Razorback

Well its Christmas eve, Everyone is busy with parties and dinner with their friend, colleague and family. Not for me.. I shall be spending it writing 40K!!! I can see Wong has been entertaining you guys with Dreadies and Devastators.

So Since my recent post talks about Space Marine units that need improvement. For once i shall talk about something that the Space Marine have that great.

The Space Marine Razorback, It is a Space Marine vehicle that is a between of a Rhino and a Predator Tank. It can carry up to 6 model and by default carries a single twinlinked Heavy Bolter. It is used in Space Marine codex and all its counterpart.

This tank is ideal as it has mobility, transport, firepower and degree of protection. You can load a 5 men squad with any ICs. After droping them off unlike a rhino its job is over.. The Razorback has firepower that can continue to support the rest of the army after doing its job as a transport.

A good senario is you load troops into a razorback to secure an objective. You can use your Heavy Bolter to take out target while holding an objective like a sort of a mobile pillbox. Even immobilize the Razorback can still provide fire support at far distant.

You can upgrade your twinlinked Heavy Bolter into a variety of weaponry which all are fairly impresive.

However you can only upgrade it with a Twin Linked Lascannon with the Razorback kit as the rest require some degree of modification.

-Twin-linked Heavy Flamer

Although i rarely use it but i see some degree of effectiveness from other people. It is good to take out pesky outflanking/infiltrating/deep striking and so on infantry that come to contest your objective. You can simply just point the flamer to their direction and watch the template do the rest.

-Twin-Linked Assault Cannon

You can actually just grab the Land Raider redeemer assault cannon turret and it will fit. It is twinlinked rending goodness ideal for taking mid range objective. It can be some sort of all round weapon given your rolls are good.Nonetheless it ideal when you are storming into a enemy position.

-Twinlinked Lascannon

This by far is the only variant you can upgrade with the Razorback kit. This is good for eitier Devastator or Troops staying behind objective. As you can park at the objective securing it while having a 48inch lascannon to shoot down any enemy transport trying to contest your objective.

-Lascannon and Twinlinked Plasmagun

This variant give up one lascannon for twinlinked plasmagun. Making this an Anti Elite variant. Its only official model is out OOP(out of production) models of the Razorback, You will need to make your modification if you want it on the new Razorback models. Me and Wong usually dub this as the Stronos Pattern due to the codex mention the Razorback with this variant is name Stronos. This is technically the only Razorback that carries 2 weapon.. yeah you heard me its 2 weapon in 1 turret.. Check Space Marine Faq if you dont believe me. So if you move you can only fire eitier of one weapon. Unless you are Blood Angel where their Razorback are "fast" so you can move 6" and still fire all weapons. You can still mantain the lascannon support like mention above but lesser chance of hitting due to no more twinlinked. When the enemy is within 24" you can add plasmagun into the fire.

However the downside of the Razorback is the lack of firing port so your passenger are truly passengers as they cant do anything unless they disembark. Another problem is cost.. other than the heavy bolter razorback the rest is pretty costly as you are equipping heavy weaponry on a fragile AV11 tank. So getting to many of this can be not a cost effective thing.

Overall this Tank is a useful transport vehicle and with Heavy Bolter alone is consider good already. You can buy it for your Tactical Squad. That way you can just combat squad leaving the Heavy weapon and his 4 lackeys behind to take one objective as the Sarge and special weapon move to the secure another.

Another way is you can just buy it if you are getting Devastator squad as the Razorback can sit back with the Devas provide extra fire support . Even incase of a dawn of war deployment you can drive your the Devas squad to the their location than they have to waste 1-2 turns walking to it.

The Razorback flexibility is up to whatever tactics you have for your army. Speaking of flexibility.. You dont have to buy Rhino kits even if you need Rhino. Both the Rhino and Razorback kits cost the same and Razorback already have the parts to make a rhino.. So why settle for a Rhino while getting a Razorback get you the same thing but with an extra turret including weapons

Unconventional Dreadnought Pattern that works

Hey in this article I am gonna share with you my experience of using uncommon space marines dreadnought weapons load out and explain how to properly utilise them.

