New Chaos Daemon Codex List & Analysis: Part 3 (Chaos Space Marine Allies)

After the nonsense that was fine tuning the Chaos Space Marine/Daemon list of the last few months, I really feel like just having a good time. I enjoyed my list, it played how I liked and allowed me to come from behind to win in many circumstances. Honestly though, it wasn't fun for many of my opponents. At the GT last weekend my round two opponent only had two models left after my second turn (vendetta and a wolf priest) and my third round opponent only had three models left after my third turn (three ork flyers).  I quickly realized it was not a list to bring to friendly games, and if the new codex wasn't just released I would bring it to local tournaments either. While I had fun, if I bring a list to a tournament where we both are having fun, then it will be more enjoyable for the both of us. On top of this, 6th edition is way too rock-paper-scissors right now to rely on a list. A bad draw on the wrong mission makes any amount of mathhammer and playtests void. All we can rely on the "competitive" 40K is skill. I like to think I have some of that, and learning more with every game I play, but since the list matter less now than it ever has I think it is a great time to start having fun in the hobby. This was my teams philosophy when we finally built our list for the Adepticon team tournament. we thought about adding wraiths to our necron players list, but then we said it would be more fun to have a second C'Tan. Yes, it is going to be that much fun.

Speaking of fun, I tested out the daemon list with the Al'Rahem blob, and it was a good time. I spent the night after playing it dreaming of whether I would go for a nurgle-look blob or if I would pick up some dreamforge eisenkern models for a more clean look. I kept looking through the book and reading other's thoughts though and kep fitting new things in, things that pushed the guard out. Sometimes my nidzilla genes act up and I get a lust for flying monstrous creatures. I made a list that had nine juggernauts and four khorne heralds on juggernauts, I couldn't contain the coolness of it. Plus, with the number of conversions I already need to do before Adepticon, building and painting a guard blob is probably a bad idea. So without further build, here is my fun daemon list;

3rd Overall and Undefeated with CSM at the Dark Star GT

The title says it all. This last weekend 70 players gathered for a two day, five round, 1850 point warhammer tournament.

I had a blast, going 5-0,  and successfully beating my 3-2 record from last year, despite having the highest strength of schedule of anyone in the top ten. Despite my strong record I must say that out of all my events with the Chaos Space Marines, this weekend actually was the most challenging. The Minnesota meta brings a fantastic variety of armies, and this leads to many unique challenges. I found myself consistently saying, "You have me on the ropes," to my opponenets as I faced new threats such as multiple wraithlords, speed freak orks with triple dakka jets and more bikes than I have ever seen, hyper-aggressive Dark Eldar (going second and not having my preferred wave with night fight) and of course there was the finals too.

Connor, a friend who I traveled to Indy with and who I have playtested against, was my foe on table one in the last round. He was playing Fateweaver, three units of screamers, three units of flamers, and four of plaguebearers. Five months ago I said this was the one list my army couldn't beat. Back in December we played each other and he clobbered me.

CSM/Daemon List For Dark Star GT and a RTT Report

I have been painting up a storm getting ready for the Dark Star GT which is this weekend. Last year’s Dark Star marked my first venture into Grand Tournament gaming, and with my 5^th edition Tyranids finished tied for 13^th in generalship (though fell to 44^th after factoring in my lack registration points due to signing up through the waitlist and getting second to last in painting). I really feel I can place well this year, A) Because my list might be a bit cheesy (due to the White Dwarf daemons still being legal), B) I have greatly improved as a player this year, and C) my army is fully converted and is already at a three color minimum (with a more forgiving paint rubric than last year). This means I have three days to finish my bases and do enough highlighting to get those points too. I even have a fancy new display board (made from a large portrait from I got at a thrift shop) to help my score in that department. My list, the last hoorah of Tzeentch daemons spam, is similar to what I played at the Indy Open;

Typhus

25 Plague Zombies

10 Plague Zombies

10 Plague Zombies

10 Plague Zombies

Heldrake (Baleflamer)

Heldrake (Baleflamer)

6 Havocs (4 Lascannon)

The Masque

9 Flamers of Tzeentch

5 Horrors of Tzeentch

9 Screamers of Tzeentch

Soul Grinder (Phlegm)

Aegis Defense Line (Comms Relay)

It is hard to get motivated to paint some of these models which I don’t plan to use anymore (specifically the Masque and screamers), but all in all I am glad to get some of these models done, especially the zombies, as even before any of their green layers they are looking pretty sick. I had a chance to bring this army to a three round RTT that had 19 players at it, most of which were preparing for the Dark Star.

