Don’t bring guns to a knife fight

Over at the FTW network there is currently a series of what must have unit we always have in our army list. Not the type of unit we put onto the table because the Codex says we have to, but the type of unit we simply like too much to leave it at home.

Well, from the intro picture my choice is obvious: it’s the Baal Predator, of course. On the one hand, the Baal Predator is very fluffy as it’s a unique Blood Angels’ build that isn’t mimicked by the Ultramarines yet (see e.g. Vanguard Veterans or Ironclad Dreadnoughts).
On the other hand, the Baal Predator is a fairly devastating weapon: it’s twinlinked Assault Canons fire with a high and reliable accuracy and the Rending rule even allows them to crack a Land Raider with a little bit of luck. If you add Heavy Bolter side sponsons, you pump out quite a few shots in every turn, especially if the Overcharged Engines throw is successful and the Baal moves and fires all weapons.

I for my part don’t use Heavy Bolters, however, as nothing screams “Assault!” more than Heavy Flamer side sponsons. Yes, Heavy Bolters are indefinitely better because you can fire them all game and not just in the last round when you closed in on the enemy (or not at all if the Baal explodes while getting there). However, Blood Angels are a close combat army and I think nothing’s cooler than tanks scorching everything before the Rhinos with the infantry arrive. Plus my fellow Tyranid player has a huuuge respect from my Heavy Flamers, so even the better.

Of course, the Heavy Flamer loadout has one huge drawback: distance. My default setup is filling the three Heavy Support slots with two Baal Predators (both with Heavy Flamers) and one Vindicator meaning that my thread bubble is limited to 24″ of firing range. Especially when I play against Imperial Guard or other tank heavy lists this is a real problem as my tanks tend to die before they do any real damage. Furthermore, using Heavy Flamers in a turn automatically means that the tank will get charged in the next turn, so you better make sure you always drive minimally 6″ far.

In conclusion, one can say that my must have pick is mostly based on fluff and style reasons rather than pure power. However, rumors go through the WWW that in the new Blood Angels Codex Games Workshop makes taking Heavy Flamers worth their points again…

Bug hunting!

Last night we had another Apocalypse game over at the League of Gentlemen. It’s part of Goldark’s campaign about his hive fleet landing on Imperial planets. Once again, the Tyranids won by a sight margin having Goldark win every single game of the entire campaign!

So, here’s what happened during the Apocalpyse to Parcival’s Blood Angels (click for larger pictures):

The 3rd and 4th Tactical Squad dig in in an old industrial ruin to score on the mission objective hidden there. A deepstriking spore mine can be successfully shot before it does any harm and everything is tight for flanking Genestealers.

In the meantime, Parcival and his Honor Guard are fighting a desperate fight in the trenches along with his tanks and Dreadnoughts plus the support of the Inquisition.

The Death Company is doing what they’re best at – dying! (against a swarm of winged Tyranid Warriors. Me: “Gee, the Death Company is easily going to wipe those Gargoyles! What’s that you say? Those AREN’T Gargoyles???”)

In the meantime, the Deathwing is holding the western flank.

On the northern flank, the Tyranids are closing in!

The Landspeeder is teaching a lesson to the Biovore with the remaining Heavy Bolter: it’s being shot into pieces and decides to flee.

With their retinues dead, Parcival and the Inquisitor still hold the trenches against the masses of bugs.

So does Belial at the western front.

The Tyranids finally charge into the factory and the Blood Angels greet them with waves of Bolter fire. Since this was the last turn of the game, both Tyranids and Blood Angels contested the mission objective.

The Imperium lost against the Tyranids 10:12.

The Rise of Mephiston

Back in 4th Edition, Chaplain Lemartes and Chief Librarian Mephiston were THE power combo as Mephiston all by himself was a one man army. With the nerf of the Feel No Pain rule in 5th Edition that changed into favoring the Dante/Corbulo combo as they let nearby units benefit from their skills. Mephiston became overcosted and rather feeble with no Invulnerable Save.

However, I get the feeling that Mephiston is coming back as psychers are getting increasingly popular again. Everyone knows the Chaos Lash. The Psychic Choir of the Imperial Guard really hurts you as your models will run off the table after minor losses. With the new Space Wolves Codex and their psychic powers everybody will play Njal Stormcaller and his brothers.

In the midst of all of this, Mephiston still has his Psychic Hood with an unlimited range and Leadership 10 giving him the best stats to nullify the enemy’s sorcery. Yes, you can also protect your troops against the enemy’s spells by putting them into transports, but at least in my case my Rhinos always break while the enemy’s remain intact. Furthermore, Mephiston still has this aura of invincibility from former days that makes other players go “Yikes, there’s Mephiston!”

