Where are we now?

A Warhammer 40k blog by the old gang sounds like a good idea. As much as we all stay in touch these days I suppose this will be the new line of communication. Say hello to the son and be sure to let him paint one of the "Funderhammer" Assault Terminators.



Since I have been asked to be a contributor to the blog, I suppose I should attempt to add something, as work and family life permit. I have been unable to get time to work on anything 40k related since around March, perhaps February. I was in the middle of building a Defiler for one of the gang and desperately need to finish it soon. So far the torso has been magnetized so that the weapons will be modular. I have been trying to come up with suitably vicious close combat arms but may just use the normal front-mounted monstrous claws. Speaking of those close, I am going to use three pairs of those claws for the legs to give the beast a heavier look. The inspiration for this comes from a large ape walking on its knuckles. I imagined all of the legs of this machine as these large, menacing legs instead of the weaker looking normal legs. I will try and get a moment to snap some photos and post them.

I got to play our friend Cypher Saturday in a nice 1500 point game. I played my first game with the 5E Imperial Guard codex last week, two games, actually, we just reset the table and played another mission with the same lists. So, after three games with essentially the same list I have a couple of observations. First, the Leman Russ Punisher is over-costed. Playing two games against Space Marines (JPEG's Cinder Hawks current tournament list at 2,000 points) and one against Tau (Cypher's 1,500 Tau) proved that with or without BS 4, the 20 S5 shots are easily defeated by either the power armor save or the prevalent 4+ cover save. Still, it is a fun tank and the ability to spit that much fire tends to attract some attention. When I get one worked up, I currently proxy my Forge World Conqueror turret, I am planning on putting a Punisher skull on the turret top, a la the Marvel Comics character. If either of those players had not been so lucky with their saves, the tank could have proved devastating. An example, Cato Sicarius made 27 saves in one round against this tank with three heavy bolters and a pintle heavy stubber. Sad face.

An even more sad face was worn by the Master of Ordnance. In the first two games, I tried a Master of Ordnance and a Master of the Fleet in my command squad. My second observation just proved something I had suspected since the codex was released, the scatter tends to be just too great with his template. Yes, it is pie and I do not mind it scattering but my luck with the large template was to always roll 10 or 11 for scatter, or more. The only thing it killed was one of my own Leman Russ tanks. Oh, well, against a horde army the scatter may not be such an issue but Space Marine squads tend to be so small that it did not get any enemy kills.

A third observation is that the Penal Legion squad is practically worth gold. In each game, they were targeted and destroyed and only managed to kill a single Tau Stealth Suit in three games. However, having a random ability, a low points cost, and running them hell bent for leather at the enemy certainly drew attention away from more important units. Thanks, Trooper 1073544.

That is basically what I am up to at the moment. I am a bit tired of playing my Chaos Marines. I am also tired of playing my Chaos Daemons at the moment. My Sisters have not been updated from 40k 2E when a 1,500 point list was standard and consisted of an Immolator, a squad of Seraphim with a Cannoness attached, two squads of Sisters and a squad of Frateris Militia. Needless to say, I have not picked up any goodies from their current edition. My Grey Knights are similarly small in keeping with their 2E incarnation where all that could be fielded was a single squad of Terminators. With the prospect of both forces getting new plastics in the not too distant future, I will probably try and add to both of those forces. Arbites, Assassins, Adeptus Mechanicus and Agents of the Imperium never came along for the current editions of the game so those are right out. Someday, though... Anyway, that leaves me with some Marines I have put aside for years to form the core of a Deathwatch force if they ever get a codex and the couple of Legion of the Damned I have wound up with here and there. So I am playing my Guard again and needing to work on them some more. Now that Rough Riders are getting some of their utility back, I am looking forward to having my two squads of Attilans work their way back onto the table in the near future.

By the way, I have tried out my Ratlings in these recent games. I only have the six from the old blister pack so a squad of six it is. And they have yet to cause a single wound. Lots of hits but nary a wound. At least they are cheap.

Oh, yeah, one last observation on the new Guard, the Hellhound family is even cooler than before. I am really happy with the Devildog and Banewolf and even the changes to the Hellhound Inferno cannon is not that bad. Do not forget that the strength of the Chem-cannon is only a 1 so if you play Guard, take advantage of that and fire two guns on the move.