Blog update - very long overdue! What I have been up to the past 2 years

 

Hello everyone. I have been off the radar for almost 2 years now it appears from the date of my last post. Many a reason for this. Exams, new baby, new job, working on the house and garden, COVID etc etc. the blog(s) just fell by the wayside sadly. Hobby output is less now than previously but I’m still plodding on through the endless backlog. Sadly not gaming at present due to COVID (my last game was 8th edition). Still, today I am sitting down for a few hours and updating some things on both sites, as well as clearing out the spam comments. Hopefully this will be a more regular thing from now on but as my hobby output is less, there'll be less to share. 

It looks like the points I had got to before my hiatus was to have all the marine armies were at a good point - I had all the models I wanted base coated as a minimum. Since then the collections have migrated from the house, to the garage, to the loft. My only real updates have been to expand the primaris content of the sons of orar / deathwatch, as well as adding in the occasional unit, such as my black Templar assault terminators and a few iron hands characters. I did add a few painted items to my blood ravens and salamanders too. This has allowed me more time to focus on non marine armies for a change so be sure to check for updates on my other blog.

The sons of orar have seen some expansion with 9th edition and I am hoping to further build on this, as well as adding to the deathwatch, once the rest of the marine releases land in the not too distant future. Aside from Primaris named characters I'm not going to be expanding the existing armies, save for these two. I also need to sort some custom decals for the Sons - here are some examples of the fully painted models so far. 

Much of my hobby time the past 3 months has been taken up by a marine side project which I have now completed. I will save this for a post of its own in the near future as I';m anticipating some studio quality photos I will be able to upload. In addition I will put up a post talking about a brief youtube venture and some warhammer world trips prior to covid. For now I’ve added a compilation of hobby pics from my phone since the time I last posted. Cheers. 

Black Templars army showcase

Greetings folks.

Hot on the heels of the Raven guard showcase is the Black Templars showcase. By my count that leaves Blood Angels, Ultramarines and Deathwatch to go! Blood Angels will need to be split across 2 posts I suspect, Ultramarines are missing a couple of the Japanese exclusives that I haven;t managed to get ahold of yet and the Deathwatch I was hanging on to see if I would expand them with Primaris - I intend to ultimately but won't be for a while now so I may as well post them sooner than later. 

On to the showcase. This is a really nice themed army replete with characters and units fluffy to the Templars as both crusaders and sons of Dorn. It is principally an infantry army with a few supporting vehicles and a Stormraven to aid their mobility. There are conversions aplenty in there from the monk-hair scouts to the robed and GK-helmed terminators. I tried to make the most out of the BT upgrades and generic cloths/seals to ensure all marines have plenty on them. The captions below will expand upon the units. 

Full army shot

From above, note the 2 rhinos, razorback, drop pod and Stormraven.

4 Crusader squads - 2 melee with neophytes and 2 ranged.

Castellan Draco (lt), Helbrecht, Grimaldus and an Imperial space marine, with a bike squad and Techmarine on bike 

Emperors champion and Chapter Ancient, with a speeder and dreadnought, and of course a land raider crusader.

Converted terminators and converted centurions

Apothecary, Marshall, Company Champion and Chaplain

Company vets and vanguard

Hobby progress part 3/3 - Black Templars and Imperial Fists.

Black Templars:
 

These chaps were essentially lacking their Honour Guard and so I got ahold of two lots of Sword Bretheren (they look the part) and got to converting them up to resemble the Chapters finest. Mostly simple conversions to grant them power weapons. They also benefitted from a spare model I had left from the Imperial Fists update (see below) and gained the FW IF command chap as their Chapter Champion. (Templars have so many Champions it must be hard to keep track!) The two lightning-claw armed chaps were used as is/converted to have power fist and used as sword brothers to lead squads. In total the Honour Guard are 9, so 1 off the maximum leaving space for a Chapter banner bearer at some point. But that's not all, I have a Stormraven from Strike Force Ultra that has been gathering dust unassembled. As the army lacks any airpower I decided to use it to good effect as a ride for the Honour Guard. I also raided the bits box in order to grant the Dreadnought in the army a couple of extra arms to make it a more effective close-assault dread riding alongside the Honour Guard. 

