The grey panel on the side is not unpainted or been missed, i left it grey on purpose. This is where a panel was missing when i bought it and was originally painted to hide it but i decided to paint it grey, like its been primed or its the under chassis and the armour panel is missing or been damaged and the crew is waiting for a new replacement panel.

 Last time I went through the list but ran out of space and time to talk about how I plan on running the list, so here goes. Now I know that no plan ever survives an encounter with the enemy but you should still have an overall plan and here's mine (I just hope none of my opponent are reading!)

First up, let's explain the three main elements. Firstly the static firebase. This is going to be formed of the warlord commander, Inquisitor, master of ordnance, Ogryn Bodyguard, two infantry squads with autocannons and the two wyverns. The second element will be formed from the two flyers, the Valkyrie carrying the vets squad and the vendetta carrying the platoon commander and plasma command squad. The final element will be formed of the Hellhammer, second commander, office of the fleet, psyker and 4 remaining infantry squads. This last element will probably be subdivided again depending upon mission and enemy. 

The firebase element will form the core and be positioned somewhere towards the centre of the deployment zone, somewhere where the Wyverns can have a good range of fire and cover as much of the board as possible. With two of them there should be little of the board they can't cover. The Guardsmen are there to act as screening, which while less of an issue now, is still something that should be available. The others are there to support these two options with the commander there to issue orders and the Master of Ordnance to buff the Wyverns. With the new rules for blast weapons not really effecting the wyverns, these will just be picking on priority targets rather than going for maximum shots, granted, if a large unit is present, then I will be dropping shots on them. 

The second element, the airborne units, will be hunting high priority targets from the off. The vendetta will be looking to big powerful units, like dreadnoughts or tanks, while the Valkyrie will be looking more for powerful infantry units. The cargo will stay in for as long as possible, dropping in when a good targets appears. The melta vets will be looking for tanks, walkers and other similar targets. With 3 meltas, possible in half range, depending upon if the unit is dropped or disembarks normally, it should be able to seriously damage whatever it hits. Granted, there is a high likely hood that it will be a suicide mission but if they can kill something of a higher value than themselves then it's all good. The plasma command squad are in a similar position, they will drop out, hit something hard and probably die but again, as long as they do their job it doesn't matter. This element is probably the biggest gamble of the force, they can hit like a train or a feather and until the dice are rolled, you never know which. 

The final element is possible the most unknown element. I've not run a super heavy before, in any circumstances. The general idea for this is that the Hellhammer will run up the table followed by either 2 or 4 of the squads plus the second company commander, psyker and the officer of the fleet. This lot will move towards the main bulk of the enemy and try and prevent them from being able to claim objectives, either by over running them with bodies or shooting them off. The commander is there to control discipline and issue orders, while the psyker is there to buff the tank with psychic spells to either up the save or affect enemy hit rolls, basically to try and keep it alive longer. The officer of the fleet is there to help the flyers by picking out priority targets for the guns and with the new rules, this will help even more, as there is no negative to hit for the heavy weapons. As I mentioned above, there are 4 infantry squads in this section but these may split into two sections of two, one staying with the tank and commander and two heading out on their own, either to hold a position or to generally be a pain. 

Although this is the general plan, there maybe times when I'll need to change things up, either pushing up all the infantry or holding them back. The vets can be deployed on the table and a normal infantry squad jump in the Valkyrie to get dumped on the far side just to score some points before being destroyed. I think there is enough flexibility in the list not to get pigeon holed into one way of thinking.

 So, I wrote about the upcoming tournament at the club recently and I thought that I would write up my list and my thoughts on how it will work. I'll warm you now, this is going to turn in to a long one, so brace yourselves!

 The list works around 3 main elements, a static gunline section, a fast moving assault section and an armoured thrust. I'll go over the full plan later but first let's just run through the list (as it is copied from BattleScribe)

The overall force consists of two detachments, the first if a batallion;

