Battle Royale! update 1

So. Circumstances have dictated that this is no longer really a battle royale (not that it was to begin with, technically...) and will just be me vs Reds @ 1.5K. I will be taking marines as a codex chapter. Reds will use whatever list he's brewing in the cauldron in his basement...

Wish me luck!

You've been a bad boy, Trooper!

So, I have recently been making a lot of lists with Penal Legionnaires, and finding them to be very resourcful, though not to be relied on in full. Their Desperado ablities make them perfect for outflanking roles of most types, and being Stubborn, they rarely retreat in close combat, especially with Leadership 8.

And do you want to know some nasty tricks I found with them? Of course you do! That's why you follow this blog - to learn nasty I.G tricks and listen to me, Reds and Requiem rant on our most favourite army in the whole game!


So, as you know, the Penal Legionnaires can get 1 of 3 abilities:

Assault 2 Lasguns from being Gunslingers, Rending and an addition CCW from Knife Fighters, or Fleet, Furous Charge and Counter Attack from being Psychopaths. These are all very good abilities, though I have found less use for the Gunslingers ability.

First off, if you roll Psychopaths or Knife Fighters, put a Munitorum Priest in with them armed with an Eviscerator. This will allow you to outflank with a Strength 6, no armour saves allowed, extra d6 for armour penetration weapon, which in my book, is always a good thing.

Oh yea, and did I mention they can re-roll missed attacks in close combat?

A Test:

I have 9 Legionnaires, a Custodian, and a Priest. I roll a 5 and they have Rending and extra melee weapons.
My target: a Space Marine Devastator squad set up on my left side of the board.

So, I roll for reserves, and to my gratitude, they arrive on whichever side I want them to arrive on (a roll of 5 or 6). Keep in mind, this will not always happen, so you must be careful, and lucky.

Because you can assault immediatly after arriving via outflank, I move them up to the Devastators as close as I can. I might fire the Custodian's laspistol, but I don't expect it to really do anything.

The following rolls have actually been rolled. They are not the material of Math Hammer at all, but my own dice rolled on my computer desk.

I charge. The marines attack first. There are 5 of them, and the sergeant has a bolter, not a pistol and sword.
Marine Attacks:
to Hit: 5 hits
to Wound: 5 wounds
my Saves: 3/5
End: I have suffered 2 casualties

My Attacks (Legionnaires):
to Hit: 10
W/ Re-Rolls: 15 total
to Wound: 3 Rending, 3 wounds
Marine Saves: 2/3
End Result: I have killed 4 Devastators

The Custodian:
attacked 4 times, hit twice, wounded once, no kill

The Priest:
to Hit: 3
to Wound: 3 wounds
No Saves Allowed

So, if the squad was larger, I would have killed 7 MEQ's with only 9 Guardsmen. A very good bargain, I believe.


If you want to be very mean with your Rending Legionnaires, get Colonel Iron Hand Straken nearby, or use Creed to issue the order "For the Honour of Cadia", thus giving your Knife Fighters Furous Charge and Counter Attack, or Furous Charge and Fearless USR's.

Those are the dirty tricks I know and have used to great effect. I hope they aid you in slaying yoru enemies quickly and efficiently

News bits

This just in from BOLS.

GW has released some IG exclusive stratagems for Cities of Death, which you can find here.

Also, pics of the new Hellhound, Banewolf, and Devildog, which can be found here.

Still working on that SW article, so watch out for that tomorrow or Monday.

Reds

Blog Donations

NobleWolves has provided us with a list using the advice from his previous article. Here it is.

Double Up and Crush Them 2000 pt.
HQ
Command Squad
Bolter
Vox
Medi-Kit
Plasmagun
Chimera
Master of Ordnance
Astropath
Total: 217

Troops Platoon Hammer, 45 (Two 20-man combined squads, Platoon Command)
(C) Vox
(C) 3 Flamers
(S) 4 Flamers
(S) 2 Vox
(S) 2 Commissars
(Com) 2 Power Wep.
Total: 370

Platoon Anvil, 25 (Two 10-man squads, Platoon Command, 2 HW squads)
(C) Vox
(C) 3 GL
(S) 2 GL
(S) 2 Vox
(S) 2 Autocannons
Autocannon HW Squad
Autocannon HW Squad
Total: 340

Elites
Ratlings, 6 Total: 60
Ratlings, 6 Total: 60

Fast Attack
Scout Sentinels, 3
3 Lascannons
Total: 150

Scout Sentinels, 3
3 Lascannons
Total: 150

Heavy Support
Leman Russ Squadron, 2
2 Heavy Stubbers
Total: 320

Leman Russ Squadron, 2
2 Lascannons
Total: 330Points

Summary: HQ: 217 Troops: 710 Elites: 120 Fast Attack: 300 Heavy Support: 650
KP: 15
Scoring: 8
Infantry: 97
Vehicles: 11
Total Points: 1997

Da Kunnin' Plan: This list has a little bit of everything for everybody. You've got outflanking tankhunting Sentinels aided by an Astropath, 12 snipers, 5 big pie plates per turn, Commissars with power weapons, and more Autocannons, Grenade Launchers, and Flamers than you can shake a lho stick at. Using the Hammer and Anvil technique, the Hammer platoon and the tanks move up the board, delivering a good whallop to the Enemy while the Snipers and Anvil platoon remain behind to hold main ground. Then the Sentinels come in to deliver the killing blow to any armor or Terminator-equivalent.

There you go guys. Enjoy!

A Mad Scheme....

I just had a rather mad thought, inspired by Aceblitzkrieg's comment in the below post.

I'm hoping to get as many people from the IGMB together as possible some time in July or August for a Meet and Greet/ Grand Battle. Details are a very sketchy at this point, but it would probably be for 1 day, and would take place either in Northern VA or Southern Maryland. It's open to non IGMB members and non IG armies, though.

Here's the original thread...
http://commissar.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=General&thread=6781&page=1

If you're interested, post a comment below, in the thread, or shoot me a PM

Reds

Battle Royale!

I've agreed to do something very brave (or foolish). On June 7th, real life permitting, I will travel through the Warp that is the VA roadways, and do battle against the combined forces of Reds' and Aeon's IG with my Space Marines. I've not yet decided if I will be fielding them as vanilla or Blood Angels. Expect updates sporadically until the fated day arrives...

Rolling out the fire support.

Hey guys. I wanted to talk a bit about Heavy Weapons today.

Since the new Codex, there's been a lot of talk about what Heavy Weapons to take, which are better, etc. I'm going to try and break the choices down for you, give you the reason for each ranking, and talk about how to maximize their effectiveness.

In my opinion, here's the ranking of each HW, based on effectiveness.
1. Missile Launcher
2. Heavy Bolter
3. Autocannon
4. Lascannon
5. Mortar


Missile Launcher: This should be one of the staples of your line. It's a good, cheap, all purpose AT weapon, and can crunch MEQs quite nicely. It also has the ability to fire a Frag Template, meaning you can use it as an Anti-Infantry weapon if you need to, which is why it noses out the Heavy Bolter for the top spot. There ares ome problems, though. It does struggle with AV 13, and it can only glance AV 14 at best. Thos Frag Rounds I mentioned can kill infantry, but they're not the best at it, and should only be used in that role if there are no other targets, or you NEED to kill an infantry squad. Also, with only 1 shot per round, it's susceptible to the Guard's BS 3.

Tips for effective use: Always try to put these guys in an HW section, instead of in squads. It does make them a little more vulnerable, but you put three shots into the target in a single volley. That means you don't have to waste the shooting of three infantry squads, and it helps to balance out the BS 3. Also, combined with the "Bring it Down!" order, you can make them Twin Linked, which means you'll get at least 2 hits, if not all 3. Also, remember that Missile Launchers are good against top and side armour. Taking two sections, and placing them on both flanks, especially high up, means the enemy will be hard pressed to deny you a shot at the side armour of his tanks.

Heavy Bolter: If you want infantry dead, take the Heavy Bolter. It's got decent strength, good AP, and puts out a lot of shots. It's also cheap as hell. It can rough up Trukks and light vehicles, but you really should be using it to kill enemy squads. It's perfect for fighting IG, Nids, Orks, Tau, and can even make MEQs sweat, due to the sheer number of armour saves. The Str 5 does hurt it a little against Orks and MEQs, and can't do jack against heavy vehicles, though.

Tips for effective use: This is the perfect weapon for basic infantry squads, since they excel at anit infantry (if you're using your basic infantry with Plasma or Meltas, you're making a mistake, and we need to talk). HBs will magnify their squad killing power, and those 3 shots go a long way toward canceling out the BS 3. Issuing "FRF, SRF" or "Fire on my target!" to the squad makes them even better, as they can slaughter a whole enemy squad in a single volley. Don't bother using HBs against any armour though. MLs are better at it.

Autocannons: I'm going to catch some flak for saying this, but Autocannons are simply not as useful as HBs. They do fine against high toughness enemies, like the bigger Nids, and can slaughter Rhinos and other APCs, but they don't do as well against basic infantry compared to the HB, because they put out less shots (Remember, BS 3 means you'll only get 1 hit on average), and they don't do well against medium and heavy vehicles, simply because they need a 6 to penetrate AV 12 and glance AV 13.

Tips for effective use: Take Autocannons when you know you'll be facing light vehicles, or small groups of high Toughness enemies, like Tyranid Warriors. Always take them in an HW Squad, too. Since you're only hitting half the time, you can still put a decent amount of shots on the target, guaranteeing at least 1 wound or penetrating hit. Also, Vets with 3 Grenade Launchers and an Autocannon are great for ripping apart high Toughness targets, but never take more then one squad of them (or it would be too expensive). "Bring it Down!" and "Fire on my Target" are both good when used with AC Sections.

