Crusade era Thousand Sons.. Finished!

Hey everyone. Its been a while but there finally done. So here is the entire army in one picture:

3 tactical squads, 2 HQs, 2 vindicators, 1 grey knight terminator squad. that right there is 1750 pts.

It was a fun army to build with lots of kit bashing. I played it in a tournament and scored in the middle of the list of people overall which isn't bad for a list built for fluff and not power.

Well there it is the army finally finished. I will no doubt add to it in the future but for now time for tons of other projects! Until the next one.

Horus Heresy Novel series

Hey all just a quick post on the Horus Heresy novels.

Now I'm not going to rate them or review them just list the ones out currently as of the date of this posting.

So there are 10 total books so far as of the day of this posting:
Horus Rising
False Gods
Galaxy in Flames
The Flight of the Eisenstein
Fulgrim
Descent of Angels
Legion
Battle For the Abyss
Mechanicum
Tales of Heresy

Those are the 10 the Tales of Heresy is a short story book with 7 stories in it. The rest are novels.

Alright so there novels based in the 40k universe obviously. They are based around the Heresy time period which I am a huge fan of so it is no surprise that I love these book. There not works of gold or anything but just really enjoyable if your into the heresy. They are focused on the Imperium and primarily the Space Marine Legions with a few exceptions. So if your not into the Imperium really then the series may not be for you.

Other then that there is not much to say as a at a glimpse type of thing. More are coming out and there is no limit supposedly to how many books they will release for the Horus Heresy.

I listed the novels in order of release in case you are interested in jumping into the series (if you haven't already).
Until next time.

Tactica Outnumbered!... Deathwing

Keeper of the Fortress

Alright everyone this is the last in the segment for Tactica Outnumbered!.. If you think I missed an army feel free to post a comment on this post with the army and type (Space marine Bikes for example although that was talked about). This will help me more then just the army. I will try to cover it if possible either here or on my youtube page (link in my Astronomicon section).

Anyway this time it is the Deathwing (Cue angelic reaper music). One of the more unique armies a deathwing army is made up entirely of well the Deathwing. A terminator army. Some things to keep in mind: To keep it fluffly it should include only terminator infantry supported by Landraiders, Dreadnoughts and maybe vindicators. Secondly this is a small army both in squad size and in army size.

Alright so Deathwing armies need to be led by Belial to work. He can be be equipped either with storm bolter and sword of silence, twin lightning claw or Thunderhammer Storm shield so he has some options. He also allows you to have a pseudo command squad with one squad being able to take an apothecary and a deathwing standard bearer. Same rules for this standard as the ravenwing one as well as the apothecary.

Now onto Deathwing squads. As Belial lets you take them as troops that is just what your going to do. They are only able to be a 5 man squad. They cannot be made bigger. They start out at 215 points per squad. They can take one range weapon per squad (cyclone, assault cannon, heavy flamer) and all can replace power fist or power sword for chain fist. The nice thing is that you can mix assault terminators with ranged ones so you can put a heavy flamer with an assault squad. Also the cyclone missile launcher can be put on any terminator which means assault terminators can have the missile launcher on them. Remember though that this one works like the old missile launcher so only 1 shot not 2. This ability to mix your squads means you can have your squads tooled out to whatever role you need. As for deathwing assault that really is dependent on the board, your opponent, your list and what you plan to do. Its is worth remembering it is there in case you need it.

So how mechanized do you go? That depends. The more you go the less squads you will have. You also can go pure infantry which is a harder list but gives you the max number of squads. That is a pure water type list that will can taken apart if you falter. I usually suggest at least one Landraider chassis either crusader or standard. I prefer the standard landraider as it adds some much need long range anti tank punch to the army but if you want to assault with at initiative weapons going at initiative the crusader is the way to go as it will allow Belial to go wit ha squad (remember these landraiders transport 10 not 12).

So what are the pro's of this army? Well Terminator troop choices for one. having a 2+/5+ standard for troops is strong also 2 attacks base. Deathwing are fearless so they will never run meangin it will be hard to move them from an objective in cover. Every terminator close combat attack is a form of power weapon meaning that even shooty terminators are dangerous in close combat if they are given the chance to strike back. The ability to move shoot and assault all in the same turn is another strong point. Move to get in range and shoot then keep them at your range by moving back or at an angle and shoot. Whittling the enemy down is a huge Deathwing Strategy.

The Con's are standard for all outnumbered armies. They are outnumbered and with squad only able to be 5 man strong you have to be careful. Also the high amount of potential I 1 weapons means that you have to be careful who you assault. Rending attacks will hurt if you go after them. Also lack of supporting fire means that the deathwing squads will have to support each other carefully.

That is about it really for Deathwing. It is a really cool and strong army with good staying power. No opponent really likes to deal with terminators. Despite what some may say Deathwing is a tournament capable list.

