The Woes of Power Armor

Source:http://1-media-cdn.foolz.us/ffuuka/board/tg/image/1339/01/1339015399665.jpg

Been somewhat back into 40king loosely time to time. However something been observing on my own games and other people games.

I don’t mean that power armor is bad it’s just the expectation for it doesn’t match its capabilities. In a probability wise the Power Armor is really good. We are looking at a 66% chance of success each save which is good.

However in reality is a different story. For those who in the hobby for quite a while know how mess up dice rolls can do. So while overall odds are good. Power Armor have low tolerance for “bad rolls” or unexpected losses.

An example would be Wong idea of using Cultist as benchmark. So let say a 5 men space marine squad is around 90 points. (no upgrades, nothing) . So each cultist is like 4 points each. So for price of 5 Space Marine you can have roughly 20 cultist.

So now both squad takes fire from 3 wound from bolter round.  On paper the Space Marine would only lose 1 man at average and obviously the cultist would lose 3 guys right off. However in game there a chance that space marine squad would fail all their save and lose 3 guys. As for the cultist, losing 3 guys is already expected and if by some chance the squad had cover. Any saves that it make is already a bonus

People can argue saying that those Adeptus Astartes can withstand flamer and autocannon round.  Which yes that true but experience player won’t leave their horde army clump up or out in open to allow their squad to be easily slaughter. Also these are things that player can anticipate and control as mention above. While the Astartes can take less heed than their horde counterpart but still binded a chance that something can go horribly wrong.

Edit: Here a video of relevant content.

Sanguinary Guard

Pic From Gamesworkshop

In my personal opinion I not a fan of this unit. Despite it popularity i observe among player i have never gave this unit a chance. Its a nice looking model but i find it difficult to actually uses them. The reason why is

a) They don't do a whole lot in close combat and their survival rate is dependant to what the enemies are armed with.

b) They are expensive to be DOA into enemy lines to deal damage.

One big issue is lack on invul save. In the eyes of AP2/Ap1/power weapons they have the same survivability of an assault squad.

Their Glave Encarmine is power weapon regardless so odds wounding T:4 and above enemies are not alot. They can get powerfist but that add to already high point army and no alot of model or invul safe to keep Power Fist guy alive.

As mention of being expensive as DOA unit.their primary weapon is their Angelus Bolter which is nice taking out 4+ Sv unit but against MEQ and Elites it is another bolter. They can replace it by buying infernus or plasma pistol which can be effective but they are other unit that do more bang for their buck. From effective Assault Squad to Sternguard with Drop Pod or Honour Guard with Jump Pack

A special wargear they have is a death mask which must be purchase. It nice that any enemy in assault make Ld test and if fail cost them to be WS:1. It nice but odds are people arent gonna fail leadership that alot. Therefore feel like an expensive wargear.

Another option is to get Dante and make Sanguine Guard troops. Its nice being able to field 9 Sanguine Guard( 6 from troop and 3 from elites) squad but you aint gonna get alot of stuff with so much point going to Sanguine Guard and Dante.

Overall they are just too expensive to throw away for any drop and hard to justify their cost for a frontal assault unit.

Baal Predator Tactics part 2

Alright i am not gonna make any excuses for myself for not writing anything for a long while. So i guess it better i start typing. So before I start, a meme picture is in order.

I did a part 1 for the Baal Predator a long while back (You can read it here).Looking at it now they were more things that I didn’t consider during the time I wrote that which I explain later in the article.

During the early stage of using the Baal Predator I use them as Vindicator escorts. Which a pair of Baal Predator guards the Vindicator side armor. This restricts the Baal Predator mobility hence not using their full potential.

Nowadays set my Baals into individual tanks over the battlefield which actually performs better. Since they have scout special rule, if you are going first you can flatout during your scout move then move 12”. There high chance you already be in range of your enemies. Alternatively you can simply outflank and create this uncertainty on your enemies game plan as they fear a possibility of your Baal hitting their flanks.

The idea is that you should take advantage of this mobility to either exploit weak point in your enemy lines or simply provoke your enemy into over committing forces to take them out.

Twin Linked Assault Cannon and Heavy Bolter sponson is the way to go!!
- Pic from GW

Forget Flamestorm cannon, that weapon is just a one trick pony. Experience player will just scatter their men. After burning a small amount of model they destroy it by shooting its side armor or assault it.Assault cannon are a more practical option.Especially with heavy bolter sponson you can stay away 24”-36” and lay down like 10 shots (4 from ass can 6 from HB sponson) per turn.

You can take out infantry and Monstrous Creature. Thanks to rending from Assault Cannon you even have a shot on taking out vehicles and elites. The general discipline is to always keep moving and shooting. Especially if facing assault unit move 12” if you have to.

The Perils of "balance" list

Smurf is grim for smurf knows the odds

Some time ago I had a discussion with Redeye about the aspect of playing a "balance list", the suppose 'normal' way of fielding an army instead of the min/max approach.

The main issue is try as we might, it is hard to conjure up memory of any playing a "balance" list, kick arse and lives to tell the day when the said player stand atop of his/her enemies' smoking corpses. The main problem of being "balance" seems to be 2 folds.

1. You can do everything, but good at nothing.
2. Good at nothing is in essence meaning you hold no edge over your enemy

Meanwhile looking from the other side it will be like:

1. Edge list will focus on what they are good at and play accordingly
2. Against a "balance" list, primary threats are easily identified and resources are invested swiftly to neutralize them.

For example suppose you played an mix/max list of landraiders and terminators, automatically you will scan for where the serious armour/terminators threats are in the opposing army. That would mean say against another imperial army you would just want to look at where the meltas and lascanons before you reached the line and after that it will be on the look out for CC death stars and plasma guns/demolisher canon after you breached the line. Everything is clear cut, you can obvious like say ignore that landspeeder which is armed with two heavy bolters for the moment.

Where as being "balance" say you have 50% of units in your army being able to do decent AV job and 50% of them don't, it will actually be like fighting with 50% of your army the whole time.

The same seems to apply to the basic law of operation in reality, imagine going to a job interview and telling your interviewer you can do everything but aint particularly good at anything -- it will be like asking for a general worker's job.

So thought of the day? Get an edge for your army!

Space Marine Tactical - In Bolters we trust?

From Games Workshop

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?prodId=prod1060074

A while back had a talk with Wong and he mention that i don’t put faith in bolters. At first i just simply said yeah but now i would like to take that back. It’s not bolters I distrust, Its Tactical Space Marine that I don’t have faith with them. Before I go deeper I just would like to state this is just my opinion and not an advice that I recommend to the rest.

