Warhammer 40,000 – Crusade Progress

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Warhammer 40,000 – Crusade Progress

Warhammer 40,000 – Crusade is by far my favorite way to play Warhammer 40,000 Ninth Edition. Rather than focusing on building a hyper competitive list that can maximize the score in a fixed set of missions, you focus on starting with a relatively small force and focus on growing it through gameplay. Many of the abilities that you would typically spend command points or actual points to upgrade units and characters each game are instead a fixed purchase that can be gained via Requisition Points which are earned by playing games.

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Tome Keepers - Custom Chapter

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Warhammer 40,000 – Creating your own space marine chapters is one of the more rewarding experiences you can have as a Warhammer player. The background “fluff” for Space Marines leaves a ton of room for you to create your own story, and that story can make the games you play with friends more meaningful than just kicking the crap out of each other of moving pieces around a board to get the high score.

Anytime someone asks me about getting a space marine force painted I always suggest creating your own chapter or unique scheme. In doing so you open up the possibility to use any of the plethora of rulesets, special characters and source material that Games Workshop creates for their poster boys.

This chapter is based off the Tome Keepers chapter with a few tweaks to the scheme so there isn’t any confusion on the table. Their owner has an existing Black Templar force that is nearly complete and as such wanted to incorporate the First Born keeping a black scheme with the Primaris Marines decked out in a bone color. Once I started painting the force that idea changed a bit and the force may be primaris only at some point.

With this first batch done he has a big enough selection to start a crusade force and grow it. Next up I’ll have some additional Primaris Marines and a small Imperial Knight contingent to give him options as the crusade continues.

Iron Hands Successor Chapter - Additions

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Warhammer 40,000 – I’ve been slowly painting additional models for this Iron Hands force in small batches. It’s always fun to see what new (old) model finds it’s way onto the custom printed bases, each time they cross my table. This time around are a few more characters, a dreadnought, some special weapons and a very old terminator.

Space Marines: Iron Hands - Big Guns?

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Warhammer 40,000 – So Iron Hands are the new Boogie Man, which is understandable I suppose. Durability combined with starting in their special Combat Doctrine Bonus as well as being able to inherently re-roll ones on heavy weapons is very strong. Playing Iron Hands proper is very solid, and your can take it further with Successor traits to tweak your abilities to fit your list. Their special character and chapter relics are really strong so losing access to them hurts a bit.

Not having put my big tanks on the board in quite some time I started messing around with some lists that might be fun to play.

BATTALION

HQ - Captain: Jump Pack, Storm Shield, Thunder Hammer
HQ - Techmarine: Combi-grav, Power fist, Servo-arm Relic: Iron Stone Warlord: Adept of the Omnissiah
TROOP - 5x Intercessors: Stalker Bolt Rifle, Chainsword
TROOP - 5x Intercessors: Stalker Bolt Rifle, Chainsword
TROOP - 5x Intercessors: Stalker Bolt Rifle, Chainsword
ELITE - 2x Company Veterans: Chainsword, Combi-plasma
ELITE - Relic Whirlwind Scorpius: Scorpius multi-launcher

SUPER HEAVY AUXILIARY
LORD OF WAR - Relic Typhon Heavy Siege Tank: 2x lascannons

While this list is unlikely to do much other than irritate my opponents it will be pretty difficult to deal with at 1500 points. The techmarine warlord will hide behind the Typhon with the Veterans flanking him to keep him alive. With 22 wounds, a 2+ save and a character hanging around to reduce incoming damage and heal D3+1 wounds each turn I don’t think my siege gun will be going anywhere.

To further annoy my opponent the Scorpius will hang out out of LOS shooting twice every turn. I could potentially park it behind the Typhon to take advantage of the Iron Stone and Techmarine healing in a solid little castle.

The rest of the list is pretty much filler. The intercessors are armed with the Stalker to take advantage of the Devastator Doctrine and the Smash Captain is there to run off and do work.

Taking the same idea and running with it I came up with an alternate version of the list featuring a Fellblade. Again I’m not so sure its any good, but I might enjoy putting it on the table a few times just to knock the dust off some of my bigger models.