Tactica Outnumbered!... Ravenwing

Keeper of the Fortress

Hey everyone. I am back and still working on those crusade era Thousand sons! But that's alright. Now its time for my next installment of Tactica Outnumbered! its been a while but I have not forgotten.

Alright the Ravenwing is the second company of the Dark Angels and is a all bike company. I wont go into there fluff because that is not what this is about. They are unique to the standard biker army from the generic codex due to there special rules.

Ravenwing members are all fearless which is great. Why? Because as with the other biker army they are not meant for assault. They can do it but being outnumbered and expensive you want to maximize your shooting. Normally with a small squad size you would have to start taking shooting morale tests quicker then other squads. Even with Space Marine leadership you will eventually fail and you do not want to ever fall back. Also all ravenwing bikes have the scout rule. So they can outflank just like Khan armies or make a free move (unlike khan armies). This is great for getting into better positions or closing the distance on easy assault targets (like Tau).

Aside from special rules there wargear is slightly different. All bikes have a built in Teleport Homer meaning all bikes are mobile teleport homers for deathwing if you were to play a mixed list. This tactica is for pure ravenwing but it is worth mentioning. Also the typhoon missile launcher works like the old rules (heavy 1 blast thing). Ravenwing cannot take scout bikers (as its what is only in the Dark Angels Codex). ravenwing sergeants have a bolt pistol (or chainsword) so if given a powerweapon they get the +1 for two cc weapons. This is nice to think about aside from the standard powerfists everywhere with some sergeants. Also the Ravenwing cannot take a true command squad but can upgrade one squad to have a company standard and/or a apothecary which is really all you need. Also our Apothecary does not grant feel no pain but still works the old way (which I like). Also Sammael has rites of battle (which again is for a mixed army)

Alright one other key difference is that you have to Take Sammael to take a ravenwing army which is fine. He can be a Landspeeder with better front and side armor for shooting attacks only and twin linked heavy bolter and assault cannon or a Jetbike with a plasma cannon, twinlinked stormbolter, bolt pistol, Master crafted powersword, and mantle (to be immune to instant death) and iron halo. Both are BS of 5 and both are good options. It depends on your style and tactic. I like his jetbike as it is a jetbike and can just go over terrain and enemy models and has a plasma cannon which at BS 5 can be very accurate for a blast weapon and it helps deal with higher toughness or units with a good armor save.

Also the ravenwing land speeder support squadron can be a total of 5 strong as opposed to the 3 strong of the generic codex but can only have one weapon upgrade each unlike the generic codex. The troop choice is the attack squadron which total size is 6 bikes one attack bike and a landspeeder. These are the only options you have for a true ravenwing army so you need to make the most of them. And yes there is no attack bike squadron but that is alright you can deal fine as every troop choice can have 1 that deploys on its own.

Alright as with all outnumbered armies your going to have fewer models on the board which means fewer scoring units. The key to the ravenwing is mobility and knowing how and where to go. Being fast is good but you do not want to stretch yourself thin or get somewhere too early. What I mean is that you do not want to be sitting on an objective 3rd turn but move and turbo if necessary on turn 5. This is great because you can safely not hold any objective until the end and just pick apart an enemy that may have to start sitting on objectives early. Even mechanized lists have to get to objectives earlier then biker armies.

So what do you do? Well I suggest making use of both outflanking and scouting depending on mission and enemy of course. But I suggest at least having one unit in reserve to outflank or one unit on the board to scout (remember Sammael cannot scout and land speeder cannot scout). Also use the terrain to your advantage by speeding behind cover to get into position then next turn pushing out into an exposed area. It is important not to split your forces as you will not have the numbers but you can go for that feint as you have the speed to regroup behind the enemy.

I suggest always taking the apothecary upgrade and putting it with a squad that has to plasmaguns thus making them a little safer. As the banner has to go in the same squad I would only take it if you want to run the squad into assault. It is a nice banner but I prefer to keep that squad back shooting with the plasma (Remember bikes have the relentless rule) and moving closer to double tap exposed units to wipe them out. I also suggest that every attack bike that you have should take a multi melta as it costs no additional points for them and for 50 points you can take out land raiders.

Also the landspeeder squadrons should either be taken as one landspeeder with assaultcannon multi melta for take hunting or as a squad keeping the heavy bolter and taking the typhoon missile launcher as well to deal with hordes or as close to full size as possible with multi meltas to take out tanks.

So basically there tactics are similar to generic bikers. They have different strengths and weaknesses but are a very good biker army. Ravenwing armies are a bit smaller then generic biker armies to movement and maximizing your firepower is critical here (as with most outnumbered armies.. seeing a pattern here?).

That is it. eventually this will get a video supplement to help it out. Until then I will do the final installment focusing around the Deathwing. Take care.