Veterans of the 1st Company

Ive just finished up the another Terminator squad and starting work on a 3rd which will most likely be the last as with the Sternguard gives me 25% of the first company members and for now thats all I wish for. Saying that another Sternguard unit isnt out the question and a Vanguard squad would be kinda cool and then another 5 man Termie unit would give me half the 1st company hmmm.

Most recent finished squad.

The unit that was dropped from my tourney list but painted before i had decided that.

The future squad, just need to wait to the new year to order the shoulder pads from FW.

Land Raider Achillies "Thunderchild"

Well as it was my birthday last week and ive been off ill sick ive manaaged to get this newest addition to my Raptors finished.

Along with news the IA 10 is due early next month with the slightly modified version of the rules for this beast, then it just shows how good a time it is to be working on a Badab themed army at this moment in time.

Boarding Action Marines V1

Well here is my 1st attempt for some C&C

1000 Pts - Space Marines Roster

HQ: Master of the Forge (1#, 125 pts)
1 Master of the Forge @ 125 pts (Unit Type: Infantry; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Artificer Armour; Servo Harness; Digital Weapons; Bolt Pistol; Power Sword; And They Shall Know No Fear; Blessing of the Omnissiah; Bolster Defenses; Combat Tactics; Independent Character)
1 Servo Harness

Elite: Techmarine (1#, 65 pts)
1 Techmarine @ 65 pts (Unit Type: Infantry; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Artificer Armour; Servo Arm; Bolt Pistol; Power Weapon; And They Shall Know No Fear; Blessing of the Omnissiah; Bolster Defenses; Combat Tactics; Independent Character)
1 Servo Arm

Elite: Terminator Assault Squad (5#, 200 pts)
4 Terminator Assault Squad @ 200 pts (Unit Type: Infantry; Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield x4; And They Shall Know No Fear; Combat Squads; Combat Tactics)
1 Sergeant (Unit Type: Infantry; Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield x1; And They Shall Know No Fear; Combat Squads; Combat Tactics)

Elite: Terminator Squad (5#, 230 pts)
4 Terminator Squad @ 230 pts (Unit Type: Infantry; Power Fist x4; Storm Bolter x3; Assault Cannon; And They Shall Know No Fear; Combat Squads; Combat Tactics)
1 Sergeant (Unit Type: Infantry; Power Sword; Storm Bolter; And They Shall Know No Fear; Combat Squads; Combat Tactics)

Troops: Tactical Squad (10#, 185 pts)
9 Tactical Squad @ 185 pts (Unit Type: Infantry; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Power Armour; Bolt Pistol x9; Bolter x7; Flamer; Multi-Melta; And They Shall Know No Fear; Combat Squads; Combat Tactics)
1 Sergeant (Unit Type: Infantry; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Power Armour; Bolt Pistol; Power Weapon x1; And They Shall Know No Fear; Combat Squads; Combat Tactics)

Troops: Tactical Squad (10#, 195 pts)
9 Tactical Squad @ 195 pts (Unit Type: Infantry; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Power Armour; Bolt Pistol x9; Bolter x7; Flamer; Missile Launcher; And They Shall Know No Fear; Combat Squads; Combat Tactics)
1 Sergeant (Unit Type: Infantry; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Power Armour; Bolt Pistol; Power Fist x1; And They Shall Know No Fear; Combat Squads; Combat Tactics)

Total Roster Cost: 1000

Where next.

Well although ill be working with a new yet undetermined army for the Calidonian Conflict, i will be carrying on with my Raptors in preperation for my campaign next year.

The way im going to do this is building the army to be playable for the specific GW expansions. What i would like you guys to suggest is which expansion i should work on first be.

Options are:
Planetstrike - Both a 2500p Attacker and Defender list
Cities of Death - 1000p
Spearhead - 2500p
Boarding Actions (IA 9) - 1000p

Apocalypse will be a future project ill do when all the others are compleate so i can take a look on my entire collection and fill in any gaps and see if any themes can be expanded.

Please post and discuss below and hopefully in a weeks time ill announce my descision.

Freeboota Open quick review

Well its the 1st day back and still exhausted after a long week end of gaming and drinking. The weekend itself was split into 2 events a singles 1750 points on the Saturday with my Raptors and a doubles 1500 points on the Sunday with my Iron Warriors both 4 rounds, so that’s 8 games in one weekend. I’m not going into batreps but will give a brief overview of what i played and any key moments i had in the game.

So day one started with me very hung-over but ready for the challenge ahead. 1st thing i noticed was that although this was a tourney a fair few of big UK tourney players had made it down - the competition had arrived. There were also 36 players involved.