Lascannons: These are okay for dealing with heavy and medium armour and killing really tough targets, like Monstrous Creatures. That said, they're much more expensive than the Missile Launcher, and you only gain +1 to Strength and AP. They still have a hard time dealing with AV 14, so they can't always cope with Russes and Land Raiders (in fact, giving an SW Squad 3 Demo charges is cheaper, and you have a better chance of killing the target). They also have only one shot. While this is a minor annoyance for the Missile Launcher, it's a real pain for the LC, considering what you're paying for it.

Tips for effective use: Take them in an HW Section, and only take section in the army. A Vanquisher is actually a better choice for killing Land Raiders and Russes, but an additional Lascannon section never hurts. Have them hit side armour wherever possible, and use them to snipe the toughest targets facing you. Some people also like to use them for hunting Termies, but Meltas and Plasma are better for that, simply because they're more mobile.

Mortars: These are the problem children of the HW family. You need to take a lot of them for them to be effective, they have low Strength and AP, and are fairly inaccurate. They do use the Barrage rule, which helps, and are good against tightly grouped IG and Nids, since they deny them a cover save, and force them to rely on a 5+ armour save. They're decent against Orks, but against Tau (who will get a 4+ save from their armour even if they lose a cover save) and MEQs (3+ save), they're pretty worthless.

Tips for effective use: Take two HW sections, and hide them. Use them to hit gunlines or mobs of fragile units.

There you go. I plan on covering Special Weapons soon, too.

Reds

Blog Donation Part 3: The Search for Part 2

Hey all. Today, we've got another article by "TheNobleWolves". He's written an in-depth article on how to build IG lists for those of you who are new to the hobby or the Guard.

"And another little blog donation. This time, the subject is on list-building for those who are new to the hobby.

My father always said a list of pros and cons is the best way to start out, so let's take his fatherly advice:

IMPERIAL GUARD-Pros:
- A massive amount of cheap infantry.- Can field an equally massive amount of heavy and special weapons.
- No army can throw out the volume of fire like an Imperial Guard army
- The best all-round tank in the game, the Leman Russ chassis.
- Our new elite choices can actually do something
- Powerful characters.

Cons:
- Guardsmen are statistically pathetic.
- We need volume of fire to compensate for our crappy Ballistic Skill
- Our elites still can't compete with the Elites of most other armies
- The new codex throws so many options at us that list-building now seems like a chore (the "Its New So I Should Take It" syndrome)

So there we have it. Based on these Pros and Cons, any list that we make should be based on a majority of the following principles:

1. There are three types of armies you should base your force around: Airborne Drop armies with a lot of Valkyries; Armored Forces with a lot of tanks; or Infantry Companies with a lot of basic Guardsmen. No matter what it is, the mantra should be: TAKE A LOT!
2. No matter what army you take, remember when kitting them out: less is more. No other army, save perhaps Chaos, has as many kit options as the Imperial Guard. It can be tempting to load down an individual unit with a massive amount of kit, but that can be expensive and can lead to 'waste kit'- kit that, for some reason or another, is never used.- Example: Vendettas should never be used in a transport-primary role. Why? When zooming around the map delivering their payload, 66% of their lascannon payload can't be fired. That 40-50 pts. doing NOTHING.
3. ALWAYS compensate for a Guardsman's crappy ballistic skill. There are two ways you can do this: template/blast weapons, and redundancy.
-Template: These weapons will ALWAYS hit, no matter what. Heavy/Flamers will be your primary dispenser of these babies, so give them to troops you'll have on the front line
-Blast: These weapons will always get on the board, but because of scatter will sometimes miss. So many weapons are small/large blast that it'd take too long. For your troops, Grenade Launchers/Mortars will be your primary blast dispensers.
-Redundancy: BoLS's Goatboy is big on redundancy, and I'm also a follower. Whenever you take ANYthing, always take another. Not only will you be able to concentrate fire better (and thusly have more shots land) but you'll have doubled its survival chances by giving the enemy 2 things at which to shoot.
4. Never build a list around a certain unit. The Imperial Guard are renowned for being one of the few armies without a certain 'linchpin' unit. Kill our tanks and you still have our infantry to deal with. Pin our infantry and our artillery will get you. So and so forth.
5. The basic Guard strategy is the Hammer and Anvil technique- one portion of the army remains stationary to hammer away with heavy weapons(Anvil) while another, more mobile section sallies forth to meet the enemy head-on (Hammer). Keep this in mind when building a list, as well.


There you go guys. Wolves has promised me a list illustrating these concepts, so watch out for that in the future. Also, be sure to check out his blog, The General Critic, here.

Reds

It's a trap!

Hey guys. I wanted to talk about something that's been bothering me lately.

Veterans

Now, I know these guys are awesome. Packing 3 Special Weapons and possibly a Heavy Weapon, hitting on 3+, and with the ability to get a Demo charge, a 4+ armour save, or a 3+ cover save, and counting as a troop choice, it's hard to resist the temptation to pack your army list full of these guys. After all, what's cooler then having an army made up of some of the best, most experienced troopers in the Imperial Guard? Also, since GW has repackaged the Cadian and Catachan troopers so you only get 10, Veterans are a very attractive choice for those starting out, or people who don't want to spend too much.

There is a downside, though. Several, in fact. They are too few and too expensive to make a good core for your army, and other units can do that job for less. For instance, a Veteran Squad with 3 Plasma Guns and Carapace will set you back 145pts. For 120pts, you can get a Platoon HQ with 3 Plasma guns, give the officer a Plasma Pistol, and have a medic backing them up. Yes, they may hit a little less often, but they have a better chance of surviving a plasma overheat (5+ armour AND Feel No Pain, as opposed to just a 4+ armour save), and you save 25pts, which you can use elsewhere.

Another example are "Dakka Vets". These are Vet Squads with 3 Grenade Launchers (or sometimes Sniper Rifles), a Heavy Weapon like an Autocannon, and Camo Cloaks. People will often take tow or three squads of these as a gunline. Well, each of those squads is 125pts, so three of them would cost 375pts. For the same cost, you could get 5 Infantry Squads with Grenade Launchers and Heavy Bolters, and a Platoon HQ with 4 Grenade Launchers. Not only is this another 25 men to absorb hits and put out shots, but you still get the same number of Grenade Launcher shots, 6 more Heavy Bolter shots, and more troop choices to grab objectives. Again, you aren't hitting quite as much, but you have a lot more shots, which makes up for it (and then some). You also have a 4+ cover save instead of a 3+, but, again, it's better to have 55 more men with a slightly worse cover save, then just 30 with a slightly better one.

A good example of this is when I fought Aeon this past weekend. He took 2 Squads of Dakka Vets for a core gunline, I took a full platoon. He had lost almost all of his gunline buy the top of turn 2, and I had yet to take a single casualty.

Here are a few things you SHOULD NOT do with your Veterans

-Use them as a gunline: Infantry platoons are much better at this simply because they're designed for it. They can take up to 5 HW Sections, instead of the single Team that Vets can, they have more bodies to absorb fire, and the Platoon HQ is great for taking Flamers for a counter charge unit, or Plasma to mess up so MEQs

-Do not stack upgrades unless you need to: Try not to take more then one of the three upgrade options unless you need to. Take Carapace if your Vets have Plasma Guns (and they should only if your Platoon HQ is being used for something else), Demolitions if they're going tank hunting or dropping out of Valks, and cam Cloaks if they're grabbing objectives. Try not to mix these roles unless you absolutely have to.

-Have more Vet Squads then Infantry Platoons: There are obviously going to be exceptions to this, but I find a good rule of thumb is to have 1 Vet Squad for every Platoon (even if it's only 25 men).

-Take only Veterans: This builds is related to what I just said about the Platoon/Vet ratio, but it's important enough to repeat. If you only take Veterans, you will have about the same number of men on the table that a Marine player does, and your Vets are nowhere NEAR as good as a Tac squad. They are not Marines, and there is no reason to have them cost as much, ever, because they cannot be as good. Marine Players will have a 3+ armour save and a 4+ cover save (if they're smart) to keep them in action. Your Vets,depending on how you upgrade them, will have a 4+ and 4+, or a 5+ and 3+ (If you've given them a 4+ and 3+, smack yourself with your codex and swap them out for a 25 man Infantry Platoon).

The upshot of all this is that you have less men, like Marines, who aren't that durable, unlike Marines. You'll be shot apart by Gunline Armies, squashed flat by Mech Armies, and ripped to shreds by Horde Armies if their commanders are half decent.

So there you have it. Be careful with how you use Vets, and remember; Cool is not the same as Effective.

Reds

Blog Brawl!

Okay, the game is over, the dust has settled, and the blood has been spilled.

I hereby claim victory for the Tarrian 5th Assault Corps!

You can read about the game here.

Reds

My Guy's Cooler than Your Guy

At last – the Elites choices. These are the expensive and/or super-effective units. Whether or not they’re effective for you depends upon your play style.