The big thing I dislike about them is the whole 10 men heavy weapon and special weapon thing. I understand it is to encourage folks to do combat squad. The usual is 5 men with special weapon with sarge on the move and 5 men with heavy weapon staying back. It sounds nice and all but the truth is you aren’t that great in either role. There do not have enough men to sustain losses in the frontline and you do not have enough firepower to hold enemy off at the rear. Even going full 10 men does create a conflict of either moving to attack or staying back due to their weapons load out. This is something to consider when players get a dawn of war deployment.

In a Space Marine codex Scouts fulfill the staying back roll better with snipers, missile launcher and camo cloaks. So leaving them with frontline role with heavy weapon that is more of a burden. However in the Blood Angel codex Assault Squad fulfills that role better with 1-2 special weapon, jump packs and decent of the angel.

In my opinion the easiest solution for this is just simply allow 5 men Tactical squad to carry a special weapon like their 4^th ed counterparts. Then the 10 men option allow either discounted heavy weapon or standard price special weapons.

Land Speeder Storm- Dedicated transport for Scout?

Lets face it, This is a rarely used or even seen unit for Space Marine codex. It is a inferior unit? No in terms of stats wise it actually a good unit. For 50 pts you get a Land Speeder with Scout rule, Jamming beacon and Scout blazing with Bolter/Shotgun to their enemies .(As they can transport capacity of 5 scouts and open top allow them to fire at enemies)

So what the problem!!.. Its placement in the FOC chart. Just one lone Land Speeder Storm spends one entire fast attack slot. Which it face heavy competition to Land Speeders, Attack Bikes, Assault Space Marine, and Bikes.

So you can get a max of 3 of this and the impact they make to your enemies wont be huge. So my proposal is that to change it to Dedicated transport for scout. ( After all scouts only can ride on them anyway) and soon enough Scout will have a reason to bring their shotguns as they ride out with their Land Speeder ride. Disembarking to punch whoever who insulted their ride.

Mather of fact i did wrote a email GW about and they actually responded.

Here my email

Dear Games Workshop

I find the Land Speeder Storm is a rarely use unit in Warhammer 40K and i rarely see people owning the models within my comunity.

Honestly i actually like the Land Speeder Storm and i find it sad that it is under use by Space Marine players.

I find the problem is that the Land Speeder Storm for just one speeder takes up 1 Fast Attack Slot.

I would like to propose that the Land Speeder Storm to be under Dedicated Transport for Space Marine Scouts. ( After all that thing can only take Scouts). I am sure a simple FAQ can fix this.

I did ask around and players do like the idea and they said they will actually field Land Speeder Storm in their armies if it didnt consume the Fast Attack slot. So i believe that not only people will start buying Land Speeder Storms but more Scouts to carry Bolters or Shotguns or Close combat Weapons.

Thanks for listening a fans request.

Which this is what they responded.

Hi Redeye

Thanks for the email, we have passed this idea on to the design studio on your behalf, however they may not be able to reply due to their busy schedules.

Regards

Although its a generic respond but atleast they took a trouble to respond and hopefully my proposal would be considered. Even though is ultra slim but then epic rolls happend.

Blood Angel Armor Convoy

Been absent from my usual posting as recently been unemployed and just been not in the mood to write up something.

Anyway i always wanted to write about my Army list but i seem to lack a good picture to show it. So recently courtesy to Wong imba camera i finally gotten a picture of it.

I am sure some of you have already seen this army already. However this is my BA mech spam army that i been working on for quite a while. Overall the army perform well able to handle a variety of opponents.

Here my current 1750 list that i been using for a while

HQ: Libarian (Sword and Shield of Sanguinius)

Honor Guard with 2 Meltagun . 1 combi Plasma and 1 Honor guard with Meltagun and Plasmagun, All equip with jump packs.

Elite: Libarian Furioso Dreadie( Wings and Shield of Sanguinius)

Fast Attack: 2 X Baal Predator with Assault Cannon + Heavy bolter sponson.

Baal Predator with Flamestorm Baal + Dozer blade.

Heavy Support : 2 X Lascannon Predator with Lascannon sponson

Vindicator with Dozerblade

Troops: 2 X Assault Squad with Meltagun

Dedicated Transport: Razorback with lascannon and twinlinked plasmagun

The army is divided for generally 3 separated formation offences, defences and support.

Offences: This consist the Vindicator, 2 Assault Cannon Baal and Libarian Furioso. The Vindi and Baal advance slowly and mantain a base of fire. Their target piority is infantry, monstrous creature and sometimes desperate anti vehicle. The Libarian Furioso follows behind providing its 5+ shield to the tanks . When the formation under attack by assault units so the Libarian Furioso usually uses his Wing to fly ahead of the tanks and assault them. Sometimes i have an Assault squad on razorback in this group if they objective in the middle to secure.

Defences: This group consist the Lascannon Predator, Assault Squad Razorbacks and Librarian. They be at the far corner of the battlefield holding a objective. The Lascannon Predator job is purely anti vehicle usually stopping transport from contesting the objective. Although this group doesnt take alot of attacks but the libarian shield is to protect the tanks when its under attack. His sword is there for last resort assault if enemies manage to go though everything.

Support: The Honor guard and Flame storm Baal are always in reserve. The Honor guard deepstrike to take on any high piority targets meltagun for vehicles and plasmagun for infantry. The Flamestorm baal outflank to take out any troops holding an objective at the far end of the battlefield. Armed with a Str 6 Ap3 flamer weapon most infantry fear this tank.

Overall this list is optimize to take advantage of the Blood Angel fast vehicle and libarian spells. With good array of high Str weapons, Armor 13 overall and mobility this list can handle quite alot of things from hordes to mech spam. However this list comes with limitation as it struggles against list with alot of long range high str weapons. If enemies rolls are good i can potentially lose the game in 1 turn of fire. Also another issue is mass 2+ Elites like Sanguinary Guard or Grey Knight Paladins once they pick off the Vindi they are almost impossible to stop especially if their sv rolls are good.

Alternative Rules- Cato Sicarius

.. Meh I should be ashamed to myself that i been into blogging stasis for so long while leaving Wong alone to update it. Just been not having ideas to what to write.

This is series of some sort where i write alternative rules for unit in the game that i feel is seriously under power. This rules are simply experimental rules however feel free to play test it and do give me feedback of what you think of the new rules.

Cato Sicarius...................... 185 Pts

WS:6 BS:5 S:4 T:4 W:3 I:5 A:3 Ld:10 Sv:2+

Wargear
Talassarian Tempest Blade:
A sacred sword that pass down by generation of Talassari nobility. Its a single handed power weapon that grant its user +2 Strength in close combat.