First we have here the "MAXIMUS PATTERN" with assault canon and twin linked auto canon load up.

 

What is it for: Transport killer and monstrous creatures ranged control. Maximus pattern dreadnought can dish out a total of 6 shots - 4 str 6 rending, 2 str 7 twin linked shots while on the move, making it and ideal platform to lay down fire on weak armored enemy transports or pulling wounds from an approaching monstrous creature. With its walker rules it has a maximum threat range of 30 inches and have the option of going into close combat when needed!

On field experience: Maximus dread can always hide behind a building or a piece a terrain before that start of a battle and later walk out and fire everything utilising its walker rule. A dreaded (pun intended) threat to light armor squadron vehicles and major annoyance for MC such as daemon prince. Just keep your range and try to benefit from cover. Maximus pattern has thus far served me well. In my opinion for the points you pay it is well worth it.

 Second up we have here the "CUSTODIAN PATTERN" with twin linked auto canon and a dreadnought CC weapon with heavy flamer.

What is it for: The Custodian pattern is a by product of necessity. Ever since I started experimenting using scouts as troops as to maximize points for "killy stuff" my scouts has become a staple in my army list. But the thing is while they are happily snipping and taking cover smart opponent will always take advantage of their weaker stats and number thus try to flush them out. The solution? Get the scouts a "nanny", and thus custodian pattern dreadnought is born.

Designed to be an all rounder deterrent for enemy task force that might come to flush your ground holding troops, a custodian dreadnought is equip to deal with threat of all sizes. A twin linked auto canon to take down incoming transports, a heavy flamer for an incoming mob and a CCW for str 10 close combat action. A custodian dread is a threat to but the most committed enemy offense. Extra armor is preferred.

On field experience: I have enough games to see the frown on my opponent's face when he or she is deciding if sending a part of his/her force to take out my dug in troops is worth it when the custodian is near by... like an angry hen overseering her chicks in the shadow.

Space Marine Career Death Trap

Seriously, being sarge of a 5 men devastator squad with 4 big guns, might be one of the most hazardous position a veteran space marine can even held in a chapter. What do you guys think?

Space Marine Terminator, Too much point for to little bang?

Space Marine Terminator or I call em Termies, are the Chapters 1st Company aka The best of the best. As when u are the best you get the best gear right?... WRONG! well not exactly the best in table top terms..

A basic Terminator Squad comes with 5 men in Tactical Dreadnought Armor aka Terminator Armor, Storm Bolter which are Assault 2 Bolters and Powerfist for the termies and Power Weapon for the Sarge. You can add up to 10 Terminator per squad. Also every 5 men you can get an additonal weapon like Assault Cannon or Cyclone Missile or Heavy Flamer. Each of your termies with Powerfist can option to add a chainfist too.

At a surface it looks good,2+ armor, 5+ Invul, Can teleport. around 8-10 shots with the Storm Bolter and Power Fist for 200 pts (Without upgrades). However in reality It sucks.. You are gonna invest 200 points just for 5 Assault 2 bolters and Powerfist. Against Horde you may be mowing them in the open but you are gonna be wasting 200 pts just to waste some lowly creatures. Against MEQ its most liikely they survive from their armor saves

Even their Power Fist, It still can be dangerous agaisnt initiative power attacks that not 1. You can risk dying before even laying a single blow as your 5+ invul safe isnt exactly high chance of survival. The Assault Termies Thunder Hammer also face the same problem but their storm shield (3+ invul) has a better odds keeping em alive.

Dont get me even started with the Sarge. A POWER WEAPON.. that a joke... It wouldnt be so bad if Storm Bolter can grant him +1 on attack. BUT IT DOESNT!.. He like the biggest sucker in the imperium, Most player simply kill him off first when wounds start rising. I just dont understand why cant they just give him a fist also or at least lightning claw.. So he already a burden to the team at day 1 since his aint gonna be killing much with a Str 4 sword even he the only one in the squad that can hit on initiative 4.