Ogryns:
Ah, the lovable, cuddly ogryns. Er, wait. Maybe that’s not the best description. Anyway, this is the hard-hitting assault choice to make others tremble. They can shot decently too. They’re really expensive – they start as a group of only three, and each addition might choke your points wallet a bit. However, they’re three wound cc oriented guys with furious charge and stubborn. If you don’t care about points, and you want the ultimate cc unit, stick Yarrick in a squad of five of these guys in a chimera with two heavy flamers. The only real drawback to these guys, other than their cost, is that they’re a slow moving bullet magnet. They take up two slots in a vehicle and can’t ride the Valkyrie, so for a large group you’ll have to make them walk. Keep them protected. Thenoblewolves has a good tactica thread complete with pictures, here.
Ogryns’ score: 8/10

Ratlings:
Space hobbits. Angry ones. If ogryns are cuddly, these guys look like they might stab you in the eye for a Klondike bar. These are the snipers of the Guard. They’re really cheap for what they do, actually – a bs4 means they benefited from the new sniper rules in 5th edition, while bs3 got nerfed. If you want snipers, use these guys. They have infiltrate and scout, so stick ‘em on the table in some nice cover and start popin’ caps all over. Never, never, never let them get into cc, as they have ws2 and no second cc weapon. Personally, I’m going to use Space Marine scouts as a stand-in here – there’ll be no hobbits in my army.
Ratlings’ score: 7.5/10

Psyker Battle Squad:
Do you trust psykers? If you do, these guys are definitely the choice for you. Fairly cheap for the amount of cheese tactics that can be done with them – I’m not going to go into all of that here, there’s too much and you can find stuff all over the IGMB. The entire squad (four or nine psykers and an overseer) counts as a single unit for using powers. LoS can be drawn from any of them for power resolution. If a perils of the warp test is failed, then the overseer executes d3 of them. If the overseer’s been killed, then the whole squad suffers from the perils of the warp attack (eep!). Soulstorm is a psychic shooting attack whose strength is equal to the number of sanctioned psykers in the squad (so up to nine). The ap is d6, so there’s potential for awesomeness there. It’s an assault, large blast, so you can fire this out the hatch on a chimera. Weaken resolve is another shooting (kinda) power. It lowers the Ld of an enemy unit by the number of sanctioned psykers (to a minimum of two) for the remainder of the turn. They can take their own chimera, and I advise they do.
Psykers’ score: 8/10

Storm Troopers:
I don’t know what to say about them. The hellguns (now ‘hot-shot lasgun’) got the universally desired boost to ap. Now at ap3, they can punch trough power armor. But like a backhand to the face, they stayed s3 – anything that gets a 3+ armor save can laugh at small amounts of s3 fire. Lasguns work by volume of fire. Considering that stormies are now the same price as a Space Marine, it’s not likely you’ll be fielding 30 of them. The hellguns also had their range docked to 18 inches, and the hellpistol to six. Obviously they’re intended to charge after shooting a bit, right? Not so much – same cc stats (except for 4+ armor save) as a regular guardsman means it’s a waste to throw a small unit into cc, unless they outnumber the foe. They can deep strike, and they get some fancy special operations rules. Before deployment you get to choose one of these ‘missions:’ Reconnaissance, Airborne Assault, or Behind Enemy Lines. Recon gives them scouts and move through cover. Air assault lets them re-roll the scatter dice when deep striking. Behind enemy lines gives them infiltrate and gives their weapons pinning the first time they fire. Of course, for pinning to be useful, you need to cause an unsaved wound – and then the enemy needs to fail a pinning test… They can take a dedicated chimera, but why do that, when you can stick them in a Valkyrie/Vendetta?
Storm troopers’ score: 7/10 (until I use them, and decide I still like them)

Sly Marbo:
I wonder if Sylvester Stallone plays 40K… Anyway, this guy is too complex and Reds has already touched on him a bit. We’ll come back to him after a bit of play testing. My current opinion is that he could be a game winner. While trying to fall asleep on night, I was doing some derivation/probability in my head (I’m sick, I know) and came to the conclusion that he has a little less than 10% chance to kill himself with his demo charge (I could be wrong, it was just head math – regardless, it’s not a high likelihood). He’s got a mess of cool toys and rules, and stats to make his a beast. As I said, we’ll get back to him in detail later.
Marbo’s score: ?

Blog Brawl

This is just a quick update. Aeon and I will be playing a game this weekend, if all goes well, and I intend to post a Battle Report after we're finished. I'm hoping that this will be an ongoing feature, where Aeon and I, and perhaps Reqiuem, duke it out over the game table to win bragging rights.

Anyway, I'll be back tomorrow with some thoughts on using your HQ.

Reds

Regiment Types (Air Cavalry)

Okay guys, thank you for being patient at our lack of updates. Crazy weekend, I went to Games Day (pics will be up later). But, I made a commitment to the Blog, so here's yet another instalment to Air Cavalry for you all!

Issue #3 - Air Cavalry

Air Cavalry:
What is an Air Cavalry army? Well, it's a type of army only available to Imperial Guard in non-apocalypse games at this point, thanks to the introduction of the Valkyrie into our new codex. Air Cavalry is fast, decisive, hard hitting, but lightly armed. They strike lethaly at the most important points in an enemy's army, and cannot hold their own in attritional or siege warfare. They are good for players who like rapidly moving armies consisting of fewer troops but dish out a lot of hurt in a short amount of time.

Units you Need:

• Veterans
• Storm Troopers
• Valkyries
• Vendetta's

Units to stay away from:

• Rough Riders
• Regular Infantry Platoons
• Conscripts
• Ogryns
• Leman Russ Tanks
• Artillery Tanks

Units in between:

• Ratlings
• Sentinels
• Commissars
• Psykers
• Hellhound and variants

Organization:

An Air Cavalry, commonly refered to as Air Cav., is far smaller than a regular Guard company or regiment. They are usually more elite, equipped with better armour, and fight in a different way than regular Guard armies.

Your only troops choice should be veterans, and give them Carapace armour and/or demolition charges when possible. The Demolition charge is the Air Cavalry's best friend, because it can be thrown upon disembarking from a Valkyrie or Vendetta, and it's got the power of a Battle cannon shell that punches through Terminator armour in it. Obviously, there is the danger of it backfiring, but that's a risk you might just have to take.

Storm troopers are you best friend - their hellguns, or hot-shot lasguns as many new Guard players will learn to call them, are the best anti-MEQ basic weapon in our army. Sure, they're weak, but up close, you get a lot of shots with them, and they ignore power armour. Storm troopers also get to re-roll the scatter die when deep striking, making them very valuable for deploying from a Valkyrie or Vendetta via grav-chute insertion.

Army List Recommendations:

To start out your Air Cavalry force, you'll need, of course, your two complulsery troops choices and your H.Q. These will be a command squad and a pair of veteran squads, but you must remember - for an Air Cavalry unit, veterans are you basic troops, but with better training. They are not like Catachan Devils, with extra equipment, battle scars, and cool conversion work, though you may do this if you like. You should probaby just make regular painted guardsmen for these guys, though obviously you might want to give them grav-chutes or something. It's up to you.

After you get those, your wallet is really going to drain - you must get 3 Valkyries. These are the start of your Air Cavlary even more so than the infantry, because it's how you move quickly, and in the case of the Vendetta, kill enemy tanks. The Vendetta is great for this, because of its payload of powerful missiles with long range, and its twin linked lascannons.

Nasty Tricks:

The Air Cavalry is new to me, and so I do not know many nasty cheap tricks to use against your opponent, however there is one clear and present advantage to Air Cavalry - deep striking behind your opponent with your entire army.

Send in the next wave!

"TheNobleWolves"' has provided us with an army list for his "Human Wave" tactica for you guys to try!

2000 pt. Human Wave Army List

HQ:Command Squad Master of Ordnance Boltgun Vox Carapace 3 G. Launchers Chimera Points: 182

Troops
(C)= Platoon Command, (S)= Squad or Combined Squad

Platoon Stalingrad(C) Vox (C) 3 GL (S) 5 GL (S) Vox (S) Commissar (Com) Power Wep. (S) Priest (Priest) Eviscerator HW Squad Points: 495

Platoon Leningrad(C) Vox (C) 3 GL (S) 5 GL (S) Vox (S) Commissar (Com) Power Wep. (S) Priest (Priest) Eviscerator
HW Squad Points: 495

Elites
Stormtroopers (4 ST, 1 Sarge) 2 Meltas Points: 105

Stormtroopers (4 ST, 1 Sarge) 2 Meltas Points: 105

Fast Attack

Hellhound Squad (3x)Points: 390

Heavy Support

Griffon Artillery Squad (3x)Points: 225

Total Points: 1997

I'm not sure if you get a 1 KP for every tank in a squad or 1 KP for killing the entire squad, so I'll give both. KP: 14/18

Strategy: Die. A lot. Your troops will take the brunt of the casualties, but that's why they have a Commissar handy to keep them in line. The Priest allows them to have a chance of causing some damage in CC, as well as giving the squad some AT with his Eviscerator. Move them up the field with Run, Run, Run! and then either assault entrenched position or take up firing positions in cover. Your Storm Troopers are your problem solvers. Take the 'Airborne Assault' Special Op. so they can land where they need to and pop problem armor. Your HHs will act as a bullet sponge, taking fire away from your Squads as they move up. Your Mortar HW squads and the Griffons will launch shells over your advancing columns' heads, hopefully pinning the shooty portions of your enemy's armies.

Strengths: This will absolutely murder in Objective missions. Ignore everything else and concentrate on the enemy's objective holders. Your HW squads can hold onto your homebase objectives while the rest of your army harasses your enemy's holdings. And it won't do too shabby in kill points, as well. Plus, you can have the satisfaction of watching your opponent's face as, after putting down 55 Guardsmen and a HW squad, you can clap your hands and say 'Platoon 2!'

Weaknesses: Armor. There is a total of 4 Meltaguns in this entire army. BS4 Meltas, mind you, but still only 4. So use your Stormtroopers like a surgical tool to kill problem armor before they become too much of a problem. DSing Termies and tough CC armies will also be a problem, but less so than Armor as a whole.

Adaptations
Trade the Stormies out for Vets with 3 Meltas apiece against Mechanized/Tank Armies.

Spread out each HH/Griffon into seperate squads so you can have more flexibility in your targeting.

Get rid of the HHs and Ratlings and take a full Ogryn squad and extra Stormies for more CC power and some additional HSLasguns.

Trade the HHs for Banewolves against MEQ armies.