Mantle of the Suzerain:
As only those who gain the title of High Suzerain of Ultramar is worthy to wear this armor. It is a Artificer armor that grant feel no pain

Captain Banner
Any unit that at 6" of Sicarius may reroll any fail morale or pinning test. Including any squad that attach to Sicarius.

Special Rule

Rite of battle
Any Army with Cato Sicarius may re roll when attempting to seize the initiative and when rolling for mission. Player must accept the 2nd roll even if the 2nd roll is not the mission the player wants.

2nd Company Tactical Space Marine
Any Tactical Space Marine may be upgraded with one of the following rules
Counter Attack...5 pts
Scout............5 pts
Infiltrate.......10 pts
Tank Hunters.....15 pts

Equipment
Talassarian Tempest Blade
Mantle of the Suzerain 2nd Company Tactical Space Marine
Iron Halo
Bolt Pistol
frag and Krak grenades
Captain Banner

Special Rules
Rite of battle

2nd Company Tactical Space Marine

And There Shall Know No Fear

Independent Character

Combat Tactics

Option
May replace bolt pistol with plasma pistol.....................15 pts

Comment
I figure that Sicarius failure lies in that he doesnt perform well in eitier a close combat role or a support role. Beside for the points he cost its like a better deal to eitier get Lysander for CC power house or 10 pts cheaper Vulkan Hestan who peform the support role and a pretty good CC fighter.

So i decide to buff his blade to up his CC skill(noted i took off Coup de grace to compensate)So he now a Str 6 with average of 4-5 attacks.

Another buff i made is how he upgrade the Tactical marine. Instead of a FOC individual upgrade. I made it like a squad upgrade but it need to pay for it.

I made his plasma pistol as an option so player choose to not get it and spend the points on other things or he can commit Sicarius into combat.

The 5 best troop choice for Warhammer40K

Alright i have already gotten my cert and now i am back for usual blogging. Its nice to see Wong filling in for me during my long absent.

Now back to topic at hand, In the grim future of 40K we have unit that have unit that can dish out incredible firepower, unit that are swift that can maneuver around the battlefield and powerful monster or elites that can murder anything they touches. Regardless no matter how powerful your forces are without your troops its all for nothing. They are your unsung heroes (unless its a KP) holding the objective while withstanding the nastiest thing that touches them.

Salute them or you cant play without them anyway since you need like 2 of them to play a legal 40K game anyway.. LOL

So the criteria of a troop choice differ from the other units in your forces. They generally must be able to survive long enough to secure an objective, flexible in their option to support any army that you desire, and also tough enough to at least fend for themselves incase if they are under attack. They must be cost effective as after all you want to be spending more points on more powerful units.

So without futher ado, I shall present the 5 best troop choice.

No.5 Space Marine Scouts

These guys are more flexible than Tactical Space Marine. The five men squad can be equip with a heavy weapon, any model may pick a shotgun, CCW or sniper for free and come with variety of option.

Pros

- Lots of option.

- Sniper scouts + Cloaks + Missile launcher = nasty long range shots in safety of 3+ cover safe or 2+ if going to ground.

- Can infiltrate and scout + Shotgun and CCW = in your face assault at turn 1.

Cons

- vulnerable to prolong close combat attack and weapon that ignore cover safe e.g heavy flamer.

No.4 Eldar Dire Avengers

With the Eldar skimmer cheese builds. The Dire Avengers are their troops of choice. As they complement every cheese that Eldar farseer fortune, doom, and guide.

Pros

- 5+ Invul safe from Exarch

- Bladestorm (3 shot per unit Shuriken)+ Guide( reroll hit) + Doom(reroll wound) = Victim with alot of wounds. then skimmer can taxi them away.

- Defend (-1 attack per assault phase) which can tarpit enemy into submission.

Cons

- Without their beloved farseer and skimmer. They are pretty much screwed.

No.3 Grey Hunters

These guys are the Space Wolve bread and butter. They have points option like Chaos Space Marine. They are cheap by default(15 pts per model) and they have option to have their 2nd special weapon free of charge if they are ten men strong. They also have counterattack so be wary when assault them.

Pros

- Massing whole lot of them with meltagun and plasmagun along with your wolf guards can be some serious shit storm.

- cheap by most space marine standard

- Assault by eitier way is nasty ( Base 1 attack + CCW and bolt pistol 1 attack + charge or counterattack 1 attack = 3 attack per unit!!)

Cons

- Low base leadership (8) weak against anything that require a leadership test. Cowardice are punish in the Space Puppies ranks.

No.2 Chaos Plague Marine

Papa Nurgle be praise!! This pus boys are like one of the ideal troop choice that one can ever field. High survivability and extremely tough. They can carry 2 special weapon regardless of squad size.

Pros

-Toughness 5 making them durable against small arms.

-Feel no pain making any high ap weapon even tougher to murder them.

-Two meltagun and one powerfist make them deadly warrior for those unprepared.

-Fearless, They no way you making them leaving the objective.

-Blight Grenades denying all your enemies their beloved +1 attack MUAHAHAHA!!

Cons

- Low initiative with only 3, Can die from sea of high initiative power attacks.

Now Number 1!!!

No.1 Blood Angel Assault Squad

You may ask why Blood Angel assault space marine. I tell you they are by far very flexible in option and can be molded to any combat strategies you desire. Whether you want to go mass DOA( Decent of angel) or Mech( Mechanize) or Mass power armor they can do it. The very codex itself have many things that can support them. Although they do not have the high survivability like plague marine but they make up in options. What separate them than the assault squad in all the other Space Marine codex is they can carry meltagun and are basically troop choice.

Pros

-Decent of Angel (reroll reserve + 1D6 scatter for deepstrike)

-Discard jump pack and get discount Land Raider, Razorback or Rhino.

- Can be accompany by Sanguine Priest hence have feel no pain and furious charge.

- Can get meltagun and infernus pistol.

- Can ride in Stormraven Gunship with jump packs

- Red thist( 16.667% chance of fearless and furious charge)

Cons

- Survivalbiltiy not as good as a plague marine but pretty good for a average marine if given Sanguine Priest.

Back From Kindred II + Report

Redeye here again.. Just writing up on what happend on Kindred II yesterday.

With Kindred II wrap up i can finally reveal Me(redeye) and Wong army. I apologize for the crappy pictures as i forgot to bring my sexy camera so i had to use my handphone.

Here a brief summary of the army.