6-1 At The Indy Open

I had a great time in Indianapolis at the Indy Open GT. I was painting right up until 11PM the night before in my hotel room to get my army to look at least half way decent (I didn't get lowest paint score!). While I didn't win the GT I did have an impressive showing, only losing one game (to Hans who won the last Indy Open and took 2nd this year) and winning my bracket. I doubt I will do battle reports as the new daemon book makes the tactical side of reports defunct, though I took pictures so I may post them another day. Here is my army and a list of my games:

Typhus

15 Plague Zombies

10 Plague Zombies

10 Plague Zombies

Heldrake (Baleflamer)

Heldrake (Baleflamer)

5 Havocs (4 Lascannon)

The Masque

9 Flamers of Tzeentch

5 Horrors of Tzeentch

9 Screamers of Tzeentch

Soul Grinder (Phlegm)

Aegis Defense Line (Comms Relay)


Round 1: MSU GK

He had first turn and combat squaded everything. By the time he moved up and used the jump move on his now four squads of interceptors I had very little space to land my deep strikes, leading to a soul grinder mishap. At the end of my second turn I only had 19 models on the table. Typhus was forced to roll five saves and failed four of them, dying. It was an uphill climb, but with some major help from my Heldrakes when the dust settled on turn six I was winning by a slim margin.

Hobby Progress (Heldrake, Daemons, and More) and Life Update

I'm not dead! It has been a few weeks, and I have not played many games, though I did play in a tournament with 90 minute rounds at 1850 points that will have a blog coming soonish. My life has been filled by my last semester in college and getting hired for a position post graduation. This is good news because I am excited for it and  know it is what I am meant to be doing, but bad because it is requiring a lot of time prior to prepare and train as well as meaning I will have to take a year of from wargaming. More on that position later, right now I am going to show you what I have been working on (for my chaos army...since I doubt you all care about econometric calculations).

I knew I needed to get this up when I read Goatboy's weekly post on BoLS this week, the guy said he was going to make a Storm Talon Heldrake. I can't let the Great Goat get credit for the idea, I needed photo evidence! In all actuality he will do a much better job than me, but here is my progress on it so far. I need to do more green stuffing, especially tentacles and other Slaaneshi things. The big issue here is the wings, as this is smaller than a real Heldrake. My take on it is that between the fact that it is a flyer and has a 5++ size doesn't really matter in regards to cover and in a pinch I will just rule in favor of my opponent for size, but a few people have mentioned I should find a way to extend the wings.

RTT Report: My CSM Make Their Debut (1.19.13)

Last Saturday I brought my Chaos Space Marines out to their first tournament, which took place at Legion Games in Burnsville, Minnesota. There were eleven players, which is more than they had at some events last fall, but still below how many they used to draw. While I don’t plan to do full battle reports until this army is painted, I will be providing a synopsis of each game. This provides a record for me as well as a point of perspective for other players when looking at match ups. My list was;

Typhus

25 Plague Zombies

10 Plague Zombies

10 Plague Zombies

10 Plague Zombies

Heldrake (Baleflamer)

Heldrake (Baleflamer)

6 Havocs (4 Lascannon)

The Masque

9 Flamers of Tzeentch

5 Horrors of Tzeentch

9 Screamers of Tzeentch

Soul Grinder (Phlegm)

Aegis Defense Line (Comms Relay)

Game one is after the jump!

Hobby: Typhus Conversion

Internet...meet Typhus.

January is my easiest month work wise, which means I have gotten a lot done. The flamers just need a few minutes of touch up, I finished my horrors last night, and both heldrakes are in the final stages of green stuff. The most important completion of late though is my warlord Typhus.

My goal with Typhus is to make him imposing, not a character who kicks ass in assault, but rather a model that is so commanding and powerful that you fear the idea of getting into assault with him. I knew I needed him raised up in order to create that sort or presence. I chose to do this with a rock rather than bark or foam as this would weigh his base down, preventing him from falling like other top heavy models. His legs and powerfist are from the CSM Terminator box, and his torso, head and shoulder pads are from the Forgeworld Death Guard Terminator kit (I believe; I got these bits as part of a bigger trade). His other arm is a cut up combi-bolter arm. The wires come from a CSM Terminator power mace, and the handle above the hand is from a terminator power axe. The scythe head is from the empire wizard box. I need to do a bit more work on the greenstuff, adding more vines to cover the joint. The arms under him and behind the cloak are from the fantasy ghouls box. I believe the tabardesque chains are from the CSM Terminator kit. I will need to hunt down my flagellent chains so as to connect his cape to the front tabard.