Imperial Fists:

These chaps got the same treatment as the Salamander and Ultramarine Devastators in that I updated them to be on magnetised new devastator legs. However, as the vast majority of the army was second-hand, it soon became apparent that removing the existing devastators from their legs and making them magnetised was going to be tricky, as their previous owner had done a thorough job of ensuring they never broke at the waist. It therefore took a lot of 'gentle persuasion' (i.e, drilling, cutting, snapping and repairing) to achieve what should have been a relatively straightforward task. Also, I used the standard bearer from the FW IF Command squad to replace one of the Command squad (who would become the Salamanders assault Sergeant). Lastly, because I love the model I got ahold of the Polux model to use as a Chapter Master. God the SIgismund one is hard to resist also for a Templars Character. I have slapped a fair amount of paint on them to bring the a step closer to tabletop standard, but to be honest the main issue with them at present is the basing. I didn't even bother to put the devastators on bases nor paint the majority of them as they will need updating to 32mm in the future anyway - I'll add them to the list. You may also have spotted my new flying friend, who will feature in a post later this week along with 2 other additions to the Astartes air force.  

Where now?

Phew, that was quite the hobby push! Really happy to have gotten all the Marine armies up to date and to have no sprues sat in boxes anymore. That is of course aside from some Necrons, who will be the next project to move onto once Heresy is done and dusted. That and continuing with rebasing marine armies, including adding some ring adaptors to resin bases on the Iron Hands and Salamanders. (will post an article on that at some point) I'm keen to get some painting projects up and running also, which were derailed by painting up Dark Angels last month. With a Raven Guard game coming up next weekend I dare say I'll give them some fuss this week and post some pics at the weekend - maybe even a battle report. On that note I leave you with this pleasant chappy who is currently getting a lot of love. Cheers.

Space Marine codex review part 5 - Conclusions and example builds

Final part folks as promised. Phew, this has been an extensive amount of writing and there are bound to be things I've got not quite right or missed. I thought I'd round things off by talking less about content and more about the wider implications for myself personally and SM players. Also, I strung together a couple of example builds using the Gladius strike force.

Conclusions

Bottom line I guess is how will this release influence my armies which, to be honest, are already beyond the scope of reason. The honest answer is not very much TBH. To quantify this there are 3 different aspects to look at:

1. What was I trying to achieve from the armies? The honest answer is a fluffy, themed army for each, which I hope I have done as follows:

Iron Hands - lots of bionics, lots of technology and vehicles especially techmarines and vehicles.

Ultramarines - well rounded army with several special characters

Salamanders - fluffy army, no anti grav, lots of flamers, meltas and hammers

Raven guard - mostly infantry army heavy on the assault, scout and mobile artillery elements.

Whitescars - lots of bikes and fast vehicles.

Imperial Fists - probably my least themed army - comes across as more a cross between UM and salamanders.

Crimson Fists - heavily themed post-Rynn's world. No tanks, Stormwing and Elite units mainly to represent the destruction of the fortress monastary.

Black Templars - Infantry themed crusade army.

Blood Ravens - designed around the units and characters available in Dawn of War.

Heroes of badab - specifically themed to represent each faction of the Badab War with the most appropriate unit.

2. Some new kits. So I've invested in 3 new devastator kits, a new assault squad and an UM upgrade sprue. Idea being more to invest in the look of the armies (which will all need 32mm bases at some point - sigh)  than the new rules. This really is a very minor update and actually I probably spent more time pre-release giving each army a good eyeball and sorting out any modelling/basecoating issues. Ultimately I have a wishlist of about 10 things I want to add to these armies, many of which are flyer units (still not caught up with 6th edition) to bring the armies into line.

