Daemonic gifts for Slaanesh Heralds

Heralds on foot with assorted arms and heads

One of the hardest parts of making my daemonette lists is what gifts to give my heralds, Alluresses, and Heartseeker.  Only heralds can get 30 points of gifts and thus can take exalted gifts, which means one of them is automatically getting the Grimoire since I have no one else that can take it and really need it on the seekers. Alluresses and Heartseekers can only take 20 points, so they're limited to lesser and greater gifts.  You have the option to roll then can choose to swap out one of the gifts for one of the weapon options, which are really good.  Let's look at them individually.

Mounted Herald (unfinished)

The rules for gifts state that you take all your rolls then can choose to swap for the weapon/artefact, which is a nice mechanic that helps you effectively choose equipment.  This gives you freedom depending on the mission and opponent to adjust.  It also means there really is no way to play WYSIWYG because it would be impossible to model all the gifts appropriately.  This can also lead to forgetting what you've actually rolled.  This can be particularly difficult it you have multiple models with gifts in the same unit (such as a herald and Alluress) or across different squads.

Alluress looking badass

Lesser rewards come in at 10 point and are generally the least powerful, but still cheap.

1. Burning Blood causes D3 Str4 ap5 hits if you take a wound in cc.  This could be useful for a greater daemon to cause wounds on termagants or the like to help prevent getting bogged down in combat.  I don't see much use for a 2 wound herald or 1 wound champion to have this.
2. Cleaving Strike makes your cc to hit rolls of 6 go at double strength.  Only heralds are S5, the rest are S3, so having the extra S is useful especially against vehicles. If I was up against a parking lot I would take it, but only activating on a 6 makes it less useful in most cases against other targets.
3. Corrosive Breath is a S5 ap5 template with armourbane.  Ideal for a heartseeker since she has the speed to hit in side or rear armor and get to bunched up groups.  Still good for an alluress, but against infantry you risk missing out on charge range.  It's only S5, but you'll still glance av12 nearly 60% of the time and AV10 over 80%.  It's only ap5, but adds to my limited ways of dealing with AV.
4. Spell Breaker is Adamantium Will.  Not a great choice.  I guess if I knew my opponent was going witchfire heavy as it doubles my chances of denying.  Very situational and therefore not going to be used often.  The one time I think it will be really good I won't get it.
5. Warp Breath is an 18" S8 ap4 shot with soul blaze.  It's always useful to have another Str8 shot against vehicles but soul blaze does nothing.  A str8 ap4 shot is good against Tyranid Warriors, but little else.
6. Warp Strider gives you +1 to your reserve roll for this unit.  This can be useful if you're outflanking.  You come in on a 2+ and with acute senses you have 8/9 chance to get the correct side.  Most of the time I prefer to start on the board since you can't assault out of reserve anyways.

The alternative to these is either a witstealer sword or etherblade.  If the witstealer causes a wound, then they must pass an init test or suffer another wound (no armor saves).  It's only ap5 so you're relying on rends to get through the armor, not a problem for greater daemons, so I could see if being useful vs low init armies that have elite troops with multiple wounds like Orks, Necrons, Tau.  It's too situational for heralds and you're better off with the etherblade.  Having an ap2 weapon master-crafted at init 5/7 is pretty incredible for 10 points.

In most cases when I take the lesser reward I'm really just taking the etherblade.  Unless I have some greater plan the sword is going to be the superior option.  If my plan relies on me rolling something on the lesser reward table then I need to reconsider that plan.  Corrosive Breath is really the best option from the table, but cleaving strike is nice.  Both are ideal for heavy AV lists (can't rely on Soul Grinders and princes for everything).  A herald on a steed with 5 attacks base striking at ap2 I7 is going to scare your opponent.

Bases still not finished

Greater rewards are mostly defensive based at 20pts.  Many are ideal for Princes and Greater daemons as they can't join squads.  You don't want to try to tank wounds with heralds or champions but could help you stay alive in a challenge.  This is a very good table.  With daemon princes and Keepers you'll likely want to roll twice on this table hoping to get something that will let you live long enough to get into assault.

1. Corpulence gives an extra wound and it will not die.  Having 3 wounds on a herald is nice and the ability to regenerate is also good.  Being T3 though, they are too easily doubled out. 
2. Daemonic resilience is FNP 4+.  This faces the same problems as the Corpulence in that heralds are too susceptible to S6 weapons and attacks.  At least here you have a chance to save a wound before you die, rather than waiting until the end of the phase.  A 5++ then 4+ is pretty survivable but not worth it on the champions. The table gets better from here.
3. Dark Blessing less you reroll your invulns.  If you can get the grimoire off you'll be rocking a 3++/3++ save.  Even a 5++/5++ is nice because you'll always get it.  I'm probably always keeping this one.
4. Hellfire Gaze is an upgrade of Warp Breath since it has AP1 and swaps Soul Blaze for lance.  Heralds are BS6 so you're going to get it off usually.  The only downside I can think of is that anything the lance would affect (av 13/14) isn't something you should be assaulting anyways so you may end up having to choose between one shot or running.  I'm going to take this most of the time unless I'm facing all infantry.
5. Touch of uncreation gives you armourbane and fleshbane.  You'll push a lot of wounds through, but still only S3/4 so you have to roll average just to glance av10.  Rends work on both dice you have two chances to get the bonus D3 for pen.  It's still a very good option especially against other Daemons where ap is irrelevant or hordes with low armor like orks and nids. I would need to look at the list I've facing before determining it I take this.
6. Unbreakable hide is a 3+ save, which is an improvement over the 5++, but not if I plan on using the grimoire.  You really depend on numbers to weather damage, not a 3+, but it can help when you fail the look out sir.  Not worth 20pts though

You can swap out for a greater etherblade (an etherblade with +1S) or a lash of despair.  The lash is 2D6 S:user ap- shots. Heralds, even at S4, and champions at S3 just don't make this worth it.  The ideal user of this is a Daemon prince where you have someone that got iron arm.  You can place 2D6 S9 hits where you like and that's no joke at all.

The biggest issue with the greater daemon table is the opportunity cost.  Being more surviable is great, but killing a character with your 6 S5 AP2 attacks at I7 before they can strike is more valuable so the greater etherblade is a fine choice in any case.

It's amazing how many flaws show up in photos

Exalted rewards are only available to heralds, princes, and GD. At 30pts each most of them are lacking.