Redeye Blood Angel

Libarian HQ(5+ Shield and str 10 sword)

Assault squad (5 men with meltagun and infernus pistol)

Storm Raven x2 (Lascannon and Multi melta)

Furiso Dreadnought (Frag Cannon and Meltagun)

Wong Imperial Guard

Company Command Squad(Plasma Pistol and Grenade launcher x3)

Veterans ( 10 Men with Autocannon)

Vendetta x2( Twinlinked Lascannon x3 + Heavy bolters)

Valkyie ( Multi laser, rocket pod, heavy bolters)

Manticore

So in the morning as i grab Wong. At first i felt that i could be heading to Legio Malaysia to early but when i arrive there already 3/4 people have arrive . As i guess the Tourney judges reminder of people to come early really did took effect. So we lay our army on the table and people started to notice the amount of flyers we are deploying. The tourney judges compliment us for having a really cheesy army. So not long after that we had a short briefing of the tournament and we off on our 1st round.

Round 1 vs Subhan Daemon and Najmi Chaos Space Marine.

Mission: 3 Objective in the middle of the field.

Our SOP(Standard Operating Procedure) has always been to take out the enemy fire support first then deal the rest later. So we focus on knocking out their Obbys on our 1st turn. They got Juggernaut squad to arrive early so i reckon i send my Furioso Dreadnought in hope i can tie down his Juggernauts. Sadly he only held for 1 turn at best as a squad of Berzerkers with a power fist punch him to destruction. The rest of the game was a scoot and shoot as Wong Vendettas keep kiting his juggernaut while i go take the objective.

However with berzerkers and expendables taking all the objective and time was running out we decide to flatout all the flyers to contest their objective and hopefully end the game with a draw. Unfortunately a squad of bloodletters furious charge the Valkyrie, score a glance and got immobilize damage result hence wrecking it. So they holding one objective we lost the game.

Although it was a really good roll on that but to be fair their Chaos Terminator with combi melta fail to arrive the battlefield as they keep failing their reserve roll.

Round 2 vs Chang IG and Wong(another wong) Blood Angel.

Mission: Capture and Control. Expandables must be at reserve and must come to the enemy long table edge.

This time we go against 3 Leman Russes and Mephisto with Assault squads. So as usual we strike hard firing lascannon and blood strike missile at the Leman Russ. However only manage to stun and shaken them. So eventually the formation was slowly breaking as my Assault squad, Furioso Dreadie and our expandable reaching into their lines. Sadly we didnt had enough time to grab their objective as the game ended at around turn 3-4. So it ended as a draw.

I dunno if it was a good thing or bad thing but their expendables fail to arrive to our table edge. As they couldn't contest our objective but at the same time we cant rake in the kill points from expandables.

Round 3 Carl and Boon Kin Chaos Space Marine and Death Wing Dark Angel(I forgot who own which army)

(Sorry no pics as i totally forgot to take one during the battle)

Mission: Kill points and both Expandables start game lock in close combat.

So we start striking hard by firing missile and lascannon. Only manage to took out a Land Speeder typoon and couple of terminators. Their Deathwing Terminators had cyclone missiles, storm shield and thunder hammers making it really hard to kill given if your opponent rolls are good. So after 1-2 turns of firing the Terminators rarely flinch. Their Daemon Prince flew to aid his Terminator allies. . As the Daemon Prince was close to our lines we diverted fire to it leaving only 1 wound which the Manticore heavy bolter send him back to the Warp.With the Daemon Prince now far from his berzerker squad i send my Stormraven with Dreadnought to the Berzerker squads. So Furioso came out and shot his Frag cannon with meltagun. Nearly wiping out a whole berzerker squad left for one which he got murder in assault

So now Wong and one of my Storm Raven engage their Deathwing Terminators. My other Storm Raven and Dreadnought the other side raking in extra kills by killing their rhinos. The other berserker in fear of the Furioso Dreadnought frag cannon rather assault it than risk getting shot placing me into a tarpit.

While everywhere else going well, Our expandables are not faring well in the close combat battle as our number are slowly thinning out and their expandable took a few losses. Eventually we lost the close combat battle but once they were out of close combat we shot down all their expandable as to avenge our fallen brethens.

In the end we won by a 8 - 3/4(cant remember). For once we manage to play a proper complete game by ending at Turn 6!. So we could truly took advantage of our list advantage and not do anything desperate or stupid.

So by the end of the day we had 1 Win, 1 Draw, and 1 Lost. Although we didnt kick ass but we atleast bought something home. A lexicanum award... as Wong put it A sliver league trophy. I didnt stay for long as i was exhausted and wanted to go back home for some well deserve rest.

Overall technical wise the army was actually pretty good. We had superior firepower and mobility. The reason why couldnt kick ass as the problem there generally they wasnt enough time for each game. So the army depends on scoot and shoot so we lose ground each time they advance. So the idea is that eventually anything will crack under immense fire but with battle ending averagely ending at turn 4-5 is just isnt enough time for it forcing us to take huge risk just to get a favorable outcome.

As for Kindred II. I did had a good time as rarely you get events that deal with team games. Also with all kinds of wacky awards, pizzas and smack talks it was a hilarious time. However my gripe is 2 things, firstly the time for each round was to short in my opinion. Most of the game ended up without completing the full turn 5. I feel that 1 hour 30 min each game is more like ideal condition providing everyone deploy beforehand and familiar with the game. Hence trying to squeeze in new expandable + inhouse rules strike confusion with player and certain army takes time to deploy eats up on that 90 min time frame just isnt enough.Another thing is the noise level. With people roaring and music sometimes it gone to a level even i couldnt hear my own voice. So it was hard to communicate with my opponents as i could barely hear what they say.

I hope people dont take this the wrong way. I not sounding unappreciative to the tourney organizer for their hardwork and dedication on doing this event. I do apprecitate the effort as they are being creative with events but what above it what i feel that need improvement.

I guess back to regular gaming until KIII

Kindred II tomorow. Playing the team game!

Usual blogging for this week shall be interupted as both Me(redeye) and Wong is preping for tomorow Kindred II at Legio Malaysia.

I write something short to make it up.

Team gaming in Tabletop Gaming

Its like playing a typical table top game but this time is you and your partner using 2 armies fighting another 2 armies. In my experience in Video gaming it actually not much different than in table top. The real difference is that you get to know your ally in person so you or your ally cant afford be a jerk as you dont gain the same anonymous as online game.

Other than that the fundamentals are still same. Here are some pointers

- Know your Teammate! This is the problem with PUG or Pick Up Group. Not everyone necessary sucks, Its just that both of you have a different play style and have different expectation. Discuss with your teammate on strategies and tactics so both you can have an agreement on what its expected for both of you.

- Optimize your Army List: If you are expecting a team game coming. Discuss with your Teammate on army list. E.g If your partner have plenty of long range weapons then you can cut that Devastator Squad and get more assault or close combat unit.

- Communication!! : This is important especially during the game. I know its hard to discuss properly in a tabletop game as your enemy can eavesdrop and know your game plan. It is recommended to simulate battles beforehand and workout the outcome then than now.

