With the release of 9th and the new, smaller ways to play, I decided that it was time to redo my marine armies or in some cases, just do them, as I've been talking and pondering some of them for far to long. So with that in mind, I went hunting on eBay!

Don't worry, I did actually have a plan and so far, I've been sticking to it. The plan was simple, I wanted 5 small 500 point armies, as described in THIS earv0lier blog and I wanted to keep things as cheap as possible. As such i decided a 4 part plan;

Part 1: Dark Vengeance Space Marines

Part 2: Shadowspear Space Marines or Vanguard Space Marines Start Collecting Set

Part 3: 9th Edition Recruit Starter Set

Part 4: 9th Edition Elite Starter Set

This, plus the bits I already own, should give me everything I need for my armies, with a little bit to spare and once combined should be able to make a 2000 point marine army. Granted this will not produce the best, most effective army going, I probably won't even be very competitive but it will for fill my desire for several marine armies and give me lots of variation to play with in smaller games. I will go over all the individual army lists in separate posts but the general idea is to be able to form a battalion or brigade detachment from the units, using the various restrictions in the new marine codex, such as one captain and 2 lieutenants. 

I have made a start on this project with this;

This is an almost full set of Dark Imperium Marines (missing one Intercessor) and a set of First Strike Marines. This gives me;

1 Captain

2 lieutenants

1 Ancient

12 Intercessors

3 Reivers

3 Inceptors

5 Hellblasters

Plus I already own;

Marneus Calgar

2 Victrix Guard

3 Intercessors.

Now, there is just one issue with all this, Calgar. Yes, I have Marneus Calgar and I really don't like ultrasmurfs! I will paint him up as a different chapter and give him a new name and such but it does limit at least one army to Ultramarine chapter tactics.  

With this lot, I can however start putting together a couple of the armies using some of the intercessors, the Hellblasters, Marneus Calgar and his guard and the other captain. As it stands, the two armies that I can do the most to are the Ultramarine, who will take up the mantle of Emperor's Disciples, and an Imperial Fists successor, a reborn Brazen Hawks. I'll go in to more details about each little army in the next few posts.

I'll also post up over the next few weeks, as I get around to building these guys, although at the moment I'm concentrating on getting the last few models of the Hjaltland LI finished up.

I mentioned in the last post that i had quite a few thoughts on the Elites book. While there are many good bit to the book and I'm sure that several people will find the book to be very good and useful, i personally don't think it is that good and was not as good as i was hoping for.


As with many new releases from GW we got some good previews of Elites, including the contents table page and that's where the first bit of disappointment appeared.


As a book advertised as a book of Elites there are a lot of commanders listed on the contents page. When you look in to it the majority of kill teams got either more commanders then elites or the same number. Space marines and Chaos marines for example got 6 commanders each but only 5 and 3 elites respectively, and I hadn't realised until.i took a look just before I posted this but all the GSC entries are commanders! I understand that they want to put more units in to the game but I thought this was supposed to be a book about elites?

The second bit of disappointment came in what units were selected for the book. Now i'm limiting this t just the units that I play, those being Guard, Marines, Deathwatch and AdMech. I am still hoping to pick up some grey Knights at some point, along with some Sisters when they come out, but for now, I'll stick to the main 4. So why the disappointment? With Marines and Deathwatch there was not quite as much disappointment as the Veteran option was very much a catch all entry and can be equipped in a number of different ways to make them useful. I will be looking closer at the veterans in the future as I my well just for a second, more elite marines kill team (yes, another!) as my current one is an all scout affair. For my deathwatch I may just upgrade some of my units, maybe a weapon swap or additional weapons. However, I would have liked to have seen some separate entries for Vanguard, Sternguard and Company Vets, maybe even some of the chapter specific units, such as SW grey hunters, BA Death Company or DA Company vets. These would add quite a lot of flavour to the teams, along side the chapter tactics. And yes, before you say it, I know that there are entries for all these units on the veterans data sheet, it does make it very cluttered and difficult to separate all the different options out. I would still have preferred separate entries for each unit type. Also, is it me or have DA been screwed over somewhat. They can't take stern guard or vanguard and unlike space wolves, are still restricted in the number of company vets they can take?

For AdMech, I'm quite neutral, as I wont be buying any more units for my admech, apart from the apocalypse knights box, maybe? Anyway, I don't know what other units they might have put in anyway as many of the other units don't really strike me as being sensible, but then there are a few other units that don't strike me as sensible either but they got included.

The real disappointment though came with the guard entries. Now, we got the main many himself, Sly Marbo, definitely a good choice for kill team, I mean, look at the fluff, this man is basically a one man kill team, sneaking behind enemy lines, killing stuff or blowing shit up and then sneaking back for breakfast. I however wont be including him in any of my teams as he just wouldn't fit my narratives very well. Yes, I could proxy him with a more suitable character but I just don't feel like it. The other options however were, I think, questionable. While Ogryns and Bullgryns are very cool units, I really don't think there in keeping with the whole idea of kill team, unless of course your running a commander and then you can play the personal bodyguard role but outside that I'm really not sure. Ok, so they fill a much needed roll in the guard team, well, Bullgryns do anyway, in that they really are close combat monsters against all but the toughest units. In 40k, they can suffer due to lack of numbers, as mostly their squads are small and facing bigger units, where weight of numbers can over come there strength and toughness, however in the more or less one on one, close quarters environment of kill team, they look like a really solid choice. Ogryns less so, as they don't really offer as much as there brothers. The biggest thing though for me was the lack of Vets or even Command squads. These guys, the cream of the guard, veterans of many battles, are the ones who in the fluff are likely to form kill team. Plus, they have access to shotguns, which in the kill team environment are significantly better then in 40k. So where are my vets? I would have loved to have modelled up some vets, armed to the teeth, packed will all sorts of bits and pieces, grenades (both frag and krak!), weapons and a whole lot more besides. I was really hoping for them to be included but not yet. I was also wondering whether we would get some limited heavy weapons but was not surprised at all when we didn't. As for the good old storm troopers, well, there really isn't much for them to get extra as they can already pack a lot of special weapons and they are not additional infantry units in there army apart for the command squad, which is exactly the same as the normal units.

The last bit that was a disappointment was the new specialism, Legendary Hunter. I really thought that this was going to be an elites only specialism, to really make the most of the elite units but no, it turns out that it's just a commanders ability. I was hoping for a couple of new specialisms for elite units and that we haven't got one is a disappointment but one I can live with.