BATTALION

HQ - Captain: Jump Pack, Storm Shield, Thunder Hammer
HQ - Chaplain: Recitation of Focus, Litany of Hate, Bolt pistol
HQ - Techmarine: Combi-grav, Power fist, Servo-arm Relic: Iron Stone Warlord: Adept of the Omnissiah
TROOP - 5x Intercessors: Stalker Bolt Rifle, Chainsword
TROOP - 5x Intercessors: Stalker Bolt Rifle, Chainsword
TROOP - 5x Intercessors: Stalker Bolt Rifle, Chainsword
ELITE - 2x Company Veterans: Chainsword, Combi-plasma

SUPER HEAVY AUXILIARY
LORD OF WAR - Relic Fellblade Super-heavy Tank: Twin heavy bolter, 2x Quad Lascannon, Demolisher Cannon, Accelerator Cannon.

Essentially this is the same idea kicked up a notch. The techmarine and chaplain hang out behind the giant tank buffing it up and making it impossible to kill.

Sneaky Space Marines - Playing with Raven Guard Successors

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Warhammer 40,000 – I’m super bummed. Space Marines finally get their day in the sun with a glut of new rules and the Internet can’t stop complaining about how over-powered they are. I don’t get it ever since I started playing this game every time a new book came out it took some time to adjust to the new options, although the rapid fire pace books are coming out now makes it hard to adjust as there are just so many things that are good. Which I think is a good thing and heathy for the game. Instead of looking at the marine release as one over-powered army it should instead be looked at as 6+ unique armies with their own play-style, which if any other factions suddenly got six brand new armies I think the impact would be very similar.

Anyway, I’m a fan of Space Marines and always have been. The new books have given every model in my collection a chance to shine and I love building new lists. I do have some favorite units like the Vanguard Vets, Chaplain and Captain so they tend to find their way into more of my lists than not but I’m trying to push each list in a new direction.

Twilight Ravens Fourth Company - Progenitor - Raven Guard • Successor Traits- Master Artisans, Whirlwind of Rage

BATTALION ONE
HQ - Captain: 2x Chainsword, Jump Pack, Warlord Trait: Shadowmaster Relic: Teeth of Terra
HQ - Chaplain: Litany of Hate, Exhortation of Rage, Jump Pack Relic: Master-Crafted Weapon, Plasma pistol Hero of the Chapter: Swift and Deadly
TROOP - Scout Squad: 4x Sniper rifle, Heavy Bolter Camo Cloaks
TROOP - Scout Squad: 4x Sniper rifle, Missle Launcher Camo Cloaks
TROOP - Scout Squad: 5x Astartes shotgun, Power Fist
ELITE- Vanguard Vets - 4x Chainsword & StormShield 6x Dual Chainswords
HEAVY- Mortis Dreadnought - 2x Twin lascannon
DEDICATED TRANSPORT- Land Speeder Storm - Heavy flamer


BATTALION TWO

HQ - Librarian: Enveloping Darkness, Shadowstep, Combi-flamer, Force sword Jump Pack
HQ - Lieutenants: Chainsword, Master-crafted boltgun
TROOP - 10x Intercessors: Auxiliary Grenade Launcher Stalker Bolt Rifle, Chainsword, Korvidari Bolts
TROOP - 6x Intercessors: Auxiliary Grenade Launcher Stalker Bolt Rifle, Chainsword
TROOP - 7x Scouts: Astartes shotgun
ELITE - Apothecary
ELITE - Eliminators: Bolt sniper rifle, Camo cloak

Raven Guard have a weird Combat Doctrine bonus, being in the Tactical Doctrine gives them +1 to hit and wound rolls against characters. The effect is pretty strong but very situational. My initial thought was to bulk up on snipers, turn one gives you an extra AP to potentially clear threats and turn two moves you into character sniping mode. Popping the Target Sighted stratagem makes that big Primaris unit able to target characters, hitting on 2’s, causing additional mortal wounds on 5-6, which is pretty solid, 3CP is a hefty cost to pay to take out a character but I don’t know that splitting their fire will make sense. Most likely the Lieutenant and Apothecary will camp next to them buffing up the unit. I gave the Sergeant Korvidai Bolts so he can target units 42” away an out of LOS. I don’t know how strong it will be but it feels in theme.

