Raider Rush and Jetbikes Revisited.

The new Dark Eldar codex is only a few weeks away, so I figured I would post a basic tactic using and army based around Raiders. For those of you who don't know Raiders are the basic transport for Dark Eldar. While they are very fragile, they are also very good at their job; getting units around quickly. Being open topped not only allows the units inside them to disembark and assault in the same turn, but also allow every model inside to fire. This combination of abilities means that Raider can quite effectively give you the ability to hit your opponent hard before they can hit you. The downside to the raider is that they are extremely fragile, so hitting your opponent first is not only a benefit, but a necessity.

They technique starts in the deployment phase. If you go first (like the game in the example) try to spread your units up into three even sections. On your left and right sides evenly distribute your assault units and shooting units in Raiders. This allows you to maneuver to either side equally well, and makes your intentions harder to read. In the center (if you can) you will place your mobile firebase, either Ravagers in my case, or whatever you prefer. I like disintegrators on Ravagers because they can shoot quite far to support either side of the board. Always place your vehicles in cover, even if you are deploying first, you never know when someone will steal the initiative. If you are going second you have an easier time of deploying, you can see your opponents formations and counter them. Just be sure to deploy out of line of sight where possible.


It is now up to you to assess your situation and decide where to attack. Since you are evenly distributed in your deployment zone you should be able to attack anywhere on their side of the board. In this game I saw that my opponent had a Devastator squad in the building to the left, and I wanted to have cover saves against it as long as possible. I also saw that there was a dreadnought on the other side, and I figured I could easily punch through the armor and leave an opening on that side of the board for my Raiders to safely occupy. The cover was also more advantageous for me to go to the right, as there was a lot in the way of those Devastators. Just look at every unit your opponent has and imagine what I like to call their "threat radius," or how far they can attack. Sometimes you want to head toward the units with the longest range because that means their advantage will be lessened, and sometimes this also leaves the short range units too far away to stop you. Move your Raiders on the side your attacking 12" out, if you think you don't need the extra speed or if you really need to fire the dark lances. The other side should make a full 24" move if possible to try and meet the rest of the army. The center firebase should try and soften up units that either can hurt your Raiders or that your units will be attacking next turn. The idea is that on turn two your entire army hits at the same time. This leaves your opponent with nothing to attack you with in the nearby area, so you are only left with a handful of attacks against your fragile units.

Nightshields gave me great protection this turn, and they have really helped in most of my games with the old codex. Flickerfields are an interesting choice in the new book that gives your vehicles a 5+ invulnerable save, but your should really be using cover to your advantage wherever possible (it's free and a 4+). Notice how the only Raiders that are not using cover are the ones that are facing almost all s4 shooting.

Turn 2 is when almost all your units should be hitting. Move your combat unit transports the full 12" hop out your 3" and get ready. Your Raiders with warriors should try and move only 6" if they can get into rapid-fire range and try and take down small targets or ones with low armor. Fleet and Assault if nessisary for your combat units making sure to pick appropriate targets for each. In this case my Incubi went for the terminators and Captain, while my Wyches attacked a regular tactical squad. My warriors shot down and killed a combat squad with help from a Ravager, and all the raiders combined to finish off the Dreadnought.

After both close combats I tried to consolidate into cover. This is especially important for the Wyches as they only have a 6+ armor save and are real powerhouses as long as you can keep them alive. Some fire will inevitably take down some of your units, but if you are lucky and pulled off the initial move correctly, they should not be much left in range (or in general).

That leaves you turn 3 to either finish up combats or sweep out whatever is left of your opponent. Move your units back into their transports if they are still alive and repeat.

Just be sure that every step of the way to try and keep your Raiders in cover. With only armor 10 they go down even to bolter fire so having that 4+ save helps immensely. Nightshields are your best friend, especially on Ravagers, who can then outshoot heavy bolters safely.

I hope this can get starting Dark Eldar players on their way to victory, as those first few games can sometimes be rough. More advanced tactical guides will follow in the next few days, but despite this being rather basic it works very effectively in most of the games you will probably play. Be sneaky, Dark Eldar don't win by brute strength, always try to outsmart your opponent, and know more about their army then they do. Knowledge is power!