Battalion Detachment - 83 PL, 12CP, 1,460pts

Regimental Doctrine: Valhallan

This portion contains the majority of the force, nearly three quarters of it and all the infantry units. Being as it's a 2000 point list, it provides a 12 command points. I have also decided to go for the Valhallan doctrine. This is for two reasons, firstly to make the Infantry more resilient, vehicles as well and secondly there's a cool relic. I could have gone with the standard Cadian, or even Vostroyan or possibly even Tallarn. Both are viable options, with Vostroyan giving valuable extra range and a very cool stratagem, allowing you to shoot at units your in combat with. Tallarn on the other hand enables you to move around a lot, constantly moving your army without having to worry about any penalties to shooting. However the relic and stratagem for Tallarn are useless for this army. In the end I went with Valhallan, mostly, as I said, because it helps a lot with morale, which can be a big thing. It means that the enemy will have to concentrate on one unit at a time right until its destroyed, rather than just peppering it and letting morale do the rest. Secondly, it makes vehicles very hard to get rid of, again they need reducing right down to just one or two wounds to reduce their effectiveness. The pistol relic is also good for morale. The stratagem is rubbish (send in the next wave) but we all know that. The stratagem on the other hand is rather good. Similar to the Vostroyan one but reversed, enabling you to shoot at units engaged in combat with other units. This means that you could put shots in from multiple units, rather than one depleted unit.

+ Stratagems +

Imperial Commander's Armoury [-1CP]: 1 additional Heirloom of Conquest

Next up is the the extra relic stratagem, giving me 2 relics in total. This is so that I can have the aforementioned pistol and another relic on my warlord.

+ Agents of the Imperium +

Inquisitor [4 PL, 70pts] Ordo Hereticus, Plasma pistol, Power maul, Psyker: Psychic Fortitude

The Inquisitor, the very basis of this list and the story behind it all. She's tooled up as well with plasma pistol and maul, meaning she can take care of herself should she need to. She's a psyker as well, mostly to help buff nearby units if needed, I don't really plan of getting in smite range very often.

+ HQ +

Company Commander [2 PL, 35pts] Relic: The Laurels of Command,WT: Bellowing Voice

Company Commander [2 PL, 37pts] Relic: Pietrov's Mk 45 

Primaris Psyker [3 PL, 50pts] Nightshroud, Psychic Barrier

The command structure of the force and it's very basic. Two company commanders, to issue orders. The warlord with the Bellowing Voice trait to increase his orders range, plus with with the laurels of command relic, the second relic in the list, there could be some good orders combos going on, as Laurels let's you issue a second order to a unit. This commander will be sitting back with some elements of the force to form a firebase in support of the other elements. The second commander, with relic pistol will be pushing forward to take objectives as such. The primaris psyker will be hidden behind the super heavy, with the sole aim of trying to protect it, either by making it harder to hit or buffing it's save, which ever I think will be best at the time. He may occasionally smite but that will only be as a last resort.

+ Troops +

Infantry Squad [3 PL, 65pts] Flamer, Autocannon

Infantry Squad [3 PL, 65pts] Flamer Autocannon

Infantry Squad [3 PL, 55pts] Flamer

Infantry Squad [3 PL, 55pts] Flamer

Infantry Squad [3 PL, 55pts] Flamer

Infantry Squad [3 PL, 55pts] Flamer

6 infantry squads, 2 with autocannons, forming part of the firebase and providing protection for the vehicles. These will sit with the warlord and Inquisitor and remain pretty static for most of the game. The other 4 squads will be split, probably in to two units of two and push forward, one lot with the commander and one lot with the super heavy. They will be there to take and hold objectives or preform actions if needed. Realistically they probably won't provide much of the overall firepower in the list.

+ Elites +

Command Squad [2 PL, 64pts] 4x Plasma gun

Master of Ordnance [2 PL, 35pts]

Officer of the Fleet [2 PL, 25pts]

Ogryn Bodyguard [6 PL, 60pts] Bullgryn Maul, Bullgryn Plate, Slabshield

Platoon Commander [2 PL, 27pts] Bolt pistol

Veterans [5 PL, 102pts] Heavy flamer, 3x Meltagun

A very mixed bag here. The command squad, platoon commander and veterans will be loaded into flyers and will form the mobile element of the list, dropping in where and when they are required. With the melta and plasma, they should be able to deal with most things they encounter. The master of ordnance will be sitting with the heavy support in the firebase, providing rerolls and such, while the officer of the fleet will be pushing up with one of the other mobile forces to enable to flyers to get some rerolls as well. The last unit here is the Ogryn Bodyguard. This is a bit of a wild card unit, I'm not sure how it will play out but it will sit down with the warlord and Inquisitor and protect them or at least try to anyway. 

+ Heavy Support +

Wyverns [8 PL, 135pts] Heavy Bolter,

Wyverns [8 PL, 135pts] Heavy Flamer

The wyverns, a firm fixture in most of my lists. These will sit in the firebase and just rain death on people and with the new rules, there's the chance of doing some real damage. 