Overhere, we usually play with a 1750 limit which makes you think twice if you want to put 300 points on the table for Dante and Corbulo. I rather limit myself to one HQ and bring in more Attack Bikes and/or Land Speeders instead to increase the number of Melta weapons. That’s why I usually run Lemartes (Corbulo alone usually doesn’t do any good as there are too many conditions to be met to make him bring out his full potential), but lately I have made good experiences with deepstriking my Death Company behind enemy lines. Usually, I minimize my DC, so if they die immediately, they are still a nice distraction for the other player. If he decides to ignore them and let them run havoc within his ranks even the better. So, there’s the open slot for Mephiston – he’ll see a lot lore game time in my near future. And then we’ll see what happens with him in the new Codex.

Codex: Space Wolves as seen through the eyes of a Blood Angel

It was in 1993 when young Parcival got into contact with Games Workshop products. As an avid RPG player I started to play Wood Elves in Blood Bowl and then started to collect a Warhammer Fantasy Wood Elves army. However, in 40K there was a Space Marine Chapter with a charisma unlike any other. After I borrowed the Codex from a friend and read it through, the Sons of Leman Russ always have been my secret love.

So, with the new Space Wolves Codex available in stores, I got my copy as well, although I don’t plan to collect an army (yet). Besides for the love of the Space Wolves Chapter I purchased this Codex also for a very specific second reason, namely if I could find hints in it on what to expect with the rumored Codex Blood Angels that is supposed to be released in 2010.

These days, everybody speaks about how broken Space Wolves are and how to create hard hitting army lists. Here, I want to look at something pretty much gone unnoticed from the mainstream chatter but that could be specifically interesting for Blood Angels players.

Logan Grimnar, Chapter Master of the Space Wolves, doesn’t have the Orbital Bombardment rule, but Eternal Warrior. I see this as a sign of hope that Dante will get Eternal Warrior, too, but I doubt he’ll get the Orbital Bombardment. (Isn’t it odd that the Chapter Master of the Humpdy Dumpdy Springflowers Chapter has the competence to order an Oribtal Bombardment, but two of the most senior Chapter Masters don’t?)

Njal Stormcaller – I don’t even dare to imagine what broken psychic powers Mephiston could possibly get – plus an adequate saving throw.

Similar to the Vanilla Codex, the Wolf Lord allows a lot more options in terms of equipment. I expect the next Blood Angels Captains to get the same treatment.

The Iron Priest lacks the Independent Character rule that the Vanilla Techmarine has. The Blood Angels Techmarine doesn’t have it and probably won’t get it either.

Wolf Guard can have Terminator Armor and still board Drop Pods – maybe this is a hint that Blood Angels Terminators keep their ability to deploy in Drop Pods as well?

Wolf Scouts are Elites – I expect the Blood Angels Scouts to stay in the Elite slot, too. In other words, nobody is going to play them in the future either.

Grey Hunters are 15 points per model, Vanilla Tacticals 16. Blood Angels are between 15 and 17 points depending on how you count (30 points for Death Company subtracted), so the cost for the average Tactical Squad is going to stay the same more or less. However, Space Wolves and Vanilla can have between 5 and 10 Marines in a squad while Blood Angels only can have blocks of five. I guess more flexibility will be added here as well – plus the free flamer and the free Missile Launcher.

Skyclaws have special weapons, so do Vanilla Assault Squads. I expect Blood Angels Assault squads to receive the same weapon options (currently restricted to Veteran Assault Squads). This could provide some much needed punch for our second choice in the Troops slot.

Space Wolves don’t have the Landspeeder Storm, so Blood Angels probably won’t get it either. That’s okay, after all Vanilla Chapters deserve some unique units, too. I like the approach that special Chapters like Space Wolves and Blood Angels don’t seem to get everything the Vanillas do plus some more added extras as it adds to diversity.

The Space Wolves’ Land Raider rules have been adapted to the Vanilla ones. Blood Angels players will be happy to see the same happening to theirs as well. Rhinos and Drop Pods only cost 35 points, so the Blood Angels are going to get cheaper as well.

Yes, the Space Wolves have the 3+ INV Storm Shield, the Whirlwind can choose the ammo type before firing, Wolf Guard can have the Cyclone Missile Launcher and Rhinos have access points. If those things are not in the next Blood Angels Codex, I am going insane.

Understanding fans and developers

This post is going to be a reply to some of the latest posts on Gav Thorpes Mechanical Hamster blog.

Although I hardly believe there is a Warhammer fan who doesn’t know, let me say first that Gav was a prominent employee earlier at Games Workshop before he became a freelance writer. Recently, he wrote about why he did things the way he did them back when he wrote Codex: Chaos Space Marines. This link is a very good read on things one has to think of when writing a rulebook and still not be able to make everybody happy, no matter how hard one tries to make it the best possible publication. As it generated an enormous load of reactions, he wrote a reply to that, too, and finally rounded everything off with a general post on fans.