1. Doubly Blessed gives you a free roll on the lesser table along with an exalted reward.  Obviously this is the best, since you get freebies.
2. Riftbringer can get you a free unit.  You just need to cause a wound and then roll a 9 or above with 2D6. You do get a bonus to this roll for every 3 wounds you cause.  Causing 3 wounds is achievable, but 6 wounds is not without killing swarms of the like.  So you'll usually need an 8 on the roll, which is about 40%.  If you get this you generate a unit worth more than the 30pts for the reward, but even still it seems like a lot of hoops to go through.
3. Souleater gives you back a wound on 2+ if you cause one in assaul and can take you up to10.  This is probably the best roll on the table since Slaanesh characters are combat oriented.  If I'm in a KP match I'm hoping for this one in place of the Portalglyph.
4. Unholy Frenzy is rage and rampage.  You shouldn't be outnumbered often so rampage is less useful for heralds.  Rage is always nice, but not worth 30pts.  Ideal for GDs.
5. Warp Tether is a bit wordy but essentially you resurrect with 1 wound, but you come out from ongoing reserve.  I guess if you play GK with force weapons everywhere this would be worth considering, but really it is strictly worse than Corpulescence.
6. Wind of Chaos is a 24" S2D6 Ap4 small blast, but if you roll 11 or 12 it is S10 Large blast.  Small blast 2D6 isn't great.  I'm usually running not shooting.  It's too unreliable to affect vehicles so this is pretty worthless to me.

My favorite Alluress

You can swap for a hellforged artefact, of which there are clear standouts and losers.

• The Doomstone seems fluffy but I struggle to think of a case where you're going to get a lot of value out of it.  Most characters have high leadership.  Although one failed test will lead to more failed tests and death, getting that first failed test will be tough.  I can see it coming into play, but I don't know how you look at your opponents list and say that the Doomstone is the best option in this case
• The Eternal Blade is S+1 Ap- but gives you D3 WS, I, and A each combat phase.  Since it is Ap - it is better for MCs or against enemies where AP isn't a factor (orks, daemons).  Not a terrible choice but I'd rather have a greater etherblade
• The portalglyph is an av12 portal that gives you D6 deamon troops on a 4+ each turn.  Almost always useful except in KP missions but needs further discussion.
• The Grimoire can cause -1 to daemon invulns on an enemy unit or you can try to apply to one of your own units: on 1-2 you are -1 to invulns on 3-6 you get +2 to invulns.  The crux of the 2++ reroll, which requires fateweaver's reroll to be truly effective.  Throwing this on seekers is very necessary to give them a 3++ which will let them get into combat.

If I take an exalted gift I'm really taking the Grimoire with a 1 in 6 chance of getting an extra lesser gift.  My real question is whether to take a 2nd for the portalglyph or not.

Only D6 daemons isn't a lot but you'll usually average more points of daemons than the Portal cost.  Any of the deamons are useful depending on the situation.  Daemonettes can really move with 9" + D6 coming out and can get to an objective if needed or hide. Plaguebearers with shrouded and plague knives could be an annoyance. Getting some horrors out for extra dice and turning them into a Keeper of Secrets would be pretty badass, but unlikely . Bloodletters  are the least useful, but there could be merit in clearing out some MSU tac marines off an objective late.

It is still a very situational item though. In kill point missions (most tournaments still use 1 mission and/or for secondaries) it would be a liability.  AV12 1 HP can die pretty quickly, but is small enough to be hidden. A lot of armies can quickly destroy it.

For only 5pts you get +1A and char

The biggest problem is that I can't take any other gifts if I take an exalted and can't swap it for an etherblade.  If the mission isn't right, then none of the exalted gifts are worth the 30 points on a herald.  I guess I would hope to roll for souleater then swap all the others for the eternal blade, but really I'd rather have a roll on the greater table.

All the Alluresses together

Ultimately, I think I'm going to prioritize anti-vehicle with hellfire gaze, corrosive breath, touch of uncreation being the standouts since anti-vehicle in a daemon list is at a premium.  Otherwise, I love the etherblades and plan on mostly sticking with them.

Slaanesh Daemons vs. Astra Militarum, 1000pts Campaign Battle

Scouring with Dawn of War setup

Our gaming group has started a campaign.  Rhys and I had the honor of fighting the first battle.  My Slaanesh Daemon army attacked his Astra Militarum territory in a 1000 point battle.  Each week you build upon a base list so you don't want to go too heavy against any one opponent with list tailoring.  Luckily Daemons have some flexibility with gifts.

40 Daemonettes hugging the center with a Grimoire Herald

I ran a pure Slaanesh list:
Herald w/steed, loci of grace, greater, lesser
Herald (Warlord), loci of Beguilement, exalted
19 seekers, heartseeker w/lesser
20 Daemonettes, alluress w/lesser
20 Daemonettes, alluress w/lesser
170 Soul Grinder, MoS, Baleful Torrent


Rhys ran an interesting list w/Bullgryns.  Thankfully, no Wyverns, Manticores, Wyverns, Eradicators,or Wyverns (did I mention I was happy not to see a Wyvern).

See above, no Wyvern.  Not seen, my relief

CCS w/flamer in chimera
PCS w/flamer
10 Guardsmen w/Grenade launcher
10 Guardsmen w/Grenade launcher 

Veterans w/2 plasma in chimera
Vendetta
3 Armored Sentinels
5 Bullgryns

Setup

Dawn of War deployment with The Scouring.  I tried to group the objectives as best I could on one side so I wouldn't spread myself out too thin and hoping to utilize my speed to get to the objectives as needed. Neither of us had Psykers.  I rolled on the strategic warlord table and got infiltrate but rerolled (due to CAD) and got Night Fighting/Night Vision.  My thinking here was that I would get there by turn 2 anyways (wrong!) and didn't need it.  When going first, the ability to deploy 3 units (I only had 4) after his deployment would have been invaluable.  I was trying to get -1 to reserves hoping to let my Soul Grinder live against the Vendetta when it came on, but night fighting wasn't bad, but it didn't really help me either. Rhys got an extra command which ended up being useful.

For gifts I got  the 18" lance with my greater gift then rolled adamantium will for all my lesser gifts.  Considering he had no Psykers, I swapped them for etherblades.  Corrosive Breath would have been nice.

Painting in progress, herald has brown base

I did win the roll to go first and deployed along the side with the objectives. Both squads of daemonettes in the center and the seekers able to grab some cover as needed just off to the right.  I made sure everything was in range of the grimoire.  My first big mistake was deploying the Soul Grinder in the corner rather than centrally.