3. New rules. If I'm absolutely honest, after looking through the new book I'm not sure if/how I will use the new Gladius strike force. Firstly, only 4/10 of the armies can actually field a demi-company and I'm not willing to invest/sacrifice the theme I've developed in order to do so. Secondly, those which can field a demi-company have insufficient units to make up a Gladius, and so I'm left with either i) combining two armies under the same chapter tactics as proxies, ii) Using a Demi formation from one army and another type of formation/detachment from another or, most likely, just sticking with the plain, old, combined arms detachment. Sad really as I'd love to use the codex to its full potential but the fluff and having lots of smaller armies is more important to me so that's just the way it will be. This was the same conclusion I drew with the Eldar Codex TBH - great for power gamers who want force multipliers but not all that great for people with established armies that don't fit the format.  

Here's a few thoughts for fluffy themed armies using the Gladius strike force for the big 6 (didn't include Templars as they can't use crusader squads in the Gladius) This is really just a starting point for thoughts at 2000 points and have no upgrades unless stated and would need a bit of trimming and refining to be actually used.  Calculations are VERY approximate to save me some time!

Raven Guard:

Demi company (Shrike, 3 x tactical squads, Assault squad x5 +JPs, Devastators) 465

10th company strike force (2 x sniper scouts + cloaks, 2 x scouts + storms, scout bikes + cluster) 440

1st company task force (3 x 5 vanguard + JPs) 330

Skyhammer annihilation force (2x 5 man devs + grav cannons + DPs, 2 x 10 man assault squads + JPs) 830

Whitescars:

Battle company (Khan, Bike Chaplain, bike command squad, 6 x tactical squads in drop pods, 2 devastator squads in rhinos, 2 5 man bike squads) 1170

Stormwing 420

Librarian conclave (3 x lvl 2 on Bikes) 330

Chapter Command (Chapter master with shield eternal on bike) 185

Imperial Fists:

Demi company (Lysander, 3 x tactical squads, Assault centurions x3, Devastators) 675

1st company task force (TH/SS terminators x5,2 x sternguard x5 in drop pods) 515

Armoured task force (Techmarine, Vindicators x 3, predators x 3, whirlwinds x 3) 845

 Iron Hands:

Demi company (Bike chapter Master, 3 x tactical squads, Bike squad 5-man, Devastators, 3 venerable Dreadnoughts) 905

Armoured task force (Techmarine, Vindicators x 3, predators x 3, whirlwinds x 3) 845

Ultramarines:

Battle company (Sicarius, Chaplain,  command squad, 6 x tactical squads in drop pods, 2 devastator squads in rhinos, 2 assault squads with JPs) 1100

1st company task force (TH/SS terminators x5,2 x sternguard x5 in drop pods) 515

Chapter Command (Calgar in terminator armour) 280

Salamanders:

Demi company (Vulkan, 3 x tactical squads, Attack bikes x3 + MM, Devastators +MM, 3 Ironclad dreadnoughts) 1095

1st company strike force (2 TH/SS terminator squads, land raider redeemer, 10 man sternguard with heavy flamers in DP) 975

Before I call it a day on this behemoth of a review I'd like to touch upon past and future of non-codex Chapters, namely Blood Angels (and Wolves/GKs) and Dark Angels. Dark Angels are just around the corner and will very likely benefit from some of the perks in this book. Grav weaponry, Strike forces and formations. Dreadnought and vehicle squadrons etc. Unfortunately, Blood Angels and the others have been left behind with all of this, not having a Strike force type organisation, no dreadnought and vehicle squadrons (plus lack of 4A dreadnoughts) and many other issues. I wonder if now is the time for GW to start putting out FAQs for these guys and leveling the playing field. Anyway, that's enough for now, only time will tell. A weeks breather before Dark Angels hit. Cheers.

Space Marine Codex review part 4 - formations and detachments

Part 4 for the review will look at the formations and detachment available in the new book. It will also include the new web-only formation, which is bound to cause a stir. On a side note, this marks my 200th post on this blog since it started a few years ago. Cheers.
 

Formations

Battle demi-company:

So this formation is going to be popular for several reasons. Firstly, it forms the core of a Gladius Strike force (see later) and secondly it is probably something that a lot of marine players can / will field anyway. It consists of a core of 3 tactical squads led by a captain or chaplain (which may be one of the special characters. The other compulsory part of the formation is actually pretty flexible, allowing you to take either one unit of devastators / devastator Centurions, or one of the following: Assault squad/assault centurions/bikes/attack bikes/land speeders. Optional units are a command squad and a unit of dreadnoughts (any type).