Okay guys, there you have it! Go bury you opponent under a pile of Guardsmen!

Reds

Blog Donations, Pt. 2: The Revenge: The Sequel: 'Now, it's personal!'

This is another contribution from IGMB member "TheNobleWolves" (he requested the name of the post, too. Honest!) This one is about the proper use of the Human Wave army that we all know and love.

"HUMAN RAVE...er, WAVE!

We've all heard about it. WWII Russians launching desperate attacks against entrenched German positions with nothing but men and rifles, if that. This is what war is all about- death, carnage, and the willful expenditure of human life.

I've always wanted to make a human wave army, but thanks to the old "Need Platoon for Conscripts" rules and the lack of combined squads, I couldn't construct the lists I wanted. So I'm going to go through the Codex and pick out the units that will be of good use to a Human Wave army. First, though, we need to discuss general tactics:

1. A human wave army is not afraid of taking casualties. Why? Because, as the saying goes, we have reserves.
2. AHWA makes prodigious use of cover saves. It also provides cover saves for more important squads.
3. AHWA leaves tank-busting to the professionals- Stormies, Ogryn in CC, and other elite units.
4. AHWA is always moving. To stay still is to invite death.
5. AHWA does not make high use of the slow Leman Russ, as it is slow and requires LoS to be of full use. With all the bodies you'll be throwing on the table, you'll be gimping your LRBTs and wasting points. It does make use of anything that can fire indirectly- Mortars, Basilisks, Griffons, and others.
6. The goal of a HWA is to drown the enemy in either close-range firepower or warm bodies. Mobility is the key!
7. Expense is for the Schola Progenium. When making your army, remember: bodies > awesome kit.Now, units and their buildout:

HQ:Company Commander: This is the backbone of your force. He'll be running behind He should be moderately kitted out, but nothing too lavish. Remember, your mantra in this army is most bang for your buck. Recommended armament: Bolter, Vox, Carapace Armor, Astropath or Master of Ordnance, maybe Chimera. Vets should have Grenade Launchers.Orders (in order of importance): Run run run!, Get back in the fight!, First Rank FIRE!, Bring it down!, Fire on my Target!, and INCOMING!

Lord Commissar: Skip it. Orders are a key of your army, and losing command orders is not a good enough trade-off for 6" Fearless range.

Yarrick: Same as Lord Commissar.

Primaris Psyker: Again, skip.

Creed: I'd recommend this boy for armies over 1500 pts. For the Honor of Cadia! will help your combined troops kill a lot on the first charge.

Kell: Never take Creed without Kell. It's like Bill without Ted.

Straken: Meh. Your choice. Won't help, won't hurt.

Nork: If you want Bodyguards, forget them and take Nork. He'll protect your Commander but good.

Priests: Take them and stick them in combined Squads. Re-rolling missed hits and an Eviscerator are worth every point spent.

Enginseers: If you have the points, take 'em and stick 'em near your artillery.

Elites

Ogryn: Take squad of 5-10 and run them up the enemy's weak flank, protected by a combined squad. These boys can kill any vehicle that isn't 14-round armor, and they can help the combined squad murder any enemy CC unit.

Ratlings: Your choice. They can help, or they can miss all their shots.

Psyker Battle Squad: Skip. This army isn't about fancy magicks.

Stormies: These boys should always be DS and kitted out for tank killing, as they'll be your premiere tank killers in your human wave army. If you can, take two squads use the Airborne Assault Special Op.

Marbo: This guy can murder or fail hard. But for 65 measly points, he can be a good 'fly in the ointment' unit. Remember that he can't assault when he's place on the board, so don't put him in front of a Warboss and his Nobz.

Troops

Platoon Command: Absolutely essential. They should be 6" behind your combined squads, barking the RUN RUN RUN! order. Armament: Vox, Power weapon/Fist, Commissar with Power Wep/Fist, Medipack if you have the points. Vets should have Grenade Launchers

Chenkov: For flavor, there's nothing like Chenkov.

Al'rahem: For tactical flexibility, there's nothing Al'rahem.

Combined Squads: 4-5 combined squads with Grenade Launchers, a vox, a Commie with a Power Weapon, and a Priest with an Eviscerator can do so much. Their main role is acting as meat shields for your Ogryns and as juicy targets to keep your tanks safe.

Special Weapon Squads: Skip

HW squads: Take vanilla Mortar squads and try to pin your enemy's shooty units. If you know you'll have some high ground to get LoS, take HB/Autocannon squads and lay some smackdown on heavier units.

Conscripts: Skip, unless you really need the extra points.

Vets: Your other tank-killers, kit these boys out with a Power Fist and 3 Meltas. Doctrines are at your discretion, as they're equally good and bad.

Sgt. Harker: Inferior to Bastonne

Bastonne: Superior to Harker. His ability to give his squad 'Bring it Down!' as well as other orders is worth the points.

Penal Legionnaires: Hey, this game is all about dice rolling. Why not take a gamble? These guys can make good outflankers, and their Desperadoes/ Stubborn combo can make them lethal.

Fast

Scout/Armored sentinel: Skip. Good units, but it ruins the flavor of old-style WWII human wave armies.

Rough Riders: Good flavor, but a mediocre unit. If you do take them, keep them in the rearguard to protect your artillery from DSing Termies or other nasties.

Hellhound Squadron: 3 HHs or 3 DDs. Your choice. I'd go with HHs just for nostalgia.

Valk/Vendetta: Skip. Also an unflavorful unit.

Heavy

Any LRBT: Skip. Again, too slow and requires LoS. Also, main battle tanks are quite usually absent from human wave attacks. Exceptions may be made for Punisher/Exterminator, but you will be required to have your Commissar sign off on it.

Ordnance Battery: Take any 3 you want, but always take at least 1 Griffon to act as your 'target' shot, allowing you to reroll your first scatter.

Hydra: Good, cheap unit. Put them somewhere with LoS and unload.Manticore/Deathstrike: Save for games over 2000 pts.And there it is, the human wave army.

Get to fighting and dying, Guardsman! For Terra! "

There you go guys! This army isn't exactly my style, but it's effective, very characterful and lots of fun. Try it out!

Reds

Oh, crap. I do hear a rumbling noise!

Alright people, it’s time to finish what I’ve started. And that is a breakdown of the heavy support choices in the new codex.

Ordnance battery commonalities:
Well, these are all on a chimera chassis. So you’ll need to watch their sides. And the rear. And the front too, since they’ll be sitting still. All of these can be taken in squads of up to three. Should you give them camo nets? That depends entirely on your table. This is probably the only place I’d use that. The smoke being standard is nice. Oh, the stupid searchlights are standard here, too (you may have guessed I don’t have a high opinion of these). This shouldn’t be as much of a problem, since you should put these indirectly firing beauties behind some ‘obscuration.’ Keep this in mind: just because you see a range given for the weapon’s range doesn’t mean you can’t fire directly. Read pg. 58 of the rulebook. People seem to be freaking-out that they can’t fire directly with Basilisks… They can, indeed. Unless it says so in the weapon entry, you can always fire directly. They’re open-topped, but if you really think that’s a problem, you have the option to upgrade to an enclosed crew compartment.

Basilisk:
Imperial Guard. The name is evocative of three things: an inexhaustible supply of infantrymen, the Leman Russ, and the Basilisk. This is the mainstay of Guard artillery. Its main armament is a gun that can put a S9 AP3 ordnance blast anywhere on the table, with barrage to make the squad option very sweet. If you want to lob angry shells at the foe, these are for you.
Basilisk’s score: 8.5/10

Medusa:
This is an interesting one, to be sure: this artillery piece doesn’t fire indirectly. It also doesn’t fire in a barrage, so you can't link it to other members of the battery. However, this can move and fire. Each S10 AP2 shot will roll for accuracy on its own. Here’s where it gets really interesting: for cheap-like-almost-free, you can upgrade to Bastion-breacher shells. Why is that so interesting? Because you increase the range, make it AP1, and you get to roll an extra D6 for armor penetration. With a S10 AP1 blast; imagine the possibilities… Take Creed and outflank? Run up the middle with two separate Medusas and make the other guy sweat? Go for it. Sweat’s always good, when it’s from the other guy. Sweat and blood. And tears…
Medusa’s score: 9/10

Colossus:
You hear the name and you think: that’s gotta be a big gun. Well, it is; the picture in the codex makes this thing look ridiculous. It has a S6 AP3 ordnance barrage cover save denying gun. The drawback is that it can’t fire directly. But for some serious MEQ slaying, that’s not so bad. Personally though, I’d rather take the Eradicator to ferret things out of cover. Maybe this would integrate into your list better, though.
Colossus’ score: 8/10

Griffon:
At first, you think this is under-powered for an artillery piece. But wait: it’s the cheapest by far, and is built for accuracy instead of power. Which is not to say that it can’t pack a punch: S6 AP4 is good enough for a lot of targets. When fired, the controlling player gets to re-roll the scatter die if he so chooses. You can’t fire this directly, but the accurate bombardment rule I just mentioned added to its very close minimum range makes that a non-issue. I can see these becoming a force on the table in the times to come. I forgot to mention this, but the article by Thenoblewolves above reminded me: use these as a 'tracer round' for you larger, angrier ordnance batteries.
Griffon’s score: 8.5/10

That’s it for the ordnance battery choices. These last two are the only Guard tanks that can’t be fielded in squadrons; they’re that good.