So what was good then? Not as much as I had hoped, that's for sure. Yes, you cant get away from the fact that the Sub-faction rules, which are great and really do add flavour to the armies. I will be looking at how I can use them to my advantage, which will no doubt be really hard but I should be able to work in at least 2 full guard teams in with what I have on my roster and 2 more teams from the scout marines roster. The AdMech might be a bit more difficult and Deathwatch as far as i'm aware only get one anyway. The other elite marine roster has yet to be written, so that is something to look at later. As yet I don't know what chapter tactics or doctrines I will actually go for but in general I will probably go for one very shooting one and one more combat or speed orientated, depending upon the make up of the teams.

While many of the chapter tactics (and others but I'll just stick to calling them all chapter tactics for ease) are direct copies from the main 40k book as would be expected, many have been changed to give a better fit to the kill team mechanics. I have to say that this is definitely one of the best bits about the elites book and can really offer a great tool.

The missions look quite good as well and I looked forward to trying a couple of them out soon. However, they again seem to be skewed towards horde armies. I think that I might have to try some of the narrative games as well, something I've not been bothered about before.

I'm going to do a more detailed post soon on the changes to the guard that this book brings and how doctrines will change lists. I'll also look at the marine and admech as well, as there will be some changes there too.

To conclude, there are several good bits to this book and is in gereral something for everyone. However, with the amount of commanders in the book, as opposed to actual elite units, it should really have been commanders part 2.

With the release of Chapter Approved 2018, there have been a number of points updates to my various armies. Some of the points updates  have been pretty small, some on the other hand have been fairly large. While I'm not going to go in to details about every single change, I will give a rough overview of the changes and how they have affected my various armies.

Well start with my main 2, the Hjaltland Light Infantry and the Eagle Knights Chapter.

The Hjaltland LI received a small points drop overall, dropping the points from 2140 for the total force to 2018. This is a one hundred and twenty two point drop and brings the overall force down to nearly the 2000 point mark. I could easily drop a commissar to get it under that price point. So where have these points come from? Well, autocannons is a big one, dropping 5 points a piece, this along with grenade launchers, flamers, heavy flamers and missile launchers also dropping points. All of these help chip away at the points totals. There have also been a few points changes to some units as well, with Veterans dropping points alongside the Ogryn bodyguard. The Valkyrie has also dropped a lot of points, not just on the unit but also on all of its weapons, for a grand total of 21 points. Adding all these little points drops together brings you to the 122 points dropped in total. This is a good saving overall and means that I need to get painting again in order to have a fully painted 2000 point army!!!

The Eagle Knights Chapter has also received a small drop in points, from 3078 to 2938,  a total drop of one hundred and forty points. This might seem a lot but over 3000 points this is not a great amount, especially when you consider the Hjaltland LI dropped a similar amount over just 2000 points. There is a good reason for this, a lot of the units that received a drop in points are units that I am not using in my army. Lots of Primaris units got drops, as did named characters, none of which I used. There were some units, such as vanguard and sternguard units, which I use that received a small points drop but my main units, such a tacticals, death company and devastators, remained as they are. There were some points changes for wargear but these were not significant. The main drops in points came from heavy flamers, missile launchers and plasma weapons. I'm not to surprised at this, as the points seemed pretty good as they were, the fact that most of the points drops are on characters, the various terminator units and vehicles, be it bikes, land raiders or the various Rhino based vehicles, apart from the transports! Most of these units needed points drops far more than the "mainstream" units. This does mean that that total force now drops under 3000 points, it wont really effect my usual lists.

What about my other armies? Well, there have been some changes.

The Dagr Ormr Militarum Tempestus force has, much like the Hjaltland LI, has received a quite drop in points, dropping from 2037 points to 1863, resulting in a drop of 174 points. The force itself is made of two parts, the Dagr Ormr MT and the Hildasay PDF. The Scions have received a few points drop, mostly for Hotshot Lasguns, which is the most common weapon in the army, added to the drops for plasma and melta, the points drop adds up. The army is however one of the few that has received a price increase for some wargear, with the command rod going up. The main points drop come from the PDF elements, with drops to both the Veteran units and missile launchers, along with the chimera and multi-laser points drops. This is a good drop in points and leaves space for a couple of Taurox primes in the list, if I ever get some vehicles that I like the look of and it the profile of a Taurox.

The final Guard army is the Hrossey Yeomanry. This force has again received a price drop, inline with all the other forces. The force has dropped from 2647 points to 2383, a total drop of 264 points. This is a massive drop in points, far more than most of the other armies. The are many  reasons for this is the drops in points for Tank commanders and the drop in points for many of the main weapons for the battle tanks. Othwr Scoutunits that have dropped points have been scout sentinels, veterans and chimera's, along side numerous prices of wargear such as autocannons and multi-lasers. This army also includes a detachment of knights, in the form of two armigers and an AdMech detachment of skitarii, both of which have also received some points drops. The combined total of all these little points drops had resulted in the huge drop in overall points, which is great and has meant that there is space now for my latest toy, a super heavy tank! More on that later!

The last two armies are space marine armies, the Dark Guardians and the Stone Dragons.

The Dark Guardians have received the biggest benefit from CA18, with their points dropping from 2831 to 2538, a drop of some 293 points! How has this been achieved? Well, it's for almost the exact opposite reason why the Eagle Knights haven't seen a big price drop, the force is made up of all of the units that have received a price drop, namely terminators and bikes. Pretty much every unit in the army has received a price drop, with terminators dropping several points each, bikes and attack bikes have also dropped points more so than terminators and seeing as how the army is made up of over 20 terminators, 20 bikes and 3 assault bikes, that's a few points saved there. There are also all the changes to wargear, which help save a few more points.

Lastly, there are the Stone Dragons, or as they are these days, Stone Dragons and Deathwatch. The Stone Dragons have been through quite a few changes through the last few years and will be going through a few more over the next few but for now the list has seen a minor drop in points, from 2194 to just 2053 points, a drop of 141 points. While not a small drop it's still not huge. Again, the two units are formed of mostly core units, grey hunters or deathwatch vets, all armed with standard weaponry, none of which received much of a points drop. There are a few bigger units, such as the dreadnoughts, which did receive some drops on wargear and such but overall there were no big drops. Both of these forces are centered around kill team elements and are not really build for the 40k tabletop, so the points drops won't really make a difference overall.

So, there have been some really big drops and some not so big drops but overall all the armies have seen a drop. This has been very useful for the likes of the Hjaltland Light Infantry, as they can now fit in some much needed extra firepower and the Dark Guardians will have more options to choose from. The Eagle Knights could have done a bigger drop and may suffer for it but then, they haven't seen a drop, so they obviously think these units are competitive as they are. I'm not sure how long it will be before I can get any of these armies on the table to test out the new points, probably quite a while!

