WIP Chaos Knights

Just some early stage pics of the Chaos Knights I'm working on.  These guys will go along with the Chimera to bring the army up to 1000pts.  Above, built bare plastic, below basic armor paint slapped on.

Battle Report: Endless Ones vs. Grey Knights

Endless Ones on Crusade

I got a test drive in with the Endless Ones yesterday, taking 1850pts against Josh, aka "Bean" and his Grey Knights.  This was my first game against Josh and I found him to be a fun, easygoing opponent who persevered even in the face of some atrocious rolls and my constantly having to look things up for the unfamiliar new Chaos book.  Just how does Gorechild work?  What counts as a daemon?  How do Beasts work?  By the end of the game I had a better handle on a lot, but I appreciate Josh putting up with me and the first time using the new Chaos Marines.  I'd faced them a few times, but using them yourself is a bit different.

Chimera minute

Rahr!  I've had this Chimera for a while (along with a Manticore and lots of other Chaos stuff) but being able to use it in the new Warriors of Chaos book prompted me to put it together.  There are also some Chaos Knights that I'll be putting together soon to go with the Chimera and bump my 500pt campaign army of Bargarians up to 1000.

Finished Endless Ones (Chaos Marines)

Some finished pictures of the recently worked on Endless Ones.  It was nice enough outside today to spray, so I rushed through the bases for the guys I was working on and sprayed them and the other guys I'd been working on lately.  Oh!  Forgot my recent IG guys, will go dig them out and spray them when I get done posting this.

League Battle Report: Merkan 76th IG vs. Chaos Marines

Hold the line!

Sunday I played what may be my last game of our recent 40K league, against Will's Chaos Marines.  The top four scorers will go on to a playoff.  I have no idea of my score or relative standing, but with something like a 50/50 record if I do make it to the playoffs it will likely be as the fourth out of four.

This game was at 1750pts.  Since it was going to be the big points value, I wanted to bring in my big commander so General Starken (aka Iron Hand Straken) made an appearance as well as the things I'd recently painted, an autocannon squad and the Hydra.  We rolled up Purge the Alien (Kill Points) with a Hammer and Anvil (short edges) deployment.

Endless Ones: WIP Chaos Marines

Some more WIPs of some Endless Ones.  A little more work done on the sorcerer, above.

40K: Alternative mission setup

One of the things I have not been thrilled about with 6th edition 40K is the game setup.  One of my favorite parts of 5th was setting up the table and in the case of Seize Ground the objectives before you knew where you would start.  With the 6th setup process (for non-narrative games) it's easier to set things up for your advantage instead of having to react to the battlefield.  Below are my initial thoughts on ways to shake the process up a bit while still keeping the 6th ed Eternal War missions and other concepts intact.

Give a little bit

(another repost from an article I did earlier for Deepstrike Radio)

We all know that there are a lot of really awesome units out there that just don’t see the table that much.  

Chaos Possessed.  Flash Gits.  Ogryn.  

It’s the same with a lot of upgrades that could be fun but we leave off.

I’m looking at you, plasma pistol!

Why is this?  Points of course.  Either as individuals or as a community we have decided that X just isn’t worth the points.  It’s just a little too expensive.  Y can do the job for less.

Of course you can find “better” things to spend the points on.  But are you really that strapped for points?  Unless you’re headed for a major tournament you expect to place at, does it really matter?  Even then, does it really matter?

I say that we should all try to find a little room in our lists for some pizzazz.  A long time ago I read an article by Dennis O’Neil that talked about the Japanese artistic concept of wabi; roughly that something imperfect can be beautiful because, not in spite, of that imperfection, like how a leaf that has been nibbled on a bit by a caterpillar can be more interesting than a supposedly perfect, untouched one.  

We should bring a little wabi into our army lists.

I’m not saying go crazy.  But surely we can find a few points to “waste” in most lists.  After all, when we look at these inefficient units and upgrades, for the most part they’re not total wastes, worth zero points.  Instead we say that they’re overpriced – if they were X-3 points each instead of X we would use them.  

Let’s give a little bit, and accept that extra price.  Do you think Possessed are four points too much?  So a unit of ten is 40 points too much?  In a 2000pt army, that’s 2% of the list.  Would that really break you?  I’d wager that if you like the idea of Possessed, you’ll be happier in the long run with them instead of the extra Spawn or ten zombies or whatever you would have bought instead.

Set yourself a goal, or if you prefer, a limit as to how much you’ll “waste” in a list to make it more enjoyable for yourself.   Could be 1%, could be 10%, whatever you’re comfortable with.  Then see how overpriced you think the things you like are, and see if you can fit them under your threshold. 

Try it out.  I think that you’ll enjoy your armies and games more, and you may even surprise your opponents.  For myself, I know that I’ll be trying to cram some plasma pistols into the new Chaos Marines I’m making.

I just wish there was a way to add them to Possessed.