Buying upgrades for them can be costly like 35 for the assault cannon,cyclone missile and flamer... which spike your points up on a expensive unit.. A bit more and you can buy a Land Raider Crusader that does the same job as them but better armor.

However they do have useful stuff like the chain fist.. sending them to slice vehicles can proven deadly.

To sum it up.. they not exactly awful but just to expensive for the stuff they can do. Which Assault Terminator can deliver more for the same 200 pts.

A dicussion with Wong suggest that a simple way to fix this is to allow Terminators to be granted plasma gun granting around up 2 Plasma Gun per squad... They can rapidfire and assault at the go. also they can teleport them and can take out 2+ armor Elites or Monstrous. If not then atleast make em bleed.

A opinion of mine is Sarge should be simply screw the power weapon and just get powerfist like everyone else. That sword is better off slicing imperium carrots or some shit..

Space Marine Whirlwind

hope you all been liking the post i made for a while.. I sure Wong wont complain much since i filling in for him until he conjure another comic or something..

So for once i decide to make a post that something with less nonsense.

Getting to the point lets talk about the Space Marine Whirlwind

Ah yes The Space Marine Whirlwind Tank.. For those who not familiar, Its a Artillery Tank for all Space Marine Army which include Vanila Space Marine, Blood Angel, Dark Angel, Black Templar and Da Space Puppies. It can fire a choice for STR 5 AP 4 or STR 4 AP 5 Ignore cover safe Pie template 48" . Since it Ordanace Barage you can choose to stay behind cover and fire without LOS or move and fire but LOS is needed. Since its only Rhino armor so they die easily from long range weapons. So you are better off placing behind cover and rely on Barage to bombard the enemy. The reason why this tank is not a commonly use is because unlikely the IG Artillery is damage is no better than a bolter at the minimum. So u aint gonna be killing alot of stuff in the Battle..

Here a intresting video from Fritz 40K.. He is an active 40K blogger esp for those who active in Bells of Lost Soul would know him.

He does make an interesting point about the Whirlwind as a mean to divert attention from your other stuff. It gives objective holder an uneasy time. However against MEQ army or Mech Army they just shrug it off as it no different that a bolter shooting em.

Even against horde and the damage it offer, It wont be enough firepower to break them Since you can only field one tank per heavy support slot.You are relying on a single scatter die( Unless you are ballsy enough to fire it out in the open) and 3-4+ average per turn to break them. Its just not enough..

You may argue that you can just field 3 Whirlwind by using a 1-1-1 but it will eat up your heavy support slot that you need for other things like Devastator, Vindicator, Land Raider and so on..

A simple change me and Wong discuss is that GW should allow Whirlwind to be in squadron rule, Maybe a 0-3 Whirlwinds per Heavy Support Slot. This way in a single heavy support slot you can bring down more firepower per turn. As you got more scatter dice to role per turn hence improving your odds of a hit and having a better chance to cause more wound. ALso it wont be to overpowered against horde army after all... Its only 4+ to wound by average.. So a whole squad aint gonna get wipeout by a single turn.

Think about its its a win-win situation for almost everyone.. Space Marine players has an excuse to buy more whirlwind or have an option to knock out horde army. GW get increase sales on Whirlwind!!.. Everyone is happy well except the horde army but hey.. They got worse things to worry about.(Manticores, Basiliks, Medusa.. ) think about those.. and these whirlwind barage is a walk in the park.

I actually aware that Apoc that Whirlwind have a formation rule that a single Land Speeder can act as a spotter.. but nonetheless its only on Apoc and not on normal games. Since you are going to be playing more normal games than apoc(Duh). So yeah Squadron rule and you solve problems..

So GW... cmon you can do it!!

GW Respond on Plastic Imperial Guard Hydra Flak Kits

Taken from my blog.