- Rules : As the standard codex is not meant for team game in mind. Rules can be blurry when allies are involve. So in ways you have to obey RAW(Rules As Written) or RAI(Rules As Intended). Like e.g A Blood Angel Sanguinary Priest grants Furious Charge to all friendly units at 6" means it you ally benefits from it as he/she consider friendly. On contrary Space Marine Cato Sicarius Rites Of Battle only allow Space Marine units to use his leadership 10. So if your ally is not a space marine then he/she cannot use the special rule.

In a nutshell, Team games are meant to be play for fun and not to be taken competitively. So if stuff aint going your way, Dont complain to much.

So that it.. For those who are still not happy... here a funny and addictive song about a sandwich.

Blood Angel Furioso Dreadnought.. Simply awesome!

The Furioso Dreadnought is a Walker for the Blood Angel codex. Each unit takes up one elite slot. with AV(Armor Value) of 13 12 10. Its default wargear is 2 Blood fist(Dreadnought close combat weapon) and each arm is has inbuilt eitier a stormbolter or meltagun but neitier double of each weapon. It has a choice of replacing both its Blood Fist for Blood Talons or one of it for a Frag cannon.Also you can add a magna grapple . Altenatively you can upgrade your Furioso Dreadnought to a Libarian making him a psyker walker.

While by it own right its already great unit but what makes it even better that is that it can be transported on a Storm Raven. So this covers alot of the Furioso weakness which is actually getting to close to combat. So in the protection of the Storm Raven , fly in and at the next turn be at assault range.

However another thing great is that it is frontal armor 13!.. So even at range is hard to take out unless you have lascannon but that still a 50/50 chance. In close combat this things are deadly with 2-3 attacks. Even in close combat its deadly as conventional krak grenades aint gonna cut it, Thunder hammer and power fist also have a hard time breaking him.

With quite array of choice for your furioso.. here a run down of each wargear and upgrades for the Furioso.

BloodFist

Pretty straight foward... A pair of fist so +1 attack. With Melta gun and storm bolter.

Frag Cannon

The weapon on the dreadnought right arm(His right!) is the Frag Cannon. Its generally like a shotgun Template Str 6 Ap - Assault 2!!! Rending!!. In a nutshell is like rending flamer.. So anyone in that template x2 to wound. Ignore cover due to template weapon.

This is an awesome weapon agaisnt hordes. Since its does 2x wound per model and dishing it on a 2+ by average. It ignores cover but enemies can still make their saves due to ap - but with crap load of wound it can do. Its still worth it. It also makes a last resort anti vehicles weapon because of rending so it almost like 1 one shot assault cannon to a vehicle.

Blood Talon

This are like the Lightning claws for Dreadnought. Just like Space Marine lightning Claw they strike with their base strength which is 6 and able to reroll to wound. When you have a pair of these you get a ability that whatever unsaved wound you occur to your enemy. You get another set of attacks based on how many wound that unsaved. So if your rolls are rather good you can claw your way though 30 Guardsmen at a single assault phase!.

Libarian Furioso Dreadnought

This upgrade your Furioso Dreadnought to a psyker able to take up to two psychic spells from codex. It also comes with a Psychic Hood and Force weapon. This is great as now your Dreadnought has psychic spell defences, force attack and able to use Blood Angel libarian spells.

Here are some my recommendation.

Wing of Sanguinius : This is definately must have as it allow your Libarian Dreadnought as a jump infantry. Allowing you to move 12". You can maneuver around the battlefield without a Stormraven. It can get you to assault range quicker.

Shield of Sanguinius : This is also a good ability as it generates a shield proving 5+ cover safe to any unit around 6" radius. So not only your Libarian Dreadnought get protection but his allies get it. Group him with other unit and everyone get protection.

Might of Heroes: Add D3 attack, This is increase your attack on your assault. Good for when you are locked into combat and desire to breakout from it.

Blood Lance: It fire a Str 8 AP 1 Lance at a straight line on a 4D6 range at any direction of the Libarian Dreadnought. Any enemy unit that touches it take damage. This is good for taking out vehicles that line up in a column.

Unleash rage: Grant preferred enemy as the problem when engaging in close combat is the 3+ to 4+ to hit. So you can reroll those hits and let those str 10 attacks loose!.

Magna Grapple

When i saw this weapon this is the 1st thing that when though my mind.

Its like DOTA Pudge Meathook. Its a 12" Str 8 Ap1 hook that if it glance or pennetrate a vehicles and if the Vehicles isnt destroyed. It will drag the tank at 2D6 distant toward the Dreadnought. So the idea is to drag the enemy vehicles closer to you so you can eitier get it to Melta range or assault.

Overall

It a really deadly close combat unit. With a wide array of choice along with an army that can support him. Its just an awesome unit. Only downfall is no long range weapon but then it a dreadnought it mean to go close and tear people up . If you already own a Stormraven there no excuse to not get one as it can transport dreadnought arounds.

So i shall end it with!!

Vanila Codex Marine... Where does it stand now

With the release of up to date FAQ for the older space marine codex, Space wolves, Blood Angels and soon to be release Grey Knights codex.. Its easy to see people moving to these Space Marine army than sticking to the Vanila Codex Marine.

However in this grim moment, our fellow Vanila Codex Marine still have things that can make them a formiable fighters.

Assault Terminator: Their 2+ sv and 3+ invul safe from storm shield is still a deadly force to reckon. Although other dex have their own form of advantages but the Vanila one remain the simplest to wreck havoc.

Land Speeders: cheap and sturdy, A choice of weapon like Multi melta for suicide Av14 cracker or Typoon launcher for long range support.

Scouts: They are actually a good choice for troops if you want to go cheap on troop choice. A choice of Sniper scouts for infiltrating top floor objective while have a 36" sniper rifle to shoot stuff(remember it rending so can headshot terminator if desire) and camo cloaks which give you 3+ cover(2+ if you go to ground) which give them insane survivalbility.. Also you may opt for shotgun and closecombat weapon combo which you can take advantage of infiltrate, scout move to get into close combat at turn 1. Best yet is a 5 men squad can already get you a heavy bolter or missile launcher. So great troop on a budget.

