troop transports. If you cripple/hamper the enemy's able to respond to your own movements, the rest of the game becomes simply dissecting their army.

Anywho, this has turned into a much longer post that I had originally thought out. Next time, pics of my completed Eldar and pics of the WiP Space Marines.

C&C always welcome!

Squirrel_Fish

Bacon and 40k

Or, as my friend insists on calling it, the “BaCON”. Unfortunately, there were only four of us there to play. We made the bacon explosion, what I can easily describe as a delicious orgy of bacon and barbeque. Two games of 40k were played and here’s a battle report of the game that I played, trying out my Vulkan list. Unfortunately for me, I forgot to take pictures throughout the entire game. L

Salamanders vs. Chaos Space Marines 1500 points

Salamanders:

Vulkan
Tactical Squad w/ Powerfist, Combi-Melta, Flamer and Multi-Melta & Rhino
Tactical Squad w/ Powerfist, Combi-Melta, Flamer and Multi-Melta & Rhino
Tactical Squad w/ Powerfist, Combi-Melta, Flamer and Multi-Melta & Rhino
Sternguard x5 w/ Combi-Melta x3, Combi-Flamer x1, Powerfist & Razorback
Assault Terminators w/ TH/SS x5
Land Raider Redeemer w/ Extra Armor

Chaos Marines (not exactly sure on the exacts)

Typhus
Chaos Sorcerer w/ Lash
Plague Marines w/ Rhino
Khorne Berserkers, Skull Champion w/ Power Weapon
Noise Marines w/ Doom Siren, Power Weapon
Defiler w/ 2 DCCW

The mission was Seize Ground with 3 objectives. Deployment was table quarters.

I won the roll-off to place two objectives and placed one objective within my table quarter behind wall that blocked LOS to it. My opponent placed his objective in his table quarter near a building. The last objective was placed near the center of the table, slightly towards my corner.

Turn 1 Chaos: My opponent starts off by moving his two rhinos; the one carrying Plague Marines drives towards his objective and the one carrying Noise Marines drives towards the wall blocking LOS. His Defiler makes its way to my left flank in order to get a clear shot with its battlecannon. His Land Raider drives into LOS of my Land Raider Redeemer and takes a shot with a TL-Lascannon, penetrating and immobilizing my Land Raider. Defiler shoots its battlecannon at my Razorback, gets a direct hit and glances, shaking it.

Turn 1 Salamanders: One of the Rhinos moves up my left to support the Razorback, one comes up the right to support the Land Raider and the last sticks back to take the objective later in the game. Razorback and the Rhino on the right pop smoke, while my Redeemer unloads its assault cannon at the enemy Land Raider. All four shots hit, but only one manages to Rend getting a glancing hit and immobilizing the Land Raider.

Turn 2 Chaos: His rhinos continue on the way they were going, the Plague Marine rhino parking on the objective and the Noise Marine Rhino hugs the wall. Defiler continues to move up my left flank. The Land Raider takes a shot at my right Rhino, but I make my cover save. Defiler shoots his battlecannon at my Razorback again, but scatters off and doesn’t do anything.

Turn 2 Salamanders: Both my Razorback and my left Rhino move away from the Defiler, trying to bait it in closer. The Rhino on the right pulls back out of LOS of the Land Raider. The Redeemer lets rip with the assault cannon again, but fails to do anything.

Turn 3 Chaos: Defiler continues moving forward, while his Rhinos sit where they are. Defiler shoots his Battlecannon at my rhino waiting to take my objective, immobilizing it. Land Raider shoots his Lascannons at my Land Raider, penetrating and destroying my assault cannon.

Turn 3 Salamanders: Left Rhino drives up towards the defiler and pops smoke. Razorback moves forward a touch in order to get within Melta range of the Defiler next turn. The right Rhino moves up the field and disembarks, trying to bait his Khorne Berserkers out of the Land Raider and away from the objective. My Land Raider pops smoke.

Turn 4 Chaos: Noise Marines and the Sorcerer get out of their Rhino, while the Khorne Berserkers and Typhus get out of the Land Raider. Both squads move forward to get into position for the ensuing slaughter. The Defiler shoots its battlecannon at the Tactical Squad’s rhino but smoke saves me. Typhus and the Berserkers charge into the other tactical squad and slaughter 4 Tactical Marines, while I kill 2 Berserkers. ‘Miraculously’ I make my leadership test, staying in combat.

Turn 4 Salamanders: The Razorback inches forward while the left Rhino disembarks its crew. The right Rhino makes a small retreat. The left tactical squad fires its Combi-melta at the Defiler, immobilizing it. I surprisingly only lose two marines in my assault with the berserkers, while killing one of them in return. I pass my Morale check again.