Manticore Rocket Launcher:
The MIRV SCUD launcher of the 41st millennium. Oh, these look so cool, it’s not even funny. They can cover the table with a S10 AP4 ordnance barrage… that fires D3 missiles per rocket. The storm eagle rockets have limited ammunition, though, being able to fire only four times per game. Well, that’s usually most turns. If you took three of these, there’d be so much carnage by turn five, you opponent might be on the verge of tears. I can’t wait to try these out.
Manticore’s score: 8.5/10

Deathstrike Missile Launcher:
Oh, baby. This is one controversial unit. Put it (or them) behind a pocket of impassible terrain that blocks LoS. There’s not much to say other than what it does, and then let you figure out if you want to use it. I personally want to try fielding three… Anyway, same armor as a hellhound and it fires the eponymous deathstrike missile. It can’t be fired directly, but you can fire it from 12 inches onward. The range is unlimited. That really doesn’t mean anything on a four by six foot table. What are you going to do, fire it at your friend’s house? It’s a S10 AP1 ordnance barrage with one shot only. What do you do after you fire? Go ram something! It has a blast radius of D3+3 inches. The large blast marker is two and a half inches in radius. So, automatically, you’ve already got a blast almost twice as big. Up to a one foot in diameter blast. The entire circle counts as the ‘center hole’ of normal templates. There are no armor saves and no cover saves. You get to roll two D6 and take the highest and then add one to the result for armor penetration. Here’s where it gets sticky: the ‘T-minus five minutes to launch… and counting’ special rule. I hate it just because I had to type it. Here’s what it does: you can’t fire the deathstrike in turn one. Starting turn two, roll a die to see if you can fire. For every turn the launcher’s been on the table +1, for each weapon destroyed result allocated to the missile -1, each crew shaken or crew stirred, uh, I mean crew stunned result -1. When you get six, or if you roll a natural six, you may fire. This can’t be destroyed by a weapon destroyed result. Crew problems don’t prevent firing if you roll a six. If I ever hear that you put extra armor on your deathstrike, I’ll come find you and hit you on the bridge of the nose with the spine of the codex. You’ve been warned.
Deathstrike’s score: 8.5/10

Okay, that’s a wrap for heavy support. Next article: Elites choices!

"Let me try, I'm a genius!"

We’ve made passing mentions to Creed’s Tactical Genius rule in past articles, but I figured I’d go over a few different tricks you could try by combining it with vehicles and units. There are a lot of things you can do with this ability, but these are some of my favorites.

Gunline BBQ: This is, by far, the most fun I’ve ever had with “Tactical Genius”. Thus works great against Eldar and tau, but is great against IG, especially if most of them try to sit and shoot. Take a Leman Russ Eradicator (you know, the one with the gun that ignores cover), and give it a Hull Heavy Flamer, and Heavy Flamer Sponsons. If you’re a little shy on points, drop the Sponsons, as you can only fire the main gun and one other weapon when you first arrive. When the tank arrives, roll it in from one of the flanks, and light ‘em up. I’ve killed 20 Fire Warriors on the first turn I arrived with this thing. It’s amazing. And, yes, I know Requiem said not to put Flamers on it, but if it's coming in from the flank, you're pretty close to infantry, so an extra wash of flame, especially since it doesn't roll to hit, is pretty nice. Taking a squadron is overkill, though, as they all have to target the same unit.

Chemical Cocktail: Same concept as above, but effective against MEQs as well. Swap the Eradicator out with a Banewolves. While the above tactic can cause a lot of havoc, this causes Marine players to panic like nothing else. Instead of getting those nice 3+ saves, they suddenly find themselves without armour OR cover saves, and only one out of every 6 men surviving. They will direct EVERYTHING they have at them. The alternative to this is to take the first turn, and use the “Scout” rule to move your Banewolf 6in closer to the enemy, then move another 12in when the game starts. Squadrons are good here, just because they provide more hits and soak up more damage.

Charge! : This one’s always entertaining, but will only work well if there’s cover on the side of the board, or you bring El’Rahem and use those squads a screen. Take 10 Roughriders with Meltas and give the Sgt. Meltabombs. Mogul Kamir isn’t essential, but if you want, you can throw him in too. Bring the Rough Riders in near cover, or even better, a large armoured vehicle. Use the Meltas to pop the tank, and then use it for cover. Next turn, smash into something expensive, like Dakkafexes, SM HQs, or Battlesuits that are trying to hide behind cover. Using their hunting lances, the riders should wipe out whatever they hit, then consolidate back into cover. From then on, use them to hunt armour and pick off under strength squads until you run out of men. Again, this is great against MEQ players who haven’t seen Rough Riders in action before “Your horses are going to charge my Devastators? HAHAHAH-wait, what do you mean they hit first and get 20 power weapon attacks at Str 5?”

Meatwave: This works well against gunlines that rely on infantry, and is also pretty useful for intercepting CC units that are getting too close to your line. Take an infantry platoon, give all the squads flamers, throw in a single Vox and a Commissar, and combine them into one giant 50 man squad. The sheer number of bodies means the unit can take a lot of fire and drag down smaller CC squads, and the Commissar means that you won’t run away and be swept off the board. Replacing the Commissar with Yarrick is even more lethal, since the unit becomes fearless, stubborn, and can reroll CC attacks that miss. Also, since the HQ will be joining them, issuing "First Rank, Fire!" could be a lot of fun.

Tankbusters: This one is pretty simple. Take Sgt. Bastonne in a vet squad, and give them Meltas or Plasma (No reason why you can’t give them ‘Pace. That rule only applies to Harker). Pop out next to a tank, have Bastonne issue “Bring it Down!” and, just like magic, you have a unit with twin linked meltas that hit on 3+. Not much can stand up to that.

There you go! Have you guys thought up any tricks yet? Also, bonus points to anyone who can place the quote I used for the title of the article.

Reds

Regiment Types (Light Infantry)

A Guide to Regiment Types
By: Dark Aeon

Issue #2 – Light Infantry

Light Infantry:
A regiment that is classified as Light Infantry, historically, is a battle group containing no heavy weapons (as in colonial times, when cannons were the heaviest it got) or no vehicles (as in more recent times, or in the 41st millennium).
Now of course, Imperial Guard armies strive off heavy weapons, so leaving those out is out of the question, however, leaving out vehicles makes Light Infantry “fluffy”, meaning following the definition and storyline. You’ll take veterans, heavy weapons, outflankers and infiltrators, and no vehicles of any sort.

Units You Need:
· Veterans w/ Camo Cloaks
· Al’rahem
· Ratlings
· Rough Riders
· Vendetta Gunships
· Sentinels
· Sly Marbo (Rambo)

Units to stay away from:
· Ogryns
· Vehicles of all types (not sentinels)
· Regular Guard Platoons
· Conscripts (part of platoons)

Units in Between:
· Storm Troopers
· Psykers
· Commissars
· Penal Legionnaires

Organization: As a light infantry brigade (or Company, or Regiment, or Battalion, whatever you want to call them), you’ll be sneaking up on the enemy as best you can. You don’t want a direct conflict. Fight the enemy on your terms. To do this, there are several tricks in the new codex.
First off, you need a fully equipped Infantry platoon led by Al’rahem. This Platoon Commander, as you no doubt have already heard, allows you to outflank. Bring with him the command squad, obviously and then 5 squads of guardsmen, 2 squads of special weapons, and 5 squads of heavy weapons, so that you get the most out of his ability.

Next, in order to get your veterans to outflank, attach Harker to a single squad. This allows your veterans to infiltrate or outflank right alongside your Al’rahem platoon.

With no vehicles, you’re gonna need lots of anti-tank firepower in other places. Consider giving Harker’s squad triple meltaguns, or maybe a demo charge and melta bombs. These are sure to get the job done, but have back up in Al’rahem’s heavy weapon groups – missile launchers and Lascannons are lovely creations!

Your H.Q should be sturdy, and able to move around the battlefield. Consider putting them in a Vendetta Gunship, which in the end, will allow your entire army to Outflank (because Valkyries and Vendetta’s are both Scout vehicles).

If you need any mechanized support at all, consider armoured sentinels, or if you desire an all stealth army, scout sentinels. Heavy flamers and missile launchers on them are great, considering how poor the Sentinels’ ballistic skill is.

Army List Recommendations:
To start things out, either get a Commissar Lord (the Colonel-Commissar Gaunt model works nicely) and give him a camo cloak, or a Command squad, and count them as camo cloaks (you don’t need to model them). Equip them with meltaguns.
For troops, make a regular platoon led by Al’rahem, and max it out. Give the regular squads flamers and grenade launchers for boosted anti-infantry capability.
Lastly, get another squad of Cadians or Catachans (or whichever figure you’re using as your base) and convert them into veterans for a Harker squad.

There, you’ve got the minimum on the F.O.C (Force Organization Chart).

Weaponry:
Because they have to be able to move, even if it’s just fluff wise, you should use weapons that are maneuverable. An example would be the missile launcher, the grenade launcher, the flamer, and most important for lightly infantry – the sniper rifle!

What’s great about the sniper rifle? It virtually does everything! It can kill light armour because it’s rending. It can kill terminators because it’s rending. It’s got the range of a heavy bolter, and it wounds even Carnifex on a 4+ regardless of toughness. Lastly, it causes pinning against non-fearless enemies. Use them in masse, like with Ratling squads, and you’ll be sure to annihilate large enemies, light vehicles, and pin cowardly units.

Nasty Tricks:

I think, out of all the great things Light Infantry cano do, it's remain unseen. You can outflank right near an objective, or if the enemy is too close, far enough away to pick him off from range. Meanwhile, your Vendetta Gunships (aid from the Imperial Navy) can launch single shot Battle Cannon shells, heavy bolters, lascannons, and multi-laser shots at the enemy, devastating them from across the board without ever being in danger.

So what I'd do, is infiltrate Harker and his group into the thickets cover possible, near an objective, and go to ground. If that's a ruin (a building) you get a 2+ cover when taking shots. If flamer templates get close, pop up and shoot the freaking hell out of them. Do not let templates get close to you!!!