From this, as you can probably tell, you can field a minimum of 3x5 tactical squads, a captain and say 3 devastator Centurions and a land speeder. So not much at all really, and of course the Formation can be expanded to over double that size with a reasonable amount of flexibility. The perks of the formation are twofold: EVERY unit gets objective secured and you gain the Tactical doctrine. This is cumulative if you are playing as UMs. Pretty darn good and not too restrictive. We'll come back to it when we talk about the Gladius later.

Anti-air defence force:

1 unit of Hunters and 1 of Stalkers, (with at least 2 Stalkers) that benefit from you being able to +1 BS to the Stalkers if the Hunter(s) score a hit with their Skyspear on that same unit. It really begs the question how many anti-air unit do you want/need in the game, as to maximise benefits you'd need 3 of each to gain their squadron perks too. Reeks of total overkill TBH and so not so sure it'll be popular.

1st Company Strike Force:

3-5 units of any of the 4 Veteran options in any combination. They all gain fear and fearless, as well as giving -2 Ld to enemy units in 12" of at least 3 of the units and also gaining preferred enemy against a pre-selected unit that's classed as an extremis level threat. TBH if you're running 3 Veteran squads of any of these types in your list you may as well group them together like this and benefit from the formation.

Strike Force Ultra:

Same as the boxed set, this is the ultimate first company badass formation. A Terminator Captain (or Lysander), 2 of each terminator squad, a Stormraven, a Land raider crusader/redeemer and a venerable dreadnought. The units must be either in a transport or deep strike reserve. Special rules are reasonable, in that you roll for reserves from turn 1, and add +1 to the number or shots / attacks that the terminators / terminator assault squads get on the turn they disembark from the vehicles. Considering the composition of the formation and the perks other formations get this one is pretty mediocre TBH.

Reclusiam Command Squad:

 

Again, another straight from the box formation - a Chaplain, command squad and razorback. This one grants Crusader and all units within 6" of the formation may reroll failed to hits in the first round of an assault. So effectively it grants zealot to all nearby units, but the Chaplain may not leave the command squad.

10th Company Task Force:

3-5 scouts / scout bikes and an optional Sergeant Telion. All bikes must have cluster mines and the following perks apply. All units have precision shots in the first turn and all infiltrators have stealth until they have moved in some way. Fairly decent, especially in combination with Raven Guard (how fortunate I have shedloads of scouts in my RG army).

Storm Wing:

Same as before, the Stormwing is a Stormraven with 2 Talons escorting. So long as at least 1 Talon is alive the Raven gets strafing run and also they all arrive as a single formation on one reserve roll. I like this formation and already use it for my Crimson Fists.

Centurion siegebreaker cohort:

2-4 Centurion assault squads and a unit of Ironclad Dreadnoughts. Man, this thing looks menacing, but actually the rules aren't too scary. Would be fluffy for Imperial Fists though. Both special rules relate to building, one allows omniscope equipped units to reroll penetration rolls against buildings, where the other adds 2D6 S6AP4 wounds to any building/vehicle occupants if a model from this formation strips their last hull point in the assault phase. This formation seems born for Imperial Fists TBH and the idea of 3 Ironclads stomping towards you is scary enough. 

Land Raider Spearhead:

This is 3 land raiders of any type, which ignore ALL damage table results (except explodes) when within 6" of another raider and reroll to wound/pen Vs super heavies/gargantuans/mighty bulwarks. Pretty darn nasty!

Librarius Conclave:

There's always one formation that is a head-scratcher, and this is the SM one. 3-5 Librarians (including Tigurius if you like) which gain the following. One nominated Librarian gets access to all the others powers at the start of the psychic phase if they are within 12". When he then makes psychic tests, he harnesses on a 3+ if one other Librarian is in 12" or 2+ if two or more are. Talk about psychic supremacy! The other Librarians are unable to manifest powers until the end of that phase (not that it matters) but imagine putting this on Tigurius (with his ability to re-roll failed psychic tests) with 2-3 pals to accompany him. Nasty indeed.