Speaking of knowledge I played a game using the new codex just so I could see how the reworked Reaver Jetbikes perform. After taking them for a spin I am still rather torn. The game was against Tau, and while the swoop attack was great against Kroot who were out in the open because they thought they were far enough away (spearhead deployment) I have a feeling they I won't be facing a squad of Kroot out in the open in every game I play in the future. I ran with a unit of 7, in fact I pretty much just rewrote my old list so the bikes had blasters and a unit leader with an agonizer (no more s5 punisher...). My basic assessment is that they need to be turbo boosting every round to survive. I did everything with them; swooped, shot, and assaulted. Everything was lackluster except for the fly-by swoop attack. I can't see blasters for tank popping being too effective considering the 5+ armor. With blasters being a 1 per 3 jetbike choice it means your unit has to be fairly large to guarantee the vehicle kill, and that becomes cost prohibitive really quickly. In my next game I will try a completely bare 6 man unit with no upgrades whatsoever. Hopefully this will keep their cost down, and make sure they have a set focus of "just being annoying." My plan is to use them to harass small units, soften up targets that I plan to shoot or assault, and to use the 36" turbo-boost to park next to enemy units that are falling back. I can also see them being helpful in a Two-Wave game plan when having all your Raider units hit at once isn't possible.

Dark Eldar Spark

Well, Dark Eldar are on the horizon, and to say that I am excited would be a massive understatement.

I have been playing Dark Eldar for about as year and a half now, as a break from my Jetbike Eldar list. I must say that even for an old book, the army is really fun. Dark Eldar was the army that got me into Warhammer 40k, along with the Witch Hunters, so seeing them get a new book is awesome. Way back in the day I only played Fantasy, and I considered 40k to be a "lesser game." That all changed when I read an article in a White Dwarf where someone described the in-depth tactics and strategies on how to play Dark Eldar. I saw much more complexity in this game than I ever knew existed, and I was hooked.

I waited, and I waited for a new book with better models, because I just couldn't shell out the cash for those old hideous units. Last spring I got tired of waiting, so I started converting and working on my own models.

With the advent of a new Dark Eldary era upon us my efforts for converting have waned, because the new models are just spectacular.

All in all my raider-heavy list built for speed hasn't changed much at all except for the strength through pain special rule that will make my wyches and incubi much more resilient. The reworked units (pretty much everything else in the army) seem like they are in general much better and more viable and the new stuff looks cool too so hopefully there will be all sorts of different armies cropping up.

That isn't to say that everything is great, the book is an improvement to be sure, but there are some changes that I really question.

First off dark eldar jetbikes, no longer give +1 strength or a 4+ save, and HQs no longer get the option to be mounted on them. This one is a biggy, there is a HUGE drop in their battle effectiveness for the ability to turbo-boost 36" and do a weak flyby attack. I would expect a larger points drop for what they lost...pretty much the ability to kill things and not die when sneezed on. Turbo boosting that far is cool and all, but a 3+ cover can only get you so far, and I really don't see this unit being able to kill anything in close combat or shooting without dieing instantly.

The splinter rifle is still rapid fire, and warriors are still mediocre. Enough said here really, not a huge problem, as the army has plenty other ways to deal damage, but it would have been nice to give the basic warrior the option to be a light assault unit for fun. I will try new weapon loadouts on my warriors to see if I can get them to be more effective. Overall warriors continue to be pretty sub-par as a core unit compared to everything else in the game.

Hellions can pull independent characters out of units when they hit an run. This rule is pure fun, but I just don't see it being something that I would want to do every game. Since it is used as part of a hit-and-run move it just isn't that tactically sound. All I can see it being used for is to separate characters from a unit that gives them buffs or vice versa (like pulling a Weirdboy to lower his leadership from mob rule so he can't pass psychic tests).

Incubi squads can't have warriors in them anymore. Right now, I wound allocate on my Archon bodyguard like crazy, it really makes them the only unit in the book who can take a beating. Armor ignoring wounds can go to the warriors who have crap armor anyway, keeping those Incubi alive and kicking. Feel no Pain won't help this much, so it seems like Incubi will be less resilient in the new book for against people who really want them dead (which is everybody).'

Those are the big ones that rub me the wrong way, but overall I must say that new is good for the Dark Eldar.