So far, I have been silent as I think I lack the competence to talk about Chaos. My only experience with my Blood Angels and Chaos is beating their Khorne lists but being beaten by anything else. Either way, I find this quote from Gav’s blog quite remarkable:

Most fans don’t expect perfection, but deep down they want their experience of whatever it is they are fans of to exactly match what they want from it. (…) In the quest for that perfection, fans will break something down into every constituent atom and analyse it piece-by-piece, looking for the flaws.

Of course Gav is right; fans love their hobby and they put a lot of care into it. Yes, there are definitely those fans who will never be satisfied and vent their anger about the tiniest mistake. Fans always thirst for new content, new models, new rules, the shortest release cycles possible and the whole thing for as little money as possible. However, they wouldn’t be very good customers if they didn’t want that, right?

Although a customer can never buy the perfect product, a customer rightly has high expectations. An excellent example to demonstrate this is the Codex: Blood Angels. This Codex currently is available as a freely downloadable PDF from Games Workshop. Neat. Now there are those BA players who like the PDF (it’s quite handy) and those who despise it (GW didn’t think we’re worthy to get a proper Codex!). I belong to the first group of players as I think a PDF has quite a few advantages – it can easily be updated and spread over the world. Current rules, easily available, free of charge – who can’t be happy about that? The only problem with the BA Codex is that it isn’t current – it’s lacking the major strength that its given format could have.

When Warhammer 40’000 5th Edition was released, an update of the BA Codex was made. Somebody at Games Workshop took the time and the effort to get our Codex ready for 5th Edition and even worked the accumulated FAQs from the last page directly into the Codex so you didn’t have to flip to the back of the book anymore. Thank you, Games Workshop!

Unfortunately, that’s only half of the story. Despite the update, Blood Angels Rhinos still have no access and/or fire points, although it’s obvious that they should have some. Whirlwinds are not able to change their missile type between turns as every other Marine Chapter does. Blood Angels Terminators may carry an Assault Canon, but no Cyclone Missile Launcher as every other Chapter does.

Of course, when you are talking to your gaming buddies, there is no problems in letting Blood Angels have all those things. However, when somebody actually takes the time to work FAQs right into the Codex but fails to fix these errors, this really is just getting the job halfway done. Although GW deserves to be thanked for the free Codex and the free update, it also has to face the criticism of customers who see that there’s something wrong.

Making these corrections isn’t something that takes weeks or even days to complete, more like an hour or so. Now even though I am sure all the GW designers and developers have busy and tight schedules, you can’t tell me that nobody has the time to iron out these errors. I understand it’s a very consuming tasks to update a printed book, but updating a PDF with a couple additional lines of text isn’t that hard. Heck, if one doesn’t have the resources to do it, one can even let the fans do it in this new world of modern communication. (Bell of Lost Souls just recently had a post on how the fanbase was used for the makeover of the Warmachine rules.)

Updating the Blood Angels Codex is a three level process:

1) Iron out the errors. (e.g. Rhinos, Whirlwinds, Terminators)
2) Streamline with Vanilla Codex. (e.g. Drop Pods, Stormshields, etc.)
3) Making Blood Angels the latest kick *** Chapter in 5th Edition again (overwork e.g. point values, special characters, Death Company, etc.)

Every fan is absolutely right to ask for level one because it’s about getting the job done. Level two is something that GW could have done after the arrival of the new Vanilla Codex just to say “thank you” to the Blood Angels players, we surely would have honored that. Level three is something we all dream of and that we all know doesn’t happen every day.

So what does that tell us about GW? Either they don’t know or they don’t care. In the first case, there are ways to fix it. Seeing how GW twitters and has a blog with frequent updates gives me hope that they are on the way to take communication with their fans even further. Fans who feel understood will buy even more GW products, that’s for sure.

Basically, it boils down to this: GW employees themselves are huge fans of the hobby and that they put a lot of enthusiasm into it. The person who did the update on the Blood Angel Codex provided a nice and well intended service, no question about that. However, even the biggest fan and most knowledgeable expert isn’t perfect and a single man solution always will be inferior to a well organized collective. This sort of reminds me to world of software where communities of open source software programmers react quicker to threats and have a higher spin of innovation compared to the giant corporations cooking up solutions in shut off labs.

Maybe, Games Workshop shouldn’t be inventing the rules anymore, but rather just manage them. I guess fans and developers understand each other best if they work together. The have the lead and provide the platform, but it’s the fans bringing and testing the ideas. Rules can be downloaded as PDFs for free while in stores wonderful tomes are sold that carry the background story, artwork and painting tips for every army. I think it would be worth a try.