Turn 5 Chaos: The Noise Marines and Sorcerer disembark from their Rhino and move into a better firing position. The Defiler then fires its battle-cannon at my objective Rhino, immobilizing it. The Sorcerer uses Lash to whip my guys into a teardrop formation, followed swiftly by sonic blasters and the Doom Siren. Two marines are left standing but are cut down in the following assault. The berserkers kill two marines and the last one flees for his life, successfully breaking away.

Turn 5 Salamanders: After that last round, I needed to do something to at least contest the objective in the middle for at least the tie. Luckily, I had a couple ideas. The Razorback drives up to 6 inches away and the Sternguard get out. The left Rhino moved up to block off LOS from the Noise Marines. The right Rhino tank-shocks 9 inches pushing the Berserkers away from the objective and coming within 3 inches to contest. My back tactical squad disembarks from their Rhino and moves up to the objective, while the retreating marine helps consolidate it. My Vulkan and my assault terminators disembark from my immobile land raider and move 6 inches and prepare to assault. Sternguard let rip with their Combi-Melta’s, destroying the battlecannon on the Defiler. Vulkan lets loose with his heavy flamer, killing 2 berserkers. Vulkan and the Terminators charge, Vulkan killing three Berserkers, Typhus killing two terminators, the Berserkers killing nothing and the Terminators kill Typhus. The remaining Berserkers pass their No Retreat saves.

We roll to see if the game goes on and it ends on turn 5 with a draw!

Things that I learned or am considering:

1) If I'm not playing Annihilation, split my tactical squads into combat squads so that the heavy weapons can do something.

2) I'm not sure if combi-melta's are reliable enough to replace meltaguns as dedicated anti-tank. This problem could be solved if I follow through on lesson 1.

3) Tank shock is awesome.

Any other things that I missed out on? C&C Welcome

Squirrel_Fish

Salamanders Lists 1750 - C&C?

I've been way to exhausted to get any painting done, so I figured I throw up a list or two.

List 1

Vulkan (190)

Tactical Squad w/ Flamer, Multimelta, Sergeant w/ Combi-Melta & Powerfist (205)

- Rhino (35)

Tactical Squad w/ Flamer, Multimelta, Sergeant w/ Combi-Melta & Powerfist (205)

- Rhino (35)

Tactical Squad w/ Flamer, Multimelta, Sergeant w/ Combi-Melta & Powerfist (205)

- Rhino (35)

Terminator Assault Squad w/ TH/SS x5 (200)

-Land Raider Redeemer w/ Extra Armor (255)

Vindicator w/ Siege Shield (125)

Vindicator w/ Siege Shield (125)

Vindicator w/ Siege Shield (125)

Now, what a lot of you are probably thinking: "Squirrel_Fish, you have no long range support!!" 

My response is simply "Why do I need it? They're Space Marines, they shouldn't be far off taking shots with lascannons, they should be crushing their foes beneath the soles of their boots!" Hence the three vindicators. The demolisher cannon is easily the most well-rounded weapon in the Space Marine arsenal whether it's splattering infantry or cracking open armor (10+2d6 take highest). Now, normally with blast markers, the scatter die is not your friend. But with three vindicators, one of those is bound to hit or scatter pretty close. 

Total of 7 pieces of armor on the board means that standard guns will do little to nothing until my Rhinos are popped open, and if they ignore the vindicators and land raiders, they'll regret it.

Ideally, I would drive everything up one flank. Space the three vindicators side by side, 3-4 inches apart from each other, rhinos behind the vindicators, the land raider on the flank of a Vindicator, shielding the rest of the vehicles' side armor. Once the caravan is within 24 inches, the vindicators will spread out and open fire while the Rhinos drive to where they need to and deploy tactical squads.

Guardian Defenders - Worth it?

In my last two games, I happened to notice that Guardian Defenderss are generally ineffective. Most of the time, they usually just end up sitting on an objective in my deployment zone and take potshots with a Scatter laser, but is ith worth the points?

Pros -

• Guardians are cheap! 
• They can hold an objective
• They have a heavy weapons platform
  

Cons -

• Their armor save is effectively cardboard and most basic troops end up ignoring it.
• Shuriken Catapults have a piddly 12" range, meaning that their heavy weapon platform is the only mid-long range shooting they have 
• BS 3, meaning that their heavy weapon platform is going to be missing 50% of the time

Personally, I think that the Guardian Defenders are just too many points for a single heavy weapon and that those points could probably be better used on more Dire Avengers or Rangers. Heck, using Rangers/Pathfinders as a unit to sit down on my objective tends to be more effective since their better BS, higher cover save, ability to pin, sniper weapons and ability throw out AP1/Rending wounds means that they can more effectively defend an area.

So what are your opinions on the Eldar Guardians? Are they worth it? Have you been able to use them effectively and am I just doing it wrong?

Cheers,

Squirrel_Fish