+ Flyer +

Valkyries [7 PL, 120pts] 2x Multiple Rocket Pods, Multi-laser,

Vendetta Gunship [12 PL, 215pts]

This forms the mobile element of my force, loaded up with vets and plasma command squad. These will take the fight to the enemy and generally be a pain to deal with. The Valkyrie should be able to put out a good amount of anti-armour as well, something that tends to be lacking in this list. 

The final element of this list is the super heavy. This forms a quarter of the army and it's going to be a bullet magnet! It also costs me 3cp now!

Super-Heavy Auxiliary - 33 PL, -3CP, 540pts

Regimental Doctrine: Valhallan

+ Stratagems +

Tank Ace [-1CP]

I've put these bit together, as they don't make sense apart. Super heavies don't get regimental doctrines as a rule but with the Tank Ace stratagem, which costs a CP, you can make a superheavy a tank Ace and give them a trait, in this case, the Steadfast Leviathan, which gives the superheavy the full benefits of the doctrine, in this case doubling wounds when deciding on profiles. This means that you have to drop it to 6 wounds to get it off it's too profile, instead of 13, quite some difference. 

+ Super-Heavy +

Hellhammer [33 PL, 540pts] Lascannon & Twin Heavy Flamer Sponson

The final price of the puzzle, the Hellhammer. This will be run up the table and force my opponent to deal with it. With the new rules for 9th, it will just keep on trundling up the table. Technically its got heavy bolters sponsors rather than flamers, but I'm hoping no one will mind. 

++ Total: [116 PL, 7CP, 2,000pts] ++

So that's it, my full list, 2000 points on the nose, giving me 7cp. 7! God, what happened to my 22+ CP I'm use to! Overall I will have 12 but still. Anyway, I was going to talk through my plans for the list but I think this post has got long enough, so next time, how I plan to run my list.

Well, this is a bit of a silly filler post, not one of my best and I'm sure that I've covered this topic before, but here goes anyway.

Super heavies, are they worth it? And by that I mean are the Baneblade and its sister tanks worth the price, both in points and money? I've been thinking for a while I would like a couple of Baneblade hulls in my arsenal, I mean what Imperial general doesn't, but which ones? One would have to be anti-armour and one would be anti-infantry, giving me options.


The main question though, is which version is best for each role? The way I see it, you can split the vehicles in to the two categories; Anti-armour and Anti-infantry.

Now, this was where I was  where I was going to do a break down of all the super heavy tanks, splitting them between anti-Armour and anti-infantry, however, I'm not going to. This is for two reasons, firstly its not quite as clear cut as I thought it would be, as many of the tanks are really quite good at both, large, often apocalypse blasts, with high strength and low ap  values mean that vehicles are just as likely to die as infantry. There are a few exceptions, namely the Stormlord, with its Vulcan mega bolters and the Hellhammer with its ignores cover main weapon are both anti-infantry tanks,  with the Shadowsword and Doomhammer being the only dedicated anti-Armour units, although all these tanks are still capable of taking on all targets.

So, if I'm not going to do a review, what is the point of this post? Well, I still want a super heavy or two, it'll be a while before I get one, but I will get one at some point. The question is which tanks would I like to have? One is easy, it would be the Stormlord, mostly because it just looks and sounds cool, in my opinion anyway. Although, the Hellhammer is also very cool with its ignores cover goodness. The thought of 15 mega bolter shells ripping in to a squad is amusing, and even at BS 3 will do some damage. Using psychic powers ignores cover can be given, along with twin linked, although these aren't guaranteed. The Hellhammer is also good with both the main weapon and a hull mount demolished cannon, it can cause a lot of paint, but its just not as cool Ashe Stormlord in my opinion.


As for anti-armour, well, that more difficult, as the Shadowsword is good, with its D cannon, but I would probably go for the good old Baneblade, as although its not as good, it is still the king of the super heavy tanks. The good old Baneblade still rocks, its a bit of a jack of all trades tank, capable of taking on pretty much anything with a good chance of winning. The Shadowsword d weapon is good but it just doesn't appeal to me.

As for the other tanks, they are all rather to specialist for me and would struggle to find a place in my armies. Not that I can afford one tank, let alone 2 and I have 0 time to actually build anything! All of this may be academic anyway, as with the release of renegade, I will probably be getting two knights who will for fill the roles current earmarked for the tanks. At the moment though, I've got to fix the car, which isn't quite so easy when its 20 of years old, but that's another hobby!