His deployment had him castle up in the far left corner, as far from my Soul Grinder as possible since he had no answer for it until the vendetta arrived.  The Bullgryns (proxied by Obliterators) were in front to give cover saves to the platoon squads.  The chimeras hugged a hill to hide side armor with a CCS in one and plasma vets in the other.

Ready to Roll

The center and lower right objectives were 3s.  There was a 2 in the upper left that a platoon controlled and the other 2 was atop the center right objective.  The 1 was in the upper right the 4 was at the top directly across from my seekers.  After failing to size, it was my turn.

Turn 1

Given the deployment, I had two choices for how to attack.  I could go for the full on assault and hope to overwhelm him on turn 2 with all my units or I could play it cagey and stay out of range, draw him out, and play to the mission by staying on the objectives.  The most vulnerable squad would be the center, since his army would have clear line of site to them if I charged through the middle.  So, first thing's first, I attempt to grimoire the middle squad and failed dropping them to a 6++.  Play to the objectives it is.

I move the squad up to the left behind the stacks hoping to draw him over, and away from the objectives.  I hide as much as I can to limit the damage.  Since I don't fall back from morale tests, I don't have to worry about losing 25%.  The middle squad drops back behind the terrain to hide and the seekers move up behind the middle right terrain piece (we really need more true LoS blocking pieces of terrain, we barely have anything that can even hide a Rhino).  The Soul Grinder brings up the rear.

The warp storm brings down the wrath of nurgle, but does nothing.  All units run to hug more cover.

End of my turn 1

His choices were to move into range of my seekers along the top or shift down and try to kill the daemonettes. He chose the latter.  I miscalculated the position of the grenade launcher and with ignores cover kills 5 or 6 then another 2 with the sentinels' shooting.  I lose more than I wanted, but still manged to keep him in the corner.

Turn 2

I continue to push forward with the soul grinder and wait it out.  The daemonettes on the left move away from his side of the board.  The hiding troops move up to get behind the seekers, I don't really have much of a plan for them other than to get to objectives and be in range to throw out the grimoire as needed.  It goes off this time on the exposed squad, thankfully.  Warp storm is calm, everyone runs, but I forget about the 3" bonus movement and only end up getting 1" (with fleet re-roll) so the squad doesn't get out of range of as much as I would have liked and the Soul Grinder creeps along as well.

The vendetta fails to arrive.  Rhys shuffles around, bringing the sentinels further down the left side and takes some shots at daemonettes but my 3++ rolls hold and I only lose 1.  He's still leery of the seekers and won't get too close.

Turn 3

I continue shifting everything to the right.  The grimoire goes on the soul grinder to protect against the vendetta.  Unfortunately, the warp storm ebbs and reduces it back to a 4++.  I'm content to hold the objectives.  The soul grinder shoots at a chimera but does nothing.

The vendetta once again fails to come on.  Rhys starts to push forward towards the objectives.  His CCS chimera moves on top of the hill and manages to kill a few seekers.

Turn 4

With the Chimera exposed on the hill and the vendetta definitely coming on, I decide to rush the Soul Grinder up.  He had no melta, so couldn't really hurt me and since the grimoire went off I was sitting pretty with a 3++, but I should have rotated my rear to the edge of the table.  The lower squad of deamonettes start to shift back toward the center, hiding behind terrain. The far right daemonettes continue to occupy the length of the right side so they can quickly get to whichever objective is needed. 

Tzeentch helps out with Storm of Fire and hits 3 units.  Two scatter off completely, the third scores a direct hit against a bunched platoon squad and I roll all 10 3+'s to wound, wiping out the squad and finally earning first blood.

His vendetta comes on in hover mode, the chimeras press toward me, while the sentinels move further down towards my daemonettes, and the remaining platoon squad camps on the 2pt objective in his corner.  Some shooting from his sentinels and chimeras kills a couple more seekers.  The vendetta scores 3 hits, 2 pens & 1 glance on the Grinder.  My 3++ saves one of each but he rolls a 6 on the damage chart to blow it up.  Bummer, that hurt.

Calculating the odds of this happening for an individual shot at S9 AP2, TL BS3.

• To hit * pen av11 * 3++ save, 3/4*2/3*1/3 = 1/6 to score a pen
• With AV2, he gets +1 to the damage roll and an immobilized or explodes result would cripple it.  Immobolized odds 1/36, explodes 1/36.  Odds of rendering the SG ineffective per shot is 1/18.
• With 3 shots 1-(1-(1/18))^3, roughly 16% chance. 
• Of course, going the other way, the odds of rolling 10 3+ to wound against the platoon squad was 2/3^10, only a measly 1.7%.  

Turn 5

Time to make my dash to the objectives in case the game ends on 5.  I detach the herald with the loci of grace and join the right squad so I can lance the vendetta while they spread lower to hold the 3pt objective.  The seekers get grimoired try to get in range of the chimera, but have enough of a tail to still hold the 4pt objective after charging.  The daemonettes at the bottom rush out to take the other 3pt.  The lance shot is saved by the vendetta jinking. Unfortunately, the seekers fail their charge, needing 9"(due to terrain) but getting only 8".  If I had kept the locus with them they would have passed.

failed charge

Rhys moves as much as he can around to bring his firepower to bear on the seekers, but forgets to get the veterans out of the chimera so loses out on a some lasgun shots.  The PCS in the vendetta (I forgot about them) gets out flames the daemonettes.  I fail save any of those wounds.  The vendetta still gets 2 hits even at BS1 and vaporizes a herald and and another daemonetts

He shoots everything left at the seekers and I fail 8/10 3++ saves and lose most of the squad, continuing a round of bad dice rolls.  The armored sentinels charge the daemonettes.  Hammer of Wrath kills a few, but neither side does anything during the actual combat, and I lose a few more to daemonic instability.

Luckily for me, the game ends at turn 5 with a daemon victory. I held the 4 (by an 1/8"), and both 3s (thank you Objective secured) while Rhys held a 2 and a 1.  For secondaries I got first blood, but he got last laugh.  Neither earned linebreaker or warlord.  Daemons win 11-3.

Conclusion

Definitely the most unorthodox game I've ever played.  Much more of a chess match than a normal 40k game.  The warpstorm caused the only kills of the game for me, earning me first blood.  He managed to kill over 2/3 of my army and might have wiped the rest out in another turn.