Thunder Fire Cannon: this guys are great, for 100 pts you get a this kick ass cannon which can do 3 types of round at a 60" range. From 4 small blast Str 6 , ignore cover round or take dangerous terrain rounds. Also you can fortify defences so placing this at a ruin you choose to fortify can give the thing a 3+ cover. Even if you lose the Cannon your Techmarine can join the war with his servo harness. Twin-linked plasma pistol, 2 Str 8 claw and etc.. and can repair transport while inside transport.. Good value

Kick Ass ICs: Heroes like Magnus Calgar ( Deadly warrior with Eternal warrior and morale test is a thing of a pass and ap 2 storm bolter!!) Lysander (Insanely deadly warrior, 2+ sv, 3+ invul, Str 10 ap 1 hammer!!, Eternal warrior 4 wounds, stubborn... nasty) Vulkan Hestan (twinlinked melta weapon, flamer and mastercrafted Thunder hammer nuff said), and many more.(except Sicarius.. he sucks dont take him.. )

Land Raider: Of cos you need something to get your Terminator boys on the move... It the same as the rest but atleast it all the basic gear compare to certain Codexs which somehow ommit out some of its basic wargear. Land Raider Redeemer(Str 6 ap3 flamer anyone?) Land Raider Crusader(To get more Nasty Terminator ) or Land Raider (got 2 Twin linked lascannon.. even if immobilize can still shoot stuff from far) and all can field multi melta.

Troop on Bikes: So far Vanila dex one of the few codex that can do this.. As a Captain on bike can have Space Marine Bike Squad of 5 or more models as troops. So you can do some biker army if you desire.

Sternguard: plenty type of rounds for their bolter and ability to get combi weapon at 5 points.. Place them with drop pods and send them to enemy armor.. cheap and efficient vehicle killer!

So overall this are the unit listed which consider optimal for Vanila dex as other unit lack potential compare to other space marine codex.

Space Marine Deathstar aka Goo List!

This is a combination of a squad of Space Marine Assault Terminator which their dedicated transport is a Space Marine Land Raider (any variant).

If you are a Space Marine player or not and if you havent heard of this combo then you must be eitier shitting me or been playing with complete losers. As this is one of the power build that Space Marine plays.

Each Assault Terminator can eitier go for a pair of lighning claw or at thunder hammer and storm shield at no cost. So most player will go for mix of lightning claws and thunder hammer with storm shield. So they get a fair balance of plenty of weak initiative 4 power attack and hard hiting str 8 initiative 1 attacks. So got a means to eitier smash lots of weak enemies or vehicles/monster creature or multiple wounds that have only toughness 4 and below.

As for Land Raider it is a popular choice since it the only vehicle that provide transport for the Terminator (or else they have to walk or teleport in) and because of it Assault Ramp so you can drive to an enemy position and your Terminator can assault the same turn it disembark. Most people opt for Land Raider redeemer as it the cheapest than the rest and have the devastating flame storm cannon (Str 6 ap 3 template). As it compliment the Terminators as it can fire it deadly short range weapons and drop the Assault Terminator into combat. Land Raider Crusader are more for people with the desire to take the step futher by including atleast 7-8 Terminator or accompany IC with Terminator Armor. Land Raider is the least pick as it a long range fire support Land Raider but nonetheless it can still do the job. As for extra firepower people will always add a pintle mounted Multi-melta as since the Land Raider is going to be up close and personal. So the Mutli melta its highly likely to be in melta range which player uses the Land Raider machine spirit to crack any vehicles that in the way.

The reason why this build is so popular is because you are combining the best of everything the codex space marine can offer. To start the land raider all round AV14 is one of the tough fess thing to destroy. Also adding the 5ed vehicle rule make it even tougher . Since even you penned it you may roll a 1 and that thing aint stopping. Now we add the Assault Terminator, they have the best saves that money can buy. 2+ armor save overall and 3+ invul save for storm shield wieding Terminators so at a good roll day the Terminator can survive anything that throw to him . Once the Assault Terminator is unleash there is little that can actually stand up to its assault. As Lightning claw terminator can rip hordes army to shreds and Thunder hammer smash Monster Creatures, Multiple wound unit and Vehicles.

However the drawback and hence why call the death star is that you actually focus everything into one basket. Into one big powerful object. So experience player will simply find ways to avoid it or send weaker unit to engage to weaken it then send their best unit to take it out. Also this army depends on that very Land Raider to actually send the Terminator to the war zone. So if by some means the Land Raider couldn't reach to the destination from either a lucky lascannon round or it got immobilize from a fail dangerous terrain. Then the Terminator is pretty much screwed as they have to walk the rest of the journey being expose to enemy gun fire.

The Terminator is generally few in number so any unlucky roll can actually spell fatal to them. As like rolling 3-4 "1"s for armor save from regular gunfire usually mean the Terminator squad is pretty much dead. So at a good roll they are immortal but any loss it face it a huge blow to the squad.

So you are now thinking that this combo sucks actually no it still nasty and dangerous but you musnt over rely on them to win wars. You should consider them as like an high aggro unit( refer to my aggro entry for detail). Send them into the thick of enemy so hopefully your enemy will over commit on taking them down leaving things like your troops far from harms way on claiming objective.

Also you may add other unit to support the Land Raider and Assault Terminator combo like

A squad of attack bikes with multi melta which they turbo boost to the destination ahead of the land raider so now aggro shifted on them as the enemy is force to wipe them out first or else the attack bikes can cause serious damage.

Land Speeders.. as like attack bikes you flat them out first so forcing your enemy to take them out first hence drawing fire away from the land raider.

Devastator.. this can go both way, if the Devastator taking fire then the Land Raider is spare from gun fire for 1 turn. If the Land Raider is taking fire then the Devastator can fire its weapon without taking damage for 1 turn.

So in a nutshell the trick to use this combo is to eitier send the Land Raider to draw fire from other of your unit in the game or you send other unit to draw fire from the Land Raider so it will take less fire which improve it odds of surviving long enough to send the terminator to its destination.

p.s The term Goo list comes from Wong when a friend of ours came up with this crazy as many Assault Terminator in Land Raider as possible. Which all the Terminator is equip with thunder hammer and storm shield. Hence anything that face that many of hammer shall be turn to paste which is like goo. So the term Goo List is born. So it crazy... at a good roll this army is difficult to kill as it has a high chance of survival on anything throw at them. With that many Str 8 hammer it difficult to not kill anything that touches them.

Space Marine Vehicle Accessories, When to use em when to not use em?

Most people usually add accessories on their vehicles just for the sake of point sinks. Some are added more to improve a certain element of their vehicles.

However the best way to use it is to actually balance out the element of " Do i really need it" and " What actual unit i can modify to do the job better".

What " Do i really need it" means is like how does buying the item contribute to the army e.g Does buying an extra storm bolter for Space Marine Razorback helps? If it staying back far from enemy it aint doing much shooting. But one can argue that it helps when enemy are approaching the Razorback or improve Razorback suvivalbility as extra weapon can survive more weapon destroy results. Which lead to the next element which is "What actual unit i can modify to do the job" If the Razorback is constantly under attack maybe your assault unit isn't diverting enough attention or doing enough damage.

Let go though some of the common option that Vanila Space Marine codex you can buy for your vehicles.