A quick post today. As I mentioned in an earlier post I have been playing a few games with my son recently and I thought I would just put up a few pictures of my sons kill team. He has three primaris intercessors at the moment, with minor conversions to space wolves heads and I was hoping to pick up issue 3 of conquest for the Reaver's but the shop seemed to stop at issue 2 and I haven't seen it anywhere else. We will probably pick up some for Christmas or birthday, as he'll like that but for now, here are his primaris marines, glued and painted all by himself (I did the sprues)




I've a feeling that I might have to build some bigger storage trays as if he keeps up with his enthusiasm we could end up with a whole primaris force!

My Astra Militarum kill team is coming together nicely and although I have yet to get a game in, I have pretty much finished painting up the force. There have been a few changes since I last put it up here. They are basic changes to the roster, added a few more troops, special weapons and specialists. The reason for adding in a few extra models is based on one of two reasons. One, I decided to go for all special weapon options and as such I added in a melta gun, even though I am as yet unconvinced by there useful ness in kill team. Two, extra specialist are never going to be a bad option and with the latest FAQ, it has changed the options, so I've added in those options too.

So, what have I added in? Well a second Sergeant, a Gunner with a Melta, a second Sniper Rifle and a second Grenade Launcher. I also added in a Medic. I have always thought that the guard should have the option to take a medic, I mean not many squads are going to go into battle without some form of medically trained person. Plus I had already had a model made and painted as a medic that I was just going to use as a general trooper.

I've also fleshed out some more of the fluff for the force. I will go in to this in more detail in a future post but the basics are that these are the last remanence of various squads, platoons, companies or regiments who were thrown together as a necessity of war, labelled up as the Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron (TRS) and sent out to locate and probe the enemy location, as part of Operation Enlightenment. The top brass consider this as a sound tactical option, the troops generally refer to the tactic and recon by fire, or getting shot at to see where the big guns are. 

So what is the final list and I do mean final, as I've pretty much finished painting all the models!

The Leaders

Sergeant [6pts]: Voice of Command Orders, Laspistol, Power Sword, Leader

Sergeant [5pts]: Voice of Command Orders, Bolt Pistol, Chain Sword, Leader

Both leader are built for combat although there primary role will be for orders and buffs. Guard are not combat orientated units and so there is little point in throwing them in to combat situations unless there is no choice. Having a power sword means that one has a bit of bit and the other just attacks.

The Specialists

Guardsmen [5pts]: Medic

Guardsman Gunner [8pts]: Demolitions, Flamer

Guardsman Gunner [8pts]:Scout,  Flamer

Special Weapons Gunner [6pts]: Sniper, Sniper Rifle

Special Weapons Gunner [7pts]: Heavy, Grenade launcher

Guardsman [10pts]: Comms, Vox caster

The Medic is there because I can but in reality I cant see him getting much use. The two flamers are there, as with the poor ballistic skill of a guardsmen, auto hit weapons are a good option. One will get a bonus for attacking obscured targets and one gets a movement bonus, to help get the flamer in to range quicker. The sniper rifle will probably team up with the comms guy, to take advantage of the benefits he can dish out. The pair will probably also hang out near to the leader as well, again for the potential buffs he can give. The last member of this lot is the heavy specialist and this was a bit of a stretch, i'm still not sure if its a good idea or not but as grenade launchers are assault weapons it does still get a bonus, so I took it. I can always scrub him from my list if it doesn't work out.

The Non-specialists

IllI not list every one of these as there is little point, but the basics are;

Infantry Squad Fire Team
. Guardsman [10pts]: vox
. Guardsman [5pts] - there are 16 of these.

A second vox is included for if I want a vox for its re-roll ability but don't want the Comms specialism or don't have space for it. Now 16 guardsmen may seem a lot but there's a good reason for this. Firstly, even with a full list of specialists and gunners plus a Vox, the list would top out at just under 50 points, still room for 10 guardsmen! suddenly 16 doesn't seem that many. This is the big issue with an all guard list, there is space for a lot of models. If I included scions, then the same set-up but with scions instead of guardsmen the points would be nearly 80 points. Quite a difference but the scions are reserved for my other list, more on that later.

Special Weapons Squad Fire Team
. Special Weapons Gunner [8pts]: Plasma gun
. Special Weapons Gunner [8pts]: Plasma gun
. Special Weapons Gunner [8pts]: Melta gun
. Special Weapons Gunner [6pts]: Sniper Rifle
. Special Weapons Gunner [7pts]: Grenade Launcher

So, this rounds out the list. Now I have for the moment just lumped all these in to the Special Weapons squad but I will have to think hard about where I want these to go. the guard can only take a maximum of 4 special weapons in a kill team, so spaces are tight.

So in total this gives me a list of 30 men, 10 to many for a roster but I intend to roll through the guys as they fight and die, so that I don't always have the same team on the table. Ok, I really don't think I'm going to get that many games in but I can plan for it!

I will go in to details in another post, give a full account of the squads backstory and also go through each and every member of the squad, all of which have there own stories to tell but that's for another post.

As I mentioned in a previous post, there are quite a few specialist options in the new kill team, as there have been in all versions of kill team. However, this edition has introduced the leveling up option in to the game with specific progression trees for each specialism. This means that it's not quite so simple to pick a specialist, as it requires you to think beyond the first game and about how they model will progress. As such I thought that I would run through my thoughts on the various specialist options that are applicable to the Astra Militarum units. I may look at the others as I flesh out the other forces I have planned but for now I'll just be sticking to the guard options.

But what are the options, well they actually change between data sheets, so we'll look at the three options;

Infantry squad - Leader (sergeant only) Heavy (gunner only) scout, sniper, Comms (guardsman with vox caster only), veteran, demolitions

Special weapons squad - Leader, Heavy (gunner only) scout, sniper, Comms, veteran, demolitions

Militarum Tempestus squad - Leader (tempestor only) Heavy (gunner only) Demolitions (gunner only) Comms, medic, scout, sniper, veteran

Straight off, two things jump out at me. Firstly, Leaders, for both the infantry squad and Scion squad have restrictions on there leaders but the special weapons squad doesn't, meaning that you could have a guardsman or gunner be your leader if you wanted. Secondly, the Comms specialist in the Infantry squad is restricted to a model with a vox caster, while in the special weapons and Scion squads there is no such restriction. Personally, I think this is an oversight. I can understand why the leader specialism is included in the special weapons squad, but I think it should be restricted to a non-gunner model at the very least. Really I think it should not be there at all. As for the Comms specialist, I think it should be restricted to vox caster only across all units, as this makes more sense. To keep changing the requirements for things across units seem like poor proof reading to me.