Rules Mistakes

1. Fleet does not give a re-roll to  move through cover, only to run and charge dice, oops.
2. During turn 2 I forgot to add +3" to my run moves, that would have helped the Soul Grinder and both squads of daemonettes.
3. Obviously, the Soul Grinder deployment in the corner was a poor decision.  I think I was trying to get cover saves.  Considering it has a 5++ wouldn't have done anything.
4. Never swap infiltrate for anything in an assault list.
5. I need to be more patient with movement and space things out better

Deployed poorly, still a badass

Overall, I think I played pretty well, if unexpectedly.  I didn't miss out on too many rules and limited my mistakes once the game actually started.  I've put a lot of thought into daemonic gifts now need to put some thought into the warlord traits I want to take depending on the situation.  I'm happy to get a win though.  We'll see who I'm able to fight next week for round 2.

Daemons vs. Chaos Space Marines 1850

 I finally got my first match in with my Daemons.  It was against Chaos Space Marines and we were both using Be'Lakor.  Andrew was a great opponent and I had a lot of fun and hope that he did as well.  It went a little slowly as I was still getting used to the tables and warpstorm.

1850 Daemons
Be'Lakor
Herald, steed, loci of grace, greater
Herald, steed, greater
Herald (Warlord), loci of Beguilement, exalted (Grimoire)
Herald, exalted (Portalglyph)
18 seekers, heartseeker, standard w/lesser
20 Daemonettes, alluress
20 Daemonettes, alluress
10 Daemonettes
10 Daemonettes
Soul Grinder, MoS, Baleful Torrent
Soul Grinder, MoS, Baleful Torrent






1850 Chaos Space Marines

Be'Lakor (Warlord)
Abaddon
Chaos Terminators
10 Chaos Marines with ccw in Rhino
10 Chaos Marines with ccw in Rhino
5 Raptors, melta
5 Havocs, 3 lascannons, 1 missile
Land Raider










We rolled hammer and anvil and emperor's will.  I hid my objective as far up as I could in the ruin.  His was in the big plant on the left.  I got first turn and deployed everything on the front line while he deployed far back, fearing my speed.  The double rhino in the middle was a proxy for the Landraider and the DP was proxying for Be'Lakor.  He kept the raptors in reserve to deep strike.

Turn 1

 I moved everything up.  Tossed the Grimoire on the seekers, threw the portalglyph, and ran everything forward.  I failed invisibility, but got off  shrouding.  With fleet, I was able to roll very well on my run moves and was in his deployment zone first turn with the seekers.  I think they covered 23".  One squad stayed back near the objective.

On his turn, he hopped Abaddon and the Terminators out.  I think I lost 1-2 seekers from shooting and had the center soul grinder get immobolized from the lascannons havoks and land raider.

Abaddon and his squad charged through terrain.  I popped my Rapturous standard reducing Abaddon to WS5 and the terminators to WS2 (against WS5).  Abaddon in a challenge against a herald only caused 1 wound (thank you 3++) from 10 attacks.  The 57 attacks from the squad wipe the terminators out and cause a wound into the challenge.  Fearless Abaddon soils himself but is stuck in the challenge.

Turn 2

I continue to move up.  I still can't pop anyone out of the portalglyph since I don't have any daemonettes.  I try to Grimoire the seekers again but fail and instead are rolling 6++ for saves.  Invisibility fails again, but I get off fearless on the seekers just in case they lose against Abaddon so I don't get punked by daemonic instability.  The Soul Grinders shoot at Rhinos and cause a glance between them (damn BS3).   In assault Abaddon kills the herald and another 1 or 2 seekers but I kill Abaddon with just my rends and continue to press forward.

Dakka from bolters reduces the Seekers considerably.   The helldrake comes on and flames all but 2 from the squad of 10 that was bringing up the rear.  His invisible Be'Lakor charges a Soul Grinder and drops another two hull points with weapon destroyed results, leaving me with just the torrent which he would never get to use.

Turn 3

At this point I forgot to take pictures until the last turn because we were too involved in the match.

I move both squads of 20 deamonettes into charge range of his Be'Lakor to help out the Soul Grinder. I hop Be'Lakor over the daemonettes and attempt to charge into the LR.  My seekers move up to charge the CSM and havoks.  The Grimoire goes off on one daemonette squad and Be'Lakor finally gets invisibility off on the other.  I had deamonettes to use for the Portalglyph but forget to roll for it.  The Warp Storm brings Khorne's Wrath which does nothing.  The other Soul Grinder shoots at the helldrake causing a glance.

Both squads successfully charge Be'Lakor (thank you fleet) but he rolls well on his invulns and is still alive but destroys the Soul Grinder in return (thankfully no explosion). My Be'Lakor charges the Landraider and causes 3 pens immobilizing it and leaving it with only 1 lascannon.  My seekers charge was disastrous losing 3 to overwatch, then going at init 1 killed all but the heartseeker who died to instability.  Oh well, life of a daemon.

On Andrew's turn 3 he scorched half of the other daemonette squad with his drake.  His raptors still failed to come in.  The lascannons took some hull points off my soul grinder.  I managed to just barely finish off Be'Lakor in the assault phase and from there it was mostly clean up.

Turn 4
Be'Lakor swept in and wiped out the CSM squad while the big daemonette squad wiped out the havoks.  Warp storm brought Khorne's wrath again, but he was lazy and did nothing again.  I did finally get 4 daemonettes out of the portal and ran them back at my objective along with a herald.  One squad camped on the objective.  The soul grinder managed to shake the helldrake which failed his invuln and daemonic resilience roll and couldn't shoot next turn.

On his turn the raptors came in and killed a few of the portal squad.  His helldrake vector striked my Soul Grinder causing a HP of damage and a stun which I shook off.

Turn 5
Be'lakor finished the other CSM squad.  The daemonettes covered a lot of ground getting back to the Objective.  The Soul Grinder got 2 shots though and wrecked the Drake.

He multi charged and killed the two squads that popped out of the portal. but only had his vehicles left otherwise

Turn 6
I got another small squad of daemonettes from the portal and had several small squads of them around my objective that he wouldn't be able to remove in time plus one objective secure squad.  Since I also had all the secondaries we called it.