Al'rahem's platoon must outflank, but you can still place them far away from the enemy. Pick an objective, and try to get as many squads near it as possible, drawing the enemy towards that posisition. That's when the jets come swooping in, annihilating all.

Strengths:

The light infantry’s mantra is See but Don’t be Seen. This is very true, and very doable. You can easily outflank your entire army, drop them in via Valkyrie/Vendetta, and infiltrate them into the perfect position. You pack a lot of fire power with a decent amount of soldiers, and if your opponent shows up with anti-armour squads like Devastators, he’s gonna be disappointed.

Weaknesses:

Well…you got no tanks. This has been mentioned as a semi-good thing, but you’ll defiantly have to be careful with this list. Without the Leman Russ, the Imperial Guard are significantly weakened. You’ll need to be tactful, lucky, and intelligent. If you don’t bring enough heavy weapons, you’ll be outgunned. Bring too many, and you’re unable to maneuver, and your point costs will sky rocket.

I do not claim to be an expert on light infantry, especially in this new codex, but hopefully you’ve gained a small bit of advice from this issue. Next up: Air Cavalry!

Do you hear a rumbling noise?

Okay. So, I don’t think anyone complained to Reds about my last article so here’s the next one. As you may have guessed, it’s about the heavy support choices in the new codex. To start us off, the Leman Russ variants:

Leman Russ variant common info:
The LR’s all come with a searchlight and smoke launchers. I’m not sure that the searchlight is really a blessing, but being able to pop smoke for extra protection while you armor is running around in the open is always a good thing. You can also take them in squads of up to three, in any combination. The ‘Lumbering Behemoth’ special rule is, as they say, somewhat of a left-handed compliment to the Guard: moving at combat speed or stationary, your tank may now fire its turret as well as any other gun it’s got (provided you’d normally be allowed to fire it). The trade-off? Cruising speed is now only 6+ D6 inches (rolling every move). Not a bad trade. When you first look at this rule you think: oh, cool – I get to move and unload all my guns at everything that moves! Not so, I’m afraid. You get to fire the turret, and one other gun, and then the pintle-mounted weapon. If you squad-up, then save some points and don’t bother with sponsons – the hull mount is the best option since all the tanks have to fire at the same target. Whether you feel it necessary to unload the fury of three of the Emperor’s finest tanks onto a single target or not is between you and God. I’m up in the air about dozer blades for these guys, I personally won't bother, but if you're going to move around, Starwoof says they might be a good idea. As for the extra armor option, I don’t see why you need it; the armor values on the front and sides is sufficient that the enemy is going to throw his heaviest weapons at them. At that point crew problems are secondary to hull problems. The Demolisher, Punisher, and Executioner also have small-arms-proof rear armor. If you take single tanks, camo nets become a good option, but in squads you should be moving them around. All LR’s have the option to stick Knight Commander Pask inside, and I’ll point out what you could do when I discuss that specific tank. Don’t forget: tank shock is an amazing thing, and so is ramming. When your turret gets shot-off, start pantomiming a big drum and say, “Ramming speed. Doom, doom, doom…” Don’t let the enemy assault your tanks. A good meltabomb style grenade, and boom. Even krak style ‘nades will take these out 50-67% of the time. By the way: these all have the ‘tank’ vehicle type. Duh…

Leman Russ Battle Tank:
The backbone of the Guard. Really, this tank can handle everything reliably. The main turret is an S8 AP3 ordnance weapon. The low AP value plus the high strength means that it’ll pulp almost any infantry, and it gets a large blast so you can put a lot of enemy units in harm’s way. The ordnance part means that you can (usually) roll two dice for armor penetration, and pick the highest. With the center hole of the blast marker over the model, you have a 33% chance of penetrating on the hardest vehicles in the game. Pask is a waste here, I think. You only get one Pask, so put him where he can do more good. These would be good in squads of two, but three is a bit of overkill.
LRBT’s score: 8.5/10

Leman Russ Exterminator:
These are kinda cool – an autocannon platform, with serious armor. A four shot, twin-linked autocanon. Nice. The Guard officially laughs at the Space Marine Predator Destructor. Pask will turn this tank into an infantryman’s nightmare. Light vehicles like transports will also go boom at the caress of this tank’s guns. It could try to hack it as an all-rounder with a hull lascannon, but I think stocking more anti-infantry goodness with the heavy bolter is the way to go. Enemy too close to risk a blast weapon? Use this. Putting this into a squad with other variants seems like a good idea to me.
Exterminator’s score: 8/10

Leman Russ Vanquisher:
Behold! The tank slayer cometh. Another great choice for Pask. Another turret that doesn’t fire a blast. No, it’s not a coincidence. A single shot S8 AP2 turret that gets a to roll a second D6 for armor penetration. When it’s big, ugly, and needs to die now, take a squad of these. Even without Pask, three shots will statistically hit. And a hit will statistically kill the target. That said, infanry can ninja dodge the shots, and it’s only usefulness there is as a big (really big) and expensive sniper for the hero types.
Vanquisher’s score: 8/10

Leman Russ Eradicator:
Have you figured-out how these things are named yet? There’s no ‘Leman Russ Cuddly Bear;’ only names that threaten death and dismemberment. It’s awesome. And so is this tank if you fight in 5th edition rules, with everyone and their mother's getting a cover save from having sand on top of their boots. The Eradicator denies cover saves, and with a S6 AP4 large blast, that’s nothing at which you should sneeze. “Should I stick the heavy flamer on here for maximum anti-cover firepower?” No, silly: if you're close enough to hit with a heavy flamer, the other guy’s probably decided to assault you. I thought I told you to keep assaulty troops away. It is up to you, though. I’d personally put plasma cannon turrets on here. Again, Pask isn’t very necessary here.
Eradicator’s score: 8.5/10

Leman Russ Demolisher:
The pinnacle of short range “Kill it” tanks. It doesn’t matter what you point this thing towards, it’s going to at least take a wound. The turret is S10 AP2 ordnance with a 24 inch range. These you might want to keep moving a bit. I’m pretty sure that lumbering behemoth was for this tank, primarily. Pask might be a good choice here, but I think it would be more for a hull mounted lascannon.
Demolisher’s score: 8/10

Leman Russ Punisher:
I’m not sure what to think about this variant. Of all of them, this one is the only one that needs Pask to start being effective. It certainly looks good on paper, with a S5 20 shot gun on top. But there’s no AP value – everything can try to save against it. It’s also the second most expensive variant, so the jury’s still out. I’m sure that if you also took Creed, and outflanked with a squad of them, it would spell certain doom. But there are better ways to spell doom.
Punisher’s score: 7/10

Leman Russ Executioner:
A very aptly named vehicle. The turret on this baby fires a trio of S7 AP2 blasts into a wide-eyed quivering target. It’s almost obligatory to laugh manically as you roll the dice on this one. Throw some plasma cannon sponsons, and you’ve got yourself a party. Pask is actually good here, to make sure you squeeze every last wound out of this thing. If you have points to throw around recklessly, take two of these (include Pask and a pintle mount and this becomes the same price as a land raider, but it’s so worth it). I promise you’ll have fun with them. I think partnering this with the Exterminator might be the ultimate anti-infantry/-light vehicle choice.
Executioner’s score: 8.5/10

Wow. That’s a lot just with the LR’s. On to the much talked-about –
Hydra Flak Tank:
The hydra autocannon has longer range than the normal version, and the tank has two twin-linked hydra autocannons. Let me say it again, because the codex tries to sneak this past you: there are two twin-linked hydra autocannons. The Hydra is mounted on a regular Chimera chassis, so keep it supported. It is a tank, so you can tank shock, etc. Here’s the nifty part: the auto-targeting system gives bikes and skimmers the finger. No cover saves from going flat-out or turbo-boosting. And they’re really cheap. Take a squad of three. Trouble with Nob bikers? Those blasted Eldar vehicles? No more!
Hydra’s score: 8.5/10

I’ll do the other page in a separate article, since there’s so much to cover with heavy support.

Rain of Fire

This is an excellent article written by IGMB member "Reichsiege" about the Master of Ordinance. (I've cut out the point cost of the Advisor so I don't get sued)

"I know that a lot of you have been talking about the Ordinance guru as if he was some gimmicky upgrade that has little use or is a waste of points, but I have found him to be of great use to me and he can be a lot of fun.

As a CENSORD point model he is almost a [fourth] the cost of a Basilisk, a very powerful piece of artillery that I know many of you use. However, the Basilisk's main weakness is its vulnerability. The MoO on the other hand can be much harder to kill then a simple Basilisk. Simply loaded inside of a stationary Chimera he not only get the protection of a vehicle, it also gives him a pretty good LOS on the surrounding area. Add, a bodyguard to his unit and thats a wound that you can toss away, further prolonging his usefulness. How many times has your dreaded Basilisk been popped on turn 1 before it can even fire a shot? Our Ordinance buddy can get off 2, 3 or even more shots before he is killed, and he won't even be a prime target on the field.

Many of you have pointed out his lack of accuracy, I.E., his always scatter rule. Well gents, if you haven't noticed already, blasts weapons tend to scatter anyways. His BS 4 really tends to real in his misses and I've had multiple turns were he has hit dead on due to rolling 4 or less on the scatter dice. Also, what does it matter that he tends to scatter? He is firing a S9 Ap3 LARGE BLAST template, and it doesn't matter where it lands on the field, something is going to die.

Now comes the real kicker. Do you guys know what the Multiple Barrage rule is? This really blast our buddy into the stratosphere. By adding a mortar into the command squad, you can use your mortar as a so-called "tracer" for the Ordinance shot. After the mortar hits, all other Barrage blasts from the squad can not scatter away from contact with the original explosion, turning a maximum of 18" scatter weapon into a bullseye almost every time.