Armoured Task force:

A Techmarine accompanied by 0-3 Thunderfire units, 3-5 vehicle squadrons (Preds/Vindis/Whirlies) and Chronus if you like. All vehicles ignore crew shaken/stunned if within 6" of a Techmarine/gunner and also the Techmarines/Gunners get +1 to BotO rolls. Not that amazing TBH bu tthe only way to get tanks into a Gladius as below.

Supression force:

Lastly, this blast from the past pairs 2-3 Whirlwinds with 1-3 Land speeders. If one of the speeders nominates a unit within 18" and didn't move flat out, the Whirlwinds can now reroll to hit against that unit and have infinite range. Would be good if you used it in conjunction with the 3 Whirlwind perk and kept the Whirlwinds out of sight. More of an apocalypse type unit TBH but nice to see it featured. 

Gladius Strike Force

Last but not least, the Gladius Strike force. This is the SM equivalent to the Necron Decurion. This takes a little bit to get you head around so bear with me. Almost everything contained within it makes reference to the formations I've just described - it is a 'formation of formations' if you like with cumulative perks. Every unit must come from the same Chapter. A Gladius allows each doctrine to be enacted once per game, which is cumulative, so if you are playing as UMs then you would have 2 devastator, 2 assault and 3 tactical doctrines (as you get one for the demi-company, which is the core of a Gladius). All units in the Strike force are affected if they have Chapter tactics.

Speaking of the core choices, you must take 1-2 Demi-companies. If you take a second, you end up with a company and must take the Captain and Chaplain. Here's the big one - a battle company in a Gladius gets access to FREE drop pods/rhinos/razorbacks. Yep, absolutely free, though upgrades are bought as normal. We then move on to the optional Command choices, of which you may take up to 3 in any combo. First and second up are the Librarius conclave formation and Reclusiam command squad as above. Finally, Chapter command is 1 Captain/Chaplain/Chapter Master from the regulars and Special Characters (including Calgar). Each of the following are 0-1 in this choice: Honour Guard, command squad and Emperor's Champion.  

Lastly we come to the auxiliary choices, which are 1+ and are effectively all the other Formations above not already mentioned, the exception being strike force Ultra which is not included. (also note LotD are not to be seen) So, on the one hand we have the incredibly powerful demi-company side of things (and the command choices), and on the other the less flexible auxiliaries of which one must be taken. Some of those could be quite desirable in their minimal format, such as the Armoured, 1st and 10th company task forces (and Stormwing), but the others not so much. Personally I find the Strike force too restrictive for the armies I have, all of which would require me to drop certain units and add others in order to be able to use the Gladius even in minimal format.

Skyhammer annihilation force

The web exclusive formation has pretty much been leaked at this point so it's worth discussing here also, especially as it's so ridiculous. It consists of two assault squads equipped with jump packs and two devastator squads with drop pods. All units must start the game in deep strike reserve and choose to ALL arrive in turn one or two (a la Deathwing). They arrive automatically - no reserve rolling. So far, pretty reasonable right. Now it gets a bit silly.

Devastators, on the turn they arrive, all get relentless. Yep, that's right. You can reliably drop in your grav/muli-melta/plasma cannon boys in min squads, when and where you want, then shoot without penalty. Not enough? Of course not. All the squads they target in any shooting phase also have to take a morale checks on 3D6 regardless of how many casualties were inflicted. Fail and they go to ground. Pass and they can't fire overwatch. I mean wow, talk about screwed either way right. Never mind though, at least the assault squads don't get any perks....

....Except they do. They can charge the turn they arrive. Yep, old deep strike assault is back.  Not enough? No, of course not. They can use their jump packs in both movement and assault phases plus if they charge a unit that has gone to ground due to the devastators rule above then they can reroll to hit and wound in that assault phase. I mean, just wow. I'm not even going to attempt to analyse the benefits of this formation (yes, they get their Chapter tactics etc too) so I'll just leave it at that.

That's it for today. Tomorrow the 5th and final part of the review will draw some conclusions and also put together some example themed/powerful army lists. Cheers.