Overall I am very happy with him, as I am with all of the conversions thus far. Now that challenge is to find a build for the screamers that I like before an RTT on Saturday. I already have their bases weighted and magnetized, I just need a model to rock on top.

Defilers, Maulerfiends, and Soul Grinders...Oh My!

A friend who was leaving the hobby invited me over to his place to look through some CSM models to see if there was anything I would be interested in. I already had my early 2013 GT list set for the most part, but figured it was worth a gander. There was some good looking stuff, including conversions that would fit with my army, but I really didn't have the cash to afford models I don't need. Then I saw it...the Forgeworld Nurgle Plague Hulk.

The pictures on the Forgeworld site don't do it justice (partially the bland coloring used on the rotting flesh), this model is superb. My friend also posed it well and modified it so that it would fit on an oval base, making the model sturdier.

So I bought it. The price was low enough that I felt I could fit this monstrosity into my budget. The question was, what would it be used as? I saw three options; a defiler, a maulerfiend, or a soul grinder.

Havocs vs. Obliterators - A Chaos Space Marine Quandary

Partially Kitbashed Lascannon Havoc Conversions

I will have a review of the last year and a preview of this coming year posted next week sometime. This week I will be talking about heavy support choices, fortifications, and why I bought a forgeworld model. Today though, we begin with the age old Chaos Space Marine question…havocs or obliterators? When the book first came out I was all about havocs and gave no thought to obliterators. Several people questioned this behavior and pushed me to try the obliterators. The results of those tests are the basis of this post.

Havocs

One of the major comments the CSM book received upon release was the affordability of havocs. At 115 points you can get five with four autocannons, or for 155 points you can get five with four lascannons. Worth noting is for 175 you can get five with four missile launchers equipped with flakk missiles, though between cost and the low quality found in S7 against flyers I don’t believe this configuration is worth taking. Havocs allow a lot of shooting for very little investment.

Video Battle Report - Necrons vs. Chaos - 12/14/12

As I mentioned in the last post, I had a chance to play my mixed Chaos force against a seven flyer Necron list. It is a good close game, so check it out. The lists and my post game thoughts are after the jump.

Big Guns Never Tire (4 Points), The Emperor's Will (3 Points), with Linebreaker, Slay the Warlord, and First Blood (1 Point Each) using Vanguard Strike Deployment.

Battle Report: Chaos vs. Sisters of Battle/Imperial Guard (11.15.12)

To prepare for a local GT in March and Adepticon in April twenty of us from the Frozen North Gaming Club are participating in a league to both build community as well as test lists out against a variety of opponents. We are following the Bay Area Open missions and I am using the new Chaos Space Marine Codex with allied Daemons of Chaos. Note that because it is a playtest league there is no painting requirement and proxies are allowed on the condition that you are actually working toward purchasing or converting the model. I have included what model is being used as a [proxy] in brackets.

 

Typhus [Gold TH/SS Terminator]

33 Plague Zombies

10 Plague Zombies

10 Plague Zombies

10 Plague Zombies

Heldrake (Baleflamer) [Vendetta]

Heldrake (Baleflamer) [Stormtalon]

5 Havocs (4 Lascannon)

5 Havocs (4 Lascannon)

Masque [Tyranid Warrior]

9 Flamers of Tzeentch [Black Termagants]

5 Plaguebearers [Grey Termagants]

9 Screamers of Tzeentch [Dark Elf Warriors]

Aegis (Comms Relay)

It was my first time ever playing Michael, who brought Sisters of Battle with IG Allies.