Mistakes

1. Abaddon has a Mark of Slaanesh so shouldn't have been affected by the rapturous standard
2. Forgot the warpstorm table a few times
3. I forgot I could Grimoire his Be'Lakor to push more wounds through, which would have been a good idea rather than using it on my own squad
4. Heralds are WS7, but I treated them like WS5,  so I should be hitting on 3+ against most things
5. Forgot I had fear, so the havoks, raptors, and CSM should have testing.
6. Soul Grinders are only WS3, so I should have been swinging at Be'Lakor needing 5s.  I didn't end up causing any wounds anyways.
7. Need to be more disciplined about spreading out.  The Helldrake killed almost a full squad of 10 a turn
8. Forgot about my lesser and greater gifts almost as soon as I rolled them, I need a better system or just take the etherblades.
9. Need more Daemonettes so I can summon them.  I have 2 squads of 10 that need to be built and some Pink horrors just primed so I should be in decent shape going forward.
10. The multi-charge was a disaster.  T3 5++ cannot stand up in a fight unless I can lay the hurt on them first with their high init.  I just got too greedy - I should have assaulted the CSM only or maybe a Rhino.

The Grimoire can be a big help but when it fails, really hurts the seekers.  They're toast at a 6++.  My only hope, if I fail the grimoire, is to cast invisibility on them if I want them alive.

I felt the squeeze on warp charge dice with this list.  I usually threw 4 at invisibility but it still wasn't very reliable.  I'll probably drop  the 2 squads of 10 daemonettes and take 2 squads of 11 pink horrors for 4 more dice.  They're mostly just sitting on backfield objectives anyways.  I could also summon more daemonettes, seekers, or another herald pending the actual model of course. Which they would need to babysit them.  I would need to come up with another 18 points though.  It's not pure Slaanesh then so I would need to consider how married I am to my theme.

I'm not sure how I feel about the portal glyph. Obviously, it would have been better if I had the models to pop out from the start.  They did really help me this game since I could bring in reinforcements, but only D6 is really low.  I think I'll have a follow up post on gifts for Slaanesh heralds in a follow up post.

I had a great time and really like running the daemons.  The gifts, warpstorm, psychic phase, and (minimal) shooting phase differences from my army really makes it feel different from any other army I've used and I like it.  I don't like moving 60-80 figures a turn, which is why I leave myself vulnerable to blasts and templates.  I just get lazy and my back starts to hurt.

Up next is our campaign and Andrew will by on my side for the next few weeks.  It ought to be great.

Slaanesh Soul Grinder Finished

After making very rapid progress on my daemonettes and heralds, my output slowed drastically once I got to the Soul Grinder.  After weeks of painting, I think I'm finally happy with it.

I elected to go with a very similar painting style to Be'Lakor.  The paints I used  were nearly identical to the paints I used for the daemonettes. I started with a grey primer, druchii volet wash, slaanesh grey drybrush, and long beard grey drybrush highlights.  The Sycoraz Bronze was my primary metallic.  I used Xerus Purple on the legs and scab red with Blood for the Blood God on the chest veins.

The Iron Claw was actually the first piece I finished.  I would have liked to add the warpsword because the bit is really nice and would be fun to paint.  For 25pts, it does give an extra attack for having 2 specialist weapons and gives you the option to attack at Str6 ap3 with a reroll from master-crafted.  Since the Daemon of Slaanesh rule still gives rending, it's not a terrible deal, but I plan on running them with Daemon of Slaanesh and baleful torrent so they're already clocking in at 170pts.  I think I'll save the 25pts and take 2 more seekers.  The harvester cannon claw is much more Slaanesh-y in my opinion.

I drybrushed with the necron compound on just the engine compartment, then did a mechanicus standard grey highlight on the legs.  I wish I had just drybrushed the whole thing.  but I think the overall effect is pretty solid.  I tried not to go too overboard on the engine compartment just hitting the rivets with bronze and the wires/pipes with various shades of red.

The leg guards are a bit plain.  They aren't glued down yet.  I'm still contemplating if I want to do something further with them.  My 2nd Soul Grinder is finished and has skulls glued to the rear leg guards but not the front.  I may end up swapping them out and having 1 with all skulls and 1 with none, but want to see how they look.

I tried to follow an insect walking diagram for how to arrange the legs.  From what I can tell the center legs on each side act as anchors for the other two and align with the front and read on the opposite side.  They also tend to dip forward at different times.  While they look decent enough biologically, the leg position is my least favorite part.  For my 2nd I elected to go with more of a static, symmetric pose with the front raised up.  I'm much happier with the pose on the 2nd.

I want to finish up my daemonettes and start on my seekers before I drop another 2-3 weeks on the 2nd Soul Grinder.  I really enjoyed painting the body, claw, and engine but the legs were tedious.  It's a very impressive model that I'm quite happy with regardless.  Two of these, plus my Be'Lakor on the table will be scary.

Grey Knight Codex Arrives, Clogs Toilet, Asks to Borrow $20

Inquisition HQs I can no longer use for Grey Knights

The 7th ork codex was deeply disappointing because it forced me to rethink every unit I use and I could find solid options throughout even though I still can't figure out how to make the army work as a whole because of the problem with troops.  The Grey Knight release is disturbing and affects the army I use so much more that it feels personal.  I can't even field a valid grey knight army anymore.

The fluff initially was a big draw to get me into the game when I first started reading about the Warhammer 40,000 universe back in 2006.  Since I've started playing, I've barely read any of the fluff sections but can appreciate a lot of what goes on.  But among the reasons people play, for me it would be 1) Painting 2) Playing 3) Modeling 4) Fluff.  So to split off the Inquisition wasn't an option I cared for because it 'made sense' that the codex should only be Grey Knights.  Nevertheless, I can live with losing inquisition generally and pleasantly surprised to see the Assassins get updated rather than a rushed copy paste job.  I'm not limited by number of detachments  or what I can bring, so I don't look at this from a tournament perspective.

Ninjas with Nunchuks

In some ways the Inquisition codex does a few things better.  You can take Valkyries, Preachers are better than banishers, the warlord traits are good, and you can take double heavy bolter chimeras with Psybolt.  Unfortunately, my Crusaders are modeled with a halberd and my DCA are modeled with sword and nunchuks (counts as power mauls) and the Inq. codex only allows swords for both.  I don't think I'll have an issue using them though.  Coteaz doesn't make troops objective secured though, which doesn't matter too much, but you are restricted 2 3 squads of henchmen per detachment now.  You are free to use other Inquisitors though, since previously you were limited to 1 per inquisitor except Coteaz.

What's left in the codex for Grey Knights is quite sparse.  I don't plan on buying the codex so the cost isn't too big of a factor, but 1 codex replaced with 3 is unquestionably a raw deal.  The other reason not to buy it is that it is very simple (same as the Ork codex).  So simple, that I don't need it to know the rules and stats since there are very few.  Anything I would need would be printable on a single sheet of notebook paper.