Adepticon 2010

Well, the whole experience was just...Wow. The scale of this convention is just insane, and I must say, that despite my familiarity with other tournaments playing against 440 other people is just daunting. The day for us went really well, my teammates and I secretly decided to go for commander's heads rather than going for winning the tournament overall. The decision was made in part due to the fact that we were playing Speed Freak Orks. With all the mechanized armies (more on that later) we knew we would be hard pressed to deal with vehicles, since Ork really struggle against them. For those of you who don't know commander's heads is killing all your opponents team's HQs, while keeping yours alive. Our list was fast, our HQs were resilient, and we have some great killing power, so it seemed like a natural fit. We did pretty well in our goal, but one team actually got a perfect score. At the end of the day, after a grueling 17 hours of tournament gaming, we ended up in 20th place out of 110 teams. Considering we weren't even going for victories as our primary objective it was shocking to say the least.

Of the armies present at the tournament I would have to say (and this is no exaggeration) that at least half of them were mechanized Imperial Guard. Yes, all the armies from 40k were present, but seeing one army that was so clearly dominant was definitely a turnoff. Of the rest of the armies that were not mech guard, I would have to say that 90% of them were mechanized, and there was not a single army that I saw that had no vehicles at all. Yes, even Tyranid teams made themselves genestealer cults, "'Cause what Tyranids need are more Mech Guard." Having such cookie cutter lists dominate well over half of the armies was surely a turnoff, and I can only hope that it is a passing fad. I feel the whole situation has to do with what GW seems to do when certain units or upgrades are powerful/weak. It what I like to call the "Starcannon syndrome." The starcannon used to be the go-to weapon for eldar players back in 3rd edition, it was cheap and effective with its 3 ap2 shots. When the 4th edition codex came out, however, the starcannon not only lost one of its shots, but when up in points as well. This was a double hit in its effectiveness, and now starcannons are rarely taken. GW has done the reverse with vehicles (and specifically transports) in 5th edition. Not only did all vehicles become tougher, but they are becoming cheaper as well. Chimeras (which are the go-to vehicles right above Vendettas) dropped in 20 points over their 3rd edition counterparts, got tougher, got free upgrades, and became more effective with their fire points...what...the...heck... Seeing team after team with 6 or more chimeras and at least 2 vendettas got old fast.

In the end despite the IG, it was definitely a positive experience. All but one team were great sports and a real blast to play against. I look forward to playing more games in my shop with my own army against people who like to think for themselves.

More coverage on my (and my team's) tournament lists, and some pictures as well. After that I may start working on my Eldar Vampire Hunter.

Where have I been?

Wow, it has been almost a year since I have posted here. It has been way too long. Well I will fix that right now!

I am gearing up for Adepticon with my Orks. Orks? Those sound too unruly and imprecise for your tastes, you might say. Well yes, but I think I will have fun in the team tournament with my friends, and thats what it is all about. I will post pictures of my massive 'Ard Boy conversions, which are took the bulk of my prep time. I will be pressing it close to finish painting in time, but I think I can do it.

Strike Force testing has begun

So a game today, and it wasn't a massacre(I won 4/5kp to 2/6)! That's always a pleasant change. I'll admit, in hindsight, I deployed poorly, but I managed to get out of it with sheer firepower and using Vypers as shields against assault.

I continue to chug away at my Sisters of Battle, repainting well over half of my army. I sure hope I can get them done in time, as I am a rather slow painter.

On to the real meat of this post, Warhammer 40k: Strike Force. It went over really well today, everyone liked it quite a bit. I feel confident enough that my whole two viewers can look at it.
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Warhammer 40k: Strike Force (version 0.31)

List Building Changes and Restrictions

Armies will be made up to 300-500 points with the modified force organization chart below. Minimum unit sizes have been changed to 3 for 25mm (infantry) bases and 2 for 40mm (terminator) bases. No unit or single model may be more than 120 points or have more than 10 models. No units of vehicles or bikes are allowed. Only 1 vehicle may have more than 33 Armor when all sides are added together. No model may have a 2+ save or have more than 2 wounds. No special characters are allowed. No Ordinance or “Large Blast” weapons. One model in your list that is either an HQ choice or a unit leader must be designated as your “Strike Force” leader.

