Rise of the Librarians

"You are looking for our Captain? Well I have not seen a brother Captain for a long time, Brother Librarian is in charge now..."  -Communication log with unknown Blood Angel Chapter successor.

For the longest of time typically a space marine strike force is always lead by a brother captain, but it seems that has became a thing of the past. Recently a dark trend envelopes the sons of Sanguine, slowly but surely it seems their captains are disappearing from their ranks.

The curious trend was first discovered during a massive sub sector campaign where no less half a dozen of Blood angels successor chapters took part. Segmentum command reported almost all of the Sons of Sanguine they have came into contact were void of Captains, sometimes a Reclusiarch was in charge but most often then not a Librarian is in command of their strike force, a Captain was no where to be seen.

This curious trend of abnormal number of Librarians in power of a particular Astartes genus has caught the attention of Ordo Hereticus, a report was made to the highest authority of the order and a subtle "enquire" came into action.

What they found out was a disturbing under trend going inside most Sons of Sanguine chapters. It seems some newly discovered psychic ability weldable only by Librarians of Blood Angels origin has propelled them into very powerful position within their chapters.

The emergence of psychic powers like Sword of Sanguinius, Shield of Sanguinius and Unleash rage has amplified their prowess in any battlefield to the point a Captain or Chaplain would seem redundant or even obsolete in most combat scenario. A Librarian in a Blood Angels successor chapter is now crucial to the success of most sizable operation by increasing the survivability of their gunships, denying hostile psychic powers, increasing the battle prowess of their battle brothers or cutting down monstrous creatures and walkers alike themselves. It is said within the chapters a battle not participated by a Captain is unfortunate, but a battle not participated by a Librarian is disastrous.

Slowly and surely the Captains of such chapters found themselves sidelined from the Chapter's core of power as they now serves no more than over glorified swords man in a battlefield filled with hostile psykers, monstrous creatures and column of tanks -- all which the Librarians are better equipped to deal with. To add insult to injury, it is said a Librarian cost considerably less resources to be fielded than a Captain.

It would seem the Librarius was gaining so much power it eroded the authority of their Captains to a point they longer have access to artificer armor nor relic blade like standard Astartes chapter do.

While this trend is in no way violating any Imperial decree, the Inquisition is keeping a close eye on the development. In the meantime, seeing a Space Marine Captain from the Blood Angels line in combat is as rare as a space marine getting killed by a grot in close combat.

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.

Redeye Legio Campaign Blood Angel Armor Convoy

I just finish the campaign at Legio Malaysia. I would like to reveal my BA Mech list I used in the campaign. This is a modified version of my previous Armor Convoy list.

Lib HQ (Str 10 Sword + 5+ Shield)

Assault Termies (4 Hammer 1 Claw)

Sang Priest

Furioso Lib Dread (Wings + Might of Ancient)

2 X Baal Predator (TL Assault Cannon and Heavy Bolter Sponson )

2 X Predator Annilator ( TL lascannon and Lascanon sponson )

Storm Raven (TL Assault Cannon + TL Multi Melta)

2 X Assault Squad ( Meltagun)

Dedicated Transport

2 X Razorback ( Lascannon + TL Plasma Gun)

Overall I must say that this list perform better than my previous list both in the campaign and off. The Storm raven with the Terminator and Dread make a huge impact in the game. Now the rest of the army just provides fire support while the Storm raven with the deadly cargo goes for the kill.

Also I also change in tactical uses of the army nowadays. Last time I used to go into this tight defensive formation which did show some success but proven too rigid to adapt. Nowadays the whole army can eitier go into this tight castling formation or loose formation. Which mean I eitier reserve everything or every unit is scatter all over the place. It’s good against nasty deathstar unit or anyone with crap load of pie template weapons. As I can split up and not get my tank line overrun. Also taking advantage of my fast tank I can displace quickly so I can afford to go aggressive to enemies who are turtling or evade enemies that are to close.

However this list still suffer the same pitfalls my entire previous BA Mech list. Especially list that have a lot of long range high redundancy high Str weapons. All it takes even a couple of stuns and shaken and I am pretty much out of the fight. Assault Terminator and Lib Dreadnought are nasty but if support is compromise then they die from overwhelming numbers.

Anyway I was actually planning to put them to vacation much earlier but because of Legio campaign I decided to give them another shot. Since it the only army I have that fully painted and WYSIWYG. So i guess with the campaign over i be putting them on vacation and be working on another army for KDU Magacon.

Cool Chick Carol in 40K

Troop Choice Deep striking, Guess who is coming?

Another week, another comic. Remember you can always get a bigger view on the picture by clicking it. May be one more comic strip for the csms... as long as I have Bodohias under my command for the time being. Till then, enjoy the eternal war!

Always New Nasty Surprise

Click on the picture to view in large size. Special thanks to Cheng for his guest starring CSMs. Also hope to borrow more minis from the guys I know to run some silly plots for laughs!

Success Kid!