There are only 3 generic HQs, 2 named HQs, 1 slotless (techmarine), 3 elites (although really only 2), 2 troops, 2 fast, 2 Heavy, and 3 dedicated (which can be taken in fast or heavy as well).    I can't help but feel shafted, not only by the loss of units but the loss of options for units.  With the sole exception of the Brotherhood Champion (and Crowe) every other unit in the codex is worse than it was before.  Most units got a price drop, though some illogically got a a price increase.  I feel like you can nerf a unit and keep the price same or keep the unit the same and increase the cost, but you absolutely cannot nerf and increase the base cost.  When units get updated from codex to codex there is an anchor point that is hard to shake.  Especially with similar.

$66 +resign bases+primer+paint cost+40 hours

Many of the losses leads to the army feeling less 'elite' to me.  I should probably rephrase that to say that the Grey Knights themselves feel less elite since previously I always took some henchmen.  The amount of shooting that armies like Eldar, Tau, Astra Militarum, Space Marines, and even Tyranids can put it out will shred the Grey Knights because they cannot put enough bodies on the ground and cannot put out enough shooting.  The GK Landraiders, razorbacks, and Rhinos are identical to the Space Marine counterparts.

There is a feel to the whole codex that they read the complain emails from 2011 about Grey Knights and adjusted accordingly, not considering how much everything has changed since then.  I hated playing GK in 5th. Although I always thought the models, when I played people with painted armies instead of rush jobs, 3 color minimum, or proxies. Draigowing was boring to play.  Purifiers kicked my orks to the ground and took their lunch money, then pissed on their face for good measure.  With the addition of hull points, AP3 swords, mass plasma/AP2, and the increase in ignores cover GK were no longer overpowered but firmly middle tier, yet paling in comparison to the other deathstars available to other armies, OP BB combos, and mass shooting of Tau and Eldar.

I preferred not to use many of the nasty tricks that people hated.  I never played with rad/psychotroke grenades,  which really weren't that exciting. I disliked Paladins and Draigo mainly because it wasn't that good anymore. Mindstrike missiles were as easy to counter as other small blast templates and GKs were actually the most susceptible army to them.  Psybolt, while undercosted on Dreadnoughts during 5th, contributed to the elite feel of the army and overpriced for most units and all characters.

I joined the Grey Knight train after the hoopla died down on their OP status when helldrakes ruled the skies, Wraithknights+Riptides ruled the ground, beatstars+seercouncils clogged the middle, and the waveserpeant ruled everything. They started as a gap filler for my Blood Angels--a way to take down MCs or contribute mass shots (bolt pistols weren't cutting it)-- but grew into my primary army over the course of the last year that I really enjoyed playing.

Now, I can't field a Grey Knight army for the simple fact that I don't have an HQ.  I could proxy an Ordo Malleus Inquisitor in Terminator armor as a brother-captain if I had to but really the army is a shell of what it was.  The only things I have left that are in the GK codex are 2 strike squads, 2 5-man Purgation squads, 2 Dreadknights, 3 Dreadnoughts, and 2 Rhinos/Razorbacks.

Odds are very low that I'll finish painting

Dreadnoughts were hit the hardest.  Their base cost increased and coupled with the loss of Psybolt renders them utterly useless.  They are 30 points more expensive than a comparable Space Wolf dreadnought in their codex released earlier this month.  For that 30pts you primarily get buffs against daemons, but nothing close to approximating the value you need for those points.  I have 3 Forgeworld dreads on bases that I can't do anything with.  I don't even see the value in ripping the arms off any using them with other guns.  They're now in the running for most worthless unit in the game.

Double Psycannons with my old sword style

Strikes were utterly neutered.   Let's consider where they were when I bought them 18 months ago (took me a long time to assemble and paint).  For 240 points with 2 Psycannons and Psybolt, you got 16 Str 5 shots (2 precision), 8 Str 7 rending (half that if you moved),  Warp Quake to protect against alpha strikes, and could wait to cast hammer hand or force in the assault phase.  Now for 240 points for the same unit but losing Psybolt you no longer have psybolt or warp quake, but instead have an anti-daemon power.  The psycannon moving to Salvo sucks because it reduces range, mobility, and charge ability if you fire it at all.  The gun is worse and costs you more.

Quad incinerators

Purgation squads got more expensive and incinerators are no longer free, although 100 points for 4 incinerators was far too cheap before, but never really filled a need GKs had so weren't used.  I suppose 4 with Psilencers for 150pts in a bunker or bastion putting out 24 force shots would be decent if you could cast force in a building (or vehicle)  Unfortunately, you can't and being heavy 24" is going to limit a lot of what it can do.  There aren't many that many multi-wound units with low toughness and armor.  Let's see - Spawn of Nurgle, foot nobs, Tyranid Warriors (and variants such as raveners), swarms, Wraiths (yay!) - then a bunch of daemon units like the greater daemons, the entire elite and fast attack section.

FW hatch.  only about 50% painted

Rhinos didn't nee the psychic pilot rule, though it was nice, is probably better to give them a cheaper option.  Why anyone would take a razorback at 55 points is beyond me.  A heavy bolter for elimination of fire points and reduced capacity isn't a fair swap, much less a 20 point premium.  GW thinks way too highly of Heavy Bolters.  Psybolt made them usable with henchmen because they were cheap enough that you didn't care too much.  The upgrade to Str 6 made it more usable in so many ways.  Also it let you take Psycannons instead of assault cannons, meaning they were actually Grey Knight vehicles rather than generic.

Swords aren't finished, but this avoids the Baby Bjorn look

Dreadknights lost some power since they don't come stock with nemesis fists anymore and the greatsword lost its rerolls and instead is just master-crafted.  Other than the base price, everything got cheaper, including the teleporter, which was really the only way it was viable.  Dreadknights were overpriced compared to Riptides, wraithknights, et al, but now they seem a bit underpriced, especially considering the kick in the nuts everything else got.  Now, they are unquestionably the best choice in the codex.


This leaves me a strange position of really only liking my dreadknights.  The Strikes will have to be modified somehow, either converted to purifiers/incterceptors or have the psycannons changed.  I still need to come up with an HQ.  I guess Librarians are ok and since they can deep strike attached to the Strike Squad in the Nemesis Strike Force formation I only have to take1 troop.  I'm not sure what they'll use their psychic powers on.  Santic, pyromancy and telekineses aren't either, and Telepathy only really has invisibility.  That leaves divination which will take the squad up from meh to eh.