Storm Bolter

Generally Rhino, Drop Pod and Vindicator have this by default and may opt to purchase an additional stormbolter. It great as it pretty cheap(10 pts), Str 4 2 shots and defensive weapon as it can be fired along with your main weapon. Sadly with only 2 dice at hand any damage this thing do is consider a bonus as u aint gonna kill MEQ or kill much hordes. However it good when laying on TOF( Torrent Of Fire). Torrent of fire mean is taking out enemies with quantity of weak str shots as oppose of few of high str and low ap shots. E.g Predator Destructor as it autocannon and heavy bolter is already dishing out 8 shot per tank so adding a storm bolter can add top it to 10 shots if range permit. If your army is generally aint into mid field combat then stormbolter may not be effective even as point sinks.

Hunter Killer Missile

For 10 pts you can have a single Str 8 Ap3 krak missile for your vehicles. The good thing about this is it grant almost any vehicle even a mere Rhino to knock out a tank or damage it. Another good thing it has infinite range so you can take out target that out of that 48". However the problem is that is a one shot weapon so any misses is consider a waste of 10 pts.

So the hunter killer issue is more on the do you have enough anti tank capabilities. If yes then getting it may just be extra redudancy , if no then it better to actually change your army list than to start spaming hunter killer missile fulfill that anti vehicle needs.

Dozer Blade

Is like a snow plow that allow the vehicle to re-roll any dangerous vehicle terrain test. Its pretty cheap (5 pts) which helps on moving though terrain so improve your odds when taking those terrain test. So you don't have to hesitate on take that shortcut route or have to work the long way around just to avoid the test. The question of getting it is more simply as are you constantly on the move, If yes then take it , if no then then dont bother..

Extra Armor

It turn vehicle stun result to shaken. Which mean that now the only thing that can stop the vehicle from moving is a immobilize result. The great thing as mention it help vehicle to keep moving especially transport since after all its priority is to send the passenger to their objective and not shooting so as long as it can keep moving it accomplish its goal. The problem is that extra armor is expensive (15 pts) which only cover a 1/6 possibility for any both penned and glance result. It can be debatable that it make a huge differences with melta weapons as a melta weapon at its worse outcome stun a vehicle so a extra armor can take advantage of the unlucky melta attack and escape. Hopefully getting out of melta range. On the contrary any contact with melta weapon is usually fatal and getting extra armor for such an occasion is just waste of pts. So extra armor is useful for Land Raiders that carrying assault terminator as the last thing you want is your deadly package is stuck in the middle of the battlefield. Also it can be useful for walkers like Dreadnought as extra armor means u can still continue to move and assault.

This article is more to cover on Vanila Space Marine codex as other space marine codex something that Vanila user take for granted have to be purchasable by other codex. As the measuring the pros and cons of the option before buying. So here a few example for non Vanila Space Marine codex.

Blood Angels searchlight: Are you going to attack something at midfield regardless of circumstances. If yes then just get a few to cheap unit so they can drive close and give searchlight for your important unit to see. So even if the enemy hit back they can only take out your cheap unit or risk rolling 2D6 x3 just to spot your important unit. If no then dont bother, use the night to cover your men at a distant instead of attempting to go close and risk getting spotted.

Black Templar smoke: Are you gonna move your vehicle out? If yes then take it , if No then use common terrain for cover safe.

Blood Angel Baal Predator

The Baal Predator is an anti infantry tank which can be use in the Blood Angel army on the Fast Attack slot. A brief version of the fluff is that apparently Blood Angel techmarine found the Baal Predator STC(Standard Template Construct).. and apparently they decide to be complete assholes and not share it to the Adeptus Mechanicus. Also the Baal Predator comes with the special Lucifer pattern engines which makes their tanks Fast. Which our poor Ultramarines and their chapter equivalents denied from this goodness of goodness.

So down the fluff and now with the tactics... Generally The Baal Predator has the same stats as a normal Space Marine Predator. Now it 5th ed they are given the special rule scout, this is a huge advantage as Baal Predator is a mid range - close range tank so scout grants them this ability to either flat out on their scout move or outflank. This helps them to get closer to the enemy earlier on.

The have the option of eitier using a Twin-linked Assault Cannon or the Flamestorm Cannon which both are equally devastating on their on right. You can add either heavy bolters or heavy flamer sponsons. You are free to tinker whatever combination feels right for your army but here a few combination i usually go for.

Twin-linked Assault Cannon turret with heavy bolter sponsons and pintle mounted Storm Bolter

The idea of this combination is actually to maximize the amount of shots you can dish out to Hordes in the open and even MEQ. You already getting 4 from the Assault Cannon + 6 from Heavy Bolter and 2 from storm bolter. That a total of 12 shots which 4 are twin-linked. It equivalent is the Predator Destructor which is cheaper than the Baal doing 2 autocannon + 6 heavy bolter and 2 storm bolter shots.. however the problem is you run the risk of missing alot unlike the Baal which has a twin-linked Assault Cannon which guarantee you 3-4 shots. Also it comes with rending so you can tear heavy armor or elite infantry which is rare but atleast u got a shot for it.

Flamestorm Cannon turret with Dozerblade.

This one is a more aggressive Baal Predator as it job is to storm into enemy infantry position and burn them with the S6 Ap3 flamer. You also have the option to eitier use the scout movement to quickly rush to a location or outflank to flush the enemy position. Dozer blade is important as most of the time you be taking out infantry well inside cover so you are gonna go though alot of dangerous test. As the last thing you want is to get immobilize in front a swarm of orks. You may add heavy flamer sponson if you like but in my opinion it difficult or rare to actually use the sponson as you be moving 12" all the time and you rarely get the chance to move 6 and use the sponson. Another thing u can add is a pintle mounted Storm Bolter which just add a bit of shots for each time u burn.

One key weakness when using Baal Predator is the weak side armor especially since Baal Predator is a mid to close range tank. It easy for your enemy to flank them and take them out. So you may want to eitier take advantage of terrain or have it side guarded by other less powerful tank/units.

Space Marine Vindicator

I know this is a really common unit to be fielded by Space Marine player in general. Almost every Space Marine player i know have at least field it once in per game. It is hard to not bring this tank along to the battlefield since by its first impression is an awesome and fearsome tank. It carries the devastating Demolisher Cannon. This cannon is a 24" Str 10 ap 2 pie template weapon.. a single hit can bring destruction to almost anything from elite terminators to ordinary guardsmen. Even AV14 land raiders and Monoliths has a good chance of going down since it is ordnance Str 10 + 2D6 roll pick the highest.