And finally, "Bring it Down". If your commander calls this order on his own squad, our little scatterbrained artilleryman gets to RE-ROLL his shots!!! (when fired at MC or vehicles of course) How can it get better then that? Combine all of these and you will have one of the deadliest (and cheapest) basilisk in the guard.

I have personally wiped out, in 1 game, with the Master of the Ordinance: 1 Wraithlord, 1 Farseer, 14 Dire Avengers, and 3 Tau Crisis suits. How is that for such a wimpy model?

*Explanation for the Tau casualties* And the fun part? Since your command squad is probably not gonna be firing any other weapons from its hiding place, you can blast at who-ever you feel like. In my game, once the enemy was too close to continue bombardment, I fired him at some Tau player's table (Don't worry, the filthy Xenos deserved it). Due to its "infinite" range, you don't even have to fire at your own table if you don't want to.

*WARNING* Firing onto tables which also contain ordinance is a bad thing , also, Tau players will sometimes get a little miffed that you shot them and outflank their entire Kroot force 3 boards down just to appear on your table, not a good thing *."

There you guy guys, now go blow stuff up!

Reds

New Datasheets

BOLS just put up some links to a few new IG Apocalypse Datasheets. You can find the story here...

http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2009/05/40k-news-imperial-guard-apocalypse.html

I can't wait to try out the new Heavy Weapons Company!

Reds

Combined Unit Tactics

Well, here I am again, with tacticas. This article is on request of a ranking member of the IGMB, and I am happy to oblige and share my knowledge.

So, I have recently gone over a Mechanized regiment, but what about using multiple types of units in unison and coordinating uber death tactics? I have some ideas.

Tactic #1: Psyker-Battle Cheese

Units You Need:

• Psyker Battle Squad
• Inquisitor Lord
• Calexus Assassin
• 2x Chimeras

The Usage:

Okay, do you all know how the Calexus Assassin works from the Inquisitorial Codicies? I'll tell you: For every psyker that is within 12" of the Calexus Assassin, the assassin gains another attack to his basic weapon, the Animus Speculum. This weapon fires with the Ap of a meltagun, and has the strength of a heavy bolter. It starts out with Assault 2, and the assassin takes up an elite choice.

The Psyker Battle Squad takes up an elite choice, so you can take 2 of them with an assassin. Keep them in the chimera, and infiltrate the assassin. Move up the psyker chimera's near the assassin, who should be near an enemy, and unload the psykers.

Result: your Animus Speculum immedialty goes from being Assault 2 to Assault 20. That's 20 S5 Ap1 shots. You can annihilate virutally any vehicle, slaughter any foe, and if there are enemy psykers - well, there's no chance of their survival.

Tactic #2: No Escaping the Template!

Units You Need:

• Ursarkar E. Creed
• Astropath
• 2x Units of Ratlings and/or Mortars
• Banewolf
• Al'rahem w/ 2-5 Guard squads. All in Chimeras (armed with Hvy Flamers)

The Usage:

This one is devastating. Ursarkar allows a unit to outflank. That's your Banewolf right there. It's a template that always wounds on a 2+, ignores cover, and has an Ap value of 3. Dead power armour, right there! Also, no scatter, and no need to roll to hit! Also, Al'rahem allows his entire platoon to ouflank. Put them in chimera's with as many heavy flamers as possible. Arm the command squad with a heavy flamer, and the regular guard with flamers or meltaguns.

To start, pick an enemy unit. Now, pump it with mortar shells and Ratling sniper shots. Make sure that it is either pinned (if not fearless) or severly weakened (in number. You don't want to get close to a unit of Khorne Berserkers...).

Once pinned or softened up, you're gonna attempt to bring in some of your outflankers. That's where the Astropath comes in, giving you a +1 to all your reserve rolls to ensure that they're gonna arrive when you need them.

Now that they've arrived, you're going to hit them with every single template in your ouflanking platoon, and your banewolf. There is no escaping the template. Keep in mind, though, that this only works when the enemy is close to the table edge, maybe holed up in a building. Too far away, and you'll get shot up before you can reach them to smoke 'em out.

Tactic #3: Rolling Thunder...and Flying Thunder too?

Units You Need:

• Storm Troopers
• Valkyries w/ rocket pods, and heavy bolters
• at least 3 Hellhounds

The Usage:

This one is simple. It combines the Guard's ability to hit the enemy from every single direction possible. Your set up is basic: Hellhounds in deployment zone, Storm troopers in valkyries, valkyries in reserve, ready to outflank and annihilate.

Rush forward with the new bonus for Hellhounds: Fast, tank. They can move a lot faster now in the new codex, and if moving at 12", they can still shoot. Your goal is to get up close enough to hit them with every Hellhound weapon you have. Just shoot until you cannot shoot anymore.

Once the Stormies arrive, you move the Valkyrie around the back of the enemy, hit them with 2 five inch blast templates, a multi-laser, and a pair of heavy bolters, while dropping out of the back, are storm troopers armed with Ap3 hellguns and any special weapon of your choosing.

The Result: hellhounds in the front, valkyries overhead, and stormies in the rear. The enemy is effectively surrounded, and every weapon that you're hitting them with is lethal to no end.

Conclusion: I'll have more of these as I think of them or discover them through play. Thanks for reading.

You have to see this....

Seriously, this is worth watching.

IGMB member "TheNobleWolves" (also known as The General Critic) has posted a great video review of Warhammer 40k. Here's the link...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exjtXPPWtL4

Go watch it! It's great!

Reds

Send in the Tanks!

Well, with Aeon talking about mechanized warfare, and ElegaicRequiem reviewing the Guard’s fast attack options, I figured I’d go with the flow, and talk about some Heavy Iron. That’s right, I mean the Leman Russ. In the old Codex, we had only two options, the Demolisher and the normal Russ. If you could afford to get your hands on Imperial Armour, you had access to a host of other options, but they were “Permission Only”, and not legal at a lot of tournaments. Now, though, we have a host of new variants to use! Let’s take a closer look at each of them….

Leman Russ: You know it, you love it, and you probably have at least one. It’s the perfect multipurpose tank. It’s Battle Cannon is great against light vehicles like Rhinos and Ork Trukks, and can pulp just about any type of infantry in the game, even targets like Nob Bikers (remember, that +1 to toughness for being on a bike doesn’t count for Instant Death)! If you want to make it more effective against heavy armour, you can throw a Hull Lascannon and some Multimelta sponsons on it. If you want to use it to slaughter infantry, you can tack on Heavy Bolter Sponsons and a Pintle Stubber, and throw 12 shots down range to finish off whatever your Battle Cannon didn’t turn into a sticky red paste. This is the most basic, flexible, and cost effective tank we can afford. But, like everything that can fill just about every role, it doesn’t always excel at any of them. That’s why we have other, more specialized variants, like…..

Leman Russ Exterminator: Originally, this variant was from Imperial Armour 1. Sporting two twin-linked autocannons, this thing rips apart high toughness targets like nothing else. Putting sponsons on it is a must. Heavy Bolters are a good choice, especially if you’re hitting a target like Genestealers, Nob Bikers, and Ogryn. Putting Plasma Sponsons on it allows you to take out even harder targets like Carnifexes, Light Vehicles, or MEQ Special Characters. That said, it’s a waste to try and use this thing to hunt tanks, so don’t bother with Lascannons or Multimeltas. It’s also cheap, so feel free to throw a Heavy Stubber on there too, just because you can.

Leman Russ Vanquisher: Very probably the sexiest of the Russ variants, this Imperial Armour import is the tank killer for the Guard. If you take one, always give it a hull Lascannon, and consider bolting on some Multimelta Sponsons to make it even more lethal. It’s also great for sniping Carnifexes, Zoanthropes and Librarians or Sorcerers running around in Terminator Armour. That said, there are a few things you should be aware of when you field this beast. First of all, it SHOULD NOT be used against infantry squads. Period. Second, unlike the version from Imperial Armour, this tank doesn’t use a template. Instead, it rolls to hit. This can be useful if terminators show up very close to your line, as you won’t scatter into your own men (or one of your other tanks). The downside is you’re using BS 3, so you’ll only hit half the time. This is the best tank to put Knight Commander Pask in, without a doubt. Finally, they’re huge bullet magnets. The look of the main gun alone makes people shoot at it, even if they don’t know what it does, and players who field mechanized lists recoil in horror and make hissing sounds when you pull it out, like a vampire being shown a Crucifix. Don’t expect this tank to live too long if your enemy has a lot of armour.

Leman Russ Eradicator: I really like this tank. Although it’s not that great against MEQs, it can trash just about everything else. Its main gun fires what are, essentially, small nukes, which means that the target doesn’t get a cover save. Yes, a Str 6, AP 4 weapon that ignores cover. This thing is perfect against Tau, IG, Eldar, and anyone on a Bike with those damned 3+ cover saves. Giving it Heavy Bolter sponsons is a good idea, but Heavy Flamers could be even more fun. Don’t have it shoot at armour, though. It’s designed to kill infantry.

Leman Russ Demolisher: What can I say that hasn’t been already said? It has the most recognizable gun of any IG vehicle (except maybe the Basilisk). It’s tough as hell. It kills anything. Give it Plasma or Multimelta Sponsons and it becomes rolling death. The one downside it’s a massive bullet magnet, although with 14, 13, 11 armour, it can take out a lot of punishment.

Leman Russ Punisher: Another strong contender in the “Dear God, look at that gun!” category, the Punisher sports a Gatling Cannon that acts like a Heavy Bolter on steroids. Perfect for dealing with Gaunts, IG conscripts, and hordes of other low toughness, poorly armoured targets, this thing should always have Heavy Bolter Sponsons and a Heavy Stubber on it. It’s also very good at digging non-MEQs out of cover, just because of the sheer number of cover saves it forces. Although it’s not designed to deal with armour, watching it shoot up AV 10 vehicles is hilarious. I’ve had one blow up a Chimera six times over.