Game 1 - Vs Tim King with Eldar
Mission - Head-hunter (wipe out squad leaders for points)
His list was a Ulthwe list fairly fluffy footdar led by Eldrad but being played with the Captain of the Scottish ETC team, not the easy start i was looking forward to.
Key moment was the Sturnguard coming down scattering into a better position then combat squading, shooting down a Avatar to a wound and half Guardian squad which essential gave me a flank that he tried to defend, but was over run by my out flankers.
Win to me

Game 2 - Sam with Space Wolves
Escape the flood (both armies start on one side of the board but with objective going to the other side)
Logan with Wolf Guard Termies some Drop Pods, Rhinos, Land Raiders and 2x Long Fangs was a good list but played in a mission that i would struggle to loose as it was ruled i could out flank straight onto the furthest and most valuable objective.
Key moment was the Sturnguard again coming down wiping out a unit of gray hunters and rune priest in a round of shooting.
Win for me

Game 3 - Gary Marsh with Witch Hunters
Race for the loot (grab objectives and take them to your deployment zone)
Standard list that you’d expect to see with 3 exorcists played by a guy who new the army inside out and the army itself was gorgeous to look out and won best painted overall.
As good as the last mission was good for me this was the opposite and against such a experienced player i was never going to win so played for the draw.
Key moment not reading the mission properly and letting him have two objectives to my one although i was only 2 inches away from a draw.
Loss for me

Game 4 - Stu with Chaos SM
Retrieve the Spy (nominate an enemy unit that you have an spy in, kill the unit and get the spy back to your deployment zone)
A fellow ‘Boota and a great opponent with a mixed up chaos list with Kharn the Betrayer a brutal fight and a narrow victory at the end.
Key moment for a 3rd time was the Sturnguard who dropped crippled and then ied up a Tzeentch Daemon prince and killed a Defiler, stars of the whole event.
Win for me

So that’s my quick round up for day one, as the doubles didn’t involve my Raptors im not interested in going into that but I did finish with 2 wins and 2 losses so a decent enough result for the day.

The overall feeling i got from the event was a positive one with a good mix of gamers and some fun missions (although they were written poorly, it worked out on the day). My biggest criticism for it was the scoring and random match ups which made little sense and didn’t seemed to have any intelligent thought behind it more what was easy and simple rather than sensible and logical.

Also sorry for the poor English used in this but fatigue has set in.

Land Raider Achilles

So Forgeworld have released there latest SM vehicle the Land Raider Achilles, and a lot of talk of is it over powered or underpowered has been splattered all over the internet.

So why am I interested in this, well first of all I’m a resin junkie which doesn’t help, second I’m working on a SM army, not only that its a tanks being released with the Badab war in mind - something I’m also interested in due to the army I’m doing, forth its a siege tank which i have soft spot for, and being a fan of that style of play this tank fits and last of all its new and shiny.

So my initial thoughts when i read the rules were this is a little too expensive compared to the existing LR variants and here is my run down of thoughts that came to that.

Weapons - Below par against a regular LR, too short range and random mix (although not bad)
Transport - Far below and no assault ramp makes this only useful as a gun platform
Durability - Amazing compared to everything but do you really want a 300 point tank that wont die vs. one that is cheaper and more useful overall, I’m not sure.

Having had a few days of thinking about it and discussing it with some of my gaming group my thoughts have not changed. I understand a lot of people are expecting this to just sit on objectives with scouts of something’s inside to make it scoring, but i just think that makes it more expensive and for a tank that needs to move round to be effective i think this tactic is being wasteful.

So what my conclusion, rules wise I like it, on face value I don’t think its 50pts better than a normal LR but it makes up for it in not dying which is nice, I also like the fact that meltas don’t work as hopefully it will encourage people to use less of them and bring lascannons (and not millions of missile launchers) back into there lists. Its a true metagame changer or as much as a FW unit can be depending if there played or not and for that reason I give it a thumbs up.

Hopefully ill pick one up for Christmas and give is some test runs in the new year and do a re-review then.

Minor list update

Ok this is my final list and not too different to the one posted previously and the army ill be taking to the Freeboota Open in just under 2 weeks. As im sure you can figure out by looking at the hobby box on the side ive still a little work to do to get this army done, but, compared to previous years this is nothing as im sure most people who enter tournaments will tell you of there late night painting into the early hours of the morning crash course affair to get the army table worthy.

Now i know its not the most optimised list in the world but i don’t want it to be, im a player who would rather place 2nd with poor list than 1st with a good list and playing around with the army so far in some play test games has been interesting and enjoyable (im only saying that because i haven’t lost yet) and don’t see that changing anytime soon.

As point for future expansion of the army ive also entered the Caledonian Uprising event in January next year and part of me is tempted to take my Raptors again, although without Khan as special characters are banned, which would be interesting as id have to come up with a brand new list and army style. Also not having to play against other SC at the event should mean some more interesting match ups and a few less easy build power gamer lists.

So the list.