0-1 HQ

0-3 Troops

0-1 Elites

0-1 Fast Attack

0-1 Heavy Support

0-1 Floater choice that can be Troops, Elites, or Heavy Support.

Gameplay Changes

These are elite forces who know their mission is dire. To represent this the following changes to the 40k rules have been made. The morale check for suffering 25% casualties from shooting has been removed. Any non-vehicle unit may claim objectives, not just troops.

Missions

Mission 1: Collect supplies

Turn Limit: none

Goal: First to claim 6 objective counters

Deployment: Short Board Edges

Terrain: Heavy (50-75%)

The war is costly, and you must send out small forces to gather supplies from nearby. There are 9 loot counters placed on the board. The first counter is placed in the center and each player gets 4 counters that they can place on the board alternating between them. No counter can be any deployment zone, and no counter can be within 12” of any other counter. If any unit ends its movement in base contact with a counter it is claimed for that player. The counters remain claimed until an opponent’s model moves in base contact.

Mission 2: Assassinate

Turn Limit: 10

Goal: Kill the enemy’s Strike Force Leader

Deployment: Short Board Edges

Terrain: Heavy (50-75%)

You must strike a decisive blow by killing the enemy’s Strike Force leader. The first player to assassinate their opponent’s Strike Force Leader is the winner. If at the end of 10 turns no one is able to win the game is a draw. Strike Force Leaders may not use Silent Strike in this mission.

Mission 3: Recon

Turn Limit: none

Goal: To get your units off your opponent’s board edge, while stopping your opponent

Deployment: 4x4 table

Terrain: Heavy (50-75%)

Opposing army’s recon units stumble across each other in the dark. They struggle to get back to base as quickly as possible without letting their enemies do the same. This is a night fight mission. The game ends when one army only has 1/3^rd of their units left on the board. The winner is the one with the most units off their opponent’s board edge.

Mission 4: Destination

Turn Limit: 10

Goal: Get your Strike Force Leader to a target on the board or stop them from doing so

Deployment: Short Board Edges

Terrain: Medium (25-50%)

You have the coordinates for your mission, but will you make it in time? One player is chosen to be the defender for this mission. It is their goal to stop the opposing Strike Force Leader from getting to the destination point. The attacker for the scenario is trying to get their leader to the destination point and remain there for 2 consecutive turns (to send a secret message, seek divine guidance, perform a ritual, etc.). The destination point is chosen by placing a marker in the center of the board and rolling the scatter dice. Move the marker 3d6” in the direction of the arrow, or half that distance if a hit is rolled. The defender then may choose to deploy one of his units within 6” of the marker before normal deployment.

Mission 5: Ambush

Turn Limit: 6

Goal: To wipe out your opponent’s force

Deployment: 4x4 (Special)

Terrain: Heavy (50-75%)

You lie in wait for the signal to strike… what was that sound? Have the hunters become the hunted?

This mission has an attacker and a defender. At the start of deployment the defender places one of his units in the center of the board. The attacker then places all of his units as though they have the infiltrate USR. After the Attacker has finished deploying the defender then places each of his units one at a time depending on a d6 (+1 if the unit has scout). On a roll of 1-5 the defender must place the unit within 4” of one of his other units. On a roll of 6 the unit may be placed anywhere on the board, even as close as 1” to an enemy unit. After all the units have been placed the defender rolls a d6 for each unit that he was allowed to place anywhere and adds those numbers together. On a 6+ the defender gets first turn, otherwise the attacker gets first turn. The attacker wins if he kills all the defender’s units, the defender wins if half or more of his units are left, and it is a tie if over half are destroyed.

Missions 6: Disaster

Turn Limit: None

Goal: Survive

Deployment: 4x4 table

Terrain: Medium (25-50%)

Your strike force is left out in the open during a horrible disaster (Exterminatus, volcanic activity, etc.). In your hurried rush to get back to safety you come across a small enemy force. After setting up terrain roll a d3, +1 for each other player. The players then take turn placing disaster tokens on the board within 12” of the board edge, but not within 3” of a deployment zone, or 12” of another token. Each token represents a 3” area that causes Instant Death to any model ending it’s movement there. At the start of each turn after the first roll a d3 and each disaster area increases by the amount rolled. Any terrain piece touched by any disaster area is considered dangerous terrain. The game continues until one player has no models left.