But enough with the moaning. Let's look at each option and see how they stack up against the various squads. For the most part I will just be looking at guard Vs Scion and not splitting the infantry squad and special weapons squad in to individual units as they are exactly the same in all respects apart from the max model counts.

Leader specialist - there is not really much to say about this one, as it is required by all kill teams. The only question comes if you are thinking of taking a combines guard and Scion kill team, which in reality most people are. If your going to combine the various different units, I would take the tempestor as your leader. There's a very basic reason for this, a 3+ BS\WS and 4+ save. It is also worth pointing out that you could have a guardsman for the special weapons squad be a leader but this doesn't really seem sensible. You loose leadership and gain nothing. If you have a good fluff reason for it great but in reality the Tempestor is the best choice.

Heavy specialist - in all fire teams this is restricted to gunners only, which makes sense, there the ones with the big guns. Unfortunately it doesn't really suit all the weapon options. The base ability doesn't help plasma guns at all and the extra ap on level 2 is not much use either. The same can be said for flamers as well, as they auto hit anyway, although the ap modifier would be useful. Really this pushes you towards grande launchers, melta guns, sniper rifles and hotshot volley guns. Now, I'm still not convinced by melta guns in kill team. Yes they will kick out a lot of damage but there are very few multi wound models in the game and most that are are 2 wound models. The range is also very short, so you will have to get close to do damage. So really that leaves sniper rifles and grenade launchers for guard and just hotshot volley guns for scions. Now, both will work for guard, as both weapons can make use of the abilities that are on the tree. I don't join that the grenade launcher does just edge it though as there are some abilities that work better for the grenade launcher but there are not any that work better for the sniper. As such if you want to take the heavy specialist for guard, then take it with a grenade launcher. For scions, there is only one option, the hotshot volley gun and it's not a bad choice at all.

Demolitions specialist - this specialism is unrestricted in the guard units but is restricted to Scion gunners. Why the restriction, I don't know, but it doesn't really make much difference. You could use this model with a normal lasgun and go the route of the grenadier but most people will probably go the pyromaniac route. The biggest trouble for me is that many of the later abiolities are not in game abilities but ones that work after the game or before the game, provided you use the scout phase. To me there is really only two ways to go with this specialism and that's to arm a man with a flamer and go pyromaniac or keep them with a lasgun and go grenadier, either way I don't think that this is a great option unless you are going to be playing a full campaign.

Comms specialist - this is a slightly odd one, as it's restricted to a guardsman with vox caster in the infantry squad but there are no restrictions on scions or special weapons squads. I would have thought that they would have restricted it in the Scion squad as well but they haven't. When I first looked through the rule book, I instantly went for a vox caster with the Comms specialism, then I thought about it for a bit and decided that it wasn't actually that good. Now I'm back to thinking that this is actually quite good, although several of it's abilities do rely on random dice rolls. I have not taken it as a specialism for either of my kill teams yet, but I am thinking that it might be good to add it in. However, for me, it is another specialism that seems to have one good route and one poor route for guard. I suppose that this is part of the reason for the two different routes, to give options and make it so that every specialism is equally valuable. Overall I think that this is one to consider but will require a certain play style, namely that of sitting this model at the back and protecting it, as it's buffs do not need it to be up close to the enemy.

Scout specialist - I am still having trouble deciding if this is a good specialism or not. I have taken it with one team but I'm still not convinced by it, hopefully a few games will tell me if it is worth it or not. On the face of it, it looks like a good option, giving you some good bonuses, not only for the model with extra mobility but for the kill team later on in the campaign. As the base ability is re-rolling to advance rolls, you really need to have this model using an assault weapon, which limited you to using a gunner with either a flamer, melta or grenade launcher. I'm instantly discounting the melta, for previously mentioned reasons, and I would also question the grenade launcher, as with the range, you don't really need to get close quickly. This just leaves the flamer, which with its short range would be helped by getting close quickly.

Sniper specialist - I guess most people, like me, will look at this and think, sniper rifle = sniper specialist. Well, I'm not so sure it's a good idea. As with many specialists, one side of the tree is a lot better than the other. In this case, one side culminates in bonuses for a 6+ roll, when a sniper rifle gets a mortal wound bonus anyway. So this side seems a bit unnecessary. The other side is good though, but again there are some bonuses that are not so good. Extra range on a weapon that can already hit pretty much anywhere on the board? There are some good bonuses but I do think that taking a different weapon on a sniper specialist, such as a plasma gun or even just a plain las weapon (yes, I know the sniper rifle is technically a long las) might actually be better. That being said, I've got a sniper specialist with a sniper rifle.

Veteran specialist - the veteran specialism is a bit of an odd one, as there really doesn't seem like a right option for it. You could slap this on pretty much any model with pretty much any weapon and it would work. At the moment I think that for guard and scions alike, sticking this on a plasma welding model maybe the best bet. This is due to the fact that it is less likely to be shaken and so not be able to fire, it can get a free re-roll, useful.for those pesky 1's when over charging and as it progresses further, gains a bonus to its save and can even generate a command point of it very own. All these things can help keep that expensive and valuable plasma gun firing longer and better. Like I said though, you could put this on just about anyone and it would still be useful. The question really comes, it is better to have a generalist specialist model (of that can be a thing!) or a more focused specialist in you force.

Medic specialist - this is only available to the scions, although I'm not really sure why. The medic specialist is very much a supporting character, giving out buffs to those around him, although he does have a pretty short range. One of the big benefits comes at level 3, when he has the ability to keep your men alive if they die as a result of there injuries after the game. This can be a huge bonus, especially late in campaigns when you've leveled up several.of your specialists and don't want to loose them to a bad dice roll. To be honest though, I don't think this is a particularly good specialism and I have taken it mostly because of the modeling opportunities. If you can keep your guys close, then he'll work, but that rarely seems like a good idea.

One thing many of you may have noticed is that I have not included the stratagems in my review here. Well there is a good reason for this, unwanted to look at the basic options and levels of each specialism. These are the guaranteed bonuses and don't rely of command points to get. Many of the options have some very good stratagems but if your relying on the stratagems to make a specialism with taking, I think your looking at things the wrong way, as youay not have command points to spare when you need them or may have multiple models that could benefit from stratagems in a single turn. If the base options aren't any good for you, then it shouldn't matter how good the stratagems might be. The best way to look at the stratagems is as a bonus not a given and ignore them until you've actually chosen the specialisms you want.

Well, we've had a few days to digest the new FAQ and look at the repercussions to our armies. While most of us who are not tournament players will probably find that there has been very little impact, there are a few tweaks that no doubt will need to be made.