The Scouts and Mortis Dread help to compliment the shooting and provide some additional threats to pull attention away from my other threats. Nothing crazy here more or less just objective holders/campers that can shoot when a target presents itself.

Since the focus of Raven Guard Successors isn’t solely shooting based I worked in another layer of threats with my old stand-by units of a Chaplain, Captain and Vanguard Vets. Added to this mix is a Librarian. The mix of traits, prayers, relics and psychic powers I chose allow them to ignore overwatch, charge after advancing, deep-strike closer to another unit and give a unit -1 to hit makes for a pretty nasty assault element. First turn charges are totally possible the question is what do I go after? From prior experience smashing somebody first turn is great, but if you do to good of a job that assault unit winds up flapping in the breeze in front of a gun-line eager to blast them to oblivion. I imagine I’ll learn the right play with a few games under my belt.

The list above is geared for 1500 point games which have become our weekly standard. In the event that I need to bump up to a 2,000 point list I’m considering adding in the following:

OUTRIDER

HQ - Chaplain in Terminator Armor: Litany of Hate, Recitation of Focus, Combi-flamer
FAST- Assault Marines: 6x Jump Pack, Thunder hammer
FAST- Inceptors]: 6x Assault Bolters
FAST- Land Speeders: Assault cannon, Multi-melta

Of course as with my previous article I may need to bring this down to a 750 point list for a team game if we have an odd number of players on any given week. In that case I’d take the list down to:

BATTALION

HQ - Librarian: Enveloping Darkness, Shadowstep, Combi-flamer, Force sword Jump Pack
HQ - Lieutenants: Chainsword, Master-crafted boltgun
TROOP - 10x Intercessors: Auxiliary Grenade Launcher Stalker Bolt Rifle, Chainsword, Korvidari Bolts
TROOP - 6x Intercessors: Auxiliary Grenade Launcher Stalker Bolt Rifle, Chainsword
TROOP - 7x Scouts: Astartes shotgun
TROOP - Scout Squad: 4x Sniper rifle, Heavy Bolter Camo Cloaks
ELITE - Apothecary
ELITE - Eliminators: Bolt sniper rifle, Camo cloak

Space Marines - Who's your Daddy?

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WIP_TwilightRavens_ChaplainDred.jpg

Warhammer 40,000 – With seven new books Space Marine players have more choices than ever. Way back in third edition I opted to paint my Marines in a unique color scheme, this was in part because I didn’t want another black army (I was playing them as Raven Guard from the old IA article, since Chaos was rampant) and partially because I wanted to future proof the army. Marines being fairly generic can be used like a multi-tool across so man different lists, by picking my own colors and building out options I found interesting I was able to amass a substantial Marine collection. Which means I have a ton of models to try to work into lists.

With the new “build-your-own” successor traits as well as the ancestor mechanic you can specialize your traits to max out the effectiveness of your force. Love the Assault Phase? Then claim White Scars as your ancestor for that sweet extra damage in the Assault Doctrine. Prefer heavy weapons pick the Iron Hands or imperial Fists and start the game with bonuses. Midrange more your speed roll with the Ultramarines or Raven Guard for turn two shenanigans. As a successor you not only get access to the cool Combat Doctrine bonuses but also the Stratagems, Warlord Traits, Relics and Tactical Objectives. Granted the “choose your own traits” are a little weaker on their own being able to mix and max gives you more ability to tailor to exactly how you want to play. The biggest drawback to choosing the successor route is loosing access to special characters (unless they’re from Forge World – more on that later) and having to pay CP to get access to the best relics.