Special Orders

Units can perform special orders if they have a unit leader. Units may also perform a special order if they are within 12” of the Strike Force leader even if they do not have a unit leader. To perform a special order declare which one you wish to use and you must pass a leadership check using your unit leaders Ld or the Strike Force leader’s Ld if you are in 12”.

Charge

Unit gains the Fleet USR but must move in a straight line and may not move through difficult terrain. Units with fleet get to roll 2d6 and pick the highest.

Suppression Fire

Any unit that is equipped with a ranged weapon that did not move in the movement phase may chose to provide suppression fire. If any of the shots hit the enemy unit must take a pinning test. If passed the unit is not pinned, but moves as if through difficult terrain in their next movement phase only rolling 1d6 instead of 2d6. Only a maximum of one wound may be caused from suppression fire.

Advance

Unit may move 4” in the movement phase regardless of difficult terrain, but may not run or assault.

Overwatch

The unit may make its normal shooting attack during the opponent’s turn instead of its own. The unit may not have shoot in their own shooting phase. At any time during the following player turn declare that you are firing and the opponent must immediately pause his turn and resolve your shooting attack. For instance, Overwatch allows you to shoot at a unit that has just moved, but has yet to make its own shooting or assault actions. Overwatch can also be used to stop an opponent mid-move if you desire. Using Overwatch in this fashion incurs a -1 to hit. This accounts for the enemy darting from cover to cover and you trying to hit a moving target as they are out in the open.

Silent Strike

The unit must have the infiltrate USR. At the start of their movement phase the unit may be removed from the table, as they go into hiding. In any subsequent movement phase the unit can be placed back on the board within 12” from where they were remove and may then shoot and assault as normal.

Army Specific Rules

Chaos Daemons

One HQ choice does not give you two heralds. Units within 6” of a Chaos Icon may perform orders as if they were within 12” of the Strike Force leader.

Chaos Space Marines

No Gift of Chaos psychic power.

Daemonhunters

No Holocaust psychic power.

Dark Eldar

Mandrakes are considered to have the Infiltrate USR for purposes of Silent Strike.

Eldar

A single Warlock may be fielded as an Independent Character for an HQ choice.

Imperial Guard

Units within 6” of a vox caster can perform orders as if they were within 12” of the Strike Force leader.

Necrons

There is no phase out. Nominate one model with the Necron Special rule as your leader. Necrons have the “Arced Consciousness” special rule. Arced Consciousness: The SF leader projects his 12” order radius as normal, and any unit partially or wholly within this radius then in turn projects an order radius of 6”

Orks

Boyz may have a single special weapon as long as they are over 5 models. Lootas and Burnas may only have 1 Mek per 5. The following are considered unit leaders for Orks: Nobs, Mekboys, Runtherds.

Space Marines

Space Marines may not use the Combat Squads special rule (just buy lots of little squads). Any unit other than Devastators may have 1 special weapon if they number 5 models or higher. Devastators may have one weapon per squad member up to their normal maximum even if they do not meet the normal codex squad size requirements. The Gate of Infinity psychic power is not allowed.

Tyranids

Any unit in synapse range may use special orders.

Witch Hunters

No Hammer of the Witches psychic power. Acts of Faith are performed by passing a leadership check rather than rolling against the number of models in the squad.

Copyright Joseph Page 2009
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Of course feel free to comment on any questions or concerns. Any other suggestions for missions, or special orders are also appreciated. I intend for this to eventually be a campaign game of 3 different sizes, so even if I don't use the missions for the small recon-style games they may work in the medium and large scale games.

Sisters Pictures, and a hint of things to come

Ask and you will receive.

Here are some pictures of a few things in my SoB army. I'll try and get a group pictures together later.


In the mean time I started working on a 40k skirmish game like Warbands for Warhammer Fantasy. The rules are in their second wave, and Beta testing has just started (I already found things I need to tweak). This will probably be an ongoing work in progress. More testing will go on tomorrow, so I'll let you guys know how it goes. If I am happy enough with it I'll post it up here.

Rhino

A bit of work on the rhino. Got the armor to a passable level. I am going to work on the skin and wings before I go any further with the armor. I want to look at the piece as a whole and make decisions about how the whole thing meshes together. I already know I want to go back and fix the linen on those cherubs.