St. Celestine
Uriah Jacobus

20 Sisters (Power Weapon/ 2 Flamers)
10 Sisters (Rhino/2 Meltagun/Combi-Flamer)
10 Sisters (Rhino/2 Meltagun/Combi-Flamer)
5 Retributors (4 Heavy Bolters)
Exorcist
Exorcist

Lord Commissar (2 Powerfist)
Marbo

10 Veterans (Auto-Cannon/3 Grenade Launchers/Forward Sentry Doctrine)

Vendetta [Razorwing Jetfighter]

Basilisk

Aegis (Quad-Gun)

Post Team Game Chaos Marine Thoughts

Tonight I will be getting in my first two league games with the new Chaos Space Marine codex. The league is an 1850 point adventure to get ready for Adepticon and the Dark Star GT. Each month players play three games against an assigned opponent. You are required to use the same list in each game. This format is great to meet a few new people in the club as well as face some armies you might not normally face. I talked the guy running it into doing Bay Area Open missions (Thanks Reece for coming up with such a great system!). Not only are the rulebook missions more accessible to people, but the way they are structured in this format is really balanced and leads to fun games. The max 10 points per game is great for keeping score as well.

Tuesday my Adepticon team met up and played a team game together. The results of that game is neither here nor there since one guy’s 1K list only had 500 points of models in it (and my two Heldrakes paired with a Necron airforce was extremely brutal); after that game though we played 2 vs. 1 in a 2K game. It was my Chaos against a mixed CSM/Sister of Battle force. Here is what I learned.

Chaos Space Marine Analysis and List Building: Part Four

This series of posts has been composed a few paragraphs at a time over the last week as I have begun the journey of learning a new book, and play style, as I move away from tyranids this next tournament season. Rather than changing previous ideas or reworking this post I have left it as is. I feel that is shows the process I use while creating and testing lists as well as providing insight behind why I am and will continue to make the list building choices I have been. This is part four of four interconnected posts.

This next week a prep league for a GT in my area (and adepticon too) will start up, and after not being able to answer Grey Knights and select Imperial Guard build with my Tyranids I have spent the last few weeks seeing if building up (and converting) a Chaos Space Marine army would be a viable choice for Adepticon. This decision was not fully about simply being competitive and winning, as there are a lot of things that this book gives me to try and convert on top of allowing me to paint in a grimy gory style I have wanted to try, but being at least as good with Nidzilla seems a reasonable standard. I now believe I have found a list that meets both of these requirements.

  

The List

Typhus

33 Cultists

10 Cultists

10 Cultists

10 Cultists

Heldrake (Baleflamer)

Heldrake (Baleflamer)

6 Havocs (4 Lascannon)

6 Havocs (4 Lascannon)

6 Havocs (4 Lascannon)

Masque

9 Flamers of Tzeentch

5 Plaguebearers of Nurgle

Aegis Defense Line (Quad Gun)

The only small change after two games was dropping three cultists for an extra guy in the last havoc squad. It is a pretty simple list. Mass lascannons give me a big presence in terms of ranged firepower and by turn two most games I have three units with flame templates that ignore the armor of most everything, plus a Herald that allows me to move my opponents units into the right position to be hit by said templates. It also has five scoring units that all have FNP and are fearless.

More after the jump...

Chaos Space Marine Analysis and List Building: Part Three

This series of posts has been composed a few paragraphs at a time over the last week as I have begun the journey of learning a new book, and play style, as I move away from tyranids this next tournament season. Rather than changing previous ideas or reworking this post I have left it as is. I feel that is shows the process I use while creating and testing lists as well as providing insight behind why I am and will continue to make the list building choices I have been. This is part three of four interconnected posts.

So after I made two Chaos Space Marine lists in part two, I started playing theory hammer in my head, and decided I value the high rate of fire of the autocannons over the potential utility of the terminators. Ideally the 16 S7 shots would be able to work toward replacing the 24 S6 shots that I normally get out of my Carnifex units. I tested the second list (with the small shift in dropping the Icon of Wrath for the 4^th autocannon in the second havoc squad) against a Tyranid list with two flying combat hive tyrants, two trygon primes, doom of malan’tai, five hive guard, one genestealer squad with a broodlord, and a lot of hormagaunts.

We rolled up the relic and vanguard strike with night fight in effect. I went first and killed one hive guard with all my shooting (nearly all of his army was in cover, and both Tyrants were either out of line of site or out of my range). He had iron arm on both tyrants, with his warlord being T9 all but one turn of the game. I moved my zombie horde forward as well as my biker gang, leaving them on the middle line behind my aegis. His shooting did very little, and he progressed toward the middle.

Chaos Space Marine Analysis and List Building: Part Two

This series of posts has been composed a few paragraphs at a time over the last week as I have begun the journey of learning a new book, and play style, as I move away from tyranids this next tournament season. Rather than changing previous ideas or reworking this post I have left it as is. I feel that is shows the process I use while creating and testing lists as well as providing insight behind why I am and will continue to make the list building choices I have been. This is part two of four interconnected posts.