Leman Russ Executioner: Honestly, I’m a little puzzled by this one. With its main gun firing 3 small plasma shots at Str 7, AP 2, it’s perfect for pulping terminators and monstrous creatures. Multimeltas aren’t a bad choice, but putting Plasma sponsons on it turns it into the Burning Plasma Death Tank from Hell. But why take it? It’s the most expensive variant we have, it’s a massive bullet magnet, and just about everything does the same job for less. Want to kill MEQs? Take a Russ with Plasma Sponsons. Want to smear Terminators? Take a Demolisher with Multimeltas. The one thing it has going for it is that it can put up to three wounds on a target, instead of just one. That means if you roll well for scatter (or have Knight Commander Pask to help out), you can put 15 wounds on a squad of deepstriking Terminators (With a direct hit, the template will hit all of them, or your opponent hasn’t placed them properly), each with a 5+ save. It would also be pretty good for clearing Tyrant Guards off of a Hive Tyrant, or plastering a bunch of Zoanthropes. I guess that if you really, really want it dead, this is your tank, but I would only ever take one of them. That said, getting 5 small blast template shots that all go through MEQ armour is pretty nice….

Hope that helps guys. Tomorrow, I’ll be taking a look at combining Creed’s “Tactical Genius” rule with some of our vehicles.

Reds

Imperial Guard Fast Attack

Hey, everyone. I’m ElegaicRequiem. I've been into 40K for... wow, I guess it's been four years now. I got into it in college: a roommate showed me the Emperor's light. I have well over 3000 points of Space Marines (more if I play Blood Angels), a sizable but unfinished Necron army, and a half-started Imperial Guard army. One day I plan to also have a Witch Hunters army. I decided to start with IG around March - it was that, or a few WH things. Right as I'm about to call the war store, I notice on the GW website that the Guard are getting a new codex in May! Serendipity? Perhaps, but that gave me the excuse I needed to go nuts, and buy a lot of infantry. So, now armed with a tactical mind and a love of the intellectual part of the hobby (army list creation) I’m going to talk to you about all the awesome new/improved fast attack units in the Imperial Guard codex. Considering how well one or the other of them will integrate into just about every play style, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t have a FA element in your list. Here goes…

Scout Sentinels
Ahh, the classic, old-school sentinel. It’s cheap, it comes with a multi-laser for 3 shots, it gets scout and move through cover, it’s a walker, and you can take a squadron of up to three. Sounds good, right? Well, it’s also the most fragile vehicle in the Guard. That said, if you can manage to sneak a squad of these onto the side of the board, you can wipe-out small squads of light/medium infantry. Also, they’re good as a tar-pit in close combat. Don’t forget that once you start doing something with them, your opponent isn’t going to just let you have your way: expect the enemy to start shooting and/or charging them when he has the opportunity, thus giving your more important units a temporary reprieve. These would be a good addition to an armored column, or an air cavalry force. They’d be great to compliment a blitzing assault force.
Scout Sentinel’s score: 7.5/10

Armored Sentinels
Yes! They’re finally here; I’ve been looking forward to having some AT-STs… uh, I mean armored sentinels to put down field. Y’know, I thought they’d be bigger, two-man deals… Anyway, these guys lose the scout and the move through cover rules, in order to gain improved front armor, extra armor, and the ability to mount a plasma cannon. They have all the other options as their scouting kin, but they cost somewhere between half again and double the price. I personally don’t feel that they’ll perform to match that cost, but only time will tell. These will probably be even more of a bullet magnet than the scout versions, but the ability to field a plasma on a walker is a novelty, and I like it. These would work well with almost any list where you can spare the points, but I don’t advise taking a full squadron of three, unless you’ve got a devious plan.
Armored Sentinel’ score: 7.5/10

Rough Riders
You know, I used to think the concept of horse-mounted cavalry in 40K was ridiculous. In fact, I still do. However, these guys are awesome, and deserve respect. You get five of them for the same price as an armored sentinel, with the option of adding five more for peanuts! There’s no way you should ever field just five. On top of that they come standard with the hunting lance, which is a one-time-use power weapon that enhances their stats the first time they charge. Yes, the rules do specify that it’s the first time, so charge something nasty the first time: SM termies, Necron Lords in a squad of immortals, some of those big ‘nid things… you get the idea. They’re cavalry, so they automatically have fleet, and can assault 12 inches. They fall back 3d6 inches, but they have decent Ld, so it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. They also have the option of exchanging their sergeant for Mogul Kamir. He’s an absolute beast the first time he charges. Reds already discussed him, so if you want more details, look there. These guys are just fantastic as a compliment to a blitzing assault force, or even as the core of such a force.
Rough Riders’ score: 8.5/10

Hellhound
I LOVE these things! There’s no way that anyone, anywhere doesn’t need one. Maybe they don’t even realize it yet… Maybe they don’t play Guard… but they need one. All the hellhound variants have the chimera chassis, but with decent armor on the sides. They can also some in squads of up to three. With its inferno cannon, the hellhound is a dedicated infantry destroyer: the template rules in the new codex got a ‘lateral boost.’ By this I mean that it’s better than before, but in a different way. Now, the hellhound is fast, tank. Meaning it can move 12 inches and still fire. The template is placed so that the only part that needs to be within the 12 inch range of the cannon is the small end. The template is 8.25 inches long. This is an effective range of 32 inches! Forget flowers; say it with fire! In addition, the template doesn’t have to go straight-out: you can place it going any direction in a 180° arc up until it’s perpendicular to the cannon’s axis. Um, you wanna fire around some corners? Go for it! And, it’s a template: no roll to hit, and no cover save silliness; only burning death for the enemies of mankind. Take one.
Hellhound’s score: 9.5/10

Devil Dog
Well, this looks new and shiny… It’s a hellhound variant that sports a melta cannon. It’s a blast melta. That… sounds awesome. Again, it’s fast, tank. Effective range is 36 inches. If you somehow scatter and land on an enemy unit behind the target, you could manage 45, but I think you know not to rely on that. These are a great anti-tank/anti-heavy infantry choice. I’d take them in a squad of two, and give them the multi-melta hull weapon for some ridiculous firepower. These will probably get shot out from under you if you aren’t careful, so give them some support. These are likely the best AT choice for a blitzing army.
Devil Dog’s score: 9/10

Bane Wolf
Well, my fellow guardsman, your prayers have been answered. We now have something whose sole purpose is to eliminate MEQs (marine equivalents [T4, Sv 3+]). Check this out: the chem cannon is a template, ap3, poison (2+) weapon. That means: no roll to hit, no armor save for anything up to 3+, and if the target has a toughness value it wounds on a 2+. Holy crap! The only thing holding the bane wolf from being the most amazing vehicle ever is that it’s just a plain-old template, and not the crazy hellhound version. However, it’s fast, tank with an effective range of 20 inches. If you play against Space Marines, Chaos Space Marines, or Necrons a lot, you probably want some of these.
Bane Wolf’s score: 9/10

Valkyrie Assault Carrier
Hey. The Imperial Guard have skimmers now. You can take a squadron of three of these nifty transports. They can’t take ogryns, though. They’re fast skimmers with deep strike, scout, a searchlight, and extra armor. Since they’re skimmers, coming in a squad will actually benefit you with the squadron rules. They come with a multi-laser and two hellstrike missiles. I would never swap the multi-laser for the lascannon since it’s BS3. The hellstrikes are a one-use-only ordnance for taking apart just about whatever it hits. Considering how cheap adding two heavy bolters is, you should always take them. The rocket pods are basically missile launchers that give you a large blast, but no krak ammo. The hidden benefit here is that at S4 they become defensive. You can move 12 inches and always fire both of them. In addition, the grav chute insertion rule means no matter for fast this thing is going, you can still deploy the troops inside. However the rule makes this way too dangerous for my taste: roll like they’re deep striking, but if they scatter each model takes its own dangerous terrain test. If any of them can’t be deployed, the whole unit is destroyed. I hope I misunderstood, because that’s just plain silly. A good transport for your ballsy vets in air cav. When you use these, start humming “Ride of the Valkyires.”
Valkyrie’s score: 8/10

Vendetta Gunship
This is the same thing as a Valkyrie, but instead of the multi-laser and hellstrikes, you get three twin-linked lascannons. A flying (sorta) heavy weapons team with lascannons. Not too shabby. In a squadron, these would be death to vehicles. If you start with them on the field, you’d better get first turn. Move six inches and blast away with the lascannons. If they’re in reserve, don’t deep strike as they’ll count as having moved at cruising speed. That means they can only fire one shot each, unless you swapped two t-l lascannons for hellfuries (I’ll come back to them). Outflank is the idea here. Move six inches onto the table, and fire! They’re going to draw all kinds of attention, so they probably won’t last long – don’t use them as transports unless you have inhuman intestinal fortitude. I think the reason you have the option to exchange the wing hard points for free, is that it makes this thing much more versatile, while perhaps weakening it. The hellfury missiles are a one-use-only S4 large blast. So you can move 12 inches and fire everything you’ve got. For one turn. Considering that these may only last one turn, that’s not so bad. If you do take these, then the vendetta becomes anti-infantry instead of anti-tank. I wouldn’t use these ultimate bullet magnets as transports, unless I had three in a squad to carry one infantry squad. Allocating hits so that the one with the men in it survives. And that would be expensive, both to the points cost and my wallet. When you use these, start humming “The 1812 Overture.”
Vendetta’s score: 7.75/10
I'll analyze the other FoC options in later posts. See you then.