So what’s this Forge World nonsense you speak of? Well in the best set of Imperial Armour Books (The Badab War), Forge World explored the chapters involved in that conflict and introduced characters for each of those chapters. Under the old codex those characters unlocked access to chapter tactics which changed up how your army worked. With the advent of eighth edition that model no longer worked and the Forge World chapters were tweaked in the imperial Armour Index to stand on their own, with the caveat that you could just pick whatever chapter tactics you thought best represented those characters. Cool, right? Well with the 2019 Space Marine book you just got a whole ton of new options, particularly for Chapters that have not been clarified as having a defined Progenitors like the Characadons, Red Scorpions, Exorcists, Angels Revenant, Red Hunters, Star Phantoms, Minotaurs, Fire Hawks, and Astral Claws as not only do you get cool rules from the characters but you can pick a Progenitor and Successor traits to maximize your list or fit your play-style.

Back when my gaming group was playing the Badab War I did a series of articles exploring lists based on each of the Chapters that took place. I’m considering putting together a group to play through a variation of that campaign again. Stay tuned as i’ll post more once I’ve put in some work.

With my Twilight Ravens I’ve gone through a variety or lists and options trying to find the sweet spot that I want to play for an extended period of time. I doubt a settle on anything anytime soon as there are just soooo many variations available. Currently for my groups weeknight gaming sessions we’re stickling with 750/1500 point lists. With a smaller point limit it’s easier to get a game done in a reasonable amount of time when you account for the lackadaisical nature of our game nights.

What I’m currently running for 1500 points is:

Twilight Ravens Third Company - Progenitor: White Scars?
Successor Traits: Long Range Marksmen, Whirlwind of Rage

BATTALION ONE:

HQ - Chaplain Dreadnought (2X Heavy Flamers + Dread Close Combat)
HQ - Lieutenant- Combi-flamer Powerfist
TROOP - Tactical Squad - Combi-flamer + Flamer
TROOP - Tactical Squad - Combi-flamer + Flamer
TROOP - Tactical Squad - Combi-flamer + Flamer
ELITE - Agressors - Flamestorm Gauntlets
FAST- LandSpeeder - 2X Heavy Flamers
Dedicated Transport - Drop Pod -Deathwind Launcher

BATTLION TWO:

HQ - Captain - 2x Chainsword (Teeth of Terra)
HQ - Chaplain - Master Crafted Plasma Pistol
HQ - Lieutenant - Dual Lightning Claws
TROOP - Intercessors - Bolt Rifle, Chainsword
TROOP - Intercessors - Bolt Rifle, Chainsword, Auxillary Grenade Launcher
TROOP - Intercessors - Bolt Rifle, Power Fist
ELITE - Vanguard Vets - 4x Storm Shield Chainsword, 6x Dual Chainsword
FAST - Attack Bike - Multi-melta

I really like this list so far. Being able to outflank with 11” range flamers or deepstrike a unit with flamers and be able to clear and area the turn they arrive has been fun. With Whirlwind of Rage + Exortation of Rage the Vanguard Vets can put a hurt on most units.

In the event I need to jump up to 2000 points I can add in the following:

ELITE - Relic Sicaran Battle Tank - 2x lascannons sponsons
ELITE - Aggressors - Flamstorm Gauntlets
FAST - Attack Bike - Multimelta
Dedicated Transport - Drop Pod - Storm Bolter
Dedicated Transport - Drop Pod - Storm Bolter

This give me even more flexibilty and a few more threats to spilt my opponents attention.

Of course if I need to run as part of a team I can break the list down to this 750 point force.

BATTALION ONE:

HQ - Chaplain Dreadnought (2X Heavy Flamers + Dread Close Combat)
HQ - Captain - 2x Chainsword (Teeth of Terra)
TROOP - Tactical Squad - Combi-flamer + Flamer
TROOP - Tactical Squad - Combi-flamer + Flamer
TROOP - Tactical Squad - Combi-flamer + Flamer
ELITE - Vanguard Vets - 4x Storm Shield Chainsword, 6x Dual Chainsword
FAST- LandSpeeder - 2X Heavy Flamers

Not quite the same impact, but it gets the playstyle across and takes advantage of the traits I’ve chosen for this list. I figure if I call each of my iterations a company I can forge my own narrative as my Chapter is on a Crusade and the companies are spread out over several systems.