I got a third game it trying out a few new units. I played against Tyranids and it went quite badly. My biker unit had only passed three 3+ saves by the time they all died, and between both Heldrake's I only got to shoot once because he was rocking the Quad-Gun so well. I also received my non-preferred wave on the daemons. Neither Maulerfiend got into combat either before being wrecked. In other words, it was pretty rough. 

Here are my thoughts on some of the units I tried out;

Chaos Space Marine Analysis and List Building: Part One

This series of posts has been composed a few paragraphs at a time over the last week as I have begun the journey of learning a new book, and play style, as I move away from tyranids this next tournament season. Rather than changing previous ideas or reworking this post I have left it as is. I feel that is shows the process I use while creating and testing lists as well as providing insight behind why I am and will continue to make the list building choices I have been. This is part one of four interconnected posts.

I wish I had the time to write all of my thoughts on the new CSM book and other wargaming topics in my head. Most notably of the topics I will not be covering right now is how hard the hobby bug is getting me. I have big dreams involving doing a fully converted CSM army. I also have only 18 days to paint 2200 points of Dark Elves for a fantasy GT, which is itself a crazy task. Enough of that though, this is about Chaos Space Marines.

I have played two games with the new book. I faced a 3 flyer and a 4 flyer Necron list each game. My first game I had the Biker Lord and Daemon Prince from my last CSM post, 3 untis of havocs with missiles and flakk, 4 small cultist units, 1 large cultist unit, 5 spawn, and two heldrakes. My opponents dice were cold, but I got to see how the Chaos units interacted. The second game I took out the Prince and added Typhus with six units of zombies, and switched the spawn out for some bikes. Here is my unit by unit analysis.

The Most "Broken" Part of the Chaos Space Marine Codex

I am currently at Tufts University in Boston for a conference, and spent last weekend at Yale for another. While I have been keeping myself busy slogging through senior thesis research on the chaos of Lenin’s shift from War Communism to the National Economic Program the last two weeks, my travel time now is all about another type of chaos…Chaos Space Marines.

I must say that this definitely is a Phil Kelly book. Nothing pops out as horribly broken or mispriced on first read, but instead there are plenty of options to make anything viable. I came back to wargaming as a Dark Eldar player just before the new book came out, and reading this book reminds me of the joy I had working my way through the multitude of possible builds in that book.

That said, I did find one unit that has stolen my heart as the bee’s knees of the new Chaos Space Marine codex…I have enduringly named him Bad Ass the Biker.

Chaos Daemon/Chaos Space Marine List: Can't Beat Em? Join Em!

Note - I have not read today's FAQ release. Thus there could be errors in this article.

On Monday I posted a video of my Nidzilla army getting trashed by a Chaos Daemon flying circus. Yesterday I talked about how I would take down Daemon lists in the future. Today I practice the old phrase, “If you can’t beat them, join them!”

There is a little more than that though. A) In 5^th I played full reserve Tyranids, so I have an affinity for deep strike armies that get in your opponent’s face. B) I love converting. With my DE, all of my wracks were built from random bits I got online (Empire, Skaven, Ork, High Elves, Warriors of Chaos, etc), not to mention my tervigons which frequently draw the question of whether they are a new forgeworld unit. Converting is something I truly enjoy. I believe Daemons have more conversion potential than any other army made by GW. For this reason I firmly believe one day I will have a fully converted daemon army.

Those facts said, Daemons are also really powerful right now. Both 6^th edition and the White Dwarf update gave the Chaos Daemons a huge boost. That naturally does provide some incentive to play around with the new possibilities. Jim who is known as Jy2 on Dakka came up with a strategy called Maximum Threat Overload with his Necrons. His theory, which won him the first GT of 6^th edition, was that if you put enough fast threats on the table your opponent could not afford to take out your low quality/low volume troops due to the damage you could potentially deal if your other units where not dealt with. I wanted to try a list that does this more effectively than my bugs. Two caveats; A) I have never played chaos and could fully be off on everything I say, and B) the only Daemon lists I know is the Daemon/IG build used by Hulksmash and Jeff/Pat’s (11^th Company) flying circus lists. Any semblance to other builds people are purporting is purely coincidence. Oh and C) there may be spam ahead ;).