This just doesn't have the same feel as my old grey knight codex.  Where the henchmen were the bulk of the bodies, but the GKs were the studs on the table that did the most work. Now their shooting ability is so much weaker that they have to allies and inquisition forces have many of the same limitations so it doesn't make a lot of sense to use them together since you're much better off with Astra Milatarum or sisters.  Those armies are better off with regular Space Marines.

There are likely to be some decent builds out there.  Incinerator Interceptors, MSU purifiers, and dreadknights are decent enough.  I just have to retool so much of my army that I don't think it's worth it.  I'll work on my daemons and hope that, in the meantime, there is a release called Codex Pysbolts: a Grey Knight Supplement.

A new mindset on challenges

When 6th edition brought in challenges, I hated them .  In Ork squads they really hurt, because the nob would often do most of the work.  A mass of boyz would pile into combat, flail helplessly and cause a wound or 2, then the Nob would swing with his power klaw and kill 2 or 3 on his own, possibly doubling someone out with instant death.

Then Nobs could be challenged.  Against anything with a power weapon or any assault based character, the Nob would almost certainly die before getting to swing.  Ultimately, Nobs in boyz squads fell out of favor because they were too easy to pick off.  It wasn't even wroth it to bring them.

If you charged a lone character, the rest of your squad had to sit around (wasting their +1 attack on the charge and +1 from furious charge) while the Nob got crushed.  No amount of rerolls will help when you don't even get a save to roll.  Challenges were really limiting since Orks have low init and frequenly limited to no armor.

It never made sense to me from a fluff standpoint.  Why would the boyz sit around cheering on the nob.  What honor binds them from joining in the fight.  It's counter-fluff.  Orks (Snikrot especially) would be all too happy to stab someone in the back while they were engaged in a one on one battle.

Similarly, why would Tyranids do the same.  They are an extra-galactic threat that knows no honor, just consumption. My favorite example of this absurdity is the swarmlord gets charged by a grot and a runtherd. The runtherd issues a challenge and has to accept (by himself).  He pastes the runtherd but his attacks don't carry over so the lone grot passes his morale and the swarmlord is locked in combat. In what logical scenario does the swarmlord not kill the grot.

Another absurd scenario, this time Orks on Black Templar.  A squad of 10 Nob bikers (could be troops previously) charge into 2 scouts on an objective.  The nobz should easily win with 5 power klaws and 4 big choppas (20 str 9 ap2 and 16 str7 at WS5).  The Templar scout sgt issues a challenge.  The Ork player accepts with his painboy which, admittedly would be a huge mistake, but not one that is readily apparent.  The squad amidst all their attacks turns the lone scout into chum scoring 10 rounds, 11 of which are AP2.  Uh-oh the scout sgt scores 2 rends (Templar chapter tactics) and the painboy fails his FNP save.  The orks lost combat by 1, fail leadership and then get swept (int 4 on scouts vs 3 on Nobz).  That 22pt scout squad just defeated 650pts of Nobz.  All because of stupid challenges.

With 7th edition, the changes were positive. Challengers are not considered in base to base solely with each other, so MSS can be randomized to other members of the squad.  Wounds can carry over out of challenges. Wounds can also carry into the challenge, after all other non-challengers have been removed.  This can help orks and makes sense that they aren't just standing around absurdly cheering in the middle of a raging battle.

Still though, the idea of an ork honoring a challenge is silly.  They want to get to krumpin' and don't usually care who it is.   If an opponent issues a challenge, why even bother listening. The Mad Dok is mad, he doesn't care if you insult him maternal spore pod, he's going to kill whatever is in front of him.  He certainly isn't going to step past some genestealers to go toe to toe with a broodlord who 'issued' a challenge.  For chaos space marines and dark eldar it also doesn't make any sense for them to honor challenges.

It's as if there is some medieval honor system in the galaxy.  Considering this came from fantasy, it follows logically that this what they consider it.  To me, it doesn't make sense in the grim-dark future.

Then something clicked.  With the way challenges work now, it doesn't have to be an honor system.  Rather than think of it as a character issuing a challenge, I think of it as a character singling another character out.  Now it makes more sense.

The Space Marine captain isn't asking the Nob to challenge him, he's just heading straight for him because he knows he's the most likely to kill him than the tactical squad he's with.  The boyz in the squad aren't standing around waiting for the challenge to finish, they just attack everyone else first because they're better targets, then start in on the captain.

The Catachan platoon commander stands in front of his troops hoping to let them escape when a bloodthirster charges into them.  Unfortunately, the BT decapitates him, then proceeds to kill more of the squad before they eventually scatter never to regoup.

This explanation sits a lot better with me.  Singling out characters with other characters is realistic.  It's something I can live with, even if I don't always like the results

Of course, if characters could single out banner holders and special weapons it would make even more sense, but not everything is perfect.  The 5th edition system where special weapons were always the last to die made some sense to me since it just meant that someone else picked up the special weapon and continued fighting.  As much as removing wounds from the front hurts Orks, I don't miss wound allocation shenanigans (even though Orks were one of the main benefactors).

Orks vs Eldar and Astra Militarum, 1500pts

I was expecting a thorough ass kicking this game. He was packing tons of firepower and tough to crack units with av12 and 14, artillery and T6 troops.  We generally don't tailor lists so it wasn't designed with me in mind (that I know of).  Even if I made my list to kill Eldar specifically, I don't think I would have changed much.


1500 Orks - "maybe I'll try some boyz" list
125 warboss, bike, klaw, Da finkin kap, BP
75 Painboy, bike
240 4 Nob Bikers, 2 PK, 2 BC
208 27 choppa boys, nob w/PK & BP
208 27 choppa boys, nob w/PK & BP
202 8 Warbikers, 1 Nob w/PK & BP
60 2 Deffkoptas
140 10 Lootas
140 10 Lootas
99 5 Lobbas, 3 runts

1500 Rhys' Eldar with AM allies
Spirit Seer
Guardians in Wave Serpent
Wraith Blades in Wave Serpent
Crimson Hunter
3 Vaul's Wrath artillery
2 War Walkers w/scatter lasers

Pask in a Punisher
with an Eradicator in a squadron
Vets in a Chimera

The sheer firepower of Eldar lists scared me and I was certain I would lose. Vaul's Wrath, the Eradicator, Punisher, and Wave Sepeants are infantry lawnmowers.  The Hemlock Wraithfighter would have been devastating against my low leadership.  The Crimson Hunter is still decent, but doesn't have any ideal targets in my list. The lootas weren't going to dent the russes but at least there were no wyverns or manticores

Setup

Emperor's will mission and Hammer and Anvil deployment meant that if I didn't get tabled it would come down to secondaries. He won the roll off to pick sides but I still ended up getting the side I wanted since it had raised items so my lootas could get line of sight.