Just to share you guys an email i send to GW a while back. As i was just bored at the office and just couldnt stop thinking of the Hydra Flak Tanks and it awesomeness!!

Dear Games Workshop

I am a huge fan of warhammer 40K and i especially love Space Marine and Imperial guard alot.

When i saw the Imperial Guard Hydra Flak Tank on the new 5 edition codex.. I just love everything about that tank.

I would like to know when will you guys create a offical version of the Hydra Flak Tank.

I do not want to buy the Forge World counterpart as i heard complains from friends that you have to do alot of modification just to assemble it correctly. Also i am no master sculptor so modification is just aint my thing so conversion is out of the question.

So i look forward for a plastic version of the Hydra Flak Tank and it be great it come out soon or maybe around the corner. As putting them alot with my Imperial Guard army would be just totally awesome.

So a rephrase When will there be a Hydra Flak Model??..

Thanks

regards!!

And this is their reply. Although is a generic reply nothing infomative but still should appreciate GW actually replying the email Hehehe

Hello

Thank you for your email. We have passed your email on to the studio as they are always looking for new ideas, although you will most likely not get an individual response. All such ideas are always taken into consideration.

As far as new releases go however we do not get to see or hear about anything that has not yet appeared on the web site or in white dwarf. I hope that this is of help and if you have any problems please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Gareth

Customer Service

0115 91 40000

Tactical Mahreen!! Where mah Shotgun??

Hi Redeye here!!!! When Wong is eitier busy or "uninspired" or just gotten bit by lazy bug.. I shall fill in between those gaps..

Still it was nice he let me post in his blog!

So for my first article i shall take a extract from my recent blog entry at http://redeye117.multiply.com/journal/item/28/Tactical_Mahreen_Where_mah_Shotgun?replies_read=2

Ah yes the Tactical Space Marine.. until now i just dont understand why Tactical Space Marine cannot be equip with Shotguns, Sniper rifle or Combat blade..

Even their Brothers from the 10th Company aka Scouts have actually more weapon option their Battle worthy Brothers..

I understand the Assault Space Marine going chainswords as they need to be in close combat all the time, and Devastator need to pick target off faraway (no sniper rifle is rather imba but make sense)

Yeah i know fluff always glorified the Bolter as this mass killing assault rifle that can explode and pop heads. Which the bolter is always associate with the Adeptus Astartes.. and such...

But in the Table top game all you get is 2 dice for rapid fire.. and murder most people on a 3+ - 4+ . Yeah so answer that on fluff perceptive..

So i say.. I thinks its fair that Devastator and Assault doesn't get additional gun option since there already got load of other option to consider.. but the Tactical Marine could at least have the option to swap their bolter for a shotgun or combat blade since Sniper rifle is a stealthy kinda thing.

Who needs a Chain Sword?

Lets us take a look at one of space marines main weapon of choice: chain sword. Curiously enough for something so sophisticated as current state of rules a chain sword does absolutely nothing extra compare to say a combat knife of a butter knife. As illustrated above when sufficiently bulky and heavy a teddy bear would have the same characteristic with a mighty chain sword. So the question now is. why the chain sword?

In the Grim Darkness of Future, there is not only war, there are war noobs as well...

The purpose of the blog, as the name suggested, is to chronicle my observations and off-beat experience on my venture the grim and dark future of 40k universe.

I will start with the introduction of my space marine army: The Purgation Lords

Now  before you start rolling your eyes are cursed "another Sphess Mahreens " army. Let me take a moment to explain the color scheme, this was done through a series of strategic analysis for the army's future expansion sake.  

Due to the massive resource hogging nature of the 40k hobby, it is not uncommon most of us will want to make the most of our "investment". This army is no exception. Through a series of careful considerations and cunning selections, my chapter color scheme can be fitted nicely into almost all existing marine based codex... "almost" being the key word here, but that is ok. The rationals behind can be best explained with the following comic.

Lance from Backside!

Draw a line from the base it says...  so is the above scenario legit, guys?