First off, I will not be including the "rule of 3" in to the equation, as I'm not a tournament player and neither are any of the other players at my club. Were currently discussing the rules but it looks like most people are happy with the beta rules but we still won't be including the organised events rules, even in our ladder system. I will however be including the new beta rules, as these will become permanent rules in the next FAQ, which will probably be Chapter Approved 2018, although I suspect that they will be altered slightly, especially the reserves rule.

I'll start with the easiest army, namely the Stone Dragons as they haven't even been built yet and as such don't have a list. I have an idea of how I want to run them, namely elite infantry (non-TDA) but I'm still waiting for the Space Wolves codex before I finalise anything. So the Big FAQ will have no effect here.

The next list to look at is the Hjaltland LI. This list will also not be effected very much, apart from the points saved from the commissars. There are no tactical reserves in this list as everything starts on the table, therefore the list will remain unchanged and the play store of the army will continue as is.

The Hrossey Yeomanry will also continue as is, although if we were using the rule of 3 I would have some problems as I have 4 vets squads. Luckily were not and so there is no need to change the list.

Now we get in to the lists that will be seeing some changes. First up are the Dark Guardians. This list is based around bikes and termies. At present there are 4 terminator squads and two terminator characters forming 6 drops for a total of 66pl and 4 bike squads and a bike character for 5 drops and 27pl. Now the original plan was to just throw a random character in to make up the extra drop. Now however, I also have to make up 39pl. There is some good news however, as a friend of mine has offered me some extra bikes, including some attack bikes, boosting me to 5 bike squads and an attack bike squad. When including the bike character, it puts me to 7 drops and 61pl. This means that I am only 5pl short of the target. I'm still  not sure how I'm going to get around this problem yet, but it gets me closer to the target. Unfortunately I'm also right up against my self imposed 2000 point limit. Right now though the army is still in the unpainted and unplayed stage, so I can have a think and come back to it later, probably after CA18, so the problem may well have even sorted itself by then.

Next up are the Dagr Ormr Militarum Tempestus force with Hildasay PDF support. Now this is also going to prove problematic, as the idea is similar to the Dark Guardians, in that the PDF heavy weapons teams sit back and the scions drop in. At present the scions for 42pl and 10 drops, where as the rest of the army forms 42pl and 14 drops. So things are balanced on a knife edge, so to speak. I want to add in some transports, some Taurox Primes, 4 to be precise, 2 with Gatling cannons and 2 with battle cannons. This will push up the number of non-deep striking units and also the pl for these units, which should put me in the clear for running this list at 2000 points. Obviously dropping the points level will be require some calculations rather than just dropping units as I feel like it but on the whole this list does a lot better than I expected it would.

The last list to look at is the Eagle Knights chapter. Now these guys were originally conceived as the full on drop army, in the classic descent of angles style, but have been through several modifications, with the 7th BA codex and 8th index and now the 8th BA codex. Although there have been a lot of changes, one thing is for sure, I still have a lot of jump pack units. In my last game at 1500 points, I dropped 6 units on the board with 6 in reserve but that meant 32pl on the board and 64pl in reserve. Now 27 of the pl off the board were in the 15 man death company squad, which is about a third of the total points in total on unit! Even more so when you consider that they always drop in with a chaplain. To place it off the board I would have had to deploy 5 units on the board and completely had to rethink the rest of my deployment. One get around would be to take 6 man tactical squads, as this takes the squad from 5pl and 83 points to 9pl and 93 points each (running the same load out), a big jump in pl for a few points, 12pl for 39 points across 3 squads. It is a legitimate tactics but it feel like cheating, as I'm fudging the numbers somewhat.

The basic issue is though, that the army does not work as intended now. I can get around a few of the problems with stratagems and such but it really is no longer a descent of angles list anymore. I have always been planning more units, a second devastator squad and a sternguard squad, possibly even a non-jump pack assast squad. Now these units will become  even more essential to forming a valid and viable list. I will still be playing the knights as my main army for the moment as I have a lot to learn about them, sonin some respects it's good that these changes have happened now, rather than further down the line when I've got use to the current force!

I'll update my thoughts after I've played a few games with the new rules, which at the current rate shouldn't be to long!

As with the Scions of the Drag Ormr, the Knights army. list revolved around formations, either the angels blade strike force (at 2000pts) or the lost brotherhood strike force (at 1500pts), both of which are now defunct. So this means that there are going to be significant number of changes to the forces for the Eagle Knights.

To start with I'll just focus on the angels blade strike force as there is quite a bit of overlap overlap, such as both forces contained the "leaders of the angelic host" formation, consisting of a sanguinary priest and a command squad. Now, the priest hasn't changed all that much and will probably be run as he is but the command squad has changed quite a bit. The company champion and the novitiate are now separate units. This means I would end up with a priest, champion, novitiate and a 3 man company vet squad. I could also potentially upgrade one to a company ancient, leaving me with just 2 company vets but I will have to see what happens points wise and also look at wargear.

Next up is the demi-company, consisting of a captain, command squad, 3 tac squads, a dev squad and assault squad, along with a dread. Now, ill start with the easy one, the dread. So while dreads have got a lot better this edition, its still out. I just don't like them and they don't fit with the force, so its gone. The captain will remain pretty much unchanged, however, I believe that auspex's are now not available, so that's had to go. His command squad however will see a lot of changes. I could have just amended it in a similar fashion to the previous command squad, but this squad was originally supposed to be a Vanguard Vets squad, but was changed when the Demi-company came out to be a command squad, now with the rules changes it going back to a vanguard squad, which will involve a bit of rejigging of models, but nothing to hard.


The tactical squads will also remain as they are, as although the flamers have gone up in price, they are still useful and they are part of the fluff, both in terms of the BA's and the EK's. The same can be said for the assault marines, although as part of the vanguard vets reshuffle, the Sgt with power sword will return to the vets and the bloke with the powerfist will be promoted and actually get a powerfist in game, rather than just for show. The last squad in the demi- company is the devastators. As mentioned in previous posts, these guys only came about to fill this role but will remain due to the new rules and will hopefully gain an extra heavy bolter, if points allow
.

As with most of these formations, it required an auxiliary section. Now for the demi-company I chose the death company strike force. Now this also formed to core for the Lost Brotherhood strike force, with only minor additions to fill the requirements for this formation. Ill go in to them after, but for the momenymt we'll look at the death company auxiliary units.

The force was lead by a death company chaplain, something that now doesn't exist. I can replace him with a normal chaplain and tool him up the same, but he looses some of the rules specific to the death company. The dreadnought is ditched again, which is good because I wad struggling to figure out how to model this up from my current collection. The final element for this formation is formed of three death company squads. All of these squads will remain as they are, with the exception of one model. this model is one of the thunderhammer wielding boys. In the previous edition, you could take a hammer and bolter, now however you cannot, its either two weapons or the hammer now. One bloke is wielding his hammer 2 handed, ready to strike, the other is shooting and holding his hammer down. Now I have to think about redoing this model, but not sure how to, as his holding his hammer one handed and there's no real way of changing that. I may just leave it but ill see.