I won the roll to go fist. I planned on going all in on strategic to maximize my chance to get the infiltrate warlord trait.  Luckily I nailed it first roll, then ended up rolling on command to get move through cover.  Things were looking my way since these are the two traits I would have picked and was lucky to roll for them. 

The Nobz started along the right edge as far up as they could go because there was line of site blocking terrain in case I got seized on.  One squad set up on top of some ruins the other on some raised terrain that might conceivably give me a 5+ cover.  The lobbas hid behind a hill with one poking out to give line of site.

He hid the Vaul's wrath in the corned behind some ruins, with the russes in front and the chimera dead center followed by the wave serpents to my right.  Everything was hanging in the back half of his deployment zone.

I infiltrated both boyz squads and the biker boyz with the Warboss and Painboy attached. The boyz squads were as close as I could get and not in terrain so I wouldn't be slowed down.  I decided to risk bunching them up.  I figured that was my only chance.  If I had been seized on both squads would pretty much be dead/ineffective anyway.  The bikerboyz manager to squeeze in to the far right corner single-file along the board edge.  This prove critical.

Turn 1

After not seizing, I proceed to move & run my boyz squads as close as I could rolling a 6 inch run on the first and 5 inch run on the second.  The biker boyz swung around to the back getting rear shots on the wave serpent.  With TL str5, 3 shot dakkaguns, the bikers managed to destroy the wave serpent for first blood.  The lootas caused 2 glances and a pen.  The pen was reduced to a glance bc of the serpent shield and one of the glances survived a cover save so my second squad of loots, only rolling a 1, still managed to take off the last hull point.  Huzzah, both Wave serpents were destroyed by circumstances falling my way every time.

The lobbas, targeting the guardians that spilled out of the first WS, scattered onto my bikers causing 4 wounds, but 2 were saved by armor and 2 by FNP.

I was still hesitant since his firepower, though diminished, was considerable.  He elected to unload on the large squads of boys with nearly everything.  Both squads took heavy casualties.  The squads were reduced to 11 and 12 models, but the Nobz lived.  The Wraithblade's Str10 shooting scored 4 hits, but he rolled 2 ones to wound and jinking saved the rest.  The boyz hung around with a passed morale test and a mob rule checking killing 1.

Turn 2

The deffkoptas failed to come on.  I called the Waagh right away.  The bikers all closed in on the right flank, but the guardians were blocking the wraithblades from assault by my warboss and bikers.  I ran my boyz up and tried to surround the chimera.  It took both loota squads to blow up the chimera but the contents were able to disembark.  The lobbas scatter far away but the reroll at least got me some wounds from the squad, but not enough for a gap.  The nob bikers shot and killed most of the guardian squad except for the 3 right between the warboss and wraithblades..  Snap shots from the warbikers managed to kill 3 wraithblades.  The guardians failed their morale, but I had shot myself out of charge range.

One squad of boyz assaulted and wiped the vets.  The other squad assaulted Pask's punisher.  Since only the Nob could hurt it, I was luckily able to score 2 glances and a pen, which unfortunately blew up and killed 6 of the 11 boyz.

His turn the crimson hunter came on and plinked a lobba and grot.  Everything else focused on the warbikers.  They sustained heavy casualties, losing 5 warbikers and the nob from the combined firepower of his army.  The walkers did not come on.

Turn 3

The deffkopta came on and killed a crewman of his artillery as did the lobbas.  The lootas downed the crimson hunter.

Both boyz squads assaulted the eradicator.  It blew up and killed all but the nob from one squad and half the other squad. The nobz assaulted wiping the wraithblade. The warboss with bikers charged causing the crew to flee off the board after taking severe casualties.

With nothing left on the board for the Eldar, we called it as I don't think the warwalkers would have made that much of a difference by then.

Observations

• Everything really went my way.  From getting the infiltrate and move through cover warlord traits, winning first turn, and blowing up both wave serpents, it was an extreme result.  
• Without infiltrate, a wave serpent lives first turn and my boys don't charge until turn 3.  One whole squad of boyz is wiped out each of turn 2 and 3 before they even get to assault.
• I still think that this matchup is a loss for me about 75% of the time.  I got lucky, but I feel that I at least made good choices throughout the game.
• Things die very quickly.  Terrain is still a problem.  Other than ruins there isn't much that we have that can give 25% coverage to warrant a cover save besides intervening units.  We'll need to take a good look at the terrain situation and plan on what we need to fill in the gaps.
• The boyz acted as as a meat shield to the Nobz who pulled their weight.  Otherwise, the boyz just killed 10 vets, which they should always be able to do.
• Explosions at S4 really hurt.  Even with AP2 from the claws, it should still be rare to blow them up, so I'm not too worried yet.  It does make me even more apprehensive about taking Trukks and Wagons.
• I really liked the smaller squad of nobz as opposed to the big deathstar with HQs attached.  They work well as a precision striking unit.  
• Increasing the size of the warbiker squads is an option, but I would need to get more models.  Their shooting is very solid, so it seems like a waste to use them to soak wounds.  A squad of 30 shoota boyz (210 pts) can be replaced by 9 warbikers (TL assault 3, str5) for 162 pts that will cause the same amount of wounds against T5, but are more mobile, more durable (T5, 4+, can jink if needed), and less susceptible to blasts but at reduced body count.
• I really liked the idea of running a biker boss with Stormboyz (combo with move through cover!!!), until I reread the rokkit pack rules.  You can't do your run move with the warboss in the unit, so the 2D6 isn't an option.  Maybe start the warboss with the bikers turn one.  The bikes boost and the stormboyz run 2D6.  Turn 2 the warboss joins the stormboyz.  Seems like a savvy opponent could easily thwart that tactic.

Rules mistakes

• When I assaulted the Punisher, I believe I should have rolled individually for the hits and potentially could have done some damage to the squadron, but I already rolled so I just went with blowing up the punisher.  I'll need to check the rules on how to play this situation in the future
• The emergency disembarkation from the Chimera didn't go too smoothly, will need further research as well.
• Need to remember to ask about jinking.  We both missed this.  Chalk it up to 7th edition newness.
• The Eradicator is rear armor 10, not 11.  The bozy should have had a chance to swing first and maybe glance it to death before the nobz swung with their claws.