1750 Pts - Space Marines Roster - "Raptors 3rd Company"

HQ: Captain Orai Reavas (1#, 205 pts)
1 Kor'sarro Khan @ 205 pts (Unit Type: Bikes; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Iron Halo; Power Armour; Moondrakkan; Bolt Pistol; Moonfang; And They Shall Know No Fear; Chapter Tactics; Combat Tactics; Furious Charge; Hit & Run; Independent Character; Master of the Hunt)
1 Moondrakkan (Space Marine Bike; Twin Linked Bolter)

Elite: Sternguard Veteran Squad (11#, 320 pts)
9 Sternguard Veteran Squad @ 320 pts (Unit Type: Infantry; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Power Armour; Special Issue Ammunition; Bolt Pistol x9; Bolter x7; Combi-Meltagun x2; And They Shall Know No Fear; Combat Squads; Combat Tactics; Drop Pod)
1 Sergeant (Unit Type: Infantry; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Power Armour; Special Issue Ammunition; Bolter; Power Fist x1; And They Shall Know No Fear; Combat Squads; Combat Tactics)
1 Drop Pod (Unit Type: Vehicle (Open-topped); Transport Capacity: 12 models; Storm Bolter; Drop Pod Assault; Immobile; Inertial Guidance System)

Elite: Brother Gaith (2#, 150 pts)
1 Dreadnought @ 150 pts (Unit Type: Vehicle (Walker); Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Dreadnought CCW; Multi-Melta; Heavy Flamer; Drop Pod)
1 Drop Pod (Unit Type: Vehicle (Open-topped); Transport Capacity: 12 models; Storm Bolter; Drop Pod Assault; Immobile; Inertial Guidance System)

Troops: Tactical Squad (11#, 230 pts)
9 Tactical Squad @ 230 pts (Unit Type: Infantry; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Power Armour; Bolt Pistol x9; Bolter x7; Flamer; Missile Launcher; And They Shall Know No Fear; Combat Squads; Combat Tactics; Rhino)
1 Sergeant (Unit Type: Infantry; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Power Armour; Bolt Pistol; Power Fist x1; And They Shall Know No Fear; Combat Squads; Combat Tactics)
1 Rhino (Unit Type: Vehicle (Tank); Transport Capacity: 10 models; Access Points: 3; Fire Points: 1; Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Storm Bolter; Repair)

Troops: Tactical Squad (11#, 225 pts)
9 Tactical Squad @ 225 pts (Unit Type: Infantry; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Power Armour; Bolt Pistol x9; Bolter x7; Meltagun; Heavy Bolter; And They Shall Know No Fear; Combat Squads; Combat Tactics; Rhino)
1 Sergeant (Unit Type: Infantry; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Power Armour; Bolt Pistol; Power Weapon x1; And They Shall Know No Fear; Combat Squads; Combat Tactics)
1 Rhino (Unit Type: Vehicle (Tank); Transport Capacity: 10 models; Access Points: 3; Fire Points: 1; Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Storm Bolter; Repair)

Troops: Space Marine Bike Squad (5#, 180 pts)
4 Space Marine Bike Squad @ 180 pts (Unit Type: Bikes; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Power Armour; Space Marine Bike; Bolt Pistol x2; Flamer x1; Meltagun x1; Twin Linked Bolter; And They Shall Know No Fear; Combat Squads; Combat Tactics)
1 Sergeant (Unit Type: Bikes; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Power Armour; Space Marine Bike; Power Fist; Twin Linked Bolter; And They Shall Know No Fear; Combat Squads; Combat Tactics)

Troops: Scout Squad (5#, 100 pts)
4 Scout Squad @ 100 pts (Unit Type: Infantry; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Scout Armour; Bolt Pistol x4; Combat Blade x4; And They Shall Know No Fear; Combat Squads; Combat Tactics; Infiltrate; Move Through Cover; Scouts)
1 Sergeant (Unit Type: Infantry; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Scout Armour; Bolt Pistol; Power Fist x1; And They Shall Know No Fear; Combat Squads; Combat Tactics; Infiltrate; Move Through Cover; Scouts)

Fast Attack: Land Speeder Storm (1#, 60 pts)
1 Land Speeder Storm @ 60 pts (Unit Type: Vehicle (Open-topped); Unit Type: Vehicle (Skimmer, Fast); Transport Capacity: 5 models; Cerberus Launcher; Jamming Beacon; Heavy Flamer; Deep Strike; Scouts)

Fast Attack: Attack Bike Squad (2#, 100 pts)
2 Attack Bike Squad @ 100 pts (Unit Type: Bikes; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Power Armour; Space Marine Bike; Bolt Pistol x2; Multi-Melta x2; And They Shall Know No Fear; Combat Tactics)

Fast Attack: Land Speeder Squadron (2#, 180 pts)
2 Land Speeder Squadron @ 180 pts (Unit Type: Vehicle (Skimmer, Fast); Heavy Bolter x2; Typhoon Missile Launcher x2; Deep Strike)

Total Roster Cost: 1750