So all in all the Angels Blade strike force only has a handful of changes, nothing to worry about. The other formation, the Lost Brotherhood strike force also doesn't have many changes, sharing the Leaders of the Angelic Host and Death company strike force with the Angels Blade, only the inclusion of Lemartes is new. Lemartes will be in the new army somehow, was yet I'm not sure how ill lay everything out, as there are problems with getting everything in to the new detachments (far to many elites) so ill have to work on that.

There is also one other issue with the knights, is that I changed my mind halfway through building the list, so I have an alternative captain and command squad, the captain is armed with a stormshield, pistol and sword and the command squad are similarly armed with shields, power weapons and pistols, none of which is allowed these days.


I possibly could get around it by using the command squad models as company champions, but how many company champions do I want to field? I think 4, or even 5 with the captain, is probably a few to many. I'll have to try and figure something out, but at the moment i'm not sure what, although they may find themselves redeployed to another chapter.

So this information has come from Nafka (Faeit 212) and originated at CanHammer_yt's Instagram account (here)

I've been waiting for something like this for ages and its finally here, so who does it tell us? It actually tells us quite a bit, some good, some not so good.


The new orders are pretty much the same as the last orders, but just adjusted to the new rules. Many of them have got better, such as FRFSRF giving double the number of shots rather than just one, so 4 in rapid fire range. Take aim and bring it down give rerolls to hit and wound, but are no longer specific to a target type. Forward for the emperor and move, move, move are pretty much unchanged. Get back in the fight is very similar, giving the same basic ability to rally troops back in to normal actions, but its fix bayonets that seems like it could be most useful, giving you an extra fight phase, something that could be very useful to the guard, who are not exactly known for their close combat abilities.


Now, this is the first of two pages which has the not good bits on. Infantry squads are a troop choice, but special weapons squads are marked as elite! On the next page heavy weapons squads are marked as heavy support and vets are elite. So is this the end of the Infantry Platoon? Are infantry squads the only troop choice?

As for the squad rules, well, nothing really changes, apart from the sgts gaining a chainsword. One thing that stood out but isn't really unexpected is written in the vox rules. It mention friendly officers, which I assume means that officers will now be single models, not a surprise really, but what happens to the company and platoon command squads? Will they now act as the leaks suggest that the SM command squad will, being able to take wounds for the officer at the expense of every one becoming a mortal wound. If so, your going to want a few around, especially for your warlord.

Special weapon squads still appear to be useless, apart from demo charge spam, which still looks like it could be fun.


So with heavy weapons teams being relegated to heavy support, this means that they are now in one of the most congested slots in the FOC, good job we can take more of each of them now. As for rules, nothing seems to have changed. It will be interesting to know if the same rules applies to weapons strength as before, ie strength twice toughness causes instant death, if they do, then the squads are just as squishy as before. The only advantage I can see now is that I might be able to shoehorn these guys into my MT force as some heavy support.

The vets seem about the same as well. There is only one thing that is interesting. It says that one vet can take a heavy Flamer and that up to three other vets can take special weapons. There doesn't seem to be any caveat a out if you take the Flamer you can't take a third special weapon, so ill have to look at upping the number of special weapons in each squad. There is however a bit of bad news, there doesn't seem to be anything about doctrines, hopefully its on the bottom of the page that's been cut off, but it looks like we could have lost them! I'm still hopeful, as this was one of the key features of vets but then so was the platoon structure and we seem to have lost that.

 The Leman Russ Battle Tank, the mainstay of the imperial armored might. And personally I think its pants, ok that's an overstatement. I still don't think its great, its a lot better than it was but its still not great. Stat wise its ok, and will take a bit to killing but there are a few problems for me. First the autocannons taken a nerf, as it was 4 twin linked and now its just 4, surely it should have been 8 shots? That would go with the rest of the twin linked world. And apparently an overheating supercharged plasma sponson  can destroy a tank in the blink of an eye. In the rules for tank commanders and I assume for LR demolishers, the plasma main weapon, the Executioner plasma cannon can overheat and only cause d6 mortal wounds and render the gun useless, but a sponson plasma gun can kill the tank outright? Seems a little odd to me.

One good bit is the fact that squadrons still exist, which I find strange as they seem to have removed platoons. Coupled with the fact that you now run the vehicles seperatly is good, means that taking different types of tanks, ie vanquisher and punisher, in the same squadron is not such an issue. It means that I don't have to take two squadrons to get my choice of tanks.

On the right there is a little peak of the demolishers variants, you can't make out much but they are more expensive, power level 12 instead of 11, hopefully they will have more wounds or higher toughness to show for the tougher nature of the vehicle as shown by the higher rear armour on the previous editions.


As with the rest of the characters in 8th, the tank commander has lost his buddy and is now flying solo. He remains the same in most other ways, with a similar stat line to standard tanks but with better BS, as before. His orders seem to be exactly the same and will be very important if you fancy supercharging your plasma guns, using the gunner, kill on sight order. Here we see the extra rule for the plasma cannons, which states the vehicle only takes 6 mortal wounds instead of being removed, hopefully this is just been missed off the page of the LRBT entry. There is not much else to say about the tanks apart from the fact that storm bolter finally make sense, rapid fire 2 is what they should always have been, as they are basically two bolter duck taped together. Granted assault 2 was the best they could do in precious editions, but now there defiantly where they should be.

So, what's my overall verdict? My feelings are mixed right now, there are some good bits, namely orders and extra weapons in the vet squads. But there are some bad bits, the potential removal of the platoon system, something that may well effect both the MT and the IG. Also the moving of the various squads, heavy, special and vets, is not something I'm in favor of yet. The main thing is though, were still lacking a lot of information, what will happen to platoon and company command squads, what are the rules for commissars and priests (although I suspect these will be similar to the sisters versions), what will happen with artillery squadrons? If the same applies as with tanks, what will happen to barrage weapons? One thing is for sure, there's going to be quite a few changes to my armies!

Here is the list for the other new force, the Stone Dragons. Again this is just a 500 point force and some how it also contains 16 models, not done on purpose I assure you. This list was a little harder to put together though as I have used the Space Wolves codex as the base and as most people know, the Space Wolves have no successors, the Wolf Brothers having been discontinued. So I tried to keep the force as generic as possible, not using any special characters where possible. I did however have to use the Rune Priest to get a psyker in and I used the Lone Wolves, mostly to add some fluff and for the fun of it.