So in paper it sounds good.. matter of fact to good that some players goes to extend to getting a full compliment of 3. As people are encourage due to the Space Marine Vindicator Linebreaker Squadron box. In my opinion getting 3 Vindicator is a potential risk as you are still binded by scatter die, So in a good roll you can cost alot of mayhem and destruction however in a bad day.. you may be spending a whole turn doing absolute nothing.

Before i give you my take of all this, Here an interesting take on using the Space Marine Vindicator by Fritz40K

So my comment is that he generally placed the unit in extremely ideal environment that you will rarely will get to use in an actual game. Also his take this means to deny your enemy a specific area usually an objective. However it also means that you pay roughly 115 pts(Vanila Codex) doing relatively nothing if your enemy just simply ignore the Vindicator. If you do move him out alone he may get easily pick off due to weak side Av11 armor. So this approach is relatively a dead end that serve some purpose but no where else to go from there.

So my idea is that to send that thing in to generate Aggro, For those who didnt check out my previous entries. You should read it in order to understand what i mean http://w40knoob.blogspot.com/2011/01/aggro.html. A brief explanation is that aggro is the level of threat your enemy will perceive to your specific unit. So example would be a multi melta attack bike likely be taken down first than a heavy bolter land speeder agaisnt an enemy who has plenty of vehicles.

When you field a Space Marine Vindicator so you can divert your enemy attention to that one tank. So you can predict your enemy reaction to your army. Another e.g is if you know u are facing a massive Deep Striking army. With a regular list you are almost uncertain what your opponent may do since you are not sure how he respond. With a Space Marine Vindicator you know that one unit he will do his best to take it out.. so your respond can put him protected and there a high chance that he will come for the Vindicator.

So my suggestion is to place your Vindicator accompany your forces, Make sure you protect his side armor no mather what. So now you force your enemy into a situation. Either attempt to take out your castle up Vindicator or ignore it and risk leaving it alone where it can bite your enemy ass.

Vindicator got a variety choice of additional war gear you can add on.

Storm Bolter: Not bad, since by default it comes with a single stormbolter so you can actually be having 2 stormbolter. So in any case you lose the demolisher cannon you can still do some damage.

Extra Armor: Good addition if you got points to spare, Although you may not shoot but you can at least move to keep up with the army or escape from the danger.

Hunter Killer: Not my cup of tea, Although you can at least shoot something at Turn1-2 as by Turn 3 and onward you be awfully busy with your Demolisher cannon but in my experience it doesnt actually do anything.

Dozer Blade: Poor man siege shield.. Cheap and good addition for the tank as you can charge into dense terrain to get that shot in with better odds to pass that dangerous terrain test. However you are still binded by failing it if given some godly badluck.

Siege Shield: Its a better Dozer Blade.. with a cost of 5 pts extra. It automatically passes any dangerous terrain test. Also it make your Vindicator look more hardcore since u have to assemble the huge plow in the model kit.

Here are some useful types of Vindicator you can use for your army.

Blood Angels Vindi : Fast vehicle so you can move 12" and still fire the cannon.

Black Templar Vindi: 4ed machine spirit.. ignore stuns and shaken

Chaplain Cassius

Chaplain Cassius is consider one of the best chaplain you can field for the Space Marine codex. For the price of 125 pts you actually get alot of stuff. A regular chaplain without upgrades is around 100 pts.

He has all the features of a regular chaplain along with this extra like he has a combi flamer that fire hellfire rounds, He is toughness 6 and have feel no pain.

So what makes him unique is that he carry a combi weapon and mantain his bolt pistol. Regular chaplain would had to surrender that pistol to gain the combi weapon. So in an assault he can still have +1 Attack for carrying 2 close combat weapons in the field. Another thing is since he has toughness 6, feel no pain and Rosarius. Against weapon like missile launcher a regular chaplain would die on the spot if he fails his 4+ invul regardless of how many wounds he left. Cassius can do his 4+ invul then 4+ Feel no pain. Which this grants him a 75% chance of survival than 50% from a normal chappy. Even his chance of surviving a normal save is 83.333% that almost like a Terminator armor save. So potentially you can actually lock enemies with no power weapons in a close combat, since your enemy have to go though toughness 6, 3+ armor save and 4+ feel no paint while u can slowly slice them with your crozium.

Even the combi flamer he carries is useful, You can use it to soften your enemy for your assault team or if there several squad on the table.. Cassius can split up and burn any weak enemies that hiding in cover. Sparing your assault team unnecessary risk or hassle to take care of them. The hellfire round he carry comes in handy dealing with Daemon prince or Monster Nids. Just stay back and fire away.. force them to make armor save.

Generally my recommendation is to attach Cassius to a squad of assault terminators. Regardless of size preferable no more than 7... since u may need a Land Raider unless u have some strategy that include walking. Get some a good mix of Lightning Claw terminator and Thunder Hammer with Storm shields. Now Lightning Claw terminators enjoys reroll to hit and wounds.. forcing your enemy in a world of hurt. Ideally thunder hammer is more for to allocate ap2 shots on them, Instant Deathing IC or multiple wounds squad or anti vehicle ( Yes Liturgies of battle allow you to reroll to hit rolls on a vehicle.. So even if your enemy move cruising speed.. u can get to reroll that 6+ to hit). If they are MC around, keep cassius away and let him fire his hellfire round while your terminators finish him off.

Aggro

Everybody will be shooting at the Warhound titan, I feel safer already...

This is one element most 40K tactics video or blogger dont really talk about... The element of Aggro..

Actually in some way Aggro is term used in the PS3 game Army of Two. The idea of the game is the one with the biggest gun and loudest gun will generate Aggro. So when that happens all attention is diverted to that player leaving his teammate free to maneuver around for a flank.

Although Warhammer 40K isnt a real time game.. but in a way this application can be applied.. Example of unit with high aggro is a Space Marine Vindicator. A 24" STR 10 Ap 2 Pie template unit just it appearance alone already strike enough fear to your opponent. Almost alot of stuff even spread by cheese generate high aggro.. like Nob Bikers or a Falcon with Fire Dragons, or Land Raider with Assault Terminators.. These guys will generate alot of attention and will usually be rarely left alone.

So your opponent will do its very best to knock it down or at least avoid it... So a unit with high aggro can grab the attention of your enemy.. force him to divert his best forces to engage your high aggro unit.

Sparing your other unit from them like troops so they can hold objective while your opponent dukes out against your high aggro unit.

Understanding the Aggro level each unit in an army can help anticipate how your enemy respond to your army. So in a way you can always use it to your favor... like e,g.. Sending your Land Raider with Assault Terminator foward to the enemy while diverting your Marine in Rhino to secure an objective. So hopefully your opponent will panic and divert everything to take your Land Raider. Leaving your troops free reign on the objective. So even if your Land Raider and Terminator perish... You get to still hold the objective for another 1-2 turns..