So here is the 500 point CAD list;

Rune Priest - ML1, Melta Bombs, Rune Axe

Lone Wolf - Wolf Claws

Lone Wolf - Combi-plasma, Power fist

Grey Hunters - Wolf Guard pack leader w/combi-plasma, bolt pistol and CCW, 4x CCW, Plasma gun, Plasma pistol

Grey Hunters - 5x CCW, Plasma pistol, Plasma gun

Long Fangs - 2x Lascannons

So, not a bad little list i think, granted it'll not win any tournaments but that's not the idea. The Rune Priest is there as I wanted a psyker leading, simple as that really. The Grey Hunter squads are the only real choice for troops, I did consider the Blood Claws but at BS3 their not great. I loaded up with as much plasma as I could, although I noticed the other day when I had the models out to do some test pieces that one of the models I wanted to use for the lone wolf with combi actually has a maul not a fist, so there are 10 points going begging. That may mean a Combi on the Priest or maybe something extra for one of the long fangs, I don't know at the moment.

When this list is combined with one of the other lists, be it the Hawks or Inquisition or ever a guard list, I think it will bring something extra to the table, or at least that's the idea.

So following on from the fluff that I posted for these guys, here is the list I intend to build. It will be a small force, just 500 points. The purpose of this list and the army collection is just to add some flavor and fun to my collection. I would like to think that they will come out to play occasionally as an allied force but we shall see. At least, coming in at 16 models it should be simple to build and paint!

The fluff revolves around the Templars and this is reflected in the list, using BT chapter tactics and units. Also, most of the units are heated towards close combat, with the crusaders having pistols and swords as well.


So here is the 500 point allied detachment list using Black Templars chapter tactics.

Chaplin - Plasma Pistol, Crozius Arcanum

Honour guard - Chapter champion, 2x power swords, 2x power axe, Rhino

Crusader squad - Flamer, 4x Initiates w/chainswords, Rhino

Devastator squad - 2x Plasma Cannon

Short and sweet.

So, a chaplain to lead,well its a BT list and apart from the Emperors Champion there isnt really many choices and being a BT lits it ad to contain a crusader squad. I also put a honour guard in, granted in a 500 point list it forms a bog points sink. When running with the chaplain, the unit will be over half the points cost for the army. The Dev's are only 2 guns strong, as there was no points for any more, but 2 plasma cannons can still cause problems. The idea was a small combat army with good mobility, which I think I have achieved while keeping the BT feel. In the long term, if they ever did get reinforced (say another 500 points) it was be extra crusaders and a Land Raider. In a 2000 point list, there would be at least 2 if not 3 land raiders, but that is a long long way off!

The Unit Cards 40k App is something I found a while a go and have had on my phone for sometime, even though I have only mrules handful of cards at the moment, which I haven't even printed off!



So what is the app? Well as you can see from the card above, for my MoO, its a reference card maker. I plan on making (and printing) cards for all my units and characters, so that I have a very quick in game system to check stats and wargear without having to keep looking through the BRB or Codex. While I might not be able to get every rule for every units on the cards, I should be able to get the important ones and a basic outline of the rule.


I plan on making various cards, some specific such as like the MoO, and Creed and some generic ones, such as for infantry squads and heavy weapons teams.


Short and to the point, including everything I need when combined with the stats on the card. I won't produce a card for every infantry squad, just one set that will work with all units, hence the sgt and HWT having separate cards, as these can change depending upon the unit. Ill also do ones for flamers and meltas along with any other weapons that I have. The same will apply to the vehicles, a vehicle will only get a new card if its weapons load is different from the normal.

I will hopefully get cards sorted for all my factions, all in different colors, so there all easy to tell one from the other.

Granted, these are not really needed most of the time as I know my army rules, but there useful reminders and good to be able to show my opponent if there are any queries. When I actually get around to producing all the cards is another matter entirely!

Following on from last week, I've updated my Knights list. I know that I can still use the Baal strikeforce and don't have to change to the angels blade formations, but its pretty clear that the old FOC system is going to end up getting scrapped in favour of this system. So it therefore makes sense when I'm just about to start painting the Knights, having finished the Hjaltland LI, to paint them to the new formations rather then have to eventually repaint them from the FOC.

I'm going to go through my old list first and then the new list so that they can be compared, as there are a few changes, both interns of losses and additions.


HQ
Captain - 210
Valours Edge, Artificer armour, Storm Shield, Razorback

Priest - 96
Pistol, Angles Wings, Crown Angelic

Troop
Tac - 165
10 marines, Hand Flamer, Flamer, Heavy Flamer

Tac - 215
10 marines, Hand Flamer, Flamer, Heavy Flamer, Rhino, Stormbolter

Elite
Command Squad - 190
Standard, 3 Storm Shields, 3 Power Weapons

Vanguard - 215
5 Vets w/jump packs, 4x Lighting Claws, Power Axe, Power Sword, Power Maul

Death Company - 265
Jumppack, 3x power mauls, 3x plasma pistol, 2x thunder hammers, 2x boltguns

Lemartes - 130

FA
Assault - 175
10x Marines, melta bomb

Assault - 195
10x Marines, power fist,

Heavy
Baal Pred - 145
Bolter Sponsons, Extra Armour

With the options for the new formations I decided to go for the Angels Blade Strike Force and the basic Demi-company. For the auxiliary option I decided to go with the DC formation instead of the rapid assault force, mostly as both can perform the same function with jump troops, but the DC are just better with more options


Command

Leaders of the Angelic Host (286pts)

Command Squad (200pts)
Jump Packs, 4x lightning claws, power axe, champion, novitiate - modified vanguard vets, loose one vet to the novitiate, only way to get the unit in to the force.

Sanguinary Priest (86pts)
Bolt Pistol, Chainsword, Jump pack, The Crown Angelic - only one relic allowed so lost the Angels Wings.


Core (940pts)

Battle Demi-company

Assault Squad (170pts)
10x Assault Marines, Jump Packs - same as before, just running solo now.

Captain (120pts)
Bolt Pistol, Power weapon, Storm shield - lost the relic blade and artificer armour, as well as razorback.

Command Squad (175pts)
3x power swords, 3x stormshields, champion, noviate - lost the standard, not an issue.

Devastator Squad (110pts)
4x Heavy bolter - new unit, replaces Baal Pred, not as good but no choice in the matter.

Dreadnought (100pts)
Multi-melta - new unit, don't want it but no choice.

Tactical Squad (85pts)
5x marines, Flamer, Hand Flamer -all three tactical squads are minimum size as I don't have point to max them out, also they lost a transport, stupid dreads.

Tactical Squad (90pts)
5x marines, Heavy flamer, Hand Flamer

Tactical Squad (90pts)
5x marines, Heavy flamer, Hand Flamer


 Auxiliary

Death Company Strike Force

Death Company Chaplain (150pts)
Crozius Arcanum, The Angel's Wing - replaces Lemartes, 

Death Company Dreadnought (125pts) - no choice, don't  want it.

Death Company Squad (175pts)
3x Bolt Pistol, 2x Bolter, 3x Chainsword, 5x Death Company Marine , Jump Pack, 2x Thunder Hammer - half the old DC, the heavy hitters

Death Company Squad (115pts)
5x Bolt Pistol, 5x Chainsword, 5x Death Company Marine, Jump Pack - transferred assault marines  make up the numbers. Running as basic as possible. 

Death Company Squad (205pts)
2x Bolt Pistol, 2x Chainsword, 5x Death Company Marine, Jump Pack, 3x Plasma Pistol, 3x Power Weapon - the other half of the old squad.

As you can see there is quite a change between the two lists. One issue is the lack of transports for the tactical marines. This means that they will either be stationary for most of the game or be foot slogging across the board, both of which are not ideal. Its at this point that I will moan about the inclusion on the dreadnoughts in to both lists, without them i could afford the transports that I need, by my count 2 rhino's and a razorback. I could cut points from the death company force, but they are the hard hitting part of the force and need to be armed effectively. As it is, I'm happy with the new list. It retains its fluff, kinda, but more importantly, it retains all the jump infantry!

So with the not so recent release of the Angles Blade supplement, the Blood Angles, and therefore the Eagle Knights, have new ways to be fielded. When the Angles of Death supplement came out, it changed how I looked at the Disciples, and this has done the same to the Knights. However, what are the options and are they ones that I will be able or willing to field? Ill go through all the options and look at there options as to whether they are any good for me or if they fit my fluff.

Ill start with the command options of the Angels Blade Strike Force

First up is the Golden host, which consists of the sanguinor or Dante and a unit sanguinary guard. As I have none of these units, they won't be making an appearance, even with the cool ability to charge from reserve.

Chapter ancients consists of various dreadnoughts. Seeing as I'm being forced to field dreads in the main formations, I've no interest in fielding more as command units.

Leader of the angelic host gives you numerous options for commanders. The list includes a Terminator Captain or Captain Tycho, a Librarian or Mephiston, a Sanguinary Priest or Brother Corbulo, in addition you can take a command squad or a storm raven. This is my command option of choice, although Tycho, Mephiston and Corbulo are more or less not options as I don't own the models and they are BA specific and I try and stay away from chapter specific models. The terminator captain is also out as it doesn't fit with my fluff. This means that its either a librarian or a sanguinary priest, both of which are good options. In my Initial list I had a librarian but later changed it to a priest and I think ill be sticking to this. The main reason is that fielding my vanguard vets is now a lot harder, so they will be switching up to form the command squad option within this command choice. The storm raven is not an option as I don't own any.

The core choices are nothing out of the ordinary, with the standard demi-Company and the archangels demi-company.


The 10th Company Ambush Force is the same as the marine version with 3-5 scouts squads or scout bike squads. Not owning any scouts is a bit of a pain as these are cheap ways of filling the auxiliary slots. Anyway, as I don't own any scouts I can't field this.

The Lucifer Armoured Task Force could be a fun formation to field but with a techpriest, 1 to 3 predators of either type (Baal or standard) and 1 to 3 land raiders of any type, I'm quite a few models short! I could convert some Rhinos and a techpriest but I'm still short a raider.

The Storm raven Squadron is a straight up no go, I don't own a storm raven let alone the 2 needed to field the force.

The Rapid Assault Force is another good option with 1 - 3 units of Assault Marines, Bikes, Attack Bikes or Land Speeder. As I have no speeders or attack bikes so there not options and although I have bikes and they do fit the fluff in terms of speed and mobility, they are for the Guardians ravenwing, and as such i would not look to field them here. That leaves the assault marines, which fit perfectly with my current army, and would mean that with the Demi-Company I would be able to field all my assault marines as I currently do.

The Fire Support Force is the last option and consists of 1-3 units of Devastators, Vindicators or Whirlwinds. I don't own any vindicators or whirlwinds, although I probably could convert some rhinos. Devastators are a better bet as I own plenty but they don't seem a very good fit for the Knights.

This is all the options for the main formation, but there is another option, Lost brotherhood strike force. This consists of the death company as the core of the force.


The command option is 1 to 3 Lemartes, Astorath, or a Death Company Chaplain. Having a chaplain in the core I would probably go with Lemartes, even though I generally stay away from named characters. The core is the same as the Death Company Strike Force above with 3 DC squads, a dread and a chaplain. With these options, the formation is a possibility, however the auxiliary options are not great.

The auxiliary options are the Archangels Orbital Intervention Force, the 10th Company Ambush Force, the Lucifer Armoured Squadron, the Stormraven Squadron, and the Rapid Assault Squadron. Of these only the rapid assault force is any good it clashed with the DC for models as both would really require jump packs.

The Demi-company is similar to the standard marine one, but has two notable exceptions. The first is the choice for the commander with either captain/command squad or chaplain/furioso dread options. Of these, ill be going with the captain and command squad option as I don't own any models that can be used as a furioso dread. That and I already have the command squad setup. The rest of the demi-company is formed of e tactical squads, one assault squad and a devastator squad. The annoying addition is that you also have to take a dread, just a standard one but still, I'd rather not have to take one. From this option, I would be looking to field the units as cheaply as possible, but still retain the chapters flavour and flamers!

The other option is the Archangels Demi-company formed of a terminator captain, 5 units of either sternguard, vanguard, assault terminators or standard terminator's. In addition you need to field 2 furioso dreads. This option again is not viable as I have no furioso dreads. In addition fielding terminators in any form is not in the chapters fluff. I could get away with just a captain and then the sternguard and vanguards and could still keep my fluff, but the dreads still present a problem.

The Auxiliary options also give some issues. There are lots of options but as usual there are quite a few that are not any good for me as I don't have the models or they doubt fit the fluff.

The first option is probably the best, the Death company strike force consisting of 3 squads of death company, a death company dread and the new death company chaplain. This is defiantly a prime choice for me, as it fits the fluff and gives some cool rules, its just a shame that I have to take another dread I don't want!

The Archangels Orbital Intervention Force consists of 3 squads assault terminators or standard terminators. Again, not fielding terminators, so not an option, even with the charging from reserve.

All in all, while there are lots of options, there are only a few that are any good for me due to the composition of many of the formations. With all these options in mind I have been